Daruma Magazine » Glossary

Glossary

A

Ashikaga Yoshimasa: 1435-1490, eighth shôgun of the Ashikaga era; built the two-storied temple which became known as the Silver Pavilion and was considered the first patron of the wabi hermitage-style Chanoyu, using one of the small houses of his villa
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu: 1358-1408, third shôgun of the Ashikaga era, the grandson of Takauji, built the Gold Pavilion in the northern section of Kyoto for his villa; enjoyed the extravagant shoin style of Chanoyu there
Atari: A metal stud attached to the wood of a tansu directly under a handle to prevent it from nicking the drawer’s wood surface
Atsuita: Stiff brocade with twilled ground, frequently used in Noh costumes
Aya: Plain color twill-weave silk, often used as ground for raised woven patterns
Aya: Figured twill weave
Azekura: The architectural style of the Shôsôin repository of Tôdaiji Temple in Nara, in which large triangular timbers are laid horizontally one on top of another; a log construction in which corners of the building join in a lap-joint style

B

Bakufu: “Tent government,” seat and instruments of government
Ban: Buddhist ritual banners
Ban-e: Medallion motif used on textiles, classical dance costumes, and furnishings during the Heian period
Bangasa: Japanese paper umbrella
Bashôfu: Banana-fiber cloth
Bengara: In ancient times, a pigment imported from Nothern India, but since the Edo period derived by processing iron oxide in Japan. Widely used traditionally as a wood stain
Bingata: Multicolor stencil-dyed textile from the Ryûkyû Islands, popular in Japan during the Edo period
Bingata: A textile printing process developed in Okinawa in which a single stencil is used to dye a number of colors on a piece of fabric
Bingata: Paste-resist dyed textiles of Okinawa that use ganryô pigments for coloration
Biwa: Any of several varieties of lute common in the Orient, usually having four strings
Bizen ware: Unglazed stoneware made in Okayama Prefecture from the 12th century (possibly earlier) to the present. Typical wares have a vitrified body with surfaces of glossy gold, matte orange, iridescent blue-green, or rough, charcoal-like patches, all produced by sustained, high temperature firings.
Bô-dansu: Any tansu that bears a vertical locking bar (bô) across a series of drawers; commonly found on Sendai clothing chests
Bô-dansu: A general term for any tansu that relies on a vertical locking bar (bô) to secure the drawers. This is one of the very oldest of tansu designs. The bar is sometimes referred to as a kan’nuki, or closing bar.
Bokashi: Graduated shading or blending dyes from dark to light shades or color into color; also called ombre
Bonsai: The art of dwarfing trees or plants by growing and training them in containers
Bosatsu: A being of great spiritual attainment who is destined for Buddhahood, but who delays becoming a Buddha in order to help all others achieve this state
Bôsen: A resist material such as wax or paste
Bunjin: “Literati.” The Japanese genre of bunjin painting is derived from Chinese wen-jen painting, which was based on the ideal of a man of letters who expressed himself in ink paintings that were intuitive and “amateur” in nature rather than polished and professional. Taking root in Japan in the 18th century, bunjin painting developed into an important school in the 18th and 19th centuries, attracting men of diverse background who were alike, however, in their independence of mind and aesthetic principles.
Bura: A small teardrop-shaped pull found on the drawers of small furniture
Byô: General term for straight pinning, whether with iron nails to secure hardware, or with wooden pegs to pin an open mortise, stopped butt, etc. When used as bumpers for drawer pulls, to protect the finish, called atari-byô.
Byôbu: A traditional Japanese folding screen containing two or more panels

C

Cha: Japanese green tea
Chabana: Ikebana for the tea ceremony
Cha-dansu: A chest for tea utensils. Finely crafted pieces made in the 20th century have lost their mobility and therefore cannot be considered tansu in the strict sense of the word. Chests specifically intended for use in the tea ceremony are called tea-ceremony tansu.
Chaire: Tea caddy
Chaire: Small ceramic tea caddy
Chako: A commercially available, water-soluble dye widely used in Japan for traditional wood stains
Chanoyu: Art of enjoying tea with friends; literally means “the hot water for tea”
Chashitsu: Room where a Chanoyu is held
Chatsubo: Storage jar for tea leaf
Chawan: Tea bowl
Chawan: Handless bowl for tea or food
Chayatsuji: Bleached hemp cloth dyed predominantly in indigo by means of rice-paste resist method, usually with a landscape design, and used for summer kimono. During the Edo period, chayatsuji textiles were sometimes further ornamented with embroidery and used for women’s wear in high-ranking families.
Chiaroscuro: The light and dark shading of objects in a picture to show the incidence of light and to create an effect of representational realism
Children’s Day: Festival held on May 5. Since ancient times, the day has been a festival for boys, corresponding to the Doll Festival for girls on March 3. In 1948, renamed Kodomo no hi.
Chinkin: “Sunken gold”, a Chinese method of lacquer ornamentation brought to Japan in the Muromachi period. Thin strips of gold foil are pressed into finly carved contours in the lacquer surface.
Chinkin-bori: “Filled-gold carving”; the incised design is colored, usually with gold powder or leaf.
Chion-in: The Kyoto headquarters of the Pure Land sect of Buddhism. This temple was an important patron of the arts in the Edo period.
Chôba-dansu: Merchant chest. Also called chô-dansu
Chô-bako: A style of sea chest designed with drawers and/or sliding door compartments on the chest front
Chô-dansu: Merchant chest. Also called chôba-dansu
Chô-dansu: A general term for shop tansu, originally used to store account books, also called chôba-dansu if intended for use on the raised platform (chôba)
Chôsen: “Korean”; used in Japanese for wares of Korean origin or style
Chûban: Medium-sized print, approximately 10.5 x 8 in. (27 x 20 cm.)

D

Daikon: A long white raddish
Daimyô: Landholding military lords in premodern Japan
Daimyô: A “great name” or feudal lord owning extensive lands. In the Edo period there were between two and three hundred such domains.
Daitokuji (temple): One of the head Zen Buddhist temples of Kyoto, known for its association with Chanoyu
Daiwa hibachi: A rectangular wooden hibachi produced in the Kyoto area
Daruma: The founder of Zen Buddhism
Deshima: The artificial island built to keep Dutch traders contained in Nagasaki harbor. Deshima was thus the spot from which most European science and art was disseminated during the Edo period
Dewa: A historical district on the Japan Sea coast encompassing modern Akita and Yamagata Prefectures
Dô: Body armor
Dogû: Pottery figure of the Jômon culture
Dôgu-bako: A tall, narrow chest with drawers used for the storage of a tradesman’s small tools
Doki: Earthenware
Dôtaku: Yayoi-period bronze bell-shaped ceremonial objects forged with geometric figures, human, animals and other designs

E

Eboshi: A cap worn by Heian and late male nobles and warriors who had gone through the coming-of-age ceremony. There were various styles; the nobility covered their eboshi with a thin coat of lacquer.
Edo: The original name of present-day Tokyo
Edo jidai: 1603-1867, the period dominated by the Tokugawa family, who based their operations in the administrative capital of Edo (modern Tokyo). The Tokugawas enforced rigid seclusion policies which, however, did not prevent the slow penetration of European influences.
Edo komon: Small allover stencil-dyed textile pattern, produced in Edo
Eisai: 1141-1215, priest who studied esoteric Buddhism in Kyoto and introduced Rinzai Zen Buddhism to Japan from China
Ekirô: An oil-based fluorocarbon substance used on fabric as a cold resist
E-nashiji: “Pictorial nashiji“; nashiji that is employed to make a design rather than a ground

