Nikawa painting refers to a style of traditional Japanese painting known as Nihonga. The term Nihonga, which literally means “Japanese painting”, was coined during the Meiji period to distinguish Japanese painting from Western-style oil painting. In general, the support is paper, silk, wood, or plaster, to which sumi ink, mineral pigments, white gofun (a white pigment made from pulverized seashells), animal or vegetable colouring materials, and other natural pigments were applied. Nikawa, an animal glue, is used to adhere the pigments and fix them to the picture surface.