Glossary of Terms

Tabi: Japanese-style socks.

Taiko: a large drum.

Tan-e (Red lead pictures): hand-colored print in which tan (red lead) is the dominant pigment. They were popular from 1670 to 1720.

Tanka: a short poem of 31 syllables, divided 5-7-5-7-7. The form appears among the early poems of the Man'yôshû.

Tanzaku: Half ôban size; the sizes included the ô-tanzaku (15 x 6-3/4 inches: 38 x 17 cm) and chu-tanzaku (15 x 5 inches: 38 x 13 cm).

Tatami: a floor mat.

Tate-e (Vertical print): ôban tate-e, a vertical ôban.

Tayû: the highest ranking courtesan and a popular subject in ukiyo-e, called oiran in Edo.

Tentôki: a goblin holding a lantern.

Tetraptych: a composition of four prints.

Toad (gama): animal credited with magical powers.

Tokaido (Eastern Sea Road): the main highway from Edo to Kyoto.

Torii: a symbolic gateway to the precincts of a Shinto Shrine.

Tosa: a school of painting founded in the early years of the Muromachi period. It carried on the Japanese painting tradition, known as yamato-e, of the Heian and Kamakura narrative scrolls. The name of the school, however, came into use in the first half of the 13th century, when it was adopted by Tsunetaka.

Tsuya-dashi (tsuya-zuri): the technique of overprinting in black to give a luster to special areas of a print.