Hojo Tokiyori, from the play Hachinoki (The Potted Trees), by Totoya Hokkei

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Hokkei, Totoya. H?j? Tokiyori. Surimono. Colour print from woodblocks, with metallic pigment and blind embossing. 1834. Poetry by Y?ky?tei Kazutaka, Eijud? Kanenobu and Hinanoya Haruko. 1834. In the N? play Hachinoki (The Potted Trees), an itinerant priest is forced by a heavy snowfall to seek shelter in the house of Tsuneyo Genzaemon, a poor warrior living in the remote village of Sano (in present-day Gunma). Tsuneyo explains that he had been forced out of the service of shogun H?j? Tokiyori (1227-1263) when unscrupulous relatives stole his land. Lacking firewood, he cuts down three bonsai trees, his last treasures, to make a fire to warm his guest. The priest is actually Tokiyori himself, travelling incognito. After returning to the capital he tests the loyalty of his retainers by summoning them for battle, and when Tsuneyo arrives wearing his worn-out armour and riding his emaciated horse, Tokiyori restores his lost land and gives him three further estates named after the three trees that he sacrificed - Plum, Cherry and Pine. Hokkei depicts a woman, presumably Tsuneyo's wife, about to cut the pine tree. The armour's breastplate features the character for constancy (tsune), which is part of Tsuneyo's name. The inclusion of the horse was appropriate for the year of the horse in which the print was made. The first poem refers to the Japanese saying 'a heavy snowfall foretells a bountiful year': 'A heavy snow / foretells the coming bounty / of three landed estates, / to be awarded as tribute / at the start of a horse year. - Y?ky?tei Kazutaka.

Image data

Accession Number: P.350-1937
Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
Aperture: f/22.0
Focal length: 55
Camera: NIKON D800
Photographer name: Michael Jones
Image height: 760 pixels
Image width: 652 pixels
Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4.2 (Windows)
Filesize: 201.52kB
Exposure time: 1/125
ISO Speed: 100
Fnumber: 22/1
Captured: 2012:07:25 13:13:42

Key words

19th Century Country of origin Date Department Edo Period Fitz_PDP Japan Japanese Medium Nationalities Object Type Other Keywords Totoya Hokkei Tsuneyo Workflow _WF_Adtd _WF_KWD _WF_OPACtd _WF_PCtd bonsai tree characters clothes clothing costume domestic fashion female hair hairstyle homes horses houses interior kanzashi hairpin kimono lady literary figures literature plays priest print residence samurai warrior shelter surimono warriors woman woodblock

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            The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024)
            "Hojo Tokiyori, from the play Hachinoki (The Potted Trees), by Totoya Hokkei"
            Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-180323 Accessed: 2024-11-22 17:00:47

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            |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 17:00:47|publisher=The
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