About This Print

This print is one of fifty prints from the first part of the three part series One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Laughs. (Hyakusen hyakushô) created by the artist Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915), the writer Nishimori Takeki (1861-1923), alias Koppi Dōjin, and the publisher Matsuki Heikichi (1870-1931).

In this print Chinese soldiers are shivering before a snowman with the head of a Japanese general.  The inscription explains that the generals of the Japanese army, Aritomo Yamagata 山縣有朋 and Ōyama Iwao 大山巌 both have the character "mountain" (yama 山) in their names and are therefore so immovable, impressive and insanely strong that the weak soldiers of the Qing dynasty tremble with fear.  There is some wordplay going in in the inscription having to do with the same Japanese characters making up the expressions "making someone cold" and "mocking someone."

Interpretation

Source: University of Vienna website http://ukiyoe.univie.ac.at/detail.asp?docid=934&lang=e&first=1

The title of this print series, “one hundred selections, one hundred laughs”, is a pun and means “one hundred battles, one hundred victories”. In this series of comic propagandistic images about the Sino-Japanese War, Kiyochika draws the Chinese enemies in a very degrading fashion.

This illustration was published in February of 1895, at a time when the Japanese army had already conquered the peninsula Liaodong and had also won Weihaiwei in an overwhelming victory. According to the descriptions of the print, the generals of the Japanese army, Yamagata Aritomo and Ōyama Iwao, both carry the character “mountain” (yama) in their name and are thus impressive, yet they didn't move. It also states that Ōsako and also Ōshima etc. are incredibly strong. The weak soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, who are afraid of a snowman formed like these powerful generals and are quivering with fear asking for help, are regarded with contempt. Because the snow is cold, a pun is made with “to mock somebody”, which means “to ice somebody” in Japanese and is written with the same characters.

About The Series One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Laughs

This series One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Laughs was issued in three parts and presented parodies of the enemy, the Chinese in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and ten years later the Russians in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. The first part of the series titled Long Live Japan: One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Laughs, consisting of fifty prints, was issued between September 1894 and August 1895.  The second part of the series titled Magic Lantern Society: One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Laughs, consisting of twelve prints, was issued between November 1895 and December 1896.  Both of these parts parodied (often in a racist manner) the Chinese people, leadership and war effort. The third and last part of the series, consisting of eight-six prints, used the same title as the first part Long Live Japan: One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Laughs.  Issued between April 1904 and April 1905, the prints parodied the Russian war effort. For more information about the series see the article One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Laughs on this site.

Inscription - Japanese and English Translation