F

Fubuki: Literally, “blizzard”; a splattering of fine dots of wax on fabric
Fude: A long-handled, pointed brush used for wax application and sumi brush painting
Fujiwara Teika: 1162-1241, poet of the Fujiwara family who wrote many noted books on poetry
Fukagawa: The founder of Kôransha Company, maker of high-quality porcelain
Fukikaeshi: The part of helmet curled back from the face
Fuki-urushi: Popular name for a wiped lacquer finishing technique also known professionally as suri-urushi-nuri
Fuku: The character for Good Luck, used as a mark on porcelain
Funa-dansu: Sea chest
Funa-dansu: Sea chests, tansu used on the “thousand-koku ships” and on land by ship owners and captains. Mostly built between 1716 and 1907 at the Japan Sea towns of Ogi, Sakata, and Mikuni in three styles; hangai , for clothing; and chô-bako, for account books, money, and documents.
Fundame: Find-ground gold powder thickly sprinkled over the wet lacquer surface; because it is so finely ground, it is usually not polished, and the result is a matte finish.
Funori: Sodium alginate. A seaweed-based thickener used to thicken dye solution and sometimes to size fabric
Furoshiki: Square carrying cloth
Furoshiki: A square cloth used for wrapping and carrying objects
Furoshiki: A square piece of fabric used to wrap and carry packages
Fusenryô: Literally means weaving with raised figures; also, a pattern of raised-weave figures each of which is in the form of a large circle
Fuse-saishiki: Decorative technique in which the pattern or polychromed surface is partially concealed by an openwork covering of tortoise shell or crystal
Fusenryô: “Floating-line textile”, originally, a type of plain twill with designs superimposed in loose, floating threads; now designates any large medallion pattern of the type common on such textiles
Fusuma: Sliding doors separating the rooms of a Japanese house; usually made of heavy, opaque paper with painted decoration covering a wooden frame
Fûten: The wind god, often found with wind bag
Futon: Sleeping quilt
Futon: Padded mattress and quilt which are pliable enough to be folded and stored out of sight during the day
Futon-ji: Bridal bed quilt covers made of indigo-dyed cotton, which village artisans decorated with auspicious motifs and family crests
Fuyô-de: Japanese term (fuyô=hibiscus) for the division of a rim (fanning out like the hibiscus flower) in Wanli dishes, and for the whole group of these dishes

G

Ga: drawn by, painted by; drawing, painting
Gama Sen’nin: The immortal with frog as companion
Ganryô: Opaque, water-soluble pigments
Gasenshi: Paper used by ink painters; originally from China
Genkan: Entrance
Gigaku: A masked theatrical dance of the 7th and 8th centuries; wax-resist textiles were created for gigaku performers
Ginkakuji (temple): Ashikaga Yoshimasa’s temple of worship situated in his villa in Kyoto
Gofun: Opaque, white (oyster shell) pigments used with binder on fabric
Gojiru: Soybean liquid used to bond dyes and pigment to fabric
Goma: Sesame seed ash glaze
Gomu nori: “Gum paste”; the modern resist line used in yûzen dyeing
Gosu: Cobalt blue
Gôsu: A small, round lidded container of ceramic, lacquer, or metal used to hold spices, incense, and the like
Goyô-dansu: Goyô designates some official function. These chests were most commonly used to transport and store documents.
Gumbai: A style of drawer handle designed in the shape of a gumbai, a traditional, lacquered fan formerly used to signal the start of a contest or battle. Also called gumpai.
Gyôbu nashiji: Dense aventurine; lacquer ground in which the gold or silver flakes are larger than usual and irregular in shape; the flakes are not sprinkled but are set into the wet lacquer one by one.
Gyôshô-bako: Cabinetry carried by itinerant craftsmen and peddlers. Also referred to as senda-bitsu.
Gyôyô: Lit., apricot leaf; a metal or leather hose decoration in this shape

H

Habutae: Soft plain woven silk resembling taffeta, produced by the Nishijin weavers since the Momoyama period
Hagikusô: A seaside plant with flowers similar to the Chinese bellflower
Haji: Medieval reddish earthenware
Hakama: A divided skirt worn by men on formal occasions
Hake: A general term for any brush other than the narrow pointed brush called fude; when the term is used as a suffix, the “h” is voiced, e. g., shike-bake
Hakeme: Coat of slip applied with a short-bristled brush
Hako: Literally “box,” but often used to denote a type of small chest or other container made of wood. Pronounced -bako when used in a compound.
Hako: Literally a box but occasionally applicable to tansu as in the chô-bako sea chest and the gyôshô-bako. Hako is pronounced -bako in compounds. In that tansu makers were often referred to as hakoya, or boxmakers, it is still common for the older generation to speak of the tansu craft as hakomono, literally box things.
Hakudô: A copper and nickel alloy, popularly used to form thin circular rings around lockplates on Yonezawa and Sendai clothing chests. Appears silver in color.
Hakudô: Compound of 70 to 80 percent copper and 20 to 30 percent tin, used as lock-plate edging on many clothing tansu from the northern provinces in the Meiji era, primarily from Yamagata Prefecture
Hakurô: A bleached form of a natural plant wax from the haze sumac tree
Hana: Flowers
Hanabishi: “Flower diamond”, a diamond pattern with foliate edges; frequently combined with kikkô lattice
Han-bako: A one-drawer box used for the storage of name seals (hanko) and ink
Han-bôsen: “Half-resist”, an advanced technique in which hot wax is brushed onto fabric for a shaded application
Hangai: A style of sea chest having a full-front door on the chest face that lifts off completely from the case
Haniwa: Unglazed, cylindrical figures of people and animals that are the earliest examples of Japanese pottery. They were arranged in patterns, partially embedded in the earth, around the great mounded tombs built for the Japanese elite during the 4th to 7th centuries.
Haniwa: “Clay ring,” cylinder or human figure or animal; also a ceremonial umbrella on a cylinder, of reddish earthenware, made in the seventh and eighth centuries
Haori: A short kimono-style jacket worn over the kimono. The front is left open rather than overlapped and is tied with silk cords.
Haori: A half-coat worn over other Japanese attire, often as part of a formal outfit
Hari-bako: Sewing box or chest
Hari-gi (harite): Wooden bars with needlelike teeth used to stretch fabric lengthwise
Haze: The sumac tree native to Japan, which produces a waxlike oil used in rôketsuzome; also hazenoki
Hera: A spatula used to apply paste through a stencil
Hibachi: Brazier for warming the hands
Hibachi: An indoor brazier used to provide warmth, boil water for tea, or warm sake. It is made in a variety of sizes and materials, especially wood and ceramic, and is filled with sand and ash. Charcoal is arranged in the centre under a trivet which supports a kettle.
Hibachi: A brazier crafted of porcelain, copper, bronze, or wood, which holds burning coals used primarily for heating a room or water
Hibi: A crack or fissure; in this case, a break in the wax surface
Higashiyama Bunka: Culture which flourished during the time of Ashikaga Yoshimasa
Hijiri: Person who is knowledgeable about life; man who lives a life of freedom without any attachment to worldly matters; wandering monk; literally made up of two words, “sun” and “to know,” as the sun shines equally upon the good and the evil without attachment
Hikidashi: Drawer, whether external or internal, with or without hardware
Hiki-do: Sliding doors in a pair used in cabinetry
Hikite: Tansu drawer pulls as opposed to rings
Hikizome: Application of background color using a large brush
Hikizomeya: A professional dyer of background fabric, usually for the kimono industry
Himetani porcelain: The first kiln was founded in 1670 in Bingo province (now Hiroshima Prefecture); little is known of the kiln. Production was started again in the 17th century.
Himotôshi: The openings for cords found on netsuke or inrô
Hinoki: Japanese cypress
Hinoki: Aromatic cypress used for the framework of some merchant tansu from western Honshû, as well as for objects of daily use
Hirado porcelain: According to tradition, produced about 1600 by Korean potters on Hirado island in the northwest of Kyûshû; first rough, white and blue-white, then in the late 18th and 19th centuries smooth and white with fine flower painting; made for the princes of Hirado
Hira-makie: “Low sprinkled picture”; the makie lacquer design is raised above the surface of the ground only by the thickness of the lacquer with which it was drawn. A thin, protective coat of lacquer is applied over the sprinkled powders and then polished when dry.
Hirame: Technique in which flat flakes of gold metal are sprinkled over the wet lacquer ground, then lacquered again and polished until they are exposed flush with the ground
Hirasa porcelain: Produced from the 19th century in Kagoshima near Satsuma in Kyûshû. The brown speckled glaze, like the white porcelain decorated in famille rose colors, was influenced by Chinese porcelain.
Hirute: A style of drawer handle designed in the shape of a water leech
Hitsu: Drawn by, painted by
Hitsu: Any number of free-standing cabinetry styles were once grouped within this broad category. The hitsu may generally be considered a free-standing coffer. When used in a compound, hitsu is pronounced -bitsu.
Hizen porcelain: Arita porcelain from Hizen province
Hôjô-ki: An account of his life by recluse Kamo-no-Chômei
Hôju: Buddhist peach-shaped symbol of a round jewel with pointed top, sometimes ringed with flames; has the power to grant any wish
Hôju: A spherical jewel slightly pointed at the top, part of Buddhist iconography
Hôki: A palm fiber brush similar to a common kitchen (brown fiber) whisk broom; used to splatter large dots of wax onto the fabric in the technique known as fubuki
Hokuriku-dô: Historical route and the surrounding district, comprising parts of Fukui, Ishikawa, Toyama, and Niigata Prefectures
Hôrai-san: Enchanted island of the Taoist immortals (Chinese: P’eng-lai Shan); an auspicious motif
Hôsôge: Floral motif used frequently in Buddhist ornamentation, featuring an imaginary flower possibly based on the peony
Hôsôge karakusa: Vine-scroll pattern incorporating imaginary hôsôge flowers
Hotei: One of the seven gods of fortune, with huge abdomen and sack
Hôzôge: An arabesque pattern of imaginary multi-petaled flowers
Hyôguya: Makers of traditional Japanese screens

