Aoi thru Bl index/glossary

JAPANESE PRINTS

A MILLION QUESTIONS

TWO MILLION MYSTERIES

Ukiyo-e Prints

浮世絵版画

Port Townsend, Washington

A CLICKABLE

INDEX/GLOSSARY

(Hopefully this will be an ever changing and growing list.)

Aoi THRU Bl

The Halloween witch head is being used to mark

additions made to this page in November 2008.

The Chinese pink were used in September.

TERMS FOUND ON THIS PAGE:

Aoi, Aragoto, Arashi Kitsusaburō II,Aratame, Araumi,

Ariake andon, Asagao, Asanoha, Asanohamon,

Ashikaga Yorikane, Ategami, Atozuri, Augustus the Strong,

Awase, Ayame, Merrily Baird,Bamboo (Take),

Bamboo & Sparrows (Takesuzume), Bandō Hikosaburō III,
Bandō Mitsugorō v, Bandō Mitsugorō III, Bandō Shūka I,

Bangasa, Baren, Baren-sujizuri, Bat motif, Bekkō, Bengara,

Beni-e, Beni-girai, Ben(zai)ten,Bero-ai, Bijin, Bishamon,

Bishamonkikkō and Blue and white porcelain

葵, 荒事, 嵐橘三郎, 改, 荒海, 有明行灯, 朝顔, 麻の葉,

麻の葉文, 足利頼錦, 当て紙, 後摺, 袷, 菖蒲, 竹, 竹雀,

三世坂東彦三郎,五世坂東彦三郎, 坂東三津五郎, 坂東しうか,

番傘, 馬連, 鼈甲, 紅絵, 紅嫌い, 弁(財)天, ベロ藍, 美人,

毘沙門 and 毘沙門亀甲

あおい, あらごと, あらし.きつさぶろう,

あらため, あらうみ, ありあけあんどん, あさがお, あさのは,

あさのはもん, あしかが.よりかね, あてがみ, あとずり,

アウグストⅡ世, あわせ, あやめ, たけ, ばんどう.ひこさぶろう,

ばんどう.ひこさぶろう, ばんどう.みつごろう, ばんどう.しうか,

ばんがさ, ばれん, べっこう, ベンガラ, べにえ, べにぎらい,

べん(ざい)てん, びじん, びしゃもん and びしゃもん.きっこう

TERM/NAME

KANJI/KANA

DESCRIPTION/

DEFINITION/

CATEGORY

Click on the yellow numbers

to go to linked pages.

Aoi

葵

あおい

Hollyhock - often used as a decorative motif or as a family crest or mon. The hollyhock is a native Japanese plant which came to be associated with the Kamo Shrine in Kyoto and through that connection it acquired a sacred significance. Because of that quite a few families devoted to that shrine adapted the motif as their own personal crests.

Source: The Elements of Japanese Design by John Dower (pp. 58-59)

Taxonomy, morphology and semiotics are all concepts I have trouble grasping - among a whole host of others. That is why I struggle over almost each and every entry I have made on these pages. For what seems like ages I have accepted that aoi (葵) is as Dower states the simple hollyhock. In this case the Alcea rosea. However, as I started to dig deeper I found that the hollyhock is often referred more specifically to as the tachiaoi (立葵 or たちあおい) and no matter how much I looked I couldn't find leaves which looked enough like the ones in the crests to the left. That is until I ran across another aoi, the futbaaoi (双葉葵 or ふたばあおい) which is the Asarum caulescens. We know it as wild ginger.

The image of the plant is from the web site operated by Shu Suehiro at: http://www.botanic.jp/index.htm

The Matsudaira (松平 or まつだいら), a "Patronymic name of a certain number of families, related to the Tokugawa...[徳川 or とくがわ]" used several variations of this crest as their own.

Quote from: Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan, by E. Papinot, published by Tuttle, 1992, p. 355.

Aragoto

荒事

あらごと

Rough style: "The expression aragoto is an abbreviation of aramushagoto, which means litterally "the reckless warrior matter". This is in fact a Kabuki bombastic style exagerrating all the aspects of the role (acting, wig, make-up (kumadori), costumes, dialogues, oversized swords) to portray valiant warriors, fierce gods or demons. This style was created in Edo by Ichikawa Danjûrō I and is considered a "familly art" for this line of actors. It is the opposite style of the soft wagoto created by Sakata Tōjûrō I in Kamigata."

