List of ukiyo-e terms
Appearance
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.
name | trans. | cm (in) |
---|---|---|
aiban (合判) | intermediate | 34 × 22.5 (13.4 × 8.9) |
bai-ōban (倍大判) | intermediate | 45.7 × 34.5 (18.0 × 13.6) |
chūban (中判) | medium | 26 × 19 (10.2 × 7.5) |
hashira-e (柱絵) | pillar print | 73 × 12 (28.7 × 4.7) |
hosoban (細判) or hoso-e (細絵)[1] |
narrow | 33 × 14.5 (13.0 × 5.7) |
39 × 17 (15.4 × 6.7) | ||
kakemono-e (掛物絵) | hanging scroll | 76.5 × 23 (30.1 × 9.1) |
nagaban (長判) | long | 50 × 20 (19.7 × 7.9) |
ōban (大判) | large | 38 × 25.5 (15.0 × 10.0) |
58 × 32 (23 × 13) | ||
ō-tanzaku (大短冊判) | large poem card | 38 × 17 (15.0 × 6.7) |
chū-tanzaku (中短冊判) | medium poem card | 38 × 13 (15.0 × 5.1) |
surimono (刷物) | 35 × 20 (13.8 × 7.9) | |
12 × 9 (4.7 × 3.5) – 19 × 13 (7.5 × 5.1) |
See also
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
- ^ Harris 2011, p. 31.