This painting portrays the “Honzo Chops a Pine Tree at Momonoi ‘s Mansion” scene from Act 2 of a kabuki play titled Kanadehon Chushingura (Treasury of Loyal Retainers). Retainer Honzo Kakogawa cuts a branch off a pine bonsai tree and urges his lord Wakasanosuke Mononoi to do the same to encourage him. In the actual play, Honzo Kakogawa cuts the branch off a garden tree, but a potted plant is used for this painting.