List of ukiyo-e terms

This is a list of terms frequently encountered in the description of ukiyo-e style Japanese woodblock prints and paintings. For a list of print sizes see below.

• Aizuri-e; blue picture
• Aka-e; red picture
• Aratame, "examined"; character found in many censor seals
• Baren; a tool used to rub the back of a sheet of paper to pick up ink from the block
• Benizuri-e; "crimson picture" primitive ukiyo-e style prints usually printed in pink and green
• Bijin-ga; pictures of beautiful women
• Bokashi (printing); technique of applying a gradation of ink to a moistened block to vary lightness and darkness (value) of a single color
• Censor seal; from 1790 until 1876 all woodblock prints had to be examined by official censors, and marked with their seals
• Chūban; a print size about 7 by 10 inches (18 by 25 cm)
• Chūtanzaku; a print size about 14 by 5 inches (36 by 13 cm)
• Edo period; dating from 1603 to 1868, when Japanese society was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate
• E-hon; picture book
• Fudezaishiki; colouring with a paintbrush
• Furikake; sprinkling of powdered minerals or metals
• Gafu; album
• Ganso, "founder"; prefix to indicate the publisher
• Geisha; a common subject
• Hanga; a print
• Hanmoto; publisher
• Hashira-e; "pillar print", about 28 by 4.5 inches (73 by 13 cm)
• Horishi; carver of woodblocks
• Hosoban; a print size about 13 by 5 inches (33 by 14.5 cm)
• Iro-ban; colour block
• Jōge-e
• Ise
• Ishizuri-e; a print that mimics a stone rubbing, with uninked images or text on a dark, usually black, background
• Ita-bokashi, "block shading"; a technique for producing gradation achieved by sanding or abrading the edges of the carving
• Kakemono-e; an ōban diptych arranged one above the other (also a hanging scroll painting)
• Kachō-ga; paintings of flowers and birds
• Kakihan; artist's tag, used on prints with (or instead of) a signature
• Kamigata; region of Japan referring to the cities of Kyoto and Osaka
• Kappazuri; prints of a single color (usually black) colored by stenciling. Prints produced entirely by stenciling, without woodblocks, are also called kappazuri.
• Karazuri; dry printing, embossing
• Kasure-bori, "scratch carving"; style of carving imitating dry brushstrokes
• Kisokaidō; one of the Five Routes of the Edo period
• Kiwame, "approved"; character found in many censor seals
• Kojita-e; a rough sketch
• Komochi-e; prints with moveable parts
• Mameban; a print size about 4.75 by 3.2 inches (12 by 8 cm), sometimes called a "toy print"
• Mount Fuji; the highest mountain in Japan, a common subject
• Musha-e; warrior print
• Namazu-e
• Nikuhitsu-ga; a painting in the ukiyo-e style
• Nishiki-e; multi-coloured woodblock printing
• Ōban; a print size about 15½ by 10½ inches (39 by 26.5 cm)
• Ōkubi-e; portrait prints, busts
• Schools
• Senso-e; prints depicting the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars
• Shin-hanga, "New Prints"; 20th century ukiyo-e print revival
• Shita-e; final preparatory drawing pasted onto the block for printing
• Shikishiban; a print size about 8 by 7 inches (21 by 18 cm) often used for surimono
• Shomen-zuri, "front-printing"; a polishing technique sometimes used to create a shiny surface on black areas in prints
• Shunga, "Spring image"; erotic-themed art
• Surimono; privately commissioned prints for special occasions such as the New Year
• Surishi; printer
• Tate-e; a print in vertical or "portrait" format
• Tenpō reforms
• Tōkaidō, the most important of the Five Routes of the Edo period,
• Uchiwa-e; prints on paddle-shaped hand fans (uchiwa)
• Uki-e, "floating picture"; a picture using Western perspective
• Ukiyo, "Floating World"; culture of Edo-period Japan (1600–1867)
• Urushi-e; paintings painted with lacquer, and a printing style using ink that resembles the darkness and thickness of black lacquer
• Waka; Japanese poetry
• Washi; traditional Japanese paper
• Yakusha-e; actor prints
• Yoko-e; a print in horizontal or "landscape" format
• Yokohama-e; prints depicting foreigners and scenes of Yokohama.

Print sizes

The Japanese terms for vertical (portrait) and horizontal (landscape) formats for images are tate-e (立て絵) and yoko-e (横絵), respectively. Following are common Tokugawa-period print sizes. Sizes varied depending on the period, and those given are approximate; they are based on the pre-printing paper sizes, and paper was often trimmed after printing.

See also

• Schools of ukiyo-e artists
• Ukiyo-e
• Woodblock printing in Japan

References

• Lane, Richard. (1978). Images from the Floating World, The Japanese Print. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192114471; OCLC 5246796
• Newland, Amy Reigle. (2005). Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints. Amsterdam: Hotei. ISBN 9789074822657; OCLC 61666175
• Faulkner, Rupert; Robinson, Basil William (1999). Masterpieces of Japanese Prints: Ukiyo-e from the Victoria and Albert Museum. Kodansha International. ISBN 978-4-7700-2387-2.
• Calza, Gian Carlo (2003). Hokusai. Phaidon. ISBN 0714844578.

External links

• A glossary of ukiyo-e terms
• Another glossary of ukiyo-e terms