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A History of Shita-e

Prior to writing on them, the pages of traditional books were often decorated with painted motifs such as birds, plants, etc. using gold or silver paint (kindei and gindei). Because the motifs appear “under” the written text they are called shita-e (“under-pictures”).

Early Examples of Shita-e

Although there are some early examples from the Heian period, the majority of examples date from the 17th century, in the Edo period. Generally speaking, there is no direct connection between the painted motifs and the content of the written text, and this is also true of shita-e on shikishi and tanzaku paper strips used to inscribe kanshi (poems in Chinese) and waka poems.

Shita-e and Written Text

In some rare cases, however, there is a correlation between the painted motifs and the written text. These are usually cases when the shita-e were added to the book after it was made, to increase its value. Obviously, in such cases the decorations were applied after the written text, taking pains to avoid painting over it. These special cases are fairly easy to recognize from the unusual distribution of the painted motifs on the page.

Shita-e – Under Pictures

Though not technically “under pictures,” painted motifs were also added to the covers of books. Perhaps we might call these “cover paintings.” Many examples survive, the majority of which dates from the 17th century.

Watch the video to see examples of shita-e.

In the video, around 2:30, the word “white horse” appears in the text, and the image of a horse is drawn on the scroll as shita-e. See the following image to see the Japanese word for “white horse”.

book ^{fig.1 White horse in the text and in shita-e}