Kunitaro Teramatsu—oil Painting On Canvas, Japanese In Western Style

The Oharame (大原女, literally “women of Ohara”) were traditional street vendors from the village of Ohara, north of Kyoto. They were known for carrying firewood or bundles of kindling on their heads to sell in the city streets, wearing a distinctive traditional costume characterized by a white cloth (tenugui) tied around their heads, sleeves rolled up with sashes (tasuki), and an indigo-blue robe.

Kunitaro Teramatsu was a Western-style painter born in Kurashiki. In 1900, he moved to Tokyo, where he studied Western painting at Shōtarō Koyama’s Fudōsha School. In 1903, he returned to Okayama and worked as an art teacher at Shizutani Junior High School. However, in 1906, inspired by the style of Chū Asai (Tadashi Asai), he moved to Kyoto and enrolled at the Kansai Academy of Fine Arts (Kansai Bijutsuin). In 1908, he became director of the Kansai Academy of Fine Arts and was appointed professor that same year. In 1913, he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français in France and became a member of the Société Internationale des Beaux-Arts.