Inukai Genpachi is a character from the novel "Nanso Satomi Hakkenden" or "The Eight Dog Heroes" which was also performed as a Kabuki play. The complex plot centres on the eight offspring of a supernatural marriage between a princess and her father's dog. Shamed at the birth of her children, she kills herself and the eight beads of her rosary, each representing a Buddhist virtue, become crystal orbs and disperse, the children being reborn to normal mothers sixteen years later. The plot twists and turns as the eight brothers become acquainted as adults. This scene shows two of the brothers, Inukai Genpachi and Inuzuka Shino (in this tattoo Shino is replaced by a dragon) engaging in battle.