Perhaps an arranged meeting between a young man cutting grass and a woman wearing an over-garment holding a cane who could even be a courtesan; however, from the flute concealed in his breast and autumnal grasses collected in the basket in a tasteful arrangement, there is a sense of a hidden story. For that reason it is considered a yatsushi-e, adaptation, of “Kusakari Sanro (Grass-cutter Sanro)”.
Imperial Prince Hanahito, later Emperor Yōmei (? – 587) called himself Sanro and disguised himself as a grass-cutter, and it is said that the beautiful sound of his flute delighted even the oxen. Sanro was in service to a wealthy family, and wedded the daughter Tamayo-hime, and this work portrays the couple transposed into contemporary style. Tsuneyuki’s neatness and refined stroke of the brush, as well as delicate expression of the figures creates a classical atmosphere unsuggestive of the everyday world.