Autumn Landscape

Anan Chikuda was a Nanga painter active from the Meiji to early Shōwa period. Born in modern-day Taketa City, Ōita Prefecture, he first studied under Fuchino Keisen 淵野桂僊 (1814–1881), an official painter of the Oka Domain. Chikuda’s administrative career then relocated him to Nagasaki, where he worked at city hall and became a prominent figure in the local art scenes in the meantime. During this time, he honed his painting skills under renowned Nagasaki painter Moriyama Shōhan 守山湘颿 (1818–1901) and practiced calligraphy with You Wenqin 尤文欽, likely a scholar from Qing China. His fascination with Chinese-style paintings eventually motivated him to travel to the Suhang region of China, where he immersed himself in misty landscapes and got acquainted with late-Qing master Wu Changshuo 吴昌碩.

In the inscription, Chikuda quotes a poem composed by the early Ming scholar Gao Qi 高啓. The painting’s composition directly translates the poem’s imagery into visual form: a rushing stream beside a thatched hut captures the chaotic sound of the rising wind, while pale, desaturated ink washes over the towering peaks evoke the cold, deepening mist. Nestled within the barren trees is the quiet mountain hut where a solitary figure rests, perfectly embodying the hermit returning late to a poetic autumn forest. Rather than employing the vibrant red foliage and lush, blue-green mountains common in typical autumn landscapes, which evoke a warm summer-to-autumn transition, Chikuda masterfully depicts the bleak transition from late autumn to winter by pairing stark, skeletal branches with only a few sparse touches of red leaves.

風起澗聲亂
景寒雲氣深
山人歸卧晚
詩意滿秋林
The wind rises, stirring the wild sounds of the mountain stream,
The air grows chilly as the heavy mists deepen.
The hermit returns late to his quiet lodge to rest,
While a poetic mood permeates the autumn forest.

壬子桂花月寫於金城客舍 竹垞衡 (Painted in the osmanthus month of the mizunoene year [1912] at the Kinjō Guest House—Chikuda, Kō)

(rectangular intaglio seal) Kō in 衡印; (rectangular relief seal) Chikuda 竹垞

(front): 竹垞先生秋景山水図 (Autumn Landscape by Master Chikuda)