nihonga means paintings made in a traditional Japanese style, typically executed with brushes on washi paper or silk. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
NIHONGA — [Noun] Paintings executed in a traditional Japanese style, using mineral pigments, ink, and gofun on washi paper or silk. From Japanese 日本画 (nihonga), from 日本 (Nihon, "Japan") + 画 (ga, "painting, picture"). Unlike yōga, which embraces the imported oils and perspective of Europe, or sumi-e, the austere discipline of monochrome ink, nihonga is a realm of defined indigenous possibility. It is the slow grind of azurite into pigment, the patient layering of shell white to suggest a luminous curve, and the strategic reserve of untouched paper that breathes as mist—a tradition that must be constantly reinvented to prove it was never invented at all.
noun
- paintings made in a traditional Japanese style, typically executed with brushes on washi paper or silk