Ch: Huang Shangu (1045-1105). One of the best-known calligraphers and poets of the Northern Song dynasty, depicted in…

Ch: Huang Chuping. Taoist immortal figure and magician of the Jin dynasty known for his ability to transform a herd of sheep…

A pictorial subject taken from "The Rose Plum" Kōbai (red plum blossoms), Chapter 43 of Genji monogatari …

Lit. small format. A size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print that is a quarter…

A dark grey-brown color. Dye extracted from the bark of the plum tree, momokawa 楊梅皮 is used with an iron mordant to…

A small-sized sheet of *hōsho 奉書 paper that is approximately 33 x 47 cm. After…

A pictorial subject based on "Butterflies" Kochō, Chapter 24 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

Ch: hudiezhuang. Lit. butterfly book. A type of book-binding, which, according to some, is the same as *…

Woodblock prints *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 with children as their subject. No adults are…

Lit. Remarks on Old Paintings, a 51 chapter, mid-19th century, painters' biography compiled by Asaoka Okisada 朝岡興禎 (1800-56…

Also called horikogatana 彫小刀. A knife used to carve a woodblock *hangi…

Lady Kogō. A late 12th-century beauty described in Heike monogatari 平家物語 (The Tale of The Heike; see…

Also tanehon 種本. An author's manuscript which has been made into a mock-up of a printed book. The manuscript is…

Lit. carp ascending a waterfall. The Chinese legend of a carp that became a dragon after swimming up a waterfall at the…

Lit. Pictures of historical figures, a category of Chinese figure subjects, Kangakei jinbutsuga 漢画系人物画 including…

Ch: gushi shanshui. Paintings depicting episodes of quasi-historical accounts, koji 故事 where literary or…

A rough small-scale sketch for a painting. Early visualizations of an idea, kojita-e are the first step in…

Ch: Huxi sanxiao. An allegory in which three Eastern Jin 東晋 literati realize by accident that spiritual purity…

Lit. deep color. A color name used since the Heian period to refer to a shade of dark purple, or occasionally dark red. A…

Lit. paring down. The *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 woodblock carving process which reduces…

Lit. humorous books. A witty and humorous type of novel of the late 18th and 19th century. The early kokkeibon were…

Ch: gaogu yousi miao. A brush technique used to create the clothing of figures in ink painting. The brush strokes…

Treatise on Native Painting. A short 18th century essay on painting by Confucian scholar and education reformer Hirazawa…

Small pictorial cartouches in poem-card *tanzaku 短冊 shapes or…

A type of trick picture, shikake-e 仕掛絵 where a separate picture is affixed to part of a colored print. When folded…

Also known as oranda-e 阿蘭陀絵, also written 和蘭陀絵 or simply ranga 蘭画, meaning Dutch painting. Western-style…

A dark blue pigment traditionally derived from azurite or lapis-lazuli *gunjō…

A tall (6 shaku 尺, or 181.8 cm), single-panel, standing screen *tsuitate…

The Kōrakuji school. A hereditary school of Buddhist painters *ebusshi 絵仏師…

Also kōrin mon'yō 光琳文様. Decorative designs which resemble the work of the artist Ogata Kōrin 尾形光琳 (1658-1716…

Ch: goule. Also written 鈎勒 or 勾勒 and called sōroku 雙鉤. One of the two primary techniques of Chinese…

The Kose school which was founded by Kose no Kanaoka 巨勢金岡, who held an important hereditary position in the 9th-century…

Type of screen similar to *makura byōbu 枕屏風 in format. They were slightly…

Ch: Kongzi. Confucius (551-479 BC). The seminal Chinese philosopher of the late Spring and Autumn period. His family name…

Ch: gengzhitu. Lit. pictures of agriculture and sericulture. In China the theme was originally reserved for court…

Sometimes called *eden 絵伝. Pictorial biographies of revered Buddhist priests and…

Collection on Painting, a seminal Japanese book on Chinese paintings written in 1623 by Kano Ikkei 狩野一渓 (1599-1662), the…

The textual portion of an illustrated handscroll *emaki 絵巻. …

A painting technique used to draw an object or motif in light ink strokes. Used since the Edo period during the final steps…

Lit. pictures at the entrance. The frontispiece. An illustration or photograph on the first page of book or magazine.

1　Lit. dead leaves; a dull yellow color. Kuchiba dye is made by mixing yellow gardenia *…

Lit. rotted wood pattern. A decorative design pattern which resembles the grain of rotting wood. It is also considered by…

1　Also written 梔子. Reddish-yellow color and dye. Made from chopped, boiled seeds of the kuchinashi…

Lit. nail picture. A type of comic picture *giga 戯画 which Utagawa Kuniyoshi…

Also written 暈取. Also called *ungen 繧繝. A general term for shading…

Also written 粂仙人. A legendary immortal often depicted in Edo period painting. According to legend recorded in Konjaku…

A set of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints with a common theme. The distinction…

Also read keiba. Paintings of horse racing. Most often implies the horse races at Kamigamo Jinja 上賀茂神社 in Kyoto.

