About This Print

The Battle for Seoul

It is unclear which battle this print is portraying as there was no battle of Seoul per say.  The Japanese so surprised the Russians by their naval  attack and landing of troops at Inchon (Chemulpo) near Seoul on February 8, 1904 (Meiji 37), that they occupied Seoul the following day without much resistance.  On February 10 they formally declared war on Russia, but it took the surprised Russians another week to issue their formal declaration of war.

The February publishing date of this battle scene would indicate that Kokunimasa conjured up this scene to meet the deadlines of his publisher who needed to rush into production to keep up with photographic accounts of rapidly unfolding events.

Notation in English Added

The MFA, Boston's print includes a notation in English on the left panel "The great victory of the Japanese army in Seoul engagement", as shown below.  The notation was likely carved into the block during subsequent printings, added to enhance sales to the U.S. and England.  To see another example of an added English notation see the print A great victory for the great Japanese imperial navy, hurrah!

Print Details

IHL Catalog	#85
Title (Description)	Battle between the Japanese and Russians at Seoul: Hurrah for the Great Victory of the Great Japanese Empire  Nichiro Keijō ni gekisen su, Dai Nihon teikoku dai shōri banzai  日露京城ニ撃戦ス　大日本帝國大勝利萬歳   [日露京城ニ撃戦ス　大日本帝国大勝利万歳]
Artist	Kokunimasa 小国政   (1874 – 1944)
Signature	柳蛙 Ryūa (signature used for Russo-Japanese War Prints)
Seal	江戸子 Edoko ("true Tokyoite")
Pub. Date	February 1904 (Meiji 37)
Publisher	福田初次郎 Fukuda Hatsujirō [Marks: pub. ref. 070; seal rev. 30-062] The characters 電浪 二九四 appearing to the left of the seal are likely the publisher's phone number, although "telephone" is normally seen as 電話 ("denwa") instead of 電浪 ("denrō") as written here which can be translated as "electromagnetic waves".
Engraver	三世彫栄 Sansei Hori Ei (seals appearing on left and right panels of print)
Impression	excellent
Colors	excellent
Condition	good - overall light toning; sheets untrimmed and not backed; wormage mainly center panel but also right side of left panel and center right of right panel.
Genre	nishiki-e; senso-e (Russo-Japanese War)
Miscellaneous
Format	vertical oban triptych
H x W Paper	14 3/4 x 10 in.  (37.5 x 25.4 cm) each sheet
Literature
Collections This Print	Museum of Fine Arts, Boston RES.51.80a-c, 2000.86a-c; Glasgow University Library Special Collections Department Prints of the Russo-Japanese War Sp Coll e159; Noda Public Library C19

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