I

Ibota wax: A wax derived from the secretions of an insect, used in blended wax formulas for its unusual crack patterning
Ichigo-ichie: An event which will never be repeated; literally, “one time—one meeting”
Idojawan: A deep Korean rice bowl; the name does not derive from the Korean village of Ido but from the Japanese term for a deep bowl (ido=well)
Ikenobô: Buddhist priest of the early 16th century who lived at the Rokkakudô temple in Kyoto; also name of the school of flower arrangement derived from his name
Ikkyû Sôjun: 1394-1481, Zen Buddhist monk of Daitokuji (temple), Kyoto, whose ancestor was a relative of the Imperial family
Imari: Porcelains, originally blue and white, named for the port in Kyûshû from which they were shipped
Imari: The trading port for Arita. Imari porcelain is the term for Arita porcelain made for export, or Arita porcelain in Imari style
Imono kanagu: Cast hardware
In: Seal
Inja: Man who lives away from society; a recluse
Inrô: A small medicine container with interlocking sections, hung from the belt
Inrô: A small container hung at the waist for holding medicines; a pillbox
Ironori: Paste into which dye has been mixed to color the fabric and which is used in the katazome process. Products such as dakku are used for rôzome instead of paste
Irori: Sunken open hearth
Irosashi: The application of detail dye with a small brush, often done in yûzen
Irosashi-bake: The flat brush used in irosashi, or the application of color detail
Ishi-datami: “Paving stone”, checkerboard pattern, so called after stone floors in Chinese palaces; on yûsoku textiles also known as arare ; also called “Ichimatsu pattern” after a 17th-century Kabuki actor who favored the design
Ishime: In lacquer and metalwork, a technique for producing a stonelike surface
Ishô: General term used to denote clothing storage
Ishô-dansu: Clothing chest; a tansu containing drawers and often a small door compartment that opens to two small inner drawers
Itame: Flat-sawn grain resulting from tangential ripping. Most tansu drawer-face hardwood is cut this way so that the lacquer will show off the grain to best advantage. The open-grain pattern is popularly called mokume.
Itokiri: Tread marks (ridges) formed on removal of a pot from the wheel
Itome: The fine paste line of yûzen resist dyeing; the “fine thread” paste line
Itomeya: Workers who outline designs in paste or gum

J

Jiki: Glazed porcelain (soft porcelain)
Jimbei: Two-piece cotton suit
Jinbaori: Campaign coats worn over armor; some 17th century coats include sarasa (wax-resist fabrics from India).
Jizome-bake: The wide, wooden-handled badger hair brush with short, dense bristles used for dyeing large background areas
Jô: General word for lock. The omotejô is the older, single-action lock, the urajô is the double-action lock, and the karajô is a slide latch.
Jôdai-gire: Ancient textile fragments; cloth from the Shôsôin and Hôryûji collections of the 7th and 8th centuries and earlier
Jokon: Striated pattern on Jômon period pottery produced by scraping the damp clay surface with the edge of a scallop shell
Jômon: Cord pattern on Jômon period pottery produced by rolling a cord-wrapped stick across the damp clay. The period takes its name from the pottery technique
Jûrokumusashi: A board game; one large stone and sixteen small ones attempt to eliminate each other on a board divided into triangles and squares

