This unusually colorful hanging scroll by Fukuda Kodojin presents a rare and vivid interpretation of the literati landscape tradition. While Kodojin’s works are often dominated by ethereal ink washes and subtle tonal harmonies, here he introduces striking pigments—vermilion, malachite green, and ochre—to infuse the mountainous scene with living energy. A scholar’s hut, tucked among autumnal trees, overlooks a winding stream and a narrow bridge where a lone figure in red stands gazing toward the towering peaks. The dynamic composition rises through successive layers of mountain and mist, culminating in a monumental central crag rendered with broad, textured brushstrokes, its rust-colored surface glowing against cooler tones of green and gray.
The poem reads:
The green mountains present joyful hues;
The clear waters shimmer with hidden light.
Here is where I read my books—
In the thatched hall, orchids spread their fragrance.
In this verse, Kodojin evokes the serene world of the recluse-scholar, whose simple hermitage becomes a site of poetic cultivation and spiritual clarity. The imagery of fragrant orchids and dancing fish recalls classical Chinese motifs of purity and vitality, yet the painter’s use of color gives the sentiment a distinctly modern expressiveness. Kodōjin’s brushwork combines calligraphic energy with painterly freedom: the jagged, ink-loaded outlines of rock and tree dissolve into layers of luminous pigment, creating an impression of nature both tangible and dreamlike. The small human presence—a red-robed figure poised on a bridge—anchors the vast landscape in introspection, a metaphor for the literati ideal of quiet communion between self and world. This painting exemplifies Kodōjin’s late-period synthesis of poetic imagination and pictorial abstraction. Through its heightened color and expressive brushwork, it reveals how the last of Japan’s literati transformed the inherited idiom of Chinese-inspired landscape into something deeply personal—at once archaic, lyrical, and modern. Lurid color on paper mounted in brass colored silk with ivory rollers enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Haruyama Rokusui-zu which is held in a red lacquered double wood box (nijubako). (The ivory rollers will be changed for export).
Fukuda Kodojin (1865-1944) was an eccentric self-taught artist, his status as a poet, calligrapher and literati artist has reached legendary status. Born at a time of great change (4 years before the final fall of the Edo Government), he lived through the westernization of Meiji, Taisho Democracy, the rise of Imperialism and final defeat of the Showa eras. He was part of a small group of artists existing outside conventional circles in pre-war Japan. He moved to a village outside of Kyoto in 1901, where he supported himself and his family by privately tutoring those who wished to learn Chinese-style poetry. Kodojin was simply a scholar. His poetry, painting, and calligraphy all stem from a life-long cultivation of the mind. He was said to have taken the time just before his death to destroy the large portion of his own remaining work, leaving only that which must have met some personal criteria. Kodōjin’s paintings and calligraphy survive mainly in private collections, but significant works can be found in the collections of the British Museum, Freer Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, Honolulu Museum of Art, Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Museo Kaluz, New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Portland Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum, St. Louis Art Museum, Tanabe City Museum of Art and Wakayama Prefectural Museum of Art among others including such well known Private collections as the Cowles Collection, Hakutakuan Collection, Manyoan Collection and Welch Collection. Twenty five paintings by the artist formed a private exhibition (from the Gitter-Yelen collection) at the New Orleans Museum of Art in 2000. In recent years, exhibitions such as The Last Master of the Literati Tradition: Fukuda Kodōjin (Minneapolis Institute of Art, 2023) have brought renewed attention to his achievement. For more on his life see the book Old Taoist, or Unexplored Avenues of Japanese Painting.
