A Pair of Tweezers with a Book and a Brazier from the collection of ASU Asian Art History

Totoya Hokkei
A Pair of Tweezers with a Book and a Brazier, 1824
woodblock print on paper
8.2 x 7.3 in (20.83 x 18.54 cm)

The shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo ordered Kajiwara no Kagesue to behead the Soga brothers. However, Hatakeyama Shigetada intervened to prevent the executions. Tweezers appear in the composition as beard plucking occurs in the play based on the Soga brothers’ story. Shigetada also displayed quick thinking and sound judgment in the Tale of the Heike by telling commander Yoshitsune that the water level of a river would not drop so the group should cross it rather than wait.

Attribution: Frank Lloyd Wright Collection at Taliesin West
Collections: Taliesin West Surimono Collection

Other Work From ASU Asian Art History

Lord Mashiba Hisayoshi, the Tairyô by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Shusuinosuke Tobe Suetake Meeting a Ghost with a Child by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Raishin and the Wind and Thunder Gods by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Lady Kayō Fujin Displaying Severed Heads by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Tawara Tōda Hidesato Protecting the Dragon King's Daughter by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

The Greedy Old Woman by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Tomoe Gozen with an Uprooted Pine Tree by Totoya Hokkei

Ushiwakamaru Defeats Benkei in a Game of Sugoroku by Totoya Hokkei

An Inkstone and a Silver Cat by Totoya Hokkei

See all artwork from ASU Asian Art History