Heian-period face-drawing style with slit eyes and hook nose
A stylized way of depicting human faces in Heian-period painting, especially in emaki and courtly illustrations. The eyes are drawn as simple horizontal lines (引目) and the nose as a small hook (鉤鼻).
The figures in the Tale of Genji picture scrolls are drawn in the hikime-kagibana style.
Hikime-kagibana is a technique often seen in Heian-period aristocratic portraits.
Nise-e is a realistic portrait style that emerged later, contrasting with the stylized hikime-kagibana.
Standard kanji spelling for this art-historical term.
Variant using 鈎 instead of 鉤; both are acceptable for the 'hook' component.
Compound of 引目 (hikime, 'drawn-line eyes') and 鉤鼻 (kagibana, 'hook nose'), describing the two most distinctive features of this Heian-period facial depiction style.