This quote is taken directly from the Kabuki 21 web site. (Click on the yellow highlighted link to be taken to their home page. The quote is from their Kabuki Glossary: A thru C page.) Personally I consider this the best site in English to be found on the Internet. Maybe the best in any language. This is a resource which should be used by anyone and everyone interested in kabuki/theatrical prints/Japanese culture in general. Thanks Kabuki 21!

The image to the left is an actor in the role of the priest Narukami by Toyokuni III.

Arashi Kitsusaburō II

嵐橘三郎

あらし.きつさぶろう

Kabuki actor (1788-1837). Aka as Arashi Tokusaburō and Arashi Rikan II. 1

Aratame

改

あらため

Censor's seal used between 1853 and 1857. It means "examined."

Araumi

荒海

あらうみ

A decorative pattern of roiling waves and foam. The image to left has been sent to us by an anonymous collector in Switzerland. Thanks!

Ariake andon

有明行灯

ありあけあんどん

A morning lantern. 'Ariake' represents the moon left in the sky at dawn.

Asagao

朝顔

あさがお

Morning glory.

The photograph of the white morning glories comes from a web site run by someone who calls herself Paghat the Rat Girl. It is a wonderful site and I feel a kinship with her because she marries natural beauty with literary beauty, folklore and history. This is very much what I am trying to do for Japanese prints. Click on the photo to go to her specific page on morning glories and then explore the rest of her site. It is wonderful and who doesn't love nature?

The details above and below the photograph are from a print by Kuniyoshi. Click on the number to the right to go to that page. 1

The morning glory or Ipomoea nil : Supposedly May 1, 1753 Linnaeus named this genus Ipomoea, but so far I don't know why or how he chose this name. I say supposedly because the history of plant names has more twists and turns than the vine itself. Actually it may have been 1763, but that is not the point of this entry.

Last night, January 29, 2008, I was reading Japanese Tales which was edited and translated by Royall Tyler. (Pantheon Books, 1987.) He made a reference to the use of morning glory seeds as a diarrhetic. I slept on that and this morning I started thinking about that passage. During my younger days I often heard that morning glory seeds were used as a hallucinogen. The same was said to be true of the wild woodrose. Carlos Castenada in his Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge sang the praises of plants as a vehicle for spiritual expansion. His books were extremely popular with a large section of the college crowd. Aldous Huxley told us about The Doors of Perception. Then there was toad licking. Even the Simpsons had an episode about that. But nowhere, not here, not there, were morning glories ever referenced as a diarrhetic.

We all know the basis of folk medicine and how it frequently did the job. Today we live in a society divided into various factions some of which believe heart-and-soul in the 'natural path' while others rely completely on chemically engineered pharmaceuticals. The third way is probably more common. However, despite all of the marvels of the Internet I could find no direct references to the use of crushed morning glory seeds as a diarrhetic even though I probed to the depths and bowels of each and every search engine available to me.

The story which Royall Tyler translates so capably mentions other ingredients combined with the crushed morning glory seeds: Salted fish and wine which was made both "...cloudy and sour." Perhaps that combination was just enough to do its magic. I remain skeptical and don't plan on performing any experiments on myself or anyone else for that matter. Maybe it is just a story.

The source of Tyler's translation is from the Konjaku monogatrishū (今昔物語集 or こんじゃくものがたりしゅう) or "Tales of Times Now Past" from ca. 1100.

Asanoha

麻の葉

あさのは

Hemp: A common stylized motif used in family crests. "Often identified as one of the five basic crops or 'grains' of ancient China, the hemp or flax plant played both sacred and profane roles in Japan."

Quoted from: The Elements of Japanese Design by John Dower, p. 58.

Although the examples I am able to show here look like stars Dower does show a couple of mons which are far closer to a realistic representation of the plant. Also note the entry immediately below this one for comparison.

Asanohamon

麻の葉文

あさのはもん

A repetitive 'six pointed star' decorative pattern based on a stylized hemp plant. The top example is a detail from a print by Eizan and the bottom one from a print by Kunichika.

