Silk used for painting. Plain, non-glossy raw silk was favored. Called huajuan (Jp; *…

The name of a courtesan from the Eguchi 江口 area of northern Settsu 摂津 (now Osaka) immortalized in the biography of…

Also called shibai ezōshi 芝居絵双紙 or shibai ehon 芝居絵本. Illustrated woodblock printed programs for *…

Lit. picture book.

1　In the broad sense of the term, the Edo period ehon referred to any…

Books of poetry, haikai 俳諧, with pictures, published during the Edo period. 

One of the oldest examples…

Woodblock printed books published during the Edo period, from the Kan'ei 寛永 to the Kyōhō 享保 eras (1624-1736).

…

Also known as *kyōgenbon 狂言本. Woodblock printed illustrated booklets,…

Illustrated Edo period woodblock printed books containing humorous poems known as kyōka 狂歌. 

Early…

Also jōyatō 常夜灯. 

A device to prevent the votive light in a lantern from going out.

Also ei 影, *shin-ei 真影, *miei…

Ch: Huike duanbi. Lit. Eka cutting (his) elbow. 

A painting subject based on the legend of Eka…

Also written 腋門, or read *wakimon 脇門. 

A small gate…

1　The textual part of an illustrated handscroll *emaki 絵巻. The…

Lit. horse painting. Illustrated wooden plaques given as votive offerings to shrines and temples. 

It is believed…

Lit. picture horse hall. Also called emaden 絵馬殿; emadokoro 絵馬所 or gakuden 額殿 (frame hall),…

Also called emakimono 絵巻物, or less commonly *ekotoba 絵詞. 

…

Folds in a garment, or the pattern made by these folds. 

In Buddhist statues, the style of drapery folds changed…

The domed lid of a tea ceremony kettle with an indentation or depressed area around the knob. Sometimes called a fuji…

The boards used to make the floor over a veranda framework. There are two common methods: kirime-en 切目縁 and …

Also written 椽長押; sometimes called *kirime nageshi 切目長押. A non-…

Also known as En no Ozunu 役小角 (also read En no Shōkaku) and En no Ubasoku 役優婆塞.

A semi-…

A Buddhist sculpture school *bussho 仏所, active in Kyoto from the 11th century…

Ch: Yuanye. Lit. garden building. The only extant treatise on classical Chinese garden construction. Written by the…

1　Also *engawa 縁側. A veranda. Formerly, en and …

Also engawabashira 縁側柱. 

Posts or pillars usually set on the floor boards *…

An imaginary type of gold which, according to Buddhist scriptures, was the most precious of metals. It was said to be found…

Also written 苑池. Lit. garden pond. The large ponds in gardens of the Nara, Heian, and Kamakura periods. Specifically, the…

Lit. circular pillar seat. A rounded molding carved into the top of a base stone *soseki…

Lit. circular hall. Although the literal meaning of endō is round structure (see *…

A heavy horizontal member attached to the outside of the veranda framework over the veranda struts *…

Also called *gatō 瓦当. The circular pendant tiles attached to semi-circular…

Also wirtten 掾側. The area beside or surrounding the straw matted *tatami 畳…

Lit. full moon bridge. A semi-circular garden bridge that, when reflected in the water below, presents the circular…

A deep red color, sometimes with a hint of purple. Dyes senryō 染料 and paints *…

The horizontal boards positioned across the front of a veranda on top of the struts *…

Ch: Yanxi fangdai. Also known as Ō Shiyū hōtai 王子猷訪戴 and Setsuya hōtai 雪夜訪戴. Lit. A…

A round nimbus. A round halo on a Buddhist statue, attached to the back of the head. Enkei kōhai are further…

Perspective. In Western art perspective derived from 15th-century developments in science, and the problem of representing 3…

Ch: Yuanhou zhuoyue. A painting subject of the Buddhist parable that features a monkey (Jp: enkō 猿猴)…

A type of round nimbus *kōhai 光背 or halo, found on a Buddhist image. The…

Also Enraō 閻羅王; Sk: Yamaraja. The name whereby *Enmaten 焔魔天 is more commonly known…

A variety of mandala *mandara 曼荼羅, centered on *…

Also written 閻摩天, 焔摩天, 炎摩天. Enma is a transliteration of Sk: Yama, which in Indian mythology is the name of the…

Lit. Lengthened life Kaja. A noh mask *nōmen 能面 representing a cheerful young…

Lit. veranda ear board. The outermost board on the kure-en 榑縁 type of veranda which has long floor boards running…

A penetrating tie-beam that connects and strengthens the veranda struts *enzuka…

Paint. Usually refers to an insoluble pigment *ganryō 顔料 or soluble dye…

Also hakuen 白鉛, oshiroi 白粉, hafuni 白粉. White lead. A toxic white powder of basic lead carbonate (…

Also written 焔髪. Upstanding hair in the shape of flames. This accompanies an expression of anger *…

Lit. end of the veranda water basin. A type of tall, cylindrical wash basin *…

Lit. round star type. A variety of *ensaki chōzubachi 縁先手水鉢, end of…

Lit. Enshū gate. A type of projecting fence *sodegaki 袖垣 featuring upper…

One type of lantern. Generally six-sided with an elongated canopy *kasa 笠 and…

Also written 円相床; also marumadodoko 丸窓床. A circular window placed in the center of the rear wall of an alcove *…

Lit. circular window fence. A common type of projecting fence *sodegaki 袖垣…

Lit. circular window lattice sleeve fence. A type of narrow screen fence *sodegaki…

Also ensō kōhai 円相光背. A large circular halo *kōhai 光背 found on…

A portrait which is drawn in a circular background.

