This triptych perspective print (uki-e) depicts the interior of the Nakamura Kabuki Theatre in Edo during a New Year performance of Soga no Taimen (The Confrontation of the Soga Brothers). The work was originally issued as part of a six-panel set published by Moriya Jihei (Kinshundō). The three missing lower panels would have completed the composition by showing the exterior façade of the theatre and a bustling street outside.

The actors on stage are identified as: Matsumoto Kōshirō V as Kudō Suketsune; Onoe Kikugorō III as Soga no Jūrō; Ichikawa Danjūrō VII as Soga no Gorō; Iwai Hanshirō V as Tora Gozen; and Bandō Mitsugorō III as Asahina Saburō.

Food vendors move through the theatre’s ground floor, which is divided by wooden railings into small box-like sections, each seating a handful of spectators. Seating was strictly hierarchical, with prices increasing according to proximity to the stage. The least expensive places were located behind the stage, where audiences could see little more than the actors’ backs. Along the sides of the theatre, two-tiered galleries offered increasingly desirable views, with the most prestigious seats situated on the upper level nearest the stage, where food boxes were placed along a narrow ledge.