Ashikaga Yorikane

足利頼錦

あしかが.よりかね

Historical figure who appears in kabuki 1

Ategami

当て紙

あてがみ

Rebecca Salter in her glossary at the end of Japanese Woodblock Printing (p. 120) defines ategami as "a sheet of shiny paper placed between baren and print during printing".

Tōshi Yoshida and Rei Yuki in their Japanese Print Making: A Handbook of Traditional & Modern Techniques (pp. 70-71): "The baren should not be moved at once in a single long stroke - as, for example, from the right to the left end of the sheet - but with a stroke not longer than nine inches. In moving the baren, care must be taken that the direction of the fiber of its bamboo-sheath wrapping is in accordance with that of the fibers in the paper, so that the paper may not be peeled off in rubbing. Sometimes a sheet of smooth paper, called an ategami, is placed over the sheet that is being printed in order to protect it. During the rubbing, any singles area of the paper will be passed over many times, but this will cause no trouble, for the amount of pigment on the block is limited, and all of it will be taken up by the paper. While the work is in progress, the result of the printing may be judged from the back as the paper absorbs the pigment. Usually the color penetrates about one-half of the thickness of the paper."

It is claimed that ategami is stronger than tracing paper, water resistant and that it doesn't wrinkle or tear during the printing process.

Atozuri

後摺

あとずり

Late edition: Right off, I have to tell you that I am not completely clear as to the meaning of atozuri. Of course, in principal it is simple: A late edition is a late edition. But what exactly does that mean? Does it mean any printing after the first few editions and if so have where does one draw the line? Almost all posthumous printings would be considered late - but only if the original blocks had been printed while the artist was still alive. ¶Early and original printings - some of them de luxe - are easy to discern - or so one would think. However, even here it is extremely difficult for the novice or dilettante to make these distinctions. For example, sometimes the publishers would strengthen the colors of a print as the blocks were wearing down. They would overcompensate for the loss of line and in effect would dazzle the untrained eye. (But even this is not always true.) Earlier printings, by comparison, would appear 'fainter' while, in fact, they are simply produced more carefully and delicately. Early editions are called shozuri (初摺 or しょずり). ¶Perhaps the most irritating problem associated with late editions is the one of commercial greed, deception or fraud. Artists who are in vogue fetch higher prices even for late or posthumous printings. If a dealer has priced a late Hiroshige at X and the buyer is willing to pay the price then that is between them. But if the buyer is a greenhorn and X is, frankly speaking, way overpriced then I wish someone could have stepped in and stopped the deal. But that is my opinion.

In 1978 there was a publication from Nara University which defined an atozuri as a printing from a block which has been changed slightly. That seems fair enough because the shozuri would have been printed from the original block.

Another caveat: There seems to be a lot of contradictory information out there on the Internet. Hopefully a highly respected scholar will clear this up for all of us.

Roger Keyes in Japanese Woodblock Prints: A Catalogue of the Mary A. Ainsworth Collection (p. 107) deals directly with the subject of early and late editions mainly through the use of Hiroshige examples. "The earliest impressions of HIroshige's Shōno, for example, have very light grey rain, and the distant row of bamboo is much lighter than the nearer row."

Below is probably a slightly later example, but still one which could be called early.

Keyes continued: "In later impressions this distinction is lost. The prints of both rows are printed with dark grey and the effect is more violent and stormy."

"Early impressions of Shōno have the name of the publisher and the name of the series on the umbrella at the right."

"Many late impressions lack this writing, although in some impressions it is clear that the letters were not removed, they were simply not inked;

the second late impression of the print in the Ainsworth collection shows faint traces of the letters accidentally embossed on the umbrella."

[The detail below is not from that collection.]

Keyes cites several other example, but remarkably striking is the one of "Fireworks at Ryōgoku Bridge".

"Some effects in landscape prints were achieved mainly by the application and wiping of colors on the blocks.

The earliest impression of Hiroshige's Fireworks at Ryōgoku Bridge have light around the bursting fireworks,

while later impressions are printed with a uniformly dark sky as though the fireworks had just burst and gone out."