Also kuri 皀. A shade of black or dark grey. A dye of this color is made from tannin found in the oak tree Quercus…

Lit. black book. A type of illustrated novella which flourished between the 1740s and the 1790s. A type of *…

Colored *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints. Kusa-e fall into the…

Grass-color. A yellow-green color. To make a pigment of this color a blue pigment *aoni…

Illustrated popular fiction published in Edo from the mid-17th to the late 19th century. Narrative and dialogue was written…

Ch: Qu Yuan (343?-278 BC). A Chinese scholar-official. The archetypal "sorrowful-poet" and noble exile. Because Qu composed…

1　Lit. paintings of sutra. A painting depicting the content of Buddhist sutra, however, is usually called…

The Kyoto branch of the Kano school *Kano-ha 狩野派, founded by Kano…

Ch: Xiangyan Jizhu. Also read Kōgan gekichiku. A painting subject of the Tang dynasty Zen 禅 (Ch: Chan) priest…

Also called *eiri kyōgenbon 絵入狂言本. An Edo period woodblock printed book…

Proof prints made from the key block (the block that prints the dark outlines of a woodblock print *…

Originally, professionals who hand-copied sutras in the Nara period. Later the appellation referred to artisans who mounted…

Ch: Xu You Chao Fu. A painting subject representing two legendary Chinese scholar-hermits famous for their extreme…

Ch: gongletu. Lit. Pictures of Pleasures at Court. A broad term referring to paintings of Chinese court ladies, often…

Ch: Jiulao. Lit. nine old friends. An abbreviation of Kyūrōkai-zu 九老会図 (Ch: Jiulaohuitu). Paintings zu…

A pictorial subject taken from "Maboroshi" ("The Wizard"), Chapter 41 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

Painters born during the period extending from the Nanbokuchō through the Muromachi periods, when major social changes took…

A general term for the Kano school *Kano-ha 狩野派, or for Kano-…

A pictorial subject based on "The Cypress Pillar" Makibashira, Chapter 31 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (…

Ch: Magu. Two female Taoist immortals. The first is said to have lived in the Han dynasty and was sister of the immortal…

A low folding screen about 50 cm high, and usually with two panels, *nikyoku byōbu…

Also called keshibon 芥子本, keshigatabon 芥子形本, and hinamamehon 雛豆本. A miniature book. The…

Lit. "chopping board format." An extremely large size of wood-block *ukiyo-e…

Edo period sketches usually done impromptu or in fun, often of unusual or humorous subjects. In modern times manga…

Also read maniaishi, maniai 間似合. A rough paper of poor quality attached to sliding partitions *…

Also written 卍文. A decorative pattern symbolizing good fortune, popularly known as the swastika motif. It is thought to have…

Ch: manhuahui. Lit. "gathering amid myriad flowers." A Chinese painting subject showing the peony procession of…

A circular, decorative design used either as a single unit or repeated to create patterns for textiles and family crests. A…

Sometimes referred to as Kyō-ha 京派 or the Kyoto school. A painting school in Kyoto which was popular during the…

Also written 政. An abbreviation of masagami 柾紙, also written 政紙. A smooth grain, lightweight, off-white paper…

Traditional Japanese paper *washi 和紙 made from hemp, asa…

A zigzag pattern which forms a decorative band resembling a series of lozenge shapes. It was used on the built-up ridges of…

1　A pictorial subject taken from "Matsukaze" ("The Wind in the Pines"), Chapter 18 of  Genji…

Also matsu-ni-taka-(no)-zu 松に鷹図. Lit. "paintings of hawks in pine trees." Pine trees matsu 松 were not…

Lit. "glasses picture." A painting which is designed to be viewed through an apparatus which further heightens an illusion…

Paintings of famous locations around the Japanese capital of Kyoto (formerly Heian-kyō 平安京) at certain characteristic…

Illustrated topographies of famous places within a defined geographical region, published from the mid-to-late Edo period.…

A privately published Edo period topography and guide to famous places. Official topographies were compiled before these…

A picture calendar koyomi 暦 totally set out in pictures. Originally these were made for the illiterate, but when…

Ch: Malangfu. One of 33 manifestations of *Kannon 観音 (Sk:…

1　A surface of a Japanese architectural component that faces front.

2　Endpaper,…

A type of mounting for a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物. In this mounting, the…

A type of mounting for a hanging scroll *kakemono 掛物. A …

Also read minoshi. Lit. "mino paper." A generic term for handmade paper *…

A pictorial subject based on "Minori" ("The Rites" or "The Venerable Law"), Chapter 40 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (…

Chinese painting of the Ming (Jp: Min 明) and Qing (Jp: Shin 清) dynasties. The term, used primarily in distinction to *…

A pictorial subject based on "Miotsukushi" ("Channel Buoys"), Chapter 14 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

Also written 水松色.

1　Olive color. A color name used in dyeing, produced by…

Pictures depicting shows of acrobatics, jugglers, magic tricks and curious animals which were produced with intent to…

Ablutions performed to remove sin or illness. As a pictorial theme it is most closely associated with Section 65 of Ise…

A piece of silk used for a Buddhist painting, particularly icon painting, which is sanctified at a ceremony in esoteric…

Parody pictures. Also nise 擬, yatsushi 略絵, fūryū 風流. Analogues of Japanese and Chinese…