Glossary of Terms

Saké: Japanese rice wine.

Samisen: a three-stringed guitar-like instrument.

Sashi-e: a book illustration.

Seiro (Green Houses): houses of courtesans.

Sekiban: a lithograph.

Sembei: rice crackers.

Sencha: tea ceremony using leaf tea instead of powdered tea.

Sensu: a type of light, folding fan.

Seppuku (hara-kiri): self-destruction by disemboweling.

Shibai-e: a theater print.

Shin hanga (New prints): a print movement begun by the publisher Watanabe Shôzaburô in the early twentieth century that was based on the ukiyo-e tradition.

Shini-e: a memorial portrait.

Shintô (literally, "the way of the gods"): the national religion of Japan.

Shinzo ('Newly constructed'): a young girl of about 13 or 14 years of age who is apprenticed to become a courtesan.

Shiro: a castle or redoubt.

Shô busshi: a minor Buddhist sculptor.

Shogun (Japanese--- shôgun): title of the military dictators of Japan from the Kamakura period through the Edo period.

Shohon: a first edition.

Shoji: sliding wall panels made of paper.

Shunga (Spring pictures): Ukiyo-e prints illustrating erotic subject matter.

Skakuhachi: flute-like wind instrument made of bamboo.

Soroban: abacus.

Sôsaku hanga (Creative prints): a print movement begun in the early twentieth century that advocated the artist's involvement in the creative process.

Sumi-e: painting done in Chinese ink.

Sumizuri-e: a black-and-white print.

Sumo: Japanese traditional wrestling.

Sumo-e: a wrestling print.

Surimono (Printed things): prints that were made in a limited edition and intended to be privately distributed. They were consequently often printed for special occasions and usually inscribed with a poem composed for the occasion.

Susuki: pampass grass.

Suzuri-bako: a box containing writing utensils.