GLOSSARY
Ai: blue pigment extracted from indigo leaves
and combined with kiô to make green
Aiban: a print size about 13 by 9 inches (34.5 by 22.5 centimeters)
Aizuri-e: prints printed entirely or primarily in blue
aka-e: a print entirely or predominantly in red,
said to protect against smallpox
Ama: a fisher-woman who specialized in
diving for abalone (awabi)
Aratame: ‘examined’ in seal form used as a censorship mark on prints, 1849-51, 1854-7, and 1859 onwards (combined with date)
Arhat: in Buddhism, one who has attained enlightenment
Ashigaru: the lowest rank of
feudal retainer
Atozuri: a late impression of a print made from the
original unaltered woodblocks
Awabi: abalone
Baiyaku-e: medical prints
Banzuke: program or play bill
Benigara
(or bengara):
brown pigment made from rust called ‘
Bero-ai (or bero):
synthetic blue pigment known as ‘Prussian blue” or ‘Hiroshige blue’ in English
Bijin: beautiful woman
Bijin-ga: prints of beautiful women
Blind printing: an uninked woodblock is used to press a raised design into the paper, also known as embossing or gauffrage
Bokashi: the gradual shading of color achieved by hand-applying a gradation of ink to the wooden printing block rather than inking the block uniformly. This hand-application had to be repeated for each sheet of paper that was printed.
Bonji: debased and formalized Sanskrit characters signifying Buddhist divinities
Bonsai: artificially dwarfed trees in pots, sometimes of great age and value
Bugaku: ancient court dances performed in masks
Cartouche: enclosed area, usually in the upper part of a print, containing the
title of a print with or without some additional information
Castle-toppler: high-ranking courtesan also called an ‘oiran’
Chidori: plovers or wave-birds
Chirimen-gami-e: a print in which many fine creases were made
with a mechanical device; literally ‘compressed thread paper print’ and
rendered in English as ‘crepe print’
Chôban: a print size about 20 by 8 inches (50 by 20 centimeters) also known as nagaban
Chûban: a print size about 7 by 10 inches (18 by 25 centimeters)
Chûshingura: the most famous of the Japanese tales of
revenge
Chûtanzakuban (or chû-tanzaku): a print size about 14 by 5 inches (36 by 13 centimeters)
Daimyô: a great lord, head of a feudal clan
Dai
ôban: ‘double ôban’, a
single sheet print about 13.75 by 18.25 inches (34.5 by 45.5 centimeters)
Degatari-zu: prints showing actors in front of chanters and musicians
Dô: copper, used as a powder to produce a gold color
Edition: all the copies of a print produced in a single printing
Egoyomi: print containing
information about the long and short months in a specific year
Ehon: an illustrated book
Enpaku: inorganic white pigment, lead carbonate
Floating world: literal translation of ‘ukiyo’
Fûkei-ga: landscape prints
Fûzoku-ga: genre prints
Ga: ‘drawn by’ or ‘painted by’, often found at the end of a signature
Gauffrage: an uninked woodblock is used to press a raised design into the paper, also known as embossing or blind printing
Geisha: a girl trained to entertain with music, dancing and conversation
Genji-mon: a set of 54 rectilinear heraldic devices, each representing one of the chapters of the romance of Prince Genji
Giga (or giga-e): comic prints
Go: a complicated game somewhat like checkers
Gô: an additional art-name
Gofun: white pigment made from ground seashells
Green houses: brothels
Gohei: a wand with strips of cut paper attached, a Shinto divine symbol
Gunjô: blue pigment known as ‘azurite’ in English
Hakama: long and very wide trousers worn on ceremonial occasions
Hanshita-e: final drawing for a print
Haori: a coat, especially a
military surcoat worn over armor
Harimaze: a print having several images intended to be cut apart, sometimes designed by different artists
Hashire-e: ‘pillar print’, about 28 by 4.5 inches (73
by 13 centimeters)
Hibachi: a domestic brazier
Hikifuda: advertising prints
Hinin: a criminal, beggar or social outcast
Hitsu: ‘drawn by’ or ‘written by’, often found at the end of a signature
Hoko: an early form of spearhead with a laterally projecting point
Hôsô-e: ‘smallpox prints’, prints primarily or
entirely in red said to protect against smallpox
Hosoban: a print size, mostly abandoned by
Kuniyoshi’s time, about 13 by 5 inches (33 by 14.5 centimeters)
