Fukuda Kodojin | Painting

Fukuda Kodojin’s “earliest documented work inscribed with the date January 1899: Moon over Azure Mountains. (…) Devoid of any human activity, the lofty view depicts an evening scene with a gnarled plum tree in the center foreground and a moon in the distance. His poem, composed specifically for this painting, conveys the sentiment evoked by the image. It was later included in his 1912 anthology Seisho’s Mountain Studio Collection. 
 
Here at dusk, where cranes return, 
The sheer cliffs show plum blossoms.
Beneath them the azure of a cold pond,
Where a mountain monk draws water, moon-adorned.
 
Published 2023
Exhibition catalogue The Art and Life of Fukuda Kodojin, Mineapolis Institute of Art, Kat. No 1. p. 27