Japanese Prints

Abuna-e
Risque picture. Erotic images and scenes of pairs of lovers.

Aizuri-e
Indigo print. Polychrome print with indigo or indigo shading as its chief color. Used particularly towards the close of the Tokugawa period. Also known as “ai-e” (indigo picture).

Aragoto
Heroic strong-man role in kabuki theater, introduced by the Ichikawa actor family.

Atenashi-bokashi
A technique used when no particular shading was required. Liquid was mixed with the ink and was allowed to flow over the whole surface of of the picture. The technique was frequently used for clouds and areas of water, for example in the first run-offs of Hiroshige’s “100 Views of Famous Places in and around Edo”.

Baren
Brayer used for pressing the paper on to the woodblock. A roller of bamboo-fibre cord wrapped in bamboo bark, with which pressure is applied to the back of the paper after it has been laid against the wood block.

Beni-e
Crimson picture. A further development of the tan-e in which crimson replaces vermilion as the chief color. Other colors include indigo and yellow.

Benigirai-e
“Beni-no-like picture”. A form of polychrome print i which red is not used. The chief colors are blue, grey and violet. It has its origins in a government decree of the Ansei era.

Benizuri-e
Crimson print. A simple polychrome print using different blocks for different colors, pimarily beni and green. The technique of the multi-impression print was invented by Shisen, a Chinese, and employed in Japan from the Enkyo era (1744-1748) onwards.

Beroai
Imported indigo, obtained from the indigo plant. Beroai was popular in the Bunsei era (1818-1830) and in the Tenpo era (1830-1844). A well-known example is Hokusai’s series “36 Views of Mount Fuji”.

Bijin-ga
Pictures of beautiful women, usually courtesans, but occasionally girls from bourgeois households.

Bokashizuri
Shading. Gradation of colors and half-tones when printing a woodblock. See fukibokashi.

Bushi (or samurai)
Warrior. Member of the warrior class in the four-class system (shinokosho) of the Tokugawa period (1603-1867). They were dominant over the other classes and had corresponding privileges. They were followed in rank by the farmers (no), artisans (ko) and merchants (sho).

Chuban
Medium format. Approx. 29.3 X 19 cm.

Chu-tanzaku-ban
Medium-format woodblock print with verse strips.

Daikagura
Temple dance in shinto shrines.

Daimyo
Feudal lord. The most powerful daimyo during the period from 1603 to 1867 were the Tokugawa.

Edo
“Eastern capital”. The seat of the Tokugawa shogunate from 1603 to 1867. The old name for present-day Tokyo.

Ehon
Picture book. Books of pictures illustrating a wide variety of themes.

Fukibokashi
A printing technique. Part of the inked block is wiped with a damp cloth before the print is taken. The result is color shading in strips, or without any pattern.

Furisode
Kimono with long sleeves reaching almost to the ankles. Usually worn by young unmarried girls.

Geisha
Girl trained in singing and dancing; she was employed to entertain guests, though her services were not necessarily of a sexual nature. Until the 16th century there were also male geisha.

Gohei
The cultic wand of a shinto priest, to which zigzag-shaped pieces of paper are attached.

Goma-zuri
Goma means sesame and suggests black particles on white.

Haiku
Short poem in seventeen syllables of a lyrical nature. Often used on tanzaku in woodblock prints.

Hakama
Divided skirt.

Hanga
Print. The general term for a woodblock print.

Hangi
Printing block. Usually a plank of cherrywood cut across the grain; for particularly fine prints, boxwood was also used. The design drawing - a mirror-image of the end result was attached to this block.

Haori
Cape in the form of a short kimono, mostly worn by men.

Hashira-e
Post picture. A long narrow print, hung on posts. A special hard paper was used. The format was approximately 70 x 20 cm.

Hazama-ban
Portrait format. Approximately 33 x 23 cm.

Hosoban
Narrow format. Approximately 30-35.5 X 15.5 cm.

Ichimai-e
Single sheet prints.

Ichimonji-bokashi
A technique whereby the top half of a picture is shaded in fine strips. Many of Hiroshige’s skies are done this way. The technique is rnostly used in the first print run.

Inari
Fox. God of Cereals, honored along with his fox assistants in many shinto shrines.

lta-bokashi
A printing technique whereby the part of the woodblock to be shaded is abraded and smoothed with spiky leaves. It was particularly popular for the shadows in the folds of garments or the shadows of mountains. Kiyonaga and Utamaro used the technique for clothes, while Hokusai and Kuniyoshi employed it in their Western-influenced scenes.

