About This Print
Battle at Pyong-yang
According to accounts there was fierce fighting, with the Chinese launching repeated cavalry charges, igniting prearranged blazes, and subjecting the Japanese forces to continuous fires. While the Chinese put up stiff resistance the Japanese "ripped the Chinese army to shreds" and devastated the Chinese morale.1Japanese officers pictured in this print as identified in the rectangular cartouches are, from left to right:
Lieutenant Colonel Fukushima 福島 中佐
Major General Oshima 大鳥 少将
Lieutenant General Nozu (Nodzu) 野津 中将
The Chinese officer is identified as a Chinese general 清大将 but his name サボキ is unread (possibly General Sei Kinlin), who was captured at this engagement.
While this picture shows the main protagonists in hand-to-hand combat while on horseback, it is extremely unlikely that this actually occurred. Scenes like this made the fighting easier for the public to visualize and gave them heroes to glorify.
1 The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power and Primacy, S. C. M. Paine, Cambridge University Press, 2003
The Battle of Ping-Yang (Pyong-Yang)
New York Times Article - September 18, 1894, Wednesday
CHINESE ROUTED AT PING-YANG; AN ARMY OF TWENTY THOUSAND MEN PUT TO FLIGHT. The Great Battle of Sunday Morning in Northern Corea -- Sixteen Thousand Chinamen Killed, Wounded, and Made Prisoners -- Ping-Yang Now in Possession of the Japanese Forces, and China Without an Effective Army in Corea.
Click on article to read
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #305 |
| Title (Description) | Great Imperial Victory at the Fierce Battle at Pyong-Yang 平壌激戦 帝国大勝利 |
| Artist | Kokunimasa 小国政 (1874 – 1944) Utagawa Kokunimasa (1874-1944) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal | stylized seal as shown above |
| Pub. Date | November 1894 (Meiji 27) |
| Publisher | Ishijima Yae (publisher information has been trimmed from the left margin of this collection's print) |
| Engraver | |
| Impression | excellent |
| Colors | excellent |
| Condition | fair- wrinkling throughout; sheets joined with folds near seams; left margin containing descriptive information removed; unbacked |
| Genre | nishki-e; senso-e |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | vertical oban triptych |
| H x W Paper | 14 1/2 x 27 3/4 in. (36.8 x 70.5 cm) |
| Literature | |
| Collections This Print | National Diet Library 8-5-1-2 04-063, 062, 061 |
3/29/2020
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