K

Ka: Stylized five-lobed floral medallion said to be based on the cross-section of a papaya
Ka and arare: A common yûsoku pattern comprised of stylized floral medallions superimposed on a checkerboard ground
Kabuto: A helmet
Kaidan-dansu: Staircase chest; a tansu constructed as a freestanding staircase with storage drawers and compartments built into the steps
Kaidan-dansu: Built-in staircase tansu, most always in two or three sections for mobility. Popular with merchants in urban areas of Honshû during the Edo period for use in shops and storehouses.
Kaigara: Shell pattern on Jômon-period pottery produced by pressing scallop shells into the damp clay surface
Kaiseki: Small dish handed round before drinking tea in the tea ceremony
Kagamibuta: “Encased mirror”; a type of manjû netsuke, shaped as a bowl and fitted with a decorated metal “mirror” (kagami) or lid
Kakesuzuri: A style of sea chest that has a single front door hinged at one side and opening to reveal a series of inner drawers
Kakiemon porcelain: Fine white pocelain from the Kakiemon workshop in Arita, known as the first Japanese porcelain with overglaze enamels
Kaki-shibu: Persimmon tannin, used as a wood stain under lacquer for the secondary wood of many Meiji-era tansu
Kakute: A style of drawer handle designed with square edges
Kamakura-bori: Chinese lacquer technique of carving relief designs into thick lacquer, usually in red or black, or layers of both colors. It flourished in Japan during the Kamakura period.
Kamakura jidai: Government of the shogunate in Kamakura from the year 1185 to 1333
Kami: the god(s) of the Shintô religion
Kamishimo: A formal men’s outfit made up of a kataginu (short-sleeved short coat) and hakama
Kamon: A Japanese family crest, often used as a motif on tansu metalwork
Kan: A ring pull
Kanagu: Hardware
Kanagu dôgu-bako: Tool chest; a small chest with shallow drawers used by ironsmiths to store hand tools
Kan’non: The bodhisattva of mercy, Avalokitesvara (accent over s) in Sanskrit
Kan’nonbiraki: A type of double doors whose hinges are attached flush against the chest face. Chests bearing these doors are often called kan’nonbiraki tansu.
Kantô: The region surrounding the modern city of Tokyo (formerly Edo)
Kaô: A stylized symbol used together with a signature or in its place
Karabana: An imaginary flower whose petals have three rounded points
Karabitsu: A small Chinese-style lacquer chest, mounted on four short legs in contrast to the flat-bottom Japanese chests
Karahana: “Chinese flower”, an imaginary many-petaled floral motif
Karahana: Literally, “Chinese flower”; a term coined in the 20th century to refer to the large floral patterns peculiar to jôdai gire fabrics. These imaginary flowers similar to tree peonies or lotus blossoms were popular in the art of Nara-period Japan and Tang-dynasty China.
Karabishi: A karabana stylized into a rhomboid shape
Karahana tatewaku: Design of karahana inserted between vertical wavy lines
Karahi fence: A crest depicting a Japanese cypress fence (hinoki) with semicircle shapes at the top
Karako: A Chinese boy
Karakusa: Arabesque
Karakusa: “Chinese grass”, a scrolling vine motif introduced into Japan from T’ang China. Its basic shape is a continuous scrolling vine, not unlike the Western arabesque; often incorporated in the vine pattern are flowers, fruits, various leaves, butterflies and other insects.
Karanashi: A six- or eight-petaled stylized flower used in family crests, probably originating on the Asian mainland
Kara-ori: “Chinese weave”, rich brocade with design in satin weave on twill woven ground, and lavishly embellished with gold and colored threads; used in costumes for Noh drama
Karatsu ware: Collective name for various ceramics produced south of the city of Karatsu, an ancient port in Hizen Province (now Saga Prefecture), Kyûshû
Karyôbinga: Sanskrit: kalavinka, Buddhist mythological figure originating in Indian folklore; half-bird, half-woman with bell-like voice, living in the Buddhist paradise
Kasane: Stacked chest, or chest-on-chest, in either two or three sections. The individual sections may have different heights.
Kasanetsugi: A collage technique of mounting layered patches of torn papers on poetry sheets during the Heian period
Kashi: Japanese evergreen oak
Kasuri: Patterned blue and white cloth
Kasuri: Splash-pattern weave with design produced by tie-dye in warp and woof threads before weaving. White geometric patterns on navy-blue ground are most common.
Kasuri: A technique for fabric decoration in which warp and sometimes weft threads are tied and dyed before weaving. This selective dyeing, planned to produce a predetermined pattern, results in a hazy design called kasuri from the word “to blur”. This resist dyeing technique is also called “ikat” from the Malay word “to tie” or “bind”.
Katabira: A hemp kimono
Katabiraki-do: Side-hinged door, most commonly exposed, with one or more drawers set in behind it. When quite small in proportion to the chest, it is sometimes called a kobiraki-do , or small-door compartment.
Kataginu: Stiff sleeveless jacket worn as costume in Kyôgen drama
Katakiri-bori: “Side-cut engraving”; a burin is used to incise side-cut lines of different width and length; the carver often seeks to imitate the brushwork of ink painting.
Katamigawari: “Half-and-half” pattern for kimono in which the two halves of the garment are made of different fabrics or designs. A similar technique is used on Oribe ceramics.
Katana: The long samurai sword—from 26″ to 32″ in length
Katana-dansu: Sword chest; a long, low tansu used for the storage of Japanese swords and associated equipment and cleaning supplies
Katana-dansu: Tansu for storing sword blades without the hilts and scabbards. Usually of paulownia wood with one or several small lockable drawers to accommodate sword fittings
Katazome: Stencil dyeing
Katazome: Ancient technique for textile design. Rice paste is applied to fabric through a special paper stencil in order to resist dye in selected areas. Stencils are made of kôzo (paper mulberry tree) and are strengthened by a coating of persimmon juice, so they can be cut with precision and used repeatedly. After the initial dyeing, the uncovered areas of the cloth are hand-painted.
Katazome: Resist dyeing done with stencils and rice paste
Katsuma: An implement used in Buddhist ascetic practices
Katsuogi: A wooden log placed along the ridge of the roof of a Shintô shrine
Kei: A flat stone gong suspended in a frame, used as a musical instrument in ancient China and as a Buddhist implement in Japan during the Nara period and later
Keman: Buddhist floral decorations placed before statues or images; also, cloth pendants made with wax-resist fabric and used in place of flower garlands in Buddhist ceremonies
Keman-musubi: Loops of braided rope, used to decorate Buddhist implements called keman
Ken: Prefecture. Geographic territory empowered with administrating government within its region. The first prefectures were created in 1871 replacing feudal domaines, and now number 47.
Kendon-buta: Drop-fit removable door. Such doors are most often found in book tansu (sho-dansu) and used to secure compartments for tea utensils. When found inside sea chests, they often function side to side rather than top to bottom.
Kenjô: Presentation porcelain of exceptionally fine quality
Kesa: A Buddhist priest’s shawl or stole worn over robes
Kesadasuki: A lattice pattern resembling the bands on the kesa robes of Buddhist priests
Keyaki: Zelkova
Keyaki: Zelkova, a hardwood related to the elm with a bold grain and used in tansu as both a primary and a secondary wood
Ki: Yellow
Kihatsu: Solvents used to remove wax from fabric
Kii Hantô: The peninsula extending south from the main island of Honshû, and located to the east of the island of Shikoku
Kijiro: Refined finishing lacquer made by evaporating the excess water from raw lacquer. Colloquially, the term kijiro is used to describe both the translucent lacquer over stained wood and the honey to reddish tone of the finish itself.
Kikkô: “Tortoise shell”, a hexagonal lattice pattern, used singly or in clusters (as on crests), but more frequently as an overall ground pattern
Kikkô hanabishi: Foliate diamonds within the kikkô hexagonal lattice pattern, a very popular motif since the Heian period
Kiku: The chrysanthemum, Imperial flower and heraldic emblem
Kimono: Literally, “something to wear”; the traditional full-length garment of Japan worn by males and females alike. Strictly speaking, indicates a long, one-piece garment that wraps around the body. The term kimono was popularized during the 18th century and, by the Meiji period, had replaced kosode, used for a similar garment that was its precursor.
Kimpun: Exceptionally fine gold or silver powder
Kinji: Polished gold-lacquer ground
Kinkakuji (temple): “Golden Pavilion,” two-storied temple built by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu; completely covered with gold leaf and situated on his estate; ostentatious Chanoyu parties were held there
Kiri: The leaves and flowers of the Paulownia tree
Kiri: Paulownia
Kiri: tree sometimes called Empress tree; grows to an immense size with very large leaves and purple flowers; the wood is soft and light and therefore often made into chests of drawers
Kiri: Paulownia, a softwood highly prized by the Japanese for cabinetry because of its flexibility, tone, and texture.
Kirikane: “Cut gold”; pieces of cut gold or silver leaf (in contrast to gold powder) that are applied to the wet lacquer ground
Kirikane: “Cut gold”, the technique of applying gold leaf cut in decorative patterns, either geometric or floral, to Buddhist lacquer sculpture and painting
Kirin: Kylin, fabulous animal of composite form from Chinese mythology
Ki-urushi-nuri: A lacquer technique in which yellow lacquer that turns brown when exposed to the air is applied to an irregular surface and then polished down to the lower layers, creating the effect of wood
Kiwame: Censorship seal used in Edo from ca. 1790 until 1842
Ko: Old
Koaoi: Small, stylized eight-petal flower in formal arrangements, frequently used as ground pattern on brocaded textiles
Koban: Small print, approximately 20.875 x 7.875 in. (53 x 20 cm.)
Kôchi ware: Pottery with relief glazed in several colors, from south China, imitated in Japan
Kofun: Ancient burial mound
Kôgei: Crafts
Kôgô: Incense box
Kôkechi: A tie-dye process current during the Nara period and earlier
Kôkechi: Ancient term for shibori or tie-dye; one of the three resist processes (sankechi) known to date from the Nara period or even earlier
Kokyô: A hand mirror made of copper, silver, or nickel, used by women in the Edo period
Kômô: “Red hair.” A reference to the Dutch and, more broadly, to Western civilization
Kôransha: A symbol identifying the Fukagawa Company and porcelain
Kôrin figure: A highly stylized figure drawn by the artist Ogata Kôrin (1658-1716); common Kôrin figures are the Kôrin plum blossom, chrysanthemum, and paulownia figures
Kôro: An incense burner
Kôshitsu-jiki: Fired at 1370-1400 degrees. Invented in 1708 by Tschirnhaus and Boettger in Meissen
Kosode: Women’s everyday kimono with short hanging sleeves, worn since the late Heian period; also used as a costume in the Noh drama
Kosode: A short-sleeved kimono
Kosode: Short-sleeved kimono. When used as a tansu designation, this term indicates a chest of multiple drawers for the storage of these kimono, probably from the Edo period, often with a vertical locking bar.
Kosode: An outer garment worn by men and women from the Muromachi period through recent times. During the Heian period, the kosode (lit., “small sleeves”) served as daily wear for commoners and was worn beneath the ôsode (”great sleeves”) by members of the Heian Imperial court
Kotatsu: Covered foot-warming table
Kotatsu: Wooden lattice table positioned over a heat source, often a hibachi, and covered with a quilt. Floor-seated people place their legs under the quilt for warmth.
Kotatsu: A sunken, squared hole in the floor of a traditional Japanese home, where burning sumi coals were placed for cooking and heating. Also used to mean kotatsu yagura.
Kotatsu yagura: Kotatsu stand; a wooden stand placed over a kotatsu on top of which a futon is spread to hold in the heat
Kotobuki: Ideogram meaning “long life and prosperity,” often used as an element in various decorative patterns
Kôzama: Ornamental panel on dais of Buddhist altar
Kozuka: A small utility knife that fits into the scabbard
Kuji: Lit., nine characters; a crisscross pattern drawn in the air by people reciting a certain nine-character esoteric-Buddhist incantation
Kukuri-zaru: A very stylized monkey figure; the word literally refers to a piece of cloth whose four corners are gathered together so that the whole piece has a sort of head shape
Kuri: Chestnut
Kuri: Japanese chestnut, quite similar to the North American tree. Kuri is used interchangeably with keyaki in tansu, but has a less pronounced grain.
Kuruma-: A prefix meaning “having wheels,” as in kuruma-dansu, or wheeled chest
Kuruma dansu: Wheeled chest
Kusakizome: Natural or vegetable dyeing
Kusuri-dansu: Medicine chest; a tansu used by medicine peddlers, pharmacists, or doctors to store medicinal herbs, roots, and powders
Kutani porcelain: Porcelain with an outstanding individual kind of enamel painting, produced from before 1656
Kuwa: Japanese mulberry
Kuwagata: Horn-shaped decorative pieces attached to the front of a warrior’s helmet
Kuyô: Motif deriving from Indian mythology, consisting of eight small circles arranged around a large central circle; introduced to Japan with esoteric Buddhism in the 9th century; also used as a crest motif
Kyôdai: A vanity or dressing table
Kyôkechi: A dyeing process developed in Japan during the Nara period, in which folded fabric was placed tightly between two stencils and dye poured over the cut-out hole
Kyôkechi: The ancient term for the clamp-resist process done in Japan of the Nara period. One of the sankechi, or three ancient Japanese resist processes and the most popular form of resist dyeing during the Nara period. In this technique, fabric was clamped between perforated carved wooden boards and dye was poured through to create patterns.
Kyô-yaki: Kyoto ware, in part in the tradition of Ninsei and Kenzan

