Lit. "Litharge painting." A modern term for a type of ancient oil painting that uses lead oxide, or *…

Lit. "yellow lead monoxide," PbO. Made by heating lead. Used as a yellow pigment in early Japanese painting, for example on…

Paper made from the fibres of mitsumata 三椏 (edgeworthia papyrifera). The mitsumata bush, native…

A pictorial subject taken from "Miyuki" ("The Royal Outing"), Chapter 29 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of…

One kind of early polychrome print *benizuri-e 紅摺絵, or…

Also suisai-enogu 水彩絵具. Water colors. Paints with a water binder *baizai…

Ch: Mao Bao zhugui. Lit. "Mao Bao rescuing a tortoise." A Chinese painting theme showing the Jin dynasty scholar…

Pictorial subject matter depicting the episode of Watanabe no Tsuna 渡辺綱 (953-1024) fighting against a demon at Modoribashi,…

1　Also written 萌黄色, 萌木色. A strong yellow-green color. A dye of this colour was made by mixing yellow…

1　A copy of an original painting or text. Used generally and interchangeably with *…

A picture with the Japanese syllabary cleverly used as part of the motif. Another type of moji-e was called …

Sutras written in such a way that the characters form the image of a pagoda. One of the two methods is called moji…

Also mokkōgata 木瓜形, kamon か文. A decorative pattern shaped like a flower with an oval center and four…

Lit. "mokkō double diamonds." A decorative pattern of interlocking diamond shapes incorporating the indented…

Lit. "mokkō diamonds." A design pattern of interlocking diamond shapes incorporating the indented oval motif known…

Ch: mogu. Sometimes pronounced bokkotsu. Lit. "boneless." A painting technique in which objects are…

A decorative pattern incorporating a swirling indented oval *mokkō 木瓜 motif.

Also read bokuhitsu. Lit. "wooden brush."

1　A charred wooden stick used for underdrawings.…

Lit. "celebration of autumn leaves." A pictorial subject based on Chapter 7 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale…

Lit. "hunting for maple leaves." The traditional pastime of viewing autumn foliage in the mountains. The term dates back at…

Lit. "peach boy." Hero of one of Japan's best-loved tales. A tiny boy discovered inside a large peach soon grows into a…

Also written 紋様. A design pattern, frequently using geometric shapes or abstracted images of natural or man-made objects.…

An abbreviation of moriage zaishiki 盛上彩色. Pigment or shell-white *gofun…

Sometimes abbreviated to morishita 森下. Handmade paper *washi 和紙 made in…

Ch: wanglianghua. Lit. "apparition ghostly paintings." A style of ink figure painting that contrasts ethereal forms…

A copy of an original painting or work of calligraphy. More specific terms, such as *…

Any two-dimensional pattern. Also used more specifically to refer to decorative motifs or patterns of repeated motifs set…

A design motif that consists of birds or butterflies with outspread wings arranged facing each other, mukai 向い to…

Inorganic pigment. Insoluble pigments *ganryō 顔料 made from…

Lady Murasaki (978?-1014?), most famous writer of the Heian period and subject of several paintings. Her Genji…

1　Abbreviation of murasaki-iro 紫色. Purple color. Purple, as mentioned in the Nihon shoki …

Lit. "Musashi 武蔵 plain." A part of the Kantō 関東 plain which extends south from Kawagoe 川越 City in Saitama Prefecture to…

Lit. "an unvoiced poem." Painting as a medium which conveys meaning without sound. The Chinese believed that although poetry…

1　A category of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints that depicted battle…

Lit. "six jewelled rivers." Six famous rivers all named Tamagawa 玉川 located in six different Japanese prefectures. They…

A term used to group a number of artists and artistic styles associated with the city of Nagasaki 長崎 from the 17th through…

Also called nagasaki-e 長崎絵 or Nagasaki prints. Woodblock prints made in the port city of Nagasaki during the Edo…

Pictures of a catfish, namazu 鯰. Japanese legend has it that the movement of large catfish deep inside the earth…

Lit. "the seven Komachi." Seven episodes concerning the mid-9th century poetess Ono no Komachi 小野小町, one of the Six Poetic…

Folding screens *byōbu 屏風, usually in a pair, depicting Portuguese and…

Lit. "Southern painting." An abbreviation of *nanshūga 南宗画, which…

A group of artists who produced bird-and-flower painting introduced to Japan by the Chinese artist Shen Nanpin (Jp: Shin…

Ch: nanzonghua. The Southern school of Chinese painting. Composed of literati (scholars) as opposed to the Northern…

Lit. "painting atelier of the southern capital" (nanto 南都, an alternative name for Nara 奈良). Refers to the three…

Ch: Nanquan zhihua. Lit. "Nanzen 南泉 (Ch: Nanquan) pointing at flowers." A Zen 禅 (Ch: Chan) dialogue in which the…

Ch: Nanquan zhanmao. A painting subject depicting the Zen 禅 (Ch: Chan) parable of the priest Nanquan Puyuan (Jp:…

A type of illustrated woodblock-printed book or handscroll popular from the Muromachi through mid-Edo periods. Although…

A pictorial theme based on the *kabuki 歌舞伎 play named after its…

Lit. "nirvana painting." A genre of painting that depicts the death of the historical Buddha *…

