Japanese Studies Databases: Images

80+ freely accessible websites sortable by format, subject and/or historical period. Includes sites devoted to architecture, calligraphy, ceramics, folk arts, maps, painting, photography, posters, prints, scrolls, sculpture.

Provides access to a large collection of images covering art, architecture, and archaeology for many time periods and cultures. Users must register to save images, add personal notes, and view images offline.

Historical and contemporary images dating back more than 100 years. Coverage includes moments in history, news, entertainment, fashion, and sports images from The Associated Press and a diverse selection of content partners such as the UK Press Association, VII, Women’s Wear Daily, and many newspapers around the country.

Created by John Dower at MIT, Visualizing Cultures uses Japan since the mid-19th century as a case study for gaining new perspectives on "cultures" in the broadest sense.

Requires registration

mages and texts include Japanese paintings from the 11th-13th centuries and 15th-19th centuries, Chinese paintings from the Song and Yuan dynasties, Buddhist sutras and Chinese classics, swords, historical and classical Japanese documents, calligraphy, and textiles.

The major journal article source for art; 1929-present. A suite of databases including Art Full Text, Art Index Retrospective, Avery Index (architecture), Cinema Gallery (stills from films and movie posters) and Art Museum Image Gallery.

Amalgam of art reference sources, including dictionaries (Oxford Companion to World Art), an image database (Bridgeman Archive), Encyclopedia (Dictionary of Art) and other resources. Excellent starting point for art research.

This dictionary contains approximately 8000 terms related to traditional Japanese architecture and gardens, painting, sculpture and art-historical iconography from approximately the 1st century A.D. to the end of the Edo period (1868).

Searchable index of art catalogs held by the National Art Center.