Ihan: a late impression of a print made from altered
or repaired woodblocks
Ireki: Wooden plug use to alter a woodblock
Iroha: the Japanese syllabary embodied in a poem of 47 syllables
Ishizuri-e: print that mimics a stone rubbing, usually
uninked figures or text on a black background
Jûmonji: the cross-shaped
character for the number ten ㈩
Jûnishi: the twelve signs of the zodiac
Kabuki: a popular form of
Japanese theater frequently depicted in ukiyo-e
prints
Kachô-e: ‘pictures of birds and flowers’, but often
used for all nature prints
Kage-e: shadow or silhouette prints
Kago: a palanquin or
sedan-chair
Kakemono: a hanging scroll-picture, so kakemono-e, a vertical diptych or triptych designed to be mounted and hung as a kakemono
Kakihan: a hand seal or personal heraldic device, equivalent to the French word ‘paraphe’
Kamigata-e: prints from the region including the cities
of
Kamuro: young girl apprenticed to a brothel
Kana: the Japanese characters representing the syllables of the iroha, often written alongside the kanji characters to indicate correct pronunciation
Kanadehon Chûshingura: the most popular of al kabuki plays
Kappa: a river-sprite
Kappazuri-e: stencil prints
Karako: boys (or dolls of boys) in ancient Chinese
dress
Ken: a hand game something like rock-paper-scissors
Ken
no e: prints depiction the
game of ken
Kentô: registration marks carver into each
woodblock so that the paper can be properly aligned on each woodblock during
printing
Kesa: a Buddhist priest's robe worn slung across the shoulder
Keyblock print: an impression pulled from the first woodblock made by a
carver (omohan
or sumihan)
from the artist’s original drawing. The
artist would write instructions for each color on a separate key block print,
and the woodblock for each color was cut using one of these as a guide. In addition to being a guide for carving the
color woodblocks, the key block was also used to apply black ink (usually) in
the final printing process.
Kihada: yellow pigment derived from the cork tree
Kimono: general word for a
garment, or clothing
Kira: the pearly colored mineral mica
Kiô: inorganic yellow pigment made from arsenic trisulphide and combined with ai to make green
Kiri seal: paulownia flower seal used by
Kuniyoshi
Kiwame: ‘approved’ in seal form used as a censorship mark on prints before 1842
Koban: a print size about 7 by 5 inches (18 by 13 centimeters)
Kogatana: a small knife carried in a slot in the sword-scabbard
Komusô: a samurai in temporary disgrace, usually represented with a shakuhachi (bamboo flute) and a deep straw hat concealing his face
Kotanzakuban (or ko-tanzaku): a print size about 14 by 2.5 inches (36 by 6 centimeters)
Koto: a musical instrument consisting of a long sounding-box over which strings are stretched, each with its separate bridge, and plucked with plectra attached to the player's fingers
Koyomi: calendar
Kusudama: a hanging scented ball of artificial flowers with streamers
Mempô: an armor mask or visor
Mokugyo: a hollow wooden fish-shaped gong struck by Buddhist priests
Mon: although usually translated as ‘crest’ or ‘family crest’, heraldic device is more accurate
Musha-e: warrior prints
Nagaban: a print size about 20 by 8 inches (50 by 20 centimeters) also known as chôban
Naginata: a pole-arm with a long curved blade; a glaive
Namazu-e: print depicting a giant catfish, said to
protect against earthquakes
Nanori: the official name of a Japanese person, such as ‘Yoshitsune’
Nishiki-e: multicolored print or ‘brocade picture’
Noh (or nô): Japanese classical dance-drama
rarely depicted in ukiyo-e prints of
the Edo Period
Nodachi: a very long sword
carried across the back
Ôdo: an inorganic yellow pigment called ‘yellow ochre’ in English
Ôban: the standard print size, about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters)
Obi: lady's silk brocade sash
Oiran: high-ranking courtesan also called ‘castle-toppler’
Ôkubi-e: close-up prints of actors’ heads or busts
Omocha-e: prints intended to be cut-up and played with
(toy prints)
Oni: a small malicious horned demon
Onnagata: male kabuki actor playing a female role
Osaka: The city second to Edo (Tokyo) in the production of ukiyo-e
Ôtanzakuban (or ô-tanzaku): a print size about 14 by 6.5 inches (36 by 17 centimeters)
