The willow-leaf line (ryu you byou) ([Plate XLIV] upper). This line has always been in great favor with all the schools, and especially with the Kano painters, and is used indiscriminately for goddesses, angels, and devils. It is intended to reproduce the sentiment of the willow leaf, commencing with a fine point, swelling a little and again diminishing.
The angleworm line (kyu en byou) ([Plate XLIV] lower). The angleworm is of uniform roundness throughout its length and it is with that sentiment or kokoromochi that it must be painted, care being taken to conceal the point of the brush along the line. This is a most important line in all color painting. Indeed, where much pains are to be taken with the picture, and the colors are to be most carefully laid on, it is the best and favorite line.
The rusty nail and old post line (ketsu tou tei byou) ([Plate XLV] upper). This line is painted with a brush, the point of which is broken off. The Kano school of artists particularly affect this method of line painting in depicting beggars, hermits, and other such characters.
The date seed line (sau gai byou) ([Plate XLV] lower). This line, intended to represent a continuous succession of date seeds, is made with a throbbing brush and generally used in the garments of sages and famous men of learning.
The broken reed line (setsu ro byou) ([Plate XLVI] upper) is made with a rather dry brush and, as its name indicates, should be painted with the feeling of reproducing broken reeds. It is a line intended to inspire terror, awe, consternation, and is used for war gods, fudo sama, and other divinities.
The gnarled knot line (kan ran byou) ([Plate XLVI] lower). In this kind of painting the brush is stopped from time to time and turned upon itself with a feeling of producing the gnarled knots of a tree. The line is much used for ghosts, dream pictures, and the like.
The whirling water line (sen pitsu sui mon byou) ([Plate XLVII] upper) is used for rapid work and reproduces the swirl of the stream. It was a favorite line with Kyosai.
The suppression line (gen pitsu byou) ([Plate XLVII] lower) is suitable where but few lines enter into the painting of the dress. Any of the other seventeen lines can be employed in this way. The Kano artists used it a great deal.
Dry twig or old firewood line (ko shi byou) ([Plate XLVIII] upper) is generally used in the robes of old men and produced by what is called the dry brush; that is, a brush with very little water mixed with the sumi. The stroke must be bold and free to be effective.
The orchid leaf line (ran yau byou) ([Plate XLVIII] lower). This is a very beautiful method of painting whereby the graceful shape of the orchid leaf is recalled; the line is used for the dresses of geishas and beauties (bijin) generally.