The subject of these rare handscrolls, the 12 birds and beasts of the zodiac dressed as humans and competing against one another first in a poetry contest and then in battle, derives from a medieval period illustrated otogi zoshi. Two dated 15th-century sets survive. In the medieval scrolls, the dialogue is written around the animals directly onto the painting. In the scrolls shown here, paintings alternate with text, and the story is a slightly variant version.

According to the original story, one night in August the 12 animals decided to stage a poetry competition. When the deer and the badger joined them later, the deer offered to judge the competition. (There is a pun on the similarity of sound between ka meaning "deer" and kasen meaning "master poet".) The 12 animals paired off with the dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, and rooster on the left, and the dog, boar, mouse, ox, tiger and rabbit on the right. At the conclusion of the competition, the judge was entertained with a drinking party.

A few days later they met again, but the deer was unable to attend. The badger crashed the party hoping to act as judge in place of the deer, but was ignominiously chased away. Plotting revenge, the badger gathered together other beasts including the otter, fox, bear, and wolf, all under command of the mink, for an attack. The 12 animals of the zodiac were forewarned, however, and staged a counterattack, with the rooster as their chieftain giving the battle cry. The battle took place at a fort, shown in the second volume of the present set. The animals are carrying red and white banners in imitation of the Heike and Genji warrior clans. The combination of poetry and warfare reflects the dichotomy of bun (literature, or the aristocratic arts) and bu, the martial aspect of the warrior class.