The Kyoto-Osaka region kamigata 上方 term for a *kabuki 歌舞伎 play book…

Also pronounced nenchū gyōji. Lit. "annual events." Nenjū gyōji originally meant the monthly celebrations…

A standing screen *tsuitate shōji 衝立障子 placed on the low wooden floor…

Also called komatsuhiki 小松引 (pulling up small pines). Lit. "Day of the Rat Celebration." One of the traditional…

Paper *washi 和紙 used in painting and drawing to transfer an image to…

1　Lit. "face likeness pictures." Very often bust portraits or a likeness of the head. See *…

Lit. "Japanese-style painting." The term came into use during the Meiji period to distinguish indigenous painting from…

Ch: ershisixiao. Lit. "twenty-four paragons of filial piety." A popular theme in Chinese figure painting based on…

A transparent or semi-transparent animal glue, used as a binder *baizai 媒剤, and…

Illustrations of a diary or an illustrated diary. Diaries of high literary value or writings in the form of diaries occupy…

Also nikuhitsu ukiyo-e 肉筆浮世絵. A painting done with a brush and colored ink on paper or silk and not carved in a…

Also nimaiori byōbu 二枚折屏風. A folding screen with two panels. Came into use in the mid-Muromachi period with a…

A floral and vine design pattern that is a variation of a Chinese grass motif *…

Also called *chūhon 中本 or eiri chūgata yomihon 絵入中型読本; in the…

A pictorial subject taken from "Niou no miya" ("His Perfumed Highness" or "Prince Niou"), Chapter 42 of Genji monogatari…

Lit. "Likeness picture." Kamakura period realistic portraiture of courtiers and warriors painted in the *…

Lit. "The False Murasaki and the Rustic Genji." An extremely popular mid-19th century novel written by Ryūtei Tanehiko 柳亭種彦…

Lit. "brocade pictures." A picture that resembles a colorful embroidered silk brocade, nishikinui 錦繍. A commercial…

Also nogi 芒. A type of cut-foil *kirihaku 切箔. Gold or…

A raised platform used during the production of large-scale paintings. Most such paintings are placed on the floor while…

Printed squares of wrapping paper, noshi 熨斗 which are tied with two-colored cords, mizuhiki 水引 used for…

A pictorial subject based on "Nowaki" ("The Typhoon"), Chapter 28 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji…

Lit. "subjugation of the Fabulous Night Monster." A pictorial subject taken from a famous episode in Heike monogatari…

Lit. "cloth-pulling waterfalls." A series of waterfalls at the head of the Ikuta 生田 River in Hyōgo Prefecture. In ancient…

The woodblock print *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 technique of blind or gauffrage…

Ch: Wang Xizhi (303-61). A famous Chinese calligrapher of the Eastern Jin period, considered an originator of both the…

Ch: Huang Renlan. A Chinese immortal who travels many thousands of ri 里 (a ri is approximately 4 km) on…

Ch: Wang Ziqiao. A Zhou dynasty Taoist immortal associated with playing the shō, ō , a traditional reed…

Ch: Wang Zhi (ca. 255-209 BC). A Jin dynasty woodcutter from Quchuan 衢川, who while wandering through the mountains of Guzhou…

Ch: Wang Zhaojun. A beautiful court lady of the Former Han dynasty mistakenly sent to the Huns 匈奴. Her family name was Qiang…

Paintings done by Ōbaku 黄檗 (Ch: Huangbo) Zen 禅 monks and their followers. Many modern historians also include religious…

Lit. "large format." A size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print. The term ōban…

A standard large-sized sheet of *hōsho 奉書 paper. Approximately 39 x 53 cm. The…

Yellow ochre pigment. Lit. "yellow earth." Made from earth containing hydrated ferric oxide (goethite FeO.OH or limonite…

Lit. "large (or full) face pictures." A type of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵, or…

Lit. "The Fan Target." A pictorial theme connected with a famous incident from the Battle of Yashima *…

A fan used to cool or for ceremonial purposes. Generally the same as sensu 扇子, although ōgi generally…

Portraits of the successive kings of Ryūkyū 琉球 (modern-day Okinawa Prefecture).

A hill in the *Sagano 嵯峨野 area, northwest of Kyoto, facing the low mountains of…

Lit. "the imperial visit to Ohara." Also written 小原御幸. A pictorial theme related to the pathos-filled journey of the retired…

Also written 嗚滸絵. Comic, satiric paintings popular among aristocrats in the Heian period. The priest Kakuyū 覚猷 (1053-1140;…

The highest ranking of the official painters *goyō-eshi 御用絵師…

Lit. "large head depictions." A common type of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print…

Also okuzuke 奥付, atogaki 後書, batsu 跋 (Ch: ba), or batsubun 跋文 (Ch: bawen…

Lit. "Eight views of Ōmi." An early and famous Japanese version of the eight views, or *…

Also sumi-ta 墨板 (black ink block); jizumi-ita 地墨板; sumizuri-no-ita 墨摺の板; daihan 台板…

Lower-ranking groups of official painters employed by the shogunate during the Edo period. The disciples and branch families…

A book containing excerpts from *kabuki 歌舞伎 plays, used by…

Onna-e (feminine painting) is a most maligned term that invites various interpretations, some even contradictory.…

Lit. "extra large format." A size of *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print. The term ōōban…