TAM: Japanese Prints glossary

36 Views of Japanese Prints: Selections from the Tacoma Art Museum Collection

Glossary of Terms:

bokashi            technique of grading pigment on a block by hand-wiping
Edo                  name of the capital city; later renamed Tokyo
Edo period       1600-1868
geisha              ‘accomplished person’ — skilled hired entertainers, not prostitutes
kento                registration marks used to align the blocks
Meiji period      1868-1912
oban                 print format measuring roughly 15x10 inches
samurai             ‘one who serves’ — elite class of military retainers to feudal lords
washi                Japanese paper made from the long fibers of the mulberry plant

 

Additional helpful terms may be found in Collections: Adrift in a Floating World: Japanese Woodblock Prints, February 16-May 30, 1993.

 

 

Heide Fernandez-Llamazares

Museum Educator and Docent Coordinator

hllamazares@TacomaArtMuseum.org

 

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