A few more thoughts: There are quite a few popular 20th century print artists where it would behoove the buyer to know what is an early and original printing and what is late. The cues are not always as obvious as they are between early and late Hiroshige editions. For example, titles, signatures and publisher's marks may differ considerably and sometimes be omitted altogether. Keep that in mind. Whether shopping in a store or flea market or similar location don't trust your eyes if you are looking at a print which is framed. The image might be right, but often it is what you can't see that counts. The matting may cover a title or lack thereof and that should be one of the factors which would make all the difference in pricing.

Many 20th century artists' woodblocks still exist and might still be in the possession of heirs or with the original publisher. That means that any time they want to they can run off a new edition. How much would those prints be worth vis a vis the originals?

The issue of late versus early editions is not a problem restricted to Japanese prints. Most of the Rodin sculptures one sees today - even in prominent museums - are from posthumous and possibly contemporary castings. Rodin died in 1917 and they are still cranking them out. Henry Moore on the other hand stipulated that all of the molds be destroyed either before or at the time of his death. There are no posthumous editions of his sculpture.

Years ago I knew a young man from a very wealthy family. He invited me over to see his newest acquisition - a Renoir bronze plaque of naked, female bathers. He had mounted it outside by his swimming pool. However, after a couple of drinks he fessed up that he had taken an original plaque on approval for a weekend from a legitimate art gallery, returned it on Monday and said it just wasn't right for what he wanted. What he didn't tell the dealer/owner was that he had made a mold of the plaque and then had his own bronze cast of the original made from that. That's what he had so proudly shown me. His very own Renoir bronze. You never really know, do you?

Augustus the Strong

アウグストⅡ世

Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (1670-1733). Augustus had a passion for Chinese and Japanese porcelains, but was spending enormous sums on acquiring them. In fact they were worth more than their weight in gold. As a result he imprisoned the alchemist Johann Friedrich Böttger who had escaped from Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia (普魯西 or ぷろしゃ). Böttger (ベトガー) was ordered to create gold to pay for Augustus's lavish lifestyle. However, in time it occurred to the Elector that it might be better if Böttger worked on re-creating hard paste porcelain. After years of trial and error he succeeded and the manufacture of 'true' porcelain was off and running at Meissen (マイセン). Although the secret of this product was referred to the arcanum and revealing it could mean a death sentence the news spread quickly and porcelain factories popped up in numerous competitive duchies and principalities. 1

Tree years after Augustus died a statue was dedicated to him. He is shown in an idealized pose astride a rearing horse. By 2006 the Golden Rider was freshly gilded in time for the 800th anniversary of the founding of the Dresden. It seems particularly appropriate that this statue should be so flashy considering the fact that Augustus was originally spending much of his gold reserves to purchase Chinese and Japanese porcelains. It could even be said that fine East Asian porcelains were pound for pound more expensive than gold itself. The elector even had a special building constructed to house his ever-growing collection which by 1719 included more than 19,000 fine ceramic pieces from the Far East. He called this his Japanese Palace although it was a thoroughly baroque European structure. Augustus's son and successor stopped the grand plans for the use of the Japanese Palace However, the new elector did make two of his most distinguished ministers overseers of the Meissen factory and they dispensed exquisite local porcelains to foreign heads of state and their coteries as gift which have been termed "white gold."

The image above is a cropped detail of a photograph placed in the

public domain by Kolossus. The full shot can be found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/.

We would like to thank Kolossus for generously placing this in the public domain.

While Augustus may have no link to the world of ukiyo-e he does exemplify the European fascination for things both Chinese and Japanes. For example, in the 13th century when Marco Polo returned to Venicehe referred to certain Chinese ceramics as porcellana because they were reminiscent of the Italian word for cowrie shell which had a similar luminescence. It is the French who gave us the word 'porcelain'.

Awase

袷

あわせ

An awase is a lined, winter kimono. Its counterpart is the hitoe or unlined, summer kimono.

Traditionally four times a year the Japanese celebrated the seasonal changes by a formal change of clothes. For example, Spring officially ended with the Boy's Festival on the fifth day of the fifth month and Summer began on the sixth day. These changes were referred to as koromogae (衣替え or ころもがえ). "The seasonal change of dress was strictly observed by the Imperial Court since very early days, under fixed rules." During the Tokugawa era the government followed suit. "...people wore katabira [帷子 or かたびら] or summer unlined dress from May 5; awase or lined dress from September 1; wataire [綿入れ or わたいれ] or cotton stuffed dress from September 9, and again awase from April 1, the next year."

