Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)

This design is focussed on the theme of horses. The title of the print alludes to the actual appearance of a watakuri [cotton gin] which had a mechanism on top of a sawhorse-like stand. The first poem above compares the cotton gin to an untamed horse, the second poem likens patches of snow on the ground in spring to cotton, and the third poem makes the cotton gin into a pack horse setting off in the plum-scented spring breeze.1

1. See Joan B. Mirviss and John T. Carpenter, Jewels of Japanese Printmaking: Surimono of the Bunka-Bunsei Era (1804-1830), Exhibition Catalogue, Ota Museum of Art, (Tokyo, 2000), p. 60-61, Cat. 12

For another impression in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard Art Museums, object number 1933.4.1794, go to https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/art/207573