Jitsubushi
“Filling-color” print. A technique whereby left-over white areas are inked in. The colors used may be yellow, indigo or crimson. An example in yellow is Utamaro’s “Sewing”

Joruri
Epic or narrative drama, which was sung with shamisen accompaniment. Originally written for puppet theater, it was subsequently adopted into kabuki.

Kabuki
“Song-dance-art”. Popular stage production, which developed into a specifically Japanese art form towards the end of the I7th century. All parts are played by male actors. More important than the personality of the actor was his stock portrayal of the character in question. For this reason, the actors’ faces in the kabuki were made up in a manner specified for the particular role.

Kakemono
Hanging picture hung in the tokonoma. Kakemono-eban is the name given to woodblock prints in portrait format.

Kamuro
Pupil and maid of a courtesan, responsible for running light errands.

Karazuri
Blind priming. A technique whereby the paper was pressed against an uninked block, creating a relief image. It was used especially for bean and hemp-leaf patterns on kimonos.

Kento
Register mark. The register mark indicated exactly how the paper was to be placed in relation to the block in the second and subsequent color printings of two-colour or polychrome prints to ensure perfect alignment of the different colored areas. The register mark, in the form of two cuts at a right angle, was carved into the block at its corners.

Kimedashi or kimekomi
Printing technique whereby the block was pressed into the paper, leaving an impression of the lines and contours. Harunobu and Buncho were particular exponents of the technique.

Kimono
“Wear-thing”. Coat-like garment worn by both men and women, and kept together at the waist (in the case of women) or at the hips (in the case of men) by an obi.

Kira-e or kirakake
Mica print. A priming technique whereby two blocks are prepared for the background. One is inked with the basic color, while the other is coated with bone-glue or paste. After the print has been taken, mica is scattered on the paper while it is still wet, and the surplus shaken off. This technique was popular with Utamaro and Sharaku.

Kisokaido or Nakasendo
A road leading from Kyoto through the mountainous region of central Japan, the present-day provinces of Shiga, Gifu, Nagano and Gumma. In Kusatsu (Shiga prefecture) it forks off from the Tokaido and ends in central Tokyo near Nihonbashi.

Koto
Long, zither-like stringed instrument played with a plectrum.

Kyogen
Farcical interlude during a No performance; also a term for a kabuki performance.

Maiko
Dancing girl. Young geisha whose training was not yet complete.

Motsukotsuho
Unlined print. Technique in both monochrome and polychrome printing whereby no contour lines are drawn around the areas of color.

Musha-e
Warrior picture. Portrayals of bushi.

Naga-oban
Long format. Extra-long oban.

Nishiki-e
Woodblock color print. Brocade picture. Polychrome print. A further development of the benizuri-e. The impetus for its evolution came from the practice, which arose in the year Meiwa 2 (1765), of exchanging calendars, a practice indulged in by both high and low born individuals, by artists and art-lovers alike. It provided an opportunity for inventing and trying out new techniques. Haronobu made a major contribution to its further development.

Nakanomachi
The main street through the Yoshiwara red light district. Every evening the highest ranking courtesans would parade along it in their most magnificent costumes in order to receive their guests.

No
Classical dance and song drama, performed in masks and sumptuous costumes.

Nunome-zuri
Cloth print. A piece of paper-thin silk or gauze was stretched over the block, and then rubbed with a hard baren. As a result, the structure of the fabric was impressed on the block. This technique was very popular among woodblock cutters towards the end of the Tokugawa period (1603-1867).

Oban
Large format. Approximately 39.5 X 26.8 cm.

Obi
Sash for use with kimono. Men knot their narrow obi at the side. Women’s obi are usually approximately 20 cm wide and 4 m long and are often made of brocade. The sash is tied in an elaborate bow at the back, or, in the case of courtesans, at the front.

Okubi-e
Portrayal of faces in profile or obliquely from the side. Typical are Utamaro’s bijin-ga and Sharaku’s yakusha-e.

Onnagata
Player of female parts. Kabuki actors specializing in women’s roles. Since the 17th century, all roles in the kabuki theater have been played by men.

0oban
Extra-large format.

O-tanzaku-ban
Print with lines of verse in oban format.

Shamisen
Three-stringed guitar, played by courtesans and geishas. Also used as an accompaniment, for example to kabuki performances.

Shikishi-ban
Almost square format.

Tan
Red lead pigment which gave the name tan-e to prints colored by tan.

Tsubushi-zuri
A flat tone, known also as beta-zuri