Source and quotes: Mock Joya's Things Japanese, p. 29.

Ayame

菖蒲

あやめ

There are quite a few different terms describing iris plants and their flowers. Ayame refers to either the iris flower or the Siberian iris (Iris sanguinea).

The detail to the left is from a Hasui print.

Baird, Merrily

Author of Symbols of Japan 1, 2

Bamboo (Take)

竹

たけ

One of the "Four Gentlemen" or Shikunshi which are flowers which mirror positive human traits. The other three are plum, orchid and chrysanthemum. Borrowed from the Chinese and linked to confucian concepts. 1

Bamboo & Sparrows

(Takesuzume)

竹雀

たけすずめ

Motif 1, 2

Bandō Hikosaburō III

三世坂東彦三郎

ばんどう.ひこさぶろう

Kabuki actor (1751-1828). 1

Bandō Hikosaburō V

五世坂東彦三郎

ばんどう.ひこさぶろう

Kabuki actor (1833-77). He took this stage name in 1856. Extremely popular and versatile. Able to play a wide range of roles. 1, 2, 3, 4

Bandō Mitsugorō III

坂東三津五郎

ばんどう.みつごろう

Kabuki actor (1773-1831). He received the name Mitsugorō in 1799. 1

Bandō Shūka I

坂東しうか

ばんどう.しうか

Kabuki actor (1812-1855). He took this stage name in 1832. The 'Shūka" part is spelled only in kana characters. Posthumously he was named Bandō Mitsugorō V. One of the two most popular Edo actors in the 1840s & 1850s.

Bangasa

番傘

ばんがさ

A crude umbrella made with oiled paper which often carried advertising for a shop or other business. "The syllable ban (number) in the word bangasa derives from the fact that these cheap umbrellas were often numbered by rental shops for purposes of identitfication." Quote from Julia Meech's entry in Rain and Snow: The Umbrella in Japanese Art, cat. entry #17.

Baren

馬連

ばれん

This is the most important tool used in woodblock printmaking. The printer rubs the back of a sheet of paper which has been laid down over an inked block.

Hiroshi Yoshida in his Japanese Wood-block Printing (p. 55) describes the origins of the baren: "Now let us consider the tools used in printing. The first in importance is the baren. The term now consists of two characters: ba meaning sheath (sheath of bamboo) and ren, succession. These may not be the original characters used. The term may be foreign to the soil. In Manchoukuo a kind of iris is known as ma-ren, and ma is often blurred into ba in Japanese. This plant may have been originally used in making this implement which has so acquired its name. The origin of the baren is not clear. Perhaps it was introduced into Japan by the Chinese who came over to Japan and cut Buddhist sutras on wooden blocks and printed from them in the Muromachi Period (1334-1572). But no mention of it is made in literature." Yoshida continued to say: "The baren is the soul of the printer. All the secret of print-making may be said to be contained in this circular pad used for rubbing in printing."

Baren-sujizuri

Baren-sujizuri is the term which describes one of my favorite effects on Japanese prints. Not obvious on all of them occasionally these markings are made more pronounced as in the examples seen to the left. Here one can clearly see the touch points of the baren as it was applied in a circular motion to the back of the sheet lying against an inked board. The print is by Torii Kotondo (1900-76 鳥居言人 or とりい.ことんど).

These examples were sent to me by my good friend M.

Hiroshi Yoshida (Japanese Wood-block Printing, p. 112) wrote about this technique/effect: "This is a kind of printing in which lines produced by the baren are shown. The baren is so made as to easily produce baren-suji. In fact, it is in the nature of the pad to produce these lines on account of the angular projections of the cord contained in it, and these projections are essential in driving the pigment into the paper. But in olden times the printers were required not to show such lines in the print; it required long and laborious practice to eliminate these lines which were considered defects in the printing." A totally flat effect can easily be the result of multiple passes with the baren. "In order to produce baren-suji, it is better to use a small quantity of pigment on the block, and the printing should not be given too much strength, nor too many strokes." Yoshida continues:

