A surimono with a Kyoka poem by Kaien Umeaki (1793-1859) and accompanying image by Totoya Hokkei (1780–1850), depicting a painted horse rendered in a spontaneous ink style coming to life and leaping out of an ema, a wooden votive plaque dedicated to temples. Horses were donated to shrines and temples as symbolic mounts for the enshrined deity. For those who could not afford a real horse, a painted plaque depicting one was the next best thing.

The surimono's imagery draws inspiration from the legend of the painted horse plaque by Kano Motonobu at Asakusa Temple in Edo. According to the tale, Motonobu’s skill was so extraordinary that he rendered the horse with such realism that it came to life each night, leaping out of its plaque to graze.

Kaien's poem speaks of an energetic "colt" (young male horse) foraging and galloping under bright blue skies.

Such prints were meant to be exchanged as year-end ritual gifts called seibo and would have likely circulated amongst the commissioner's friends and acquaintances. As surimono were privately commissioned, they were typically limited in production, with runs spanning a range of 50 to 200 impressions. This genre of woodblock printing also used costly materials and timely techniques such as bokashi (gradation) printing, blind printing (embossing), as well as the incorporation of metal pigments like brass leaf and silvery mica powder, all used in this work.