Lit. veranda corner rafter. Also called sumisasu 隅扠首. 

A brace placed under the outer corners of a…

Red lead. A crimson red pigment *ganryō 顔料 produced from lead oxide Pb O…

Also written 椽繋. Short horizontal bearers that join the outer veranda posts *enzuka…

1　A matting made of straw, rushes, sedge, or cattails woven in a spiral pattern that was used for bedding,…

Lit. distant mountain stone. The stone in an arrangement placed above or behind artificial mountains *…

Also written entanbashira 縁短柱, also pronounced entsuka. Struts *tsuka…

Also called iriwa 入輪. Lit. a collar ring. A collar tenon. It has a step-like piece called a collar, cut on each…

Also called iriwadome 入輪留 or eridome 襟留. Lit. collar miter. An angle joint *…

Also written 画師. Also read ekaki. A painter or decorator, often a master painter. A term used especially to refer…

A written or spoken explanation of *shaji engi-e 社寺縁起絵 (historical scenes…

Also read san. Lit. hanging branches. 

1　A sheathing made of boards and bamboo woven…

The holes made in roofing lath to allow rope to be passed through and tied, thus making the lath secure. An example can be…

Sometimes called *tarukidake 垂木竹: noboridake 昇竹 or sasudake…

A shop which produced and sold painting. Distinguished from fan shops ōgiya 扇屋 and screen shops shōjiya…

Bracket arms *hijiki 肘木, that are decorated with *…

1　A Nara and Heian periods term used to refer to any kind of design, which included a sketch for a statue…

Also written 絵様刳形. Low relief carvings which use curved lines. The carvings are found, for example, on nosings *…

A low relief architectural decoration carved into beams *hari 梁, nosings…

The paintings of the Ainu アイヌ of Hokkaidō 北海道 and Sakhalin サハリン, focusing on their everyday activities and yearly…

Also written 絵双紙. An illustrated booklet published during the Edo period. These were short publications written in kana…

Ch: Fu Daishi. Buddhist Master Fu or Great Teacher Fu. The Chinese Buddhist layman Fu Xi (Jp: Fu Kyū 傅翕, 497-569)…

Sanskrit: Potalaka. Sometimes written 普陀楽山, 布落迦山; also called Fudaraku 補陀落. Octagonal island-mountain paradise…

A curved wooden border attached to the end of a desk or shelf to prevent brushes and scrolls from rolling off. It is also…

Noh mask *nōmen 能面, representing *Fudō …

The chief of the Five Great Myōō, *Godai Myōō 五大明王, Fudō has been, and…

A hall in a Buddhist temple dedicated to the deity *Fudō Myōō 不動明王 (Sk:…

Lit. flute post. The thick post at the right rear corner of a noh stage, *…

Depictions of Mt. Fuji 富士 painted from the Heian period to modern times in a variety of contexts. A usually quiet (but still…

Lit. universally good (Sk: Samantabhadra); also Henkitsu 遍吉. A bodhisattva, *bosatsu…

Also called Shigatsudō 四月堂; *Sanmaidō 三昧堂. A Buddhist temple in which the main deity…

Lit. axe-cut stroke. A painting texture stroke, *shunpō 皴法, said to have been…

Devotional paintings of Mt. Fuji 富士 in a large hanging scroll format. Usually they are in the form of sankei mandara…

A pictorial subject taken from the "Wisteria Leaves" (Fuji no uraba, underleaves of wisteria), Chapter 33 of …

A pictorial subject taken from the "Purple Trousers" (Fujibakama, also translated as Mistflowers), Chapter 30 of…

Lit. Fuji shape. A common type of *shizenseki chōzubachi 自然石手水鉢,…

Lit. Wind God and Thunder God. Based on popular Indian deities (Sk: Vayu and Varun) and Chinese deities (Ch: Fengshen 風神 and…

Fujiwara period. A period of approximately two hundred years corresponding to the Middle Heian period (Heian chūki…

Deep. A noh mask, *nōmen 能面, representing a middle-aged woman torn by…

Also fukasanjō-no-seki 深三畳席. A tea ceremony room of three mats. One of the mats is about one quarter normal size,…

Ch: Puhua. An itinerant priest of the Tang Dynasty depicted in paintings as wandering the streets of Zhenzhou 鎮州 in a state…

Lit. Landscape painting, a general term, usually applied only to works in the long western tradition of landscape by…

Also zōkin bokashi 雑巾ぼかし, rag shading. Any wiping technique used to produce gradated tones (shading) on a woodblock…