"For ordinary purposes it is best to work with the baren of eight-strand cord, having the fibre of its bamboo-sheath covering running in the same direction as that of the paper. But in case baren-suji are desired the baren of sixteen-strand cord should be used in the direction of the grain, or across it, or with a circular motion. If the paper is rubbed across the fibre, it is liable to peel, especially when too wet. This difficulty is overcome when the paper is hard. Thus it is necessary to take advantage of the time when the paper is dry to print baren-suji." On page 113 Yoshida notes the distinctions between different types of baren: "The baren with a sixteen-strand cord is rough and coarse; one with an eight-strand cord is more delicate. But one with a four-strand cord is hardly angular enough to be used for producing baren lines. It must also be bourne in mind that when the baren is fresh, the lines are more distinct, leaving white spaces between the lines. When the baren is old, the lines will be somewhat blurred." The artist/author also says that the baren-suji should be printed early "...before the paper is compressed with many impressions." Then Yoshida adds that, of course, this effect could be printed at the end according to look the printer is trying to achieve. On page 149 it states: "In order to give a soft effect the marks of the baren are also utilized. The repetition one on top of the other produces a soft tone. In order to obtain the effect of mist the baren marks which are made alike over the objects will prove very efficacious, giving these objects an appearance of receding into the distance."

Bat motif

By and large bats are used as a very positive motif indicating something propitious like happiness.

In the image to the left of the bat is paired with a blue and white manji, i.e., swastika motif. Happiness is joined here to long life.

The blue and white manji decorated under-robes are often seen in ukiyo-e prints featuring 'good' people as opposed to villains or as George W. Bush would say 'evil doers'.

This image was sent to us courtesy of our friend M. Thanks M!

Bekkō

鼈甲

べっこう

"Bekko-zaiku or tortoise-shell work is one of the handicrafts of Japan that developed in the earliest period, and reached its highest stage of perfection in Edo days."

"When the scale [i.e., the shell] is heated it becomes soft, and then the thin upper layer is peeled off. This thin layer which is almost transparent is used for making various artistic and valuable things. By pressing, it can be made to take various shapes."

"...the popular use of bekko seems to have developed in Tokugawa days in the 17th century when women's way of hair dressing changed.

Combs and kogai (hair fasteners came to be made of bekko. Kogai which was at first only a simple long stick became elaborate. There were kogai of silver, gold, ivory and other materials, but bekko kogai was the most expensive, as it had elaborate ornamental pieces at both ends, made to represent flowers, butterflies and other shapes."

Quotes from: Mock Joya's Things Japanese, p. 1.

Bekkō "...pieces are soaked in water for softning, layered, then shaped over wet wood and pressed between metal iron molds heated to between 100 and 150ºC (212º-304ºF). It can also be softened by heat before being molded into shape. These techniques are uniquely Japanese."

Quoted from: Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan, vol. 8, p. 80, entry by Nakasato Toshikatsu. 1

Bengara

ベンガラ

Bengara is the name of the deep red used on torii, bridges and other sacred elements at Shinto shrines. Its use was not restricted to these shrines, but it is there that it plays its most distinctive role. Bengara is the Japanese pronunciation of Bengal where an iron oxide rich soil was found which produces this particular color.

I want to thank a new contributor K. for bringing this term to my attention. Thanks K!

The doctored image to the left is from a print by Yoshitoshi. I altered it to emphasize the dramatic red of the bridge. 1

Beni-e

紅絵

べにえ

An early form of hand painted Japanese print where the dominant color is the red derived from the petals of the safflower plant or dyer's thistle (Carthamus tinctorius).

Rebecca Salter notes that beni was a very fugitive color. It was "mixed with an acidic liquid derived from the half-dried outer layer of the stones of Japanese plums (ume) and allowed to ferment. The mixture is then dried into cakes in the sun. From around 1715 it was used in hand-colouring enen though it was almost as expensive as gold. It seems the brushes used were not washed for that reason!"

Other cultures used equally or more expensive materials in producing artworks. The Europeans, for example, used lapis lazuli which was worth more than its weight in gold to make a celestial blue color.