M

Maedate: A crest of thin metal or wood worn on helmet
Maki-e: “Sprinkled picture”; uniquely Japanese method of lacquer decoration in which the design or picture is drawn in clear lacquer, then sprinkled with metallic powder—usually gold, but also silver or colored—before the lacquer hardens.
Maki-e: General term for decorations done with gold and silver pigment or metallic leaf on lacquer. The metallic pigment, powder or leaf, is spread on the lacquer before it dries. Mother-of-pearl is also frequently used in maki-e.
Maki-e: A process in which a pattern is painted onto an object using lacquer; while the lacquer is still wet, gold or silver powder (or other colored powder) is sprinkled over it
Maneki neko: Figurine of a cat with raised paw (thought to invite prosperity)
Manjû: Bun with bean-jam filling, a name used to identify a type of netsuke that resembles it; although usually round, manjû netsuke are sometimes oval, rectangular, or square.
Manyôshû: Anthology of the ancient poems of Japan compiled in the late 8th century
Maru-bake: The round, flat-bottomed brush used to blend dye into fabric
Maruyama Shijô-ha: Sumi-e painting style of the Edo period
Masame: Straight grain achieved by quarter-sawing a log. Wood cut in this way is resistant to splitting and warping even if thin.
Masu: The funnel-shaped wooden aperture on the top of money boxes; literally, “measuring box”
Matsu: Japanese pine
Matsukawabishi: “Pine-bark diamond”, a motif of three overlapping diamond shapes, the middle of which is the largest.
Matsuo Bashô: 1644-1694, samurai who turned poet by becoming a lay Buddhist priest; famous for his 17-syllable haiku poetry
Megane-e: Prints designed with exaggerated perspective for the purpose of creating an optical illusion of depth when placed in a viewing device equipped with a lens and sometimes a mirror
Meibutsu-gire: Literally, “celebrated cloth”; special sarasa cloth imported during the Edo period for use as cases for tea ceremony utensils
Men-fuse: “Wax surface”, varying the number of layers of wax applied to fabric in order to allow for varying amounts of dye penetration
Meyui: Textile pattern of hollow squares produced by tie-dyeing technique, formalized into a checkerboard pattern of squares standing on the diagonal; used frequently in family crests
Mezzotint: The process that produces varied intermediate tones rather than lines in an etching plate. This technique enhances the production of chiaroscuro effects and thus was a matter of great interest to experimenters like Aôdô Denzen.
Mingei: Folk art
Mishima: Inlay work with white or black slip, sometimes also covered with celadon glaze; named after the Mishima Shrine (Shizuoka Prefecture). The technique reached Japan from Korea.
Mitsuda-e: A technique of lacquer decoration utilizing color pigments bound with oil, or a mix of oil and lacquer
Mitsurô: Beeswax. The material used in ancient Japan for rôkechi , or wax resist
Mizusashi: Water pot
Mizuya: The term mizuya is associated with the preparation area of a tea-ceremony room. The mizuya chest is usually a frame-and-panel chest-on-chest for food and utensil storage, found within or near the kitchen.
Mizuya-dansu: Kitchen chest; a large tansu used for the storage of food and crockery
Mokkô: A style of drawer handle that is shaped as a three-part scallop. The name is derived from mokkô, the curves made by the vines of cucumbers, and watermelons
Mokume: Wood-grain effect achieved in lacquer or metalwork
Mokume-iro: Metal technique for imitating wood burl, using a mixture of shibuichi, copper, and silver
Mokurô: Natural plant oil from the haze or Japanese sumac tree
Momen: Cotton
Momoyama jidai: 1573-1599, a period of rapid internationalization when Japanese commercial expansion in Asia was accompanied by extensive European commercial and missionary activity in Japan
Mon: A family crest
Mono-no-aware: Mutability of all things that exist; literally mono is “things in general,” no is a possessive particle, and aware means “pathetic.”
Monozukuri: “The making of things”; a term frequently used in the Taishô and early Shôwa periods to refer to the attitude of care and responsibility necessary for creating craft pieces or art works individually, rather than by the traditional Japanese method of group production
Monpe: Baggy cotton work pants, usually kasuri and usually for women
Mukôzuke: Small pot for condiments
Murago: A style of coloration in which there are unevenly distributed dark and light portions of the single color on the cloth or other medium; in family crests, murago figures are highly stylized.
Mura-nashiji: “Cluster nashiji“; technique in which the nashiji resembles cloud formations
Musen Shippô: The technique of wireless cloisonne
Mushi: Steam (used to fix dyes on fabric)
Mushiya: Workers at professional textile steaming and processing factories

N

Nabeshima porcelain: A porcelain highly developed in technique and artistic decoration, produced in the neighborhood of Arita from the first half of the 17th century for the princes of Nabeshima
Nagaban surimono: Long surimono, approximately 15.75 x 7.125 in. (40 x 18 cm.)
Naga-hibachi: A long, square or rectangular wooden hibachi with a built-in copper receptacle for copper
Nagamochi: Trunk; a rectangular, wooden trunk with a hinged lid used traditionally for storing bedding and out-of-season kimono
Nagamochi: Trunk with a hinged lid, usually detachable, for the storage of personal belongings. An extension in design of the hitsu, the nagamochi was a coffer with wheels (kuruma nagamochi) or iron handles (tôshi nagamochi) for easy mobility, common in the Edo period
Nagasaki: A trading port in west Kyûshû where in the 19th century porcelain was manufactured
Nagasaki-zu: Prints depicting the topography of Nagasaki
Nagasaki hanga: Block prints in a provincial style produced in Nagasaki, chiefly dealing with the subject of European contacts with Japan
Nageshi: Ceiling beams. During the Nara period, decorative cloth covers made with wax resist were often prepared for beams of this kind in temples.
Namban: “South barbarians”, the term generally applied to Westerners, initially to Portuguese and Spanish merchants and missionaries, who reached Japan from the East Indies in the mid-sixteenth century
Namban: “Southern barbarians.” The term was applied to the Portuguese when they first arrived in Japanese waters. It is derived from a traditional Chinse expression.
Nampin-ha: The school of the Chinese painter Ch’en Nan-p’in, who came to Nagasaki from China in 1731. His illusionistic realism came to be associated with Western-style painting in the Nagasaki area.
Nanshitsu jiki: Produced almost exclusively in East Asia, and only in a few kilns in Europe
Narugo: A clapper to keep birds out of a field
Nashiji: “Pear-skin ground,” or aventurine; flakes of gold of irregular size and shape sprinkled on a bed of wet lacquer and covered with layers of transparent lacquer that may take on a yellow or orange tonality; often translated as “aventurine” because of its resemblance to a type of Venetian glass of that name
Negoro: A lacquer ground in which red lacquer is applied over black; the ground is then polished in places so that areas of black lacquer emerge.
Nejime: May be freely translated as a “base organizer,” the part of a flower arrangement which is at the base; literally made up of two words, “root” and “base,” and “to constrict”
Neriginu: Glossed silk produced by the Nishijin weavers beginning in the Momoyama period
Netsuke: A carved toggle attached to the cord of an inrô and worn above the obi, or sash, to hold the inrô in place
Nezumi: Grey
Nigoshi-de: White body with a pure glaze, for Arita porcelain after 1650 and for Kakiemon porcelain
Nihonga: Japanese traditional painting using pigments on paper
Nihonmatsu ishô-dansu: Nihonmatsu clothing chest; a type of tansu from the Nihonmatsu area of Fukushima Prefecture, noted for its expansive drawer fronts of zelkova or chestnut. Also called simply “Nihonmatsu tansu.”
Nikawa: Glue prepared from animal and fish byproducts, used to bind pigments to fabric
Ningen Kokuhô: Living National Treasure. Popular term for craftsmen and artists who have received the Japanese government’s ultimate award for their mastery of a particular traditional skill. They are officially called “Bearers of Important Intangible Cultural Assets”.
Ningen Kokuhô: Individual craftspeople and artists officially designated by the government as Jûyô mukei bunkazai hojisha (Bearers of Important Intangible Cultural Assets). Ningen Kokuhô(Living National Treasures) is the unofficial but more popular term.
Ninja: Secret agent or practitioner of ancient art of ninjutsu or subterfuge, a supposedly magical art for making oneself invisible by artifice or stratagem in order to evade detection.
Niô: A temple guardian
Nishiki: “Brocade”, a term originally applied to any richly textured fabric regardless of weaving technique.
Nishiki: Silk polychrome patterned weave
Nishiki-de: Painting of porcelain and stoneware (e. g. Arita porcelain and Satsuma low-fired stoneware) interspersed with gold
Nishiki-e: “Brocade print.” First produced by the Edo ukiyo-eprint designer Suzuki Harunobu around 1765, these prints derived their name from their lavish use of multiple-block color printing.
Nitten: The Nippon Bijutsu Tenrankai, or All Japan Art exhibition, was sponsored by the government until 1954, when a private association took over sponsorship, The Nitten exhibition was launched as the Buten in 1906; it was renamed the Teiten in 1919, the Shin-buten in 1934 and the Nitten in 1946.
Noborigama: Hillside kiln with several chambers and transmitted flame
Nômen-dansu: Noh-mask chest; a short tansu with small inner drawers used for storing Noh masks
Noren: Divided doorway curtain
Noren: A traditional fabric curtain, generally for two or more narrow cloth segments, hung over a doorway
Nori: Paste used as a dye resist on fabric, traditionally composed of glutinous rice powder, rice bran, salt and calcium hydroxide
Noshi: Folded paper (originally abalone) used to decorate a gift
Noshi: Thin folded strips of abalone or paper used as an ornament on auspicious occasions. The shape of the noshi itself became a decorative motif.
-nuri: When used as a suffix, this is a general term for finish, i. e. kijiro-nuri, shunkei-nuri, and tame-nuri.

