A decorative diamond pattern created by a series of indented curved lines. Occasionally the pattern is used for mullions *…

Also pronounced ōdan, ōni. A deep yellow color, produced by dyeing yellow gardenia *…

Also written 追手.
The front of a castle or fortification. Contrast with karamete 搦手 (the rear of a castle…

The front gate of a castle. Derive from *ōte 大手, the front of a castle or…

The red-painted front gate, 5 x 2 bays with three entrances that provided access from the south to enter the *…

Also otogoze 乙御前. A mask of a young woman, used in kyōgen 狂言 plays. Oto has a fat, dimpled face…

Also tobide 飛出. A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing the God of…

Popular stories which flourished from the late Kamakura to the early Edo period. The name derives from an early 18th-century…

Also masugami otoko 十寸髪男. Noh masks *nōmen 能面 of male…

Noh masks *nōmen 能面 representing men. These realistic portrayals…

A pictorial subject taken from "Otome" ("The Maiden"), Chapter 21 of Genji monogatari 源氏物語 (The Tale of Genji…

A simple style of main shrine building *honden 本殿, with gable roof *…

Also called sagekama 下鎌. A commonly used half-blind, gooseneck tenon *kama…

Also known as oiwake-e 追分絵, derived from place names on the outskirts of Ōtsu. Small paintings produced for…

Also called yarai 矢来, yaraigaki 矢来垣, chōsengaki 朝鮮垣, and chōsen yarai 朝鮮矢来…

An abbreviation of ki-ōtsushibari 黄大津縛. A yellow clay applied about 4-5 cm thick in order to hide and protect the…

The handle of a tea scoop *chashaku 茶杓, used to prepare powdered green…

1　The wife of a member of the upper classes and her living chambers. The term, used in the Muromachi period…

Neocene quartz. A type of soft volcanic tuff that is rough, porous and easily worked. It is a light, bluish greenish brown…

Also *yūjo-e 遊女絵. The term used in Osaka for pictures of…

Lit. "big armor." The most formal type of armor for high-ranking samurai 侍, it was loose-fitting defensive…

A room connected to the *oyudono 御湯殿 where utensils for the emperor's meals were kept.…

1　A north room in the western pent-roof structure *hisashi 廂…

1　The board-floor veranda at the top of the steps of a shrine building. The veranda at the bottom of the…

Also called yuya 湯屋, yokushitsu 浴室, onshitsu 温室. A bathhouse. Traditionally, a separate…

1　A shell, especially mother-of-pearl, inlay technique commonly used for lacquer ware *…

Ch: Luofuxian. The story and pictorial theme of an immortal on Mt. Luofu 羅浮山 (Jp: Rafusen) and the spirit…

Spiral shaped curls of hair, like snail-shells, on the head of a *nyorai…

Also *haiden 拝殿. A worship hall for Shinto shrine visitors. The plan…

Also called raihaidō 礼拝堂. A worship hall. When Buddhist temples were constructed during the 7th-8th century,…

Lit. "Amida with welcoming descent mudras." A figure of *Amida 阿弥陀 with hand…

Lit. "welcoming mudra." A mudra or hand gesture *in 印 in which the forefinger,…

Also called raigō-heki. A clay or wooden wall erected behind a Buddhist altar *…

Painted images of Buddhas and bodhisattvas, such as *Shaka 釈迦, *…

Two or four-circular pillars right and left at each corner of the Buddhist altar to define the most sacred place in a temple…

Lattice arranged in a fret pattern, used especially on railings of balconies.

Lit. "lightning pattern." Also read ikazuchimon いかずち文. A pattern of thick and thin zig-zag lines. A variation of *…

Ch: Lanzan weiyu 懶瓚煨芋. A Zen 禅 (Ch: Chan) painting subject depicting the late 8th century Chinese Zen priest Lanzan…

Arhat. Ch: luohan, Sk: arhan. Abbreviation of arakan 阿羅漢, a translation of the Sk. term arhan…

An abbreviation of the term rakusei kanshiki 落成款識. Lit. "inscription cast into ancient bronze vessels at…

Paintings of scenes in and around Kyoto. Famous sites, festivals and activities within the capital rakuchū 洛中…

Also written 楽書. Graffiti or scribblings. The earliest examples in Japan are the scribblings in the margins or on the backs…

Raku 楽 ware. A light weight ceramic ware developed in Kyoto in the Momoyama period and particularly prized in the…

A net-like ornament strung with jewels or precious metals and hung from the canopy *…

Ch: lanyemiao. Lit. "orchid-leaf drawing." A style of ink-painting using fluid, modulated lines that resemble the…

A transom. A rectangular opening, longer in the horizontal direction, constructed between the lintels *…

Also called no-ishizumi 野石積. Stones with an irregular shape. Those that are somewhat square are called nozura-…

Also referred to as ranzumi kidan 乱積基壇, ranzō ransekizumi 乱層乱石積, kuzure ishizumi くずれ石積 or simply…

Also *ranzumi 乱積. Piling up unhewn rocks or random masonry. The earliest and…

The technique whereby bamboo strips are woven into shapes and coated with lacquer. Also called kagoji 籠地 (basket…

Ch: Lanting qushui. Lit. "meandering stream and orchid pavilion." A painting theme which refers to a gathering held…

