This is a scene from the final chapter of the great 13th-century epic, The Tale of the Heike. It is May of the year 1186 and the retired emperor GoShirakawa has traveled to Ohara due north of Kyoto to visit Kenreimon'in, daughter of Taira no Kiyomori and mother of the late emperor Antoku, who perished at sea in the final battle between the Taira and the Minamoto. Kenreimon'in has retired to the Jakko-in, a nunnery in Ohara, and GoShirakawa has come from the capital by palanquin, accompanied by a large retinue of court nobles, to see her one last time. The nunnery has fallen into disrepair and it is a lonely, unfamiliar setting for the urbane retired emperor, who is moved to tears.

Two nuns are shown descending from the mountains on the left: they are Kenreimon'in with a basket of azaleas and her former nurse, also a high-born lady, carrying firewood. When the former empress sees the retired emperor she is embarassed by her humble surroundings and longs to disappear. She stands helpless, choked with tears. This melancholy, sentimental theme had great appeal in the early Edo period when there was a revival of interest in classical tales.

Only a handful of screens with this subject matter have survived.