"Art Beyond the West," Chapter 5. Michael Kampen O'Riley, 3rd edition.
RAIGO
Japanese, "welcoming approach." An image or installation that shows the Amida Buddha of JODO Buddhism descending to earth to welcome souls into his Western Paradise.
HABOKU
"Broken ink." Also known as SO. A style of Japanese painting associated with ZEN BUDDHISM that uses dramatic ink washes. Inspired by Chan Buddhist paintings of the Song period in China.
KONDO
"Golden hall." An area of active worship in a Buddhist temple compound. Also known as a hondo.
SHOGUN
"Military Pacifier of the East." The twelfth-century title for successive dynasties of military rulers Japan (until 1868).
UKIYO-E
"Pictures of the floating world." A generic tradition of painting dating from about 1600 representing daily life and the kabuki theater. Mass-produced through the inexpensive medium of woodblock printing.
SAMURAI
(Or bushi) A noble and professional class of feudal warriors. The samurai code included seppuku, a ritual of suicide known in the West as hara-kiri.
YAMATO-E
Literally, "Japanese style." A native style of painting that emerged in the Heian period. Named for the Yamato Plain where the city of Nara was built.
RAKU
Literally, "happiness wares." Low-fired ceramic wares whose imperfect shapes, rough incisions, and loosely splashed glazes reflect the ancient folk traditions of Japan and Korea.
EMAKIMONO
Literally, "rolled picture." A horizontal scroll associated with a narrative style of painting that emerged in the Heian period. Also called emaki.
NOH
Literally, "talent or performance." A form of Japanese drama with restrained actions and prolonged silences patronized by the noble classes.
IRIMOYA
The traditional Japanese hip-and-gable roof type. It may support shibi, crescent-shaped decorations at the ends of the ridge pole.
SHINDEN
Heian-period country houses with central sleeping areas and smaller buildings linked by covered walkways around gardens and ponds.
KIMONO
A T-shaped, straight-lined robe with a collar, wide sleeves, and sash that ties at the back.
GASO
A ZEN priest-painter.
BYOBU
A decorative folding screen.
KANO SCHOOL
A distinctively Japanese style of painting developed by members of the Kano family in the sixteenth century and known for its bold, overall decorative patterning, rich colors, and gold-leaf backgrounds. It remained the dominant style of painting in Japan until the Meiji period.
TORII
A gateway to a SHINTO shrine.
KAKEMONO
A hanging scroll.
CHANOYU
A highly ritualized tea ceremony that combines the philosophies of many Japanese movements in the arts. The ceremony fosters a set of SHINTO-based ethics embodied in the principles of WABI (honesty, integrity, reticence, quiet simplicity) and SABI (a preference for the old and rustic over the new). It also advocates SHIBUI, a taste for that which is bitter but pleasing, a prominent quality of many teas used in the ceremony.
PAGODA
A name derived from a Portuguese word of undetermined origin. A tall, slender tower with accented, upturned eaves that may derive from Han watchtowers known through terracotta models in tombs, or the yasti on stupas. An internationally recognized architectural symbol of Asia.
TOKONOMA
A shallow alcove or niche in a tea house where a flower arrangement and small painting or hanging scroll might be displayed during a tea ceremony.
CELADON
A term of disputed origin referring to a glaze developed in China and used elsewhere in Asia, particularly Korea and Japan. The classic celadon glaze colors are pale greens and bluish-greens that resemble those of jades. The term is also used to refer to any vessel with a celadon glaze.
RELIQUARIES
Elaborate containers designed to hold valued religious relics.
KOFUN
From ko, "old" or "ancient," and fun, "grave mound." These large mound-tombs, erected by the rulers of the Kofun period, were surrounded by rows of HANIWA (hani, "clay and wa, "circle"), terracotta images of shields, singers, armored warriors, ladies, birds, and horses, which marked the boundary between the land of the living and the dead.
SHINTO
From the Chinese words for "Sacred Way" or "Way of the Gods." The pre-Buddhist religion of Japan that venerated the KAMI, nature gods, at sacred places (IWAKURA), where those spirits live in the rocks, trees, water, and other objects. The religion encouraged the development of apparently simple and rustic, but deceptively complex art forms and rituals. Many Japanese worshipers combine elements of Shintoism and Buddhism in their belief systems.