A stone pagoda with an egg-shaped main body placed directly on a base. It differs from the *…

Lit. "random joints." Various types of architectural joints that can be either dovetail *…

Also called *ransekizumi 乱石積, waraizumi 笑い積. Randomly piled natural stones *…

Transliteration of Sanskrit raksasa, a term for demons in general, but which may also be divided into three classes…

Ch: Ling Zhaonu. Raised by her aged parents as a devout Buddhist, this semi-legendary daughter of Tang dynasty lay Buddhist…

Also byōsho 廟所 or mitamaya 霊屋.
A mausoleum in which the spirit of the dead is enshrined. It may be…

A set of books from which the larger portion is missing; the odd volume or smaller portion (i.e., several pages) of a larger…

Ch: Lingyun Guanhua. The Tang dynasty Zen 禅 priest Lingyun Zhiqin (Jp: Reiun Shikin 霊雲志勤), a disciple of Weishan Lingyu (Jp…

A long piece of paper or board the same length as *zenshi 全紙 (approximately 135…

A piece of paper, three-quarters the size of *zenshi 全紙. When a…

Lit. "lotus petal."
1　A pendant *gatō 瓦当, found on semi-…

1　Rengeji type lantern. So named because a pair of these lanterns stand in front of the main building at…

Also written 蓮花門. Lit. "Lotus Flower Gate." A gate located in the west wall opposite main east gate, Tōdaimon 東大門 of…

Also renge karakusa 蓮華唐草. Lit. "lotus pattern." A decorative floral and vine design motif that originated in China…

Also renza 蓮座. Lit. "Lotus base" (Sk: padmasana). A dais for a Buddhist image *…

Raised dots or bead-like forms that represent the seeds in a stylized lotus flower pattern decorating many pendant tiles *…

Also written 櫺子窓. Lit. "a row lath window."

1　A window with vertical or horizontal wooden laths or…

Also *shumon 珠文. A design pattern that uses circles to represent pearls which…

Also called renketsushiki tenshu 連結式天守. A castle in which the principle tower or keep *…

The central section of a lotus flower pedestal *rengeza 蓮華座 on which a Buddhist image usually…

A manner of representing drapery folds in Buddhist sculpture. It consists of either 

1) a high…

Lit. "connected towers." Also termed renritsushiki tenshu 連立式天守. An extensive, highly-developed castle complex…

Multiple windows. Two or more windows connected horizontally, or windows connected within one frame window with vertical…

Rensōmado means double windows. Two windows in line. Also called *meotomado…

Also tetsuyōsō 綴葉装 or retsuyōsō 列葉装.
A multisection book. A type of Japanese book-binding. The…

Ch: Li Bai (701-62). One of the two most famous poets of the early Tang dynasty along with Du Fu (Jp: *…

Ch: Li Guang sheshi. Lit. "Li Guang shooting a rock." The Han dynasty archer Li Guang (Jp: Ri Kō 李広) who, on a…

Hanging scrolls *kakemono 掛物 in a set of two or more. Each…

Lit. "carp stone." A stone placed at the base of a waterfall to symbolize a carp swimming up the waterfall. Good examples…

Ch: Lishi. A gigaku mask *gigakumen 伎楽面…

The Six Canons or Principles, thought to be essential for the appreciation of Chinese painting. They were set out in the…

Sen no Rikyū's 千利休 (1522-91) writings concerning measurements for tea ceremony utensils. Yamada Sōhen 山田宗へん (1627-1708)…

A fence made of bamboo stakes that alternate with unpeeled wooden stakes. The bamboo and unpeeled stakes have the same…

A type of lantern. Lanterns of various shapes may be called Rikyūgata. It is difficult to judge which are authentic…

Ch: Lin Hejing (967-1028). A noted poet, calligrapher and scholar of the Northern Song dynasty. Rin Nasei's real name was…

Ch: Lin Lingsu. A Daoist immortal in the service of the Northern Song Emperor Huizong (Jp: Kisō 徽宗, r. 1101-25). A staunch…

A type of halo *kōhai 光背 used on Buddhist images, forming a free-…

A technique used to copy *mosha 模写 a painting or work of calligraphy. The…

The royal ease position (Sk: Maharajalilasana). A seated position used for a Buddhist image with one knee (usually…

A school of painters and decorative artists, which began in 17th-century Kyoto and then spread to Kanazawa and Edo. The term…

Lit. "forest and stream."
The ancient word for garden. Rinsen first appeared in the 720 Nihon shoki…

Also known by the Chinese name: Linji. A Tang dynasty priest who founded a major school of chan (Jp: Zen 禅) Buddhism. Zen…

Also called kaiten rinzō 回転輪蔵. Octagonal sutra storage shelves that revolve around a central pillar, which acts as…

The Rishukyō jūhachi-e mandara was introduced from China to Japan by Ennin 円仁 (794-864) and Shūei 宗叡 (809-884…

Also kagi-datami 鍵畳. The straw mat *tatami 畳, into which…

A roofed corridor or passageway that connects one structure to another. It may also encompass an open area. There are…

A sunken hearth. A square box installed into the floor of a tea ceremony room to make a charcoal fire. The standard size…

A gate *rōmon 楼門, that appears to have two stories, but in reality is a high…