O

Obi: Sash for kimono
Obi: Wide sash worn around the waist with a kimono
Ogi ishô-dansu: Ogi clothing chest; a type of tansu originating in Ogi on Sado Island. Also called simply “Ogi tansu.”
Ohbaku-ha: The school of painting, chiefly realistic portraiture, based on the work of the artist-monks of the Ohbaku Zen Buddhist sect. Since this style had been influenced by contacts with the Jesuit mission in Peking, it had a Westernizing influence on Japanese painting when it was introduced into the Nagasaki area in the 17th century.
Ohban: Large print, approximately 15.375 x 10.25 in. (39 x 26 cm.); the most common size of woodblock print
Ohbon: Large book
Ohgama: Anagama kiln with a wide fire chamber and pillars to separate the flame
Ojime: Sliding bead fastener through which the inrô cord is threaded, used to keep the inrô tightly closed
Okimono: A model or sculpture
Okuzuke: A Postscript added to a book, manuscript or handscroll, usually providing identifying information
Oribe ware: Pottery from the Mino area with a light colored body; named after Furuta Oribe (1544-1615), teamaster
Origami: Art of folding paper to form figures and objects
Oshigata: Pattern on Jômon-period pottery produced by pressing various objects in the damp clay surface
Oshiki: A square tray with or without beveled corners, with edges made of thin shavings of Japanese cedar or Japanese cypress
Oshi-rôkechi: “Pressed wax resist”, a term used in ancient texts to refer to a process of creating dyed patterns on cloth
Otome: Motif with a multiple bladder in a circle with iron-brown painting and partly asymmetrical green glaze

R

Raden: Shell inlay
Raku: Earthenware pot made freely by hand with thick glazes, from about 1580, with the help of the black stone from the Kamo river in Kyoto. The name derives from the seal raku=joy, which Hideyoshi bestowed on the raku master Jokei (born 1635)
Rangaku: Dutch studies or Dutch learning—the study of Western civilization from sources written in Dutch
Rikka: The oldest style of flower arrangement; literally, “erect or standing flower”
Rinzu: Figured satin-faced silk or damask
Rô: Wood-resin Japanese hard wax similar in appearance to paraffin. Also called mokurô, which correctly refers only to a by-product of the lacquer tree
Rôgaki: Literally, “wax drawing”; the application of hot wax to fabric with a brush, as if one were writing (alternatively known as sengaki, “line drawing”)
Rôgin: Silver lacquer ground
Roiro: A glossy black finish resulting from continuous polishing of black lacquer
Rôkechi: A form of resist dyeing imported from the Asian mainland in the 7th and 8th centuries, in which removable wax is placed on fabric in a predetermined arrangement; the waxed portions resist the dye, leaving a design. The process is essentially the same as batik, but the two seem to have no direct relationship historically.
Rôkechi: “Wax-resist dyeing”, this term for resist wax was used during the Nara period but is now obsolete.
Rôkechi-dokoro: The ancient name for workshops that produced wax-resist fabric; often appears in Nara-period documents
Rokkaku-dô: Buddhist temple in Kyoto where priest Ikenobô lived; unique for its structure in that it has six sides; hence the name “Rokkaku”
Rokuyô: Motif derived from Indian astrology, consisting of five circles arranged around a larger central circle; frequently used as a crest motif.
Rônin: Masterless samurai
Rôsoku: Candle
Rôsokuya: A candle maker
Rôto-yu: “Turkey-red oil”, an oil mordant sometimes mixed with dyes in small amounts to assist with penetrating wax in such techniques as rô etching and han-bôsen. Mineral oil can be substituted for rôto-yuwhen necessary
Rôzuri: Wax rubbing; an ancient resist process of rubbing or daubing wax on the surface of white cloth; and then rubbing the cloth with crushed grass or flowers; references are made in ancient literature to rôzuri, but no specimens survive
Ryôbiraki: A type of double doors whose hinges are attached at the corner edges of the chest. Clothing chests bearing these doors are called ryôbiraki ishô-dansu. Ryôbiraki chô-dansu (double-door merchant chests) are also found.
Ryôbiraki-do: Exposed double doors that open on hinges, the hinge plates being at right angles to each other. Kan’non-biraki-do (Kan’non doors) is often used interchangeably but correctly indicates double doors on hinges with either both platess on the front surface or one plate and only half of the other on the front, as in many wooden boxes constructed for statues of Kan’non, the bodhissattva of mercy.
Ryûsa: A type of manjû netsuke, named for the eighteenth-century carver who developed it; in the ryûsa style the core is removed and the surface is pierced with an openwork pattern; the overall shape is generally round or spherical, although sometimes rectangular or oval.

