A woman from Ohara on horseback

A woman from Ohara on horseback, dated 1834 and held by the Art Institute of Chicago, is a shikishiban surimono by Katsushika Taito II depicting an oharame mounted on a horse. The oharame of Ohara village, north of Kyoto, were celebrated in Edo-period visual culture for their distinctive folk dress—a wrapped cotton kimono, a black headcloth, and frequently the firewood or produce loads they brought to the capital. Taito II had treated oharame subjects previously in his 1822 Katsushika gosekku series, and this later sheet revisits the figure in a different pose: rather than walking with an ox or a load, the woman rides a horse, her costume still recognizably that of Ohara. The choice of subject pairs rural folk specificity with the cosmopolitan culture of the Edo kyoka circles that commissioned the print. Taito II's draftsmanship handles the foreshortening of the horse capably, while the careful printing of the patterned kimono and harness ornaments reflects the luxury surimono standard.