Parody of the tale of Nasu no Yoichi

In Heike monogatari, a long narrative account of the war between the Taira and Minamoto families in the late twelfth century, the warrior Nasu no Yoichi (flourished late 12th century), who fought on the side of the Minamoto, shot a single arrow into a fan held in place by Lady Tamamushi. His perfect shot from horseback began the Battle of Yashima in 1185. Here the tale is enacted in a modern setting from the time of the painting's creation. A well-dressed man aims an arrow at a fan held aloft by a young female shamisen musician. Two courtesans wearing lavish kimonos sit languidly beside their tobacco set on the veranda of an elite brothel. The artist uses mitate--a literary and artistic device in which unexpected parallels are drawn between dissimilar elements--in this painting that evokes a famous battle scene in the unlikely setting of the contemporary "floating world."