Glossary of Terms
Click on the letter to go to the desired section.
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.