Otokodate: chivalrous townsmen who championed the oppressed
Raijû: a fabulous beast of vaguely canine appearance, said to come to earth with thunderbolts
Rakan: a disciple of Buddha
Rimbô: the Buddhist ‘wheel of the law’, originally a Hindu weapon
Rokurokubi: female goblin with a long flexible necks
Rokushô: malachite, an inorganic green pigment
Rônin: a samurai without a feudal lord, especially one of the 47 rônin in the
Chûshingura revenge story, literally ‘wave man’
Saihai: a general's baton,
with large tassel of cut paper attached, used in directing troops
Sake: Japanese rice wine often heated before drinking
Samisen: a three-stringed banjo-like instrument, played with a large plectrum
Samurai: a member of the warrior class, similar to a
European nobleman
Sashimono: a flag attached to the
back of the armor to facilitate recognition in battle
Senjafuda
(or sensha
fuda): privately published votive slips
Sekiô: inorganic yellow pigment made from arsenic trisulphide and combined with ai to make green
Sennin: an ‘Immortal’ or saintly recluse
Seppuku: the formal method of suicide by cutting open the abdomen; hara-kiri is a vulgar synonym
Shakuhachi: a bamboo flute or pipe, blown at the end, and slightly curved
Shikishiban: a print size about 8 by 7 inches (21 by 18 centimeters) often used for surimono
Shimenawa: a rope with tufts of cut paper at intervals, hung round Shinto shrines and other places to confer sanctity
Shinchû-kin: brass, used as a powder to produce a gold
color
Shini-e: memorial print for a deceased person (death print)
Shiô: inorganic yellow pigment made from arsenic trisulphide and combined with ai to make green
Shirabyôshi: court dancing-girls in medieval times, distinguished by a white robe, court cap, sword and gohei
Shirazaya: sheath and hilt of plain white wood in which sword blades were kept when not in use
Shita-e: preparatory drawing for a print
Shôgun: military ruler of Japan during the Kamakura and Edo periods
Shôji: window or sliding door covered with paper
Shozuri: early impression from the first state of a
print
Shu: red pigment made from mercuric sulfide also called ‘vermillion’ or
‘cinnabar’
Shunga: erotic prints, usually
very explicit
Sode: an armor shoulder-piece
State: one of the versions of a print showing a deliberate alteration in the
design or color
Sumizuri-e: prints entirely in
black ink
Sumi: black ink
Sumô: traditional Japanese form of wrestling
Surimono: a print (often about 8 by 7 inches or 21 by 18 centimeters) on superior paper and exhibiting much technical refinement, used in the same circumstances as our greetings card
Tachi: a long sword mounted to be slung from the belt
Taibi: ‘big tail’ often used instead of a number to identify the last print of a series
Taisha: brown pigment made from rust called ‘brown
ochre’ in English
Tan: red ink made from red lead
Tanzaku: a long strip of paper
Tate: a rectangular wooden shield often set up for protection by troops in defensive positions
Tatebanko: an omocha-e
(toy print) designed to be cut up to make a three-dimensional diorama
Tate-e: a print in vertical or ‘portrait’ format
Tengu: a birdlike wood-sprite
Torii: ‘bird rest’; a wooden archway found outside Shinto shrines, and originally a perch for birds dedicated to the gods
Toshidama
seal: seal used by Kuniyoshi
until the mid 1840s
Tsuba: a sword-guard, usually of circular or oval form
Tsudzumi: a hand-drum having an hour-glass shaped body
Tsuyukusa: a fugitive blue pigment derived from the
petals of the dayflower
Uchiwa: a non-folding fan with
bamboo framework, or a print made to be pasted on such a fan (about 9 by 10
inches or 23 by 25.5 centimeters)
Uke-e: print depicting an auspicious subject
Ukon: a fugitive yellow pigment derived from the tumeric plant
Wakana: young greens
Wani: a crocodile or sea-monster
Yakusha-e: actor prints
Yamabuki: the yellow rose (Kerria japonica)
Yamabushi: a warrior-monk
(literally ‘sleeping in the mountains’)
Yaso-e: ‘gather together pictures’; large pictures
composed of many small pictures
Yoko-e: a print in horizontal
or ‘landscape’ format
Yoshi kiri seal: paulownia
flower seal used by Kuniyoshi
Zumi: a mustard-yellow pigment derived from the cherry apple
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