Glossary

abuna-e	mildly erotic pictures, as opposed to the more explicit shunga.
aragoto	rough style of kabuki acting (cf wagoto).
benizuri-e	early two-coloured prints.
bijinga	paintings of women, generally courtesans.
bunjinga	literati painting, the style of the intellectual amateur, aka Nanga.
chaya	tea house. Used for the tiny hut built into tea gardens, for the most refined and artistic kinds of tea ceremony, and the large and lavish houses that were a major part of the pleasure quarters of big cities.
chanoyu	tea ceremony.
chuban	a standard size for prints, about 27 x 20cm.
daimyo	feudal lords, aristocratic and military powers.
engawa	veranda for viewing gardens, and linking in and out.
fusuma	interior sliding partitions, often painted.
hashirakake	narrow scroll for display on pillars of homes, commonly something like 60x12cm.
hikime kagihana	'line-eye hook-nose', a way of drawing faces since Heian times, with no concern for individuality.
hiramakie	maki-e where the artist sprinkles the design only, almost flat
inro	small compartmented boxes worn dangling from the belt
jokomachi	Castle towns.
kabuki	broad and raucous theatre style, generally associated with lower classes.
kacho, kachoga	pictures of birds and flowers, one of the classic painting genres.
kakemono	vertical scrolls, generally holding paintings, often about twice as high as wide.
kana	The term for the two Japanese syllabaries (as opposed to Kanji).
kanji	The less widely read Chinese-style Japanese script.
kara-e	paintings of Chinese subjects, as opposed to yamato-e.
kogo	small incense box
kyoka	parodies of classical waka, still in the same 31-syllable form.
maki-e	gold/silver/coloured dust/particles sprinkled onto wet lacquer
makimono	horizontal scrolls, generally holding paintings, often many yards long.
mitate	artistic convention where contemporary settings substitute for classical or mythological subjects.
mokkotsu	'boneless' painting, i.e. without outlines, often with washes.
Nanga	Southern-style painting - used interchangeably with bunjinga, above.
natsume	Tea caddy
negoro	black then red lacquer on much-used objects that wear in time, unevenly and unpredictably, so that the black shows through
noh	highly sophisticated theatre style, generally associated with the upper classes.
oban	a standard size for prints, about 39 x 26cm.
onnagata	a male actor who exclusively or mostly plays female roles.
sencha	Chinese-style tea ceremony, which was less formal.
shiki-e	pictures of the four seasons.
shunga	erotic pictures - formerly called makura-e, or pillow pictures. A stronger term than abuna-e, above.
suibokuga	water and ink pictures - particularly used for old Zen landscape paintings.
sumizuri-e	ink prints - early monochrome prints, sometimes with basic colour added quickly by hand.
surimono	privately commissioned print, generally for a special occasion.
takamakie	relief maki-e where the artist sprinkles overall and cuts back, or builds up some areas only
tokonoma	alcove for displaying art objects in the home.
tsukinami-e	pictures of the twelve months.
uki-e	pictures illustrating linear perspective.
ukiyo-e	pictures of the floating world. Images of the everyday and impermanent. In reality, much more a painting style than a genre...
wagoto	softer style of kabuki acting (cf aragoto).
waka	31-syllable poem, one of the great classical forms.
yamato-e	paintings of Japanese subjects, as opposed to kara-e.
zenga	Zen picture - usually applied to works by Zen monks.
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