Paintings chiefly painted in water soluble pigments and mineral pigments
blended in a glue solution. It was originally introduced from China and
has been practised in Japan since ancient times.

Sho is the art of writing characters with fude (brush) and sumi. It has
developed in the East, especially in China and Japan.

To mount a painting or calligraphy work in the form of a kake-jiku,
kansu, jou, byoubu, etc. ; the mounting. Also termed hyousou and
soukou. Generally it is performed in the speciality shop (hyougu-ten).

The date, location, title, explanation, pseudonym, and name and seals
of the artist, usually found in a corner of a painting or calligraphy work.
Works of the ancient periods rarely have rakkan, but after the middle of
the Kamakura period, they were common.

The inscription on the top or back cover of the box for a work of art or
craft certifying its value is known as hako-gaki. When signed by the
maker, the box becomes even more highly valued and known as tomo-
bako.

A work's title, history and the like written by the artist or a related
person on the box in which it is preserved. Using this one can
authenticate that it is a genuine work or sometimes discover that it was
the property of some famous collector.

Daizai; subject

Japanese-style painting has many subject matters.

Buddhist images have the four classes by Nyorai (Tathagata), Bosatsu
(Bodhisattva), Myou-ou (vidya-raja) and Ten (Deva).

Buddhist paintings and statues which depict portraits of the founder and
his successors, mostly the high ranking priests, in a lineage of a Buddhist
sect. Portraits of Zen masters are popularly called chinsou or chinzou.

Paintings based upon honji-suijaku-setsu (Shinto-Buddhist unity
concept) that Shinto divinities are manifestations (suijaku) of Buddhist
ones and that Buddhist ones are their original forms (honji).

This is one of the three major subjects of Oriental painting together with
jinbutsu-ga and kachou-ga.

Human figures have always been the main subject matter of paintings
both in the East and the West.

A type of Oriental painting whose subject matter is flowering plants, birds,
insects, etc.

Zen-ga (Zen painting), Monogatari-e (narrative painting), etc.

Ryuuha; school

Schools of art can be distinguished by their style and also by master-apprentice relationships.

It is a way of painting which is original to the East. Pictures with dark and
light and tone, drawn in only sumi. Boku-ga (sumi-e) is the same,
though strictly the two are different. It is based on the idea that there are
all colors in sumi, an idea deeply connected with Zen. It has developed
mainly in landscape painting.

Paintings not by professional painters but by literary people for whom
painting is a hobby. Same as nanshuu-ga in Japan.

Hasegawa-ha (Hasegawa school), Kaihou-ha (Kaiho school), Soga-ha
(Soga school), etc.

Tosa-ha (Tosa school), Sumiyoshi-ha (Sumiyoshi school), Fukko-
yamato-e-ha (restored Yamato-e school), etc.

A school of Japanese pictorial art which came into being during the Edo
period. Ukiyo means this present world, or the mode of life in
contemporary society. Ukiyo-e, therefore, are a type of genre pictures.
They found their subject matter in the red light districts and theaters in
the cities first, then later on, came to deal also with landscapes and
kachou motifs. They were disseminated in the form of wood-block prints
rather than as nikuhitsu (painting).

In the history of Japanese painting, no other school has ever dominated
the art world over such a long period of time as the Kano school.
Masanobu Kano (1434-1530) founded this school and it continued into
the 19th century. It was the school of academic court painters for over
400 years through the regimes of the Ashikagas, Nobunaga Oda,
Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Tokugawas. Though started as kan-ga-ha, they
inherited and preserved the traditions of Japanese style including those of
yamato-e.

A school of painting created by Sotatsu Tawaraya (15??-16??), brought
to perfection by Korin Ogata (1658-1716). It achieved a purely Japanese-
style of decorative beauty and contributed not only to painting but also to
all the crafts.

A school of painting which continued from the late Edo period until recent
times. Okyo Maruyama (1733-95) was the pioneer of this school and his
school put importance not on a traditional study of copybooks but on
sketching based on painting from nature. They also made works which
were welcomed by the citizens of the Kyoto-Osaka area by cleverly
compromising with the traditional ways of painting.

Bujin-ga (warrior painting), Unkoku-ha (Unkoku school), Shijou-ha
(Shijo school), Kishi-ha (Kishi school), etc.

Keijou ; form

General term indicating the form of a work, as in scroll, frame, folding screen, pamphlet, etc.

A general term for maki-mono and kake-jiku. Both are similar in the sense
that they have the axis made from wood or bamboo and paintings and
calligraphic works are rolled up around it. The one which is rolled sideways is
maki-mono and the one which is rolled vertically is kake-jiku. However,
when the term jiku is mentioned singly, it usually refers to kake-jiku.

Synonymous with kake-huku, kake-mono and jiku. A painting, calligraphy,
etc., mounted on paper or cloth as a scroll for hanging in toko-no-ma
(alcove), on a wall, etc.

A long, narrow scroll rolled onto a wooden, bamboo, or ivory axis roller.
Such scrolls usually consist of calligraphy or paintings executed on paper or
silk. Same as kansu (kansu-bon).

Although framing a work of art developed in the West, recently many
Japanese-style works are also framed.

A type of screen used for protection from the wind or for privacy. Early
folding screens consisted of six or four panels with wooden frames; metal
fittings were affixed on the upper and the lower parts of the frame and were
connected by strings. The panels were connected with paper hinges
afterward. The panels were decorated with paintings or calligraphic writings.

Sasshi (book), Jou (folding book), Sen-men (fan), Hanga (print), etc.

Sozai; material

The material used as a means of expression.

Paper base for painting or calligraphic writing, as contrasted with kenpon.
Used in terms like "shihon, sumi" (sumi on paper).

Silk cloth used for painting or writing. Used in terms like "kenpon-saishoku"
(color on silk) which is the antonym of shihon.

A black coloring agent made by soot solidified by a mixture of glue. The
quality of material and the way of burning affect the fineness or roughness
of the carbon particles, subtly influencing the quality of the ink, or the tone
of black color.

This is a type of color used for Eastern painting. It is a powder made from
pulverized stone. Iwa-enogu do not dissolve in water. They are usually
used in conjunction with kou-sui (glue solution).

Refers to all water-soluble pigments used in all oriental painting.
Mizu-enogu are usually made of organic vegetable substances.

A sheet of gold or silver beaten with a wooden mallet into a paper-like thin
leaf. When gold is used it is referred to as kin-paku, while with silver, it is
called gin-paku.

A material made by dissolving gold or silver powder in nikawa (glue). When
gold is used it is referred to as kin-dei, while with silver, it is called gin-dei.

Asa (hemp cloth), Ita (wooden board), Kirara (mica), etc.