Lit. pictures of Tartars hunting. A popular screen painting theme in the late 16th and early 17th century. The pictures…

1　Also deha 出端. Any architectural member which protrudes, projects, or extends outward. When…

The framing of opaque sliding screens, *fusuma 襖, and translucent sliding…

A one-stepped bracket complex parallel to but separated from the wall by the extension of a rainbow beam, *…

A compound that juts out or is slightly separated from the main components of a castle complex, which include: the main…

Also called de 出.

1　Also called *noki-no-de…

Also debana. A projecting part. An example is the coping that extend past the pillars on either side of a Shinto…

An abbreviated form of idei-no-za 出居座, lit. lodging without, lodging away from the main structure of a residence.…

Also kindei 金泥 and gindei 銀泥.

1　Gold or silver foil ground to a fine powder to…

A Noh mask *nōmen 能面 used to represent a terrestrial spirit or a dragon god.…

Gold eyes. A Noh mask, *nōmen 能面, representing a mature woman who carries within…

Also called kujirimayu 抉眉, or shakurimayu 決眉. A type of carved molding, *…

1　Outer citadel. Also tsukejiro 付け城, hajiro 端城, edajiro 枝城. A type of branch…

Lit. three-on-one at right angles. Sometimes called crisscrossed 3-on-1. A bearing block and bracket complex consisting of…

A lecture hall at Hōryūji Tōin 法隆寺東院 (Hōryūji East Compound), dating from about the mid-8th century, the time when the East…

Lit. things from overseas.

1　Objects brought from abroad, including numerous art works. See *…

Lit. things from past generations. Art works or antiquities which have been treasured among people for long period of time.…

A fixed-hearth, *ro 炉 or *rodan 炉壇,…

Also pronounced dezumi. Also written 出角. The external corner where two walls join to form an angle. The interior…

Lit. pasted paper leaf book. Also called *kochōsō 胡蝶装, as it is called in…

A loophole, *sama 狭間, that projects out from the frame of a window opening in…

Also hōdō 宝幢, tendō 天幢, or bandō 幡幢. A small, rectangular cloth banner on a pole used as a…

Lit. torso, trunk, cylinder, or barrel. The main body of the half-round or semi-cylindrical part of a cover tile, *…

Lit. dōan enclosure. Also called dōan zashiki 道安座敷 (dōan room). An enclosure used in a tea…

A tea ceremony room with an enclosure, *dōangakoi 道安囲 named after Sen Dōan 千道安 (1546-1606…

Entasis. The bulge in the center of a circular pillar to make it appear straight. In Japan, circular pillars called *…

1　Lit. earthen bridge. An earthen bridge, which is made by leaving an unexcavated section of moat in front…

Also read tsuchibei. Also called *tsuiji 築地. An earthen wall or…

The movable face plate. The most elaborate gimmick used on the bugaku mask, *…

Lit. body carving. The carver of woodblocks for *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 prints who was…

A title of artistic or cultural advisors in the Ashikaga 足利 shogunate, established about the time of Yosimitsu 義満 (1358-1408…

1a.) Furring strips made of thin wood or bamboo that are nailed horizontally to posts to form the base for…

A sill, ground sill, or footplate. Generally the heavy timber members laid horizontally at the base of a wooden building…

Also called tsuchidomesan. Narrow timber strips nailed horizontally to roof sheathing, *…

A man's hip-length jacket, generally worn over other clothing or armor by high-ranking samurai 侍 from the late…

Rotating eyes, a gimmick used for many bugaku masks, *bugakumen 舞楽面…

Lit. implement mat. The straw mat, *tatami 畳, on which the host sits when he…

Also dorui 土塁. An earthen embankment, earthwork, or rampart. A defensive embankment surrounding a castle or a…

1　Generally a base for tile roofing, *kawarabuki 瓦葺. A…

The foundation bed, shiki 敷, of an earthen embankment, *doi 土居. It has…

The process of spreading clay on the prepared surface of a roof in order to lay roof tiles, *…

Lit. child, young boy.

1　A boy between 8 and 20 years old living in a Buddhist temple. He studies…

A variety of *besson mandara 別尊曼荼羅 (a form of mandara centered…

The decorated 'belts' around the upper, middle, and lower circumference of the stem, sao 竿, of a lantern.

