This diptych is from a series when complete comprises 23 prints and shows popular scenes from kabuki plays.

Tamiya Genpachiro, the father of the young boy Tamiya Botaro was killed by a rival swordsman in 1624, and Tamiya Botaro was raised in the Shido Temple where he was advised by his uncle to behave as if deaf and dumb in order to deceive his enemies. His nurse Otsuji, believing he was mute, prayed to the god Konpira so that he may regain his speech and become skilled at arms in order to avenge his father's killer. Yoshitoshi depicts her drawing a bucket of water from a well to douse herself in ritual ablutions.

In the Kabuki play Osanogo no adauchi (A Child's Revenge) in which this scene features, Tamiya goes on to commit suicide as an act of sacrifice, dying in the knowledge that Botaro can speak and that he possesses the powers necessary to avenge his father's death.

For another impression in the collection of The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, go to:
http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/gallery/yoshitoshi/works/P.24-2003_SE.html