Quoted from: Japanese Woodblock Printing, by Rebecca Salter, University of Hawai'i Press, 2001, p. 27.

To the left and below are three details from a single, beni-e print by Shigenaga illustrating a party of people gathered for cherry blossom viewing. Dating from the 1720s to 30s this is an extremely rare print. At some point we will devote a separate page to it where you will be able to see it in a larger format. This image has been sent to us courtesy of one of our contributors. For this we are immensely grateful. Truly!

Beni-girai

紅嫌い

べにぎらい

In The Passionate Art of Utagawa Utamaro Timothy Clark (text volume, p. 95) refers to "...the so-called beni-girai ('crimson avoiding') style."

'So-called' seems to be the key word here. So far I have been unable to find out anything about this term other than the fact that it describes a print which does not include red inks. Whether this is intentional as an aesthetic choice or for some other reason I haven't a clue nor am I sure does anyone else. This may simply be a term which could be applied very loosely.

Ben(zai)ten

弁(財)天

べん(ざい)てん

The only goddess among the Seven Propitious Gods. She is the patron of the arts and wisdom. One of the main shrines devoted to her is on Enoshima near Kamakura. 1

Bero-ai

ベロ藍

The Japanese name for the Prussian or Berlin blue pigment. It was created by Heinrich Diesbach in 1704. This was first of the modern, artificial pigments. He was trying to make a new red at the time because much of this concoction contained cattle blood, but he ended up with a deep blue. By the 1820s this new color was being used in Japanese woodblock printmaking. 1

Bijin

美人

びじん

The term bijin has always fascinated me because literally it means 'beautiful person', but strictly refers to women. The character 人 in isolation means 'man', 'person' or 'people', but combined with 美, the character for beautiful, it applies only to women. Why? Finally I found an plausible answer.

Kittredge Cherry in her Womansword (p. 19) states: "Beauty is female. 'I met a beauty today' generally means the speaker encountered a beautiful woman. Likewise, the Japanese talk about meeting a bijin, literally 'beauty-person' but actually used exclusively for beauties of the female persuasion. In contrast, gender is usually specified in various words for male beauties, such as 'beauty-man' (binan)." [美男 or びなん]

(However, Roger Keyes states it differently - and this is an author who I trust: "The word bijin is ungendered. It means 'beautiful person' and suggests sexual attraction, sometimes dangerous." Quoted from: Ehon: The Artist and the Book in Japan, published by the New York Public Library with the University of Washington Press, 2006, p. 64.)

Frank Turk in his Prints of Japan (p. 117) notes that Michener believed "...that during the period 1660-1860 pictures of beautiful women made up about 40 per cent of the total output of ukiyo-e..." Turk concurred.

Recently I told a friend that I was going to add an entry on bijin-ga. He said something about them only being pictures of prostitutes. I told him that was wrong, but not completely so. Since so many of the great beauties of their day portrayed by artists were frequently famous courtesans I could see why he believed that.

Julia Hutt in her essay "The Golden Age, 1780-1810" in Ukiyo-e to Shin Hanga: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Prints (p. 83) notes: "In the context of ukiyo-e art, the term bijin is used generically to refer to well-groomed women from many social levels employed in multifarious activities." She continues: "On the one hand are those which depict respectable women going about their daily business, such as carrying out mundane domestic activities or taking part in outings to view cherry blossoms, to the seaside or to a temple." On the other hand... Well, you can guess what those women were doing.

The Eizan details to the left are indeed images of the tayu - the highest class of courtesan - Misado of the Tama-ya. This was sent to us by our generous contributor E. Thanks E!

Bishamon

毘沙門

びしゃもん

One of the Seven Propitious Gods. He is the god of warfare.

The book illustration image to the left was sent to us by one of our correspondents, E. It is said to date from circa 1690 and is attributed to Yoshida Hambei from the "Nanto Daibutsen goengi". Thanks E!

Bishamonkikkō

毘沙門亀甲

びしゃもん.きっこう

This is the name of the pattern of the armor often seen on the figure Bishamon although it does not appear in the entry immediately above this one. It contains the characters for Bishamon and tortoiseshell.

This is also related to the kensaki (剣先 or けんさき) or sword tip pattern. 1

Blue and white porcelain

Detail from a Ming vase below