Shizuka Gozen in Yoshitsune's Horikawa Residence 

Dressed in her nightwear, Shizuka Gozen takes up armor while casting a worried look in the opposite direction. And it’s no wonder, given she has just had a premonition that attackers are coming for her beloved Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and so has gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to prepare for battle. At the time, Yoshitsune was suspected by his brother Minamoto no Yoritomo (who later established the Kamakura Shogunate) of plotting a rebellion, and so bandits had been sent to kill him. However, with the help of the quick-witted Shizuka, he survived. During the Meiji Era (1868–1912), as Japan was seeking to take its place among the leading modern nations, “history paintings” portraying episodes from the nation’s past became popular, as they had been in the West. Generally the protagonists were men, but this work can be seen as a fusion of the history painting genre with elements of bijin-ga, in which beautiful women were depicted.
(HIBINO Miyon)