Lit. guardian boy's stones. Two symbolic garden stones (see *yakuishi 役石）…

A temple of the Tendai 天台 sect in Hidaka 日高, Wakayama Prefecture. The setting of a dramatic old Japanese tale first recorded…

Also called hikidokko 引独鈷; hikidokko ari 引独鈷蟻. One type of *…

Also written 洞戸, 道幸, 道古, 堂庫、or 道籠. A storage space for utensils used for the tea ceremony. The earliest type was probably a…

Lit. independent donjon or keep. Also called dokuritsushiki tenshu 独立式天守, dokuritsu tenshukaku 独立天守閣. A…

Independent post. An internal freestanding post, *hashira 柱, not attached to…

Lit. Daoist-style gardens. A general term designating gardens which incorporated Chinese Daoist ideas or motifs. The Daoist…

1　Alternatively called *niwa 庭 or dōji どうじ. An area…

Decorative drapery used on statues in the Kamakura region from the late Kamakura period. The drapery was made in clay relief…

Also written 純子. Patterned damask weave. A thick and glossy silk variety of shusu 繻子 (satin), with the design made…

Any painting produced with a type of thick, opaque paint made from inexpensive pigment and the white pigment, *…

A technique where a mixture of animal glue, *nikawa 膠, and powdered burnt clay…

Also 礬沙, 陶砂. Sizing. Dōsa is made by dissolving animal glue, *nikawa 膠…

Also written dōzuri 胴摺. The widest horizontal stile in the door of *heijūmon…

Lit. Daoist Buddhist paintings. A genre of painting on Daoist (Taoist; Jp: Dōkyō 道教) and Buddhist (shaku 釈 from *…

Also Sae-no-kami 塞の神 (also read Sai-no-kami), Dōrokujin 道陸神, and other less common names. A folk deity associated with roads…

1　The flat top of an embankment, *doi 土居, also called *…

Also called tsuchi-no-tō 土の塔 or dantō 段塔. Lit. earthen pagoda. Dantō means stepped pagoda. A…

Also read dodome-ita, and called *seki-ita 堰板. The sheathing boards…

Lit. saw with attached spine. A tenon or back saw. A saw designed especially to cut the shoulder of a tenon. The blade is…

1　A type of floor found in vernacular houses, *minka 民家, used…

A large, heavy horizontal timber attached to the tops of posts, *hashira 柱,…

Bronze work. Bronze casting has been very important in Japan since ancient times, and was used for Yayoi period dōtaku…

A form of storehouse which provided a fireproof place to keep valuables which were otherwise always at risk in highly…

Also referred to as *kura-zukuri 蔵造. A fireproof building construction…

1　Painting contest; a contest involving two teams, popular among Heian aristocrats from the 11th century.…

An *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 print commonly used as writing paper. A sheet of *…

Lit. Illustrated Scripture of Cause and Effect. Also known as Kako genzai ingakyō emaki 過去現在因果経絵巻. 

The pictures on signs or billboards displayed in front of *kabuki 歌舞伎 puppet…

Also written 蝦の腰 or 蝦腰. A type of decorative molding *kurigata 繰形, used on…

1　Also ebi-iro 蒲萄色 or 葡萄色. A reddish -purple dye use in the Asuka and Nara periods, and the name…

Also ebigatakote 海老形篭手. A shrimp-shaped gauntlet *kote 篭手. Armor worn to…

Also written 蝦虹梁.

An usually-shaped rainbow tie beam thought to resemble the back of a lobster or shrimp or an s-shape…

Lit. the Plum Quiver. A pictorial subject taken from an incident during the Genpei 源平 war. Before going to battle the…

Also written 夷, 戎, or 蛭子.

1　One of the seven gods of good fortune *…

1　A structural post considered sacred in an Edo period vernacular house *…

A simple structure that was usually erected in the center of a market place to house the deity *…

Also written 蝦束; also hinazuka 雛束. 

A small strut with chamfered corners used between two staggered…

Woodblock engravers who specialized in carving blocks for *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 or other…

Also written 絵振板 or 恵振板.

A board cut in a decorative shape and attached at a right angle to the projecting end of a…

Also written 絵振台. Also called onigawaradai 鬼瓦台, *onidai 鬼台. 

Painters who specialized in Buddhist religious painting. The term was widely used from the late Heian period when the demand…

Handmade paper *washi 和紙 produced in Echizen 越前 (now Fukui Prefecture), probably…

Lit. branch strut. Also called hōzue 方杖; hasuzuka 斜束 or nanamezuka 斜め束. Diagonal braces used in…

Lit. branch charcoal. A type of charcoal which is both ornamental and easy to ignite, used in either a sunken hearth *…

Lit. painting model. A prototype, or more commonly, a modelbook produced by a master painter for his students or for people…

Pictorial 'e 絵', biographies 'den 伝' of important persons, most frequently Buddhist patriarchs and holy…

Also *azuma nishiki-e 東錦絵.
A general term applied to all…

Less commonly, *Tokugawa jidai 徳川時代. The Edo period, the time in which…

The Edo period Edo branch of the Kano school of painting *Kano-ha 狩野派. The…

An archaic term for tiles of low quality used in Edo (now Tokyo) during the Edo period to roof tenement houses *…

Lit. Edo black. A black plaster finish applied to the walls of fireproof mud-plastered storehouses *…

Also written 画所. An atelier producing paintings and painted decoration for the court and nobility, located at the palace…

A standard unit of measurement used in Edo and various towns in the Kantō 関東 region. In constructing an ordinary…

Lit. painting brush. Any of numerous categories of paint brushes made in Japan of various natural materials and used to…

1　A generic term for paper used for painting. In general, strong paper with a minimal tendency to blur,…