This vertical diptych illustrates a scene from the popular novel Nansô Satomi Hakkenden (The Diary of Eight Dogs) by Takizawa Bakin (1767-1848). The fantastic and macabre tale tells the story of eight heroes who battle to restore the fallen samurai house of Satomi. Each hero represents one of the eight samurai virtues and each has a name that includes the ideograph for ‘dog’. The fight on the roof of the Hôryûkaku, when Inuzuka Shino Moritaka defends himself against Inukai Kempachi Nobumichi, the chief of police, was a favourite theme among artists and their public. The print is signed ‘ôju Yoshitoshi sha’ with the artist’s seal ‘Taiso’.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi worked in the genre of ukiyoe - ‘pictures of the floating world’ - which is primarily associated with illustrated books and woodblock prints. Yoshitoshi was interested in historical and heroic themes but he also depicted contemporary events, including the gruesome series Eimei nijûhasshuku (Twenty-eight famous murders with poems) of 1866-1867.