About This Print

Using the signature Ryūa, as he did for all of his Russo-Japanese War triptychs, Kokunimasa gives us a view of the second meeting between Japanese General Count Nogi Maresuke (乃木 希典), (1849–1912) and the Russian Major-General Baron Anatoly Mikhailyovich Stoessel (1848–1915) on January 7, to discuss the conditions for the transfer of prisoners.  In the left panel we see captured Russian soldiers being led by Japanese officers bearing the Imperial Russian flag as a sign of respect for their vanquished foe.The general terms of the surrender of prisoners provided for the "rank and file of the prisoners to be sent to Japan until the close of the war and the officers to return to Russia on parole. "

The position of the fortress is becoming very painful.  Our principal enemies are scurvy, which is mowing the men, and eleven-inch shells, which know no obstacle and against which there is no protection.  There only remain a few who have not been attacked by scurvy.  We have taken all the possible measures, but the disease is spreading.  The passive endurance of the enemy’s bombardment, the eleven-inch shells, the impossibility of replying for want of ammunition, the outbreak of scurvy, and the loss of a mass of officers – all these causes diminish daily the capabilities of the defense.  The tale of the losses of higher officers is an indication of the enormous losses we have sustained.

While the war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth September 5, 1905, with the fall of Port Arthur, Russia’s defeat was assured.

Japanese General Count Nogi Maresuke (乃木 希典), (1849–1912)

Russian Major-General Baron Anatoly Mikhailyovich Stoessel (1848–1915)