S

Sabi: “Loneliness, desolation, decay, rust patina” (Lewin, 1968)
Sabi-urushi: Filler lacquer; raw lacquer thickened with pulverized pumice or clay and water; used for priming surfaces and for raising designs without having to use multiple layers of lacquer
Sadô: The way of tea
Sakaki: Tree held sacred in the Shintô religion
Sake: Brewed, alcoholic beverage made from fermented rice
Sakiori: Ragweave
Samehada: Snakeskin glaze, a peculiarity of Satsuma
Samurai: Warrior elite who ruled from the late 12th century to 1868
Sankechi: The three resist-dyeing methods of the Nara period. These are rôkechi (”wax-resist dyeing,” now known as rôketsuzome), kôkechi (”tie-dye,” now called shibori) and kyôkechi (”clamp-resist dyeing”)
Sansai: Earthenware with three-color glaze painting, produced in the Nara region in the 8th century
Sansei senryô: Dyes derived from sodium salt of organic acids and having a direct affinity to protein fibers such as silk and wool
Sarasa: Wax-resist cotton fabric from India included in the 17th and 18th century-trade lists throughout Asia; batik as in jawa sarasa. (Alternatively called sarassah in Malay, saraza in Spanish and serasah in Javanese)
Sashiko: Stitchery designs and reinforcements on cloth, usually indigo
Sashiko: Garments made of one or more layers of indigo-dyed hemp or cotton fabric and quited in various patterns for the purpose of mending, reinforcement, warmth or decoration
Sashinuki: A large, puffy hakama worn by court nobles
Satsuma ware: Ceramic ware for the tea ceremony and general use made at kiln sites in Kagoshima Prefecture, formerly the Satsuma domaine, in southern Kyûshû
Saya: The sheath for containing a sword
Seiji: Porcelain-like pottery with blue-green to leaf-green and yellow-brown iron glazes
Sekidashi: “Barrier resist”, an advanced technique in which certain areas of the cloth are covered with wax to create barriers to dye penetration
Sendai ishô-dansu: Sendai clothing chest; a tansu produced in the Sendai area of Miyagi Prefecture, known for its elaborate ironwork, hardwood drawer faces, and rich burgundy, lacquer-based finishes. Also called simply “Sendai tansu.”
Sengaki: Literally, “line drawing.”
Sen no Rikyû: 1522-1591, founder of the present form of Chanoyu
Senshoku: A general term meaning dyeing, printing and coloring of fabric using direct hand-painting, as well as resist methods
Senshokusha: People who work with dye; surface designers of fabric
Sentoku: Alloy of copper, brass, tin, and lead, resulting in a gold color
Seppuku: Suicide perfomed by cutting the lower abdomen; considered the most honorable method to end one’s life in the feudal days of Japan
Sesshû: 1420-1506, artist; entered a Zen monastery in his youth and developed insight into monochrome painting using black ink and brush in the Chinese style
Sha: Twist weave silk gauze; the fabric is made by entwining warp threads with successive weft threads in a regular manner
Shakudô: Alloy of copper and gold, pickled to a blue-black color
Shamuroshi: Japanese dyers who imitated the resist-dyed cloth (sarasa) of India in the Edo period; from the Japanese Shamu (”Siam”)
Shibayama: A technique of inlaying semi-precious stones onto lacquer or ivory
Shibori: Resist dyeing by tying, binding, sewing, or folding cloth to achieve designs
Shibo-urushi: Black lacquer mixed with a gluelike paste derived from bean curd, gluten, egg white, and gelatin; used for the “combed-wave” pattern popularized by Zeshin
Shiborizome: Tie-dye. In this method of resist dyeing, patterns are reserved by pressing, stitching or binding before immersion in a dyebath.
Shibuichi: Alloy of three parts of copper to one part of silver, pickled to shades of gray
Shifuku: Cloth cases used to protect tea caddies. During the Edo period, these were often made of fine, imported wax-resist cloth.
Shigaraki: Stoneware produced by several villages in the Shigaraki valley in southern Shiga Prefecture. Can be identified by white specks and grains of feldspar and quartz that melt during firing and protrude from the surface.
Shike-bake: A long-bristled brush made of deer hair used in the brush-trailing technique
Shikebiki: The brush-trailing technique of wax application
Shikishi: Squares of tinted or decorated paper used for inscribing poetry
Shikishiban: Rectangular print, approximately 7.875 x7.125 in. (20 x 18 cm.)
Shikoro: The neck guard of helmet
Shimenawa: Sacred New Year’s decoration of rice straw and paper
Shin-chô: Ch’ing dynasty. The dynasty that governed China from about 1644 to 1912, which is roughly contemporaneous with Japan’s Edo period (1603-1867). The penetration of European art styles that occurred in China at this time was often transmitted to Japan through Chinese works, as in the case of the Soochow print.
Shin, gyô, sô: names of the classification of art objects and the style of ceremonies. These are in some respects similar to the Western concept of formal, semiformal, and casual. Basically, this idea was derived from the style of calligraphy with brush and ink. The most official and therefore rigid is shin. The sô way pf writing is also called grassy or cursive which is a very free-flowing form. The gyô is between the two styles.
Shin-kôgei: Nihon Shinkôgei Renmei (Japan New Craft Artist Association), the sponsor of one of Japan’s largest crafts exhibitions, the Shin-kôgeiten
Shino: Tea ware with a yellowish white body and thick white felspathic glaze; the name comes from the teamaster Jososhin of Osaka.
Shinshi: Stretchers or resilient bamboo rods set with a pin or nail in each end and positioned from selvage to selvage to stretch fabric along its width
Shippô tsunagi: “Seven linked jewels), an overall pattern consisting of interlocking circles named after the seven precious elements of Buddhism; on yûsoku textiles, the pattern is known also as wachigai.
Shishi: Temple dog or lion
Shishi: A mythical lion of Chinese origin
Shintô: Indigenous Japanese religion; literally, “the way of the gods,” which is a belief in the indwelling spirit in all things and of the worship of ancestors
Sho-dansu: Book chests, usually small, with drop-fit kendon-buta doors. These chests are sometimes referred to as sho-bako.
Shodô: The art of fine brush writing
Shôgi: A Japanese form of chess
Shôgun: Military ruler of Japan during the feudal period
Shôji: Translucent papered door and window panels
Shônai: A fertile plain on the Japan Sea coast of Yamagata Prefecture divided by the Mogami River and including the cities of Tsuruoka and Sakata
Shu: Brownish red tint used in opaque lacquering, derived originally from cinnabar
Shunga: An artform utilizing exaggerated sexual imagery
Shunkei-nuri: Lacquering technique for final finishing. The use of oil in the lacquer makes this technique less demanding than the building up and careful polishing of multiple layers of kijiro lacquer.
Soba choko: Cups used for dipping sauce for buckwheat noodles
Someru: To dye. The noun form (”dyeing”) some, or -zome is used in such compounds as rôketsuzome or katazome
Sometsuke: Blue and white underglaze porcelain; design technique used to ahieve such porcelain
Sueki: Sue ware, dark grey ware, The name comes from sueru=to sarcrifice
Sugi: Cryptomeria
Sugi: Cryptomeria, a non-resinous conifer used extensively as a secondary wood for the tops and sides of case pieces with hardwood-faced drawers
Suhama: Stylized “sandbar” motif, usually with three lobes, combined with naturalistic motifs as a purely formal shape
Suiteki: A small container for the water used to dissolve ink on an inkstone
Sumi: Charcoal or soot-based, Chinese ink used for sumi-e, a Chinese style of painting which has been practiced by the Japanese since the 14th century. The medium offers a potentially infinite range of ink values.
Sumi: Japanese carbon black ink available in stick and liquid forms
Sumi-e: Ink drawing
Sumie togidashi: A design in togidashi simulating ink painting (sumi-e), in which powdered charcoal is used for deep black, lighter tones being rendered with other powders
Suminagashi: “Flowing ink”, a marbleized pattern produced by dropping black ink on damp paper; frequently used in the Heian period on poetry sheets
Sumô: Form of wrestling with a 2,000 year history that rivals baseball in popularity in Japan
Surikome-bake: A square brush with a flattened end, used in color gradation
Surimono: Literally, “printed thing”; a privately commissioned print either for an announcement or for issue as a New Year’s greeting card
Suzuki Harunobu: The mid-eighteenth century ukiyo-e painter and print designer who was selected by a group of print connoisseurs to produce the first set of full-color multiple-book “brocade prints” around 1765
Suzuri-bako: A small wooden chest with drawers for the storage of ink, brushes, and an abacus; most typically used in shops during the Edo period and Meiji era