DAIMYO
Great names." Powerful feudal lords, commanders of the SAMURAI.
SHOIN
Japanese for "drawing room" or "study." An architectural form that emerged in the Momoyama period. The proportional relationships of all the parts are based on the TATAMI module. Known for its asymmetry and variety of open, flowing spaces, which can be reconfigured though the use of FUSUMA (sliding panels).
NAMBAM BYOBU
Japanese, "screen paintings of barbarians." A type of Japanese screen painting made in the 16th and 17th centuries representing Westerners and their ships. At the time, the Japanese called Westerners the nambam jin ("southern barbarians").
SATORI
Japanese, "understanding" or "to see into one's true nature"; commonly translated as "enlightenment." To have a deep spiritual experience of oneness with all nature.
FLUXUS
Latin for "flowing." An international group of artists (c. 1960-78) that promoted "living art" in which there was no separation of art and life. A fully universal movement that was not dependent upon the support of the New York City galleries and museums.
ESOTERIC BUDDHISM
Mikkyo in Japanese. A highly intellectual and elitist sect that placed a great value on mandalas to instruct and enlighten the faithful in the complexities of that sect. It includes the Tendai and Shingon sects from northern India, Nepal, and Tibet.
KAMI
Nature gods that live in IWAKURA.
FUSUMA
Painted paper-covered sliding panels or doors mounted in slotted wooden tracks in temples, castles, and other large Japanese buildings. Generally associated with the Momoyama period to the present.
TANKA
Prior to Haiku, TANKA format (consisting of thirty-one syllables) had been the most popular form of poetry in Japan.
SO
See HABOKU. "Broken ink." A style of Japanese painting associated with ZEN BUDDHISM that uses dramatic ink washes. Inspired by Chan Buddhist paintings of the Song period in China.
SABI
See under CHANOYU. A preference for the old and rustic over the new.
SHIBUI
See under CHANOYU. A taste for that which is bitter but pleasing, a prominent quality of many teas used in the tea ceremony.
KONGO RIKISHI
See under CHUMON. Large sculpted images of fierce guardian deities.
HANIWA
See under KOFUN. Terracotta images of shields, singers, armored warriors, ladies, birds, horses - marked the boundary between the land of the living and the dead.
IWAKURA
Shinto - sacred locations where nature gods (KAMI) inhabit the rocks, trees, water, etc.
CHUMON
The "middle gate" to a Japanese Buddhist temple compound. Often containing KONGO RIKISHI, large sculptured images of fierce guardian deities.
ZEN BUDDHISM
The Japanese equivalent of Chan Buddhism in China. The name is based on the Japanese pronunciation of "Chan." It arrived in Japan in the thirteenth century and has two pillars of wisdom: transcendental naturalism, the idea that we are one with the cosmos; and spontaneous intuition, the idea that we must express this oneness intuitively, with an economy of means. The painting style associated with ZEN is called ZENGA.
JODO
The Japanese name for Pure Land Buddhism, which came to Japan from China. Focussed on the Amida Buddha, it first gained a widespread following during the Heian period.
KOTO
The Japanese national musical instrument, similar to a zither. A long wooden instrument with thirteen strings (to be plucked) and thirteen movable bridges set over a wooden soundbox.
WABI
The ceremony (CHANOYU) fosters a set of SHINTO-based ethics embodied in the principles of WABI (honesty, integrity, reticence, quiet simplicity) and SABI (a preference for the old and rustic over the new).
HAIKU
The most characteristic form of poetry in Japan since the fourteenth century, consisting of three lines of five, seven, and five syllables. Previously, the TANKA format (consisting of thirty-one syllables) had been the most popular form of poetry in Japan.
ZENGA
The painting style associated with ZEN Buddhism.
JAPONISME
The vogue for Japanese art and culture in the West beginning in the late 19th century.
TATAMI
Woven reed floor mats about 3 by 6 feet (90 180 cm). Proportional relationships in traditional Japanese architectural planning are based on the tatami module.
TALE OF GENJI, THE
lso known as the Genji Monogatari. A novel (c. 1000-15) by Lady Murasaki, often illustrated in the YAMATO-E style of painting by women artists.