Kojin Kudo - Oirase (奥入瀬)

Oirase (奥入瀬) depicts the lush forest floor along the Oirase Stream in Aomori Prefecture, a landscape deeply familiar to the artist Kojin Kudo who was born in nearby Hirosaki. A Japanese squirrel peers cautiously from a hollow in a massive, moss-covered tree trunk, surrounded by luminous fiddlehead ferns unfurling in golden-cream tones and broad teal hosta-like leaves rendered in Kudo's signature flat mineral-pigment planes. The shimmering stream glints through the undergrowth, while small white hydrangea blossoms and delicate ivy add botanical detail. Kudo's technique — fine descriptive line work for the animals contrasted with expansive flat color fields of azurite-blue pigment for the foliage — creates a jewel-like, dreamlike atmosphere that is the hallmark of his mature Nihonga style. The painting exemplifies his lifelong devotion to the micro-world of nature: insects, small animals, and plants observed with intimate precision and elevated into a decorative, almost mystical composition.

Artist: Kojin Kudo (Japan, 1915–2011)

Year: 1915–2011

Medium: Painting

Materials: Mineral pigments on paper (Nihonga)

Classification: Unique

Size: (H) 41.0 cm, (W) 53.0 cm. Framed: (H) 59.0 cm, (W) 71.2 cm, (D) 6.0 cm

Signature: Artist's cursive signature 'Kojin' in light green pigment with red square seal, lower right on picture surface.