T

Tabako-bon: Tobacco box; a wooden box that contains a small charcoal receptacle resembling a hibachi and a bamboo cylinder that serves as an ashtray. Also popularly called “smoking box.”
Takabori: The technique of carving metal in relief
Takamakie: “High sprinkled picture”; high-relief makie in which foundation layers are created with clay or charcoal powder, then sprinkled with metallic or pigmented powders; a layer of lacquer is applied over the design and polished
Tamamoku: A swirling grain or burl. Zelkova burl was widely used for drawer, door, and panel wood, especially from the Meiji era.
Tame-nuri: General term applied to the various techniques used to achieve opaque lacquer finishes using contrasting tinted lacquers under clear lacquer
Tana: Free-standing shelving. When used in a compound, tana is pronounced -dana, i. e., to-dana: shelves enclosed by sliding doors, zeni to-dana: merchant to-dana for money and valuables, yagu to-dana: bedding storage shelves.
Tanabata festival: Festival based on the Chinese legend for the Milky Way and celebrated on the evening of July 7
Tansu: Chest with drawers
Tansu: Japanese cabinetry that allows for mobility by either structural design or hardware. When used in a compound, tansu is pronounced -dansu.
Tansu: Japanese cabinetry constructed of wood and designed for storage. Pronnounced -dansu when used in a compound
Tasuki: A geometric pattern consisting of straight lines intersecting on the diagonal to form a diamond lattice
Tatami: A straw mat covered with woven rush, approximately 6′ x 3′, used as flooring material
Tatami: Flooring for Japanese homes composed of a base of tightly woven straw (measuring approximately 8 cm. thick, 90 cm. wide, and 150 cm. long) covered with a thin mat of woven rush
Tatami: Floor covering made by piling and sewing together straw two inches thick and covered with rush matting; one such tatami measures approximately one yard by two yards
Tatewaku: Overall pattern of vertical, evenly spaced undulating lines defining oval lozenges
Teaburi: Small hibachi used for warming hands
Tebako: A lidded lacquer box with several removable compartments, used by court ladies as a cosmetics case
Tegaki-yûzen: Freehand dye painting; a technique often used in the yûzen industry
Tem’moku: Pottery, especially tea bowls, with brown-black iron glaze. The name derives from Tianmu mountain in the Chinese province of Zhejiang, where there was a monastery. Japanese priests often visited it and received as gifts tem’moku bowls from the north of Fujian province; these were later imitated in Seto. The glaze with 5-10% iron content becomes black in a reducing atmosphere
Tem’mon kosode: A type of elegant kosode kimono popular during the Momoyama period
Temoto: Small personal tansu for women to store hair ornaments, a mirror, cosmetics, etc.
Tengu: A mythical bird-like creature with beak or long nose and wings
Tenugui: Long cotton hand towel with stenciled designs
Tetsuage Takamakie: High-relief lacquer in imitation of iron, usually rusted
Togidashi: A lacquer technique in which lacquer is heavily applied over the sprinkled design, then polished carefully with charcoal until the design can be seen again, flush with the ground
Tôhoku: Contemporary reference to the northeastern area of Honshû, including Fukushima, Miyagi, Yamagata, Iwate, Akita, and Aomori Prefectures
Toiya (Tonya): A draper or kimono wholesaler
Tôkaidô: The coastal highway leading from Edo to Kyoto, subject of a number of pictorial series
Tokoname ware: Strong, reddish-brown ware made from the early 12th century to the first half of the 16th with some production continuing to the present. The kilns are distributed throughout the Chita Peninsula south of Nagoya.
Tokonoma: Niche in the living room with araised floor, to take a hanging scroll and a vase with ikebana or a precious object
Tokonoma: Space averaging 70 inches wide, 80 inches high, and 35 inches deep made in the wall of a room for the display of hanging scrolls, flower arrangements, and objects of art; considered holy in the same way as the altar of a temple
Tokugawa Bakufu: The last and longest-lived of Japan’s three warrior governments, 1603-1867
Tokusen: The top prize in the Nitten exhibition; at present, receiving this award twice eliminates the need for future jurying for the annual exhibition
Tokyo ishô-dansu: Tokyo clothing chest; a type of clothing tansu produced in the Kantô area, known for its simple construction of four drawers, sometimes combined with a small door compartment, and its austere ironwork
Tonoko: Powdered whetstone or baked earth used as a wood sealer
Tôshi: General term for any handle used to move a chest. Side, U-shaped handles through which a pole was passed for carrying a chest between two people may be called bô-tôshi or sao-tôshi. Elliptical side handles are called mochiokuri.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi: 1536-1598, commanding general who rose from an obscure background to the position of prime minister and shôgun; instrumental in the unification of Japan under one government; was a Chanoyu devotee and learned the art from Sen no Rikyû, but finally ordered seppuku for Rikyû, probably because of some misunderstanding created by Hideyoshi’s vassals
Tomoe: A motif comprised of two or three comma shapes united with heads together and tails revolving, forming a perfect circle
Tonkotsu: Single-case container, usually for tobacco
Torii: Ceremonial gateway to a Shintô shrine
Tôseki: “Porcelain stone,” known from the Izumiyama in Arita (discovered about 1600) and from Amakusa, containing all the ingredients needed for the production of soft porcelain
Toshidama: Literally, “New Year’s jewel”; a circular seal used by the Utagawa school
Tsuba: Sword guard
Tsubo: Storage jar
Tsuishu: “Piled-high red”; Chinese-style carved, multilayered red lacquer
Tsuishu: A lacquering technique in which red lacquer is thickly coated onto an object and patterns carved into it
Tsujigahana: Stitched tie-dyeing technique fashionable in the Muromachi period
Tsutsugaki: Freehand design achieved by applying paste resist with a tube applicator before a textile is dyed
Tsutsugaki: Literally “tube drawing,” a resist-dyeing technique in which a design is drawn on fabric by squeezing rice paste through the tip of a cone-shaped tube. The freehand patterns made with the paste remain uncolored when dyes or pigments are applied to the cloth. The technique was used on a variety of utilitarian textiles and garments to celebrate auspicious occasions.
Tsutsugaki: A dyeing process in which starch is forced out a small hole at the end of a tube onto a fabric to make a desired pattern, the starched design resists the dye.
Tsutsugaki: A method of applying a cold resist or paste using a paper squeeze cone
Tsuzura: Portable coffer with a detachable lid constructed of woven bamboo, reeds, or vines, often covered with traditional Japanese paper and then lacquered for clothing storage.

U

Uchimono kanagu: Forged hardware
Uchiwa: Round-faced fan mounted on a stiff bamboo frame; the fan shape was used frequently as a decorative motif.
Uchiwa-e: Oval-shaped woodblock print intended to decorate a nonfolding fan
Uki-e: “Floating” or perspective prints whose exaggerated perspective effects were often further emphasized by special viewing devices. Maruyama Ohkyo was perhaps the most notable producer of view-box prints of this sort, and Okumura Masanobu the first one to apply these perspective principles to the designing of Kabuki theater and teahouse depictions of the ukiyo-e woodblock tradition.
Uki-yo: The “floating world,” a reference to the gay quarter and its culture
Ukiyo-e: Prints and paintings of the “floating world,” dealing primarily with the Kabuki theater and courtesans of the gay quarter. Ukiyo-e were generally thought of as belonging to the native Japanese tradition of art, and early ukiyo-eprint designers sometimes gave themselves resoundingly nationalistic titles. But the ukiyo-e artist Okumura Masanobu experimented with the exaggerated use of Western perspective techniques in his uki-e, or “floating” prints, and by the time the great landscapists Hokusai and Hiroshige came into vogue in the 19th century the principles of Western-style linear perspective were quite well understood and often used by many ukiyo-e artists.
Unban: Originally a Chinese bronze gong, brought to Japan together with Zen Buddhism in the Kamakura period and used in Zen monasteries. Its shape is a popular motif for textiles and family crests.
Ungen-saishiki: Painting technique in which several gradations of color are juxtaposed to create an effect of depth. Perfected in T’ang China, this manner of painting is seen in Japanese Buddhist arts and architecture of the Nara and Heian periods.
Urushi: Lacquer
Urushi: Sap of the lacquer tree
Uta-e: A design illustrating the meaning or feeling expressed in a waka, a thirty-one syllable poem
Uwaoki-tsuki chest: Three-section stacking chest, the top section consisting of or including two sliding doors. Most always of 20th century provenance
Uzumaki: Spiral motif

W

Wabi: “Hopelessness, loneliness, misery, feeling lost” (Lewin, 1968)
Wabi: Austere way of life appreciating the beauty of humble things
Wachigai: An interlocking circle motif, known also as shippô tsunagi
Wa, kei, sei, jaku: Harmony, respect, purity, tranquility; the four intangible elements that guide Chanoyu, formulated by Sen no Rikyû
Warabide: Fernlike leaf pattern
Warabi-te: A prominent style of drawer handle that derives its name from its graceful curve, which resembles that of a Japanese mountain fern (warabi)
Washi: Japanese handmade paper
Washi: Hand-molded paper made principally from three kinds of trees: kôzo (paper mulberry), gampi or mitsumata (which have no English translations)

Y

Yaburitsugi: “Torn patches”, a Heian-style collage technique used to decorate poetry sheets
Yahata ishô-dansu: Yahata clothing chest; a clothing tansu originating in Yahata on Sado Island, noted for its highly ornamental ironwork and large dimensions. Also called simply “Yahata tansu.”
Yaki: Ware
Yakitsuke: “Burned-on”; a gilding technique
Yamabushi: A traveling priest/warrior
Yarô: Colloquial term used in northeastern Honshû to describe large, single-section, multiple-drawer personal tansu
Yayoi ware: Prehistoric pottery named after the Yayoi quarter in Tokyo where it was first excavated in 1884
Yogi: Padded kimono-shaped bedding
Yonezawa ishô-dansu: Yonezawa clothing chest; a style of clothing chest produced in the Yonezawa area of Yamagata Prefecture, noted for its butterfly-motif locks and hakudô rings around lockplates
Yori-ito: Twine pattern on Jômon-period pottery
Yukata: Kimono-shaped light cotton robe for after the bath and summer wear
Yukata: Informal, cotton, kimono-style robe worn in warm weather or for lounging
Yukata: An informal cotton kimono (such as those provided to guests at traditional Japanese inns)
Yûzen: Dyeing process: a resist-dyeing process developed during the Edo period in which starch (usually rice starch) is used
Yûzenzome: A refined style of dyeing combining fine lines of paste-resist applied through a paper cone with delicate hand painting; named for a Kyoto fan painter

Z

Zabuton: Floor cushion
Zen: Meditation school of East Asian Buddhism
Zeni-bako: Money box; a wooden box used for the storage of coins during the Edo period and early Meiji era. Zeni is a small copper coin circulated during the Edo period
Zeni-dansu: Money chest; a small chest with drawers used for the storage of coins during the Edo period and Meiji era
Zu: Drawing, painting
Zushi: Ancient term for free-standing, open-frame or partially enclosed cabinetry in which kan’non biraki doors were used in the structure. In the early Edo period, both zushi and hitsu were used to describe what later would be called tansu, In contemporary usage, a zushi is a small box with hinged double doors in which an image of the Buddha would be kept.