A work from the early years of Toyokuni, the foremost portrayer of actors. Here we have a scene from a Kabuki kyogen story in which two characters named Shimbei (Shimbei Tamaya and Shimbei Demura) fall in love with the same woman while looking for their family treasures. In the story, one of them uses his tobacco case (seen here tied to his belt) to stop a wound sustained by his rival, thus creating a bond of friendship. This is just one of several plays that use a tobacco case as a central device.