Kōda Rohan


Kōda Shigeyuki who used the pen name Kōda Rohan was a Japanese author in the Meiji period. His daughter, Aya Kōda, was also a noted author who often wrote about him.
Kōda wrote "The Icon of Liberty", also known as "The Buddha of Art" or "The Elegant Buddha", in 1889. A house in which Kōda lived was rebuilt in 1972 by the Meiji Mura museum. Kōda was one of the first persons to be awarded the Order of Culture when it was established in 1937.

Early life

Rohan was born in the Kanda District of Tokyo. He went to Hibiya High School and Aoyama Gakuin, but he did not graduate from both schools. He was the son of Koda Shigenobu and Koda Yu, whose father was Koda Ritei, a samurai official serving under the local daimyō. Rohan's childhood name was Tetsushiro Shigeyuki.

Notable short stories