tenchi　天地

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

The upper part of a piece of paper is referred to as the "heaven" or ten 天 and the lower part as the "earth" or chi 地. In writing poems or decorating paper, standards were developed based on the division of the paper into upper and lower sections. For example, in the decoration of *tanzaku 短冊 and *shikishi 色紙, the upper halves are to be decorated with broad cloud or mist forms, the lower with narrow shapes. In color, blue is to be used on the upper portion and purple or brown on the lower. Cut pieces of gold may decorate the upper half, while silver is employed for the lower.

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