About This Print
A depiction of the wounded Chinese Commander Tso Pao-kwei and other Chinese soldiers being led into a Japanese field hospital for treatment after the fall of Pyongyang in Korea to the Japanese forces on September 16, 1894. While some accounts of the battle, such as the extracts shown below from an article in the San Francisco newspaper The Morning Call1, reported that Tso Pao-kwei had surrendered, in fact he fought bravely and died in action.This print, as opposed to almost all other Sino-Japanese War prints, was published in Ōsaka rather than in Tokyo. Its publisher Ōbuchi Wataru of the publishing house Hatsubai Shinshindō was primarily a book publisher and this print was part of a twelve print gafu (picture book), a portfolio titled Sino-Japanese War Picture Book, the envelope for which is shown below.
The Battle of Pyongyang (Pingyang)
Source: Impressions of the Front: Woodcuts of theSino-Japanese War, Okamoto, Shumpei, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1983, p. 23.
1 For a .pdf of the entire front page of the October 5, 1894 edition of The Morning Call go to http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc/cgi-bin/imageserver/imageserver.pl?oid=SFC18941005.1.1&key=&getpdf=true.
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Commander Tso Pao-kwei
(unknown source)
(unknown source)
The Battle of Pyongyang (Pingyang)
Source: Impressions of the Front: Woodcuts of theSino-Japanese War, Okamoto, Shumpei, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1983, p. 23.At dawn on September 15, 1894, the Japanese brigades under Lieutenant General Nozu Michistsura and Major General Oshima Yoshimasa surrounded the stronghold at Pingyang and began a full attack. The Chinese, entrenched and fortified, fought fiercely as the battle developed. When the Japanese toppled the Gembu Gate, however, the Chinese commanders began to consider evacuation. The north wing commander Tso Pao-kwei led his troops to repel the Japanese forces and died courageously in battle, but the supreme commander Yeh Chih-chao fled in the night, bringing about the Chinese defeat.
To see more prints of the Sino-Japanese War including the Battle of Pyongyang see the article Sino-Japanese War Prints (1894-1895).
To see more prints of the Sino-Japanese War including the Battle of Pyongyang see the article Sino-Japanese War Prints (1894-1895).
1 For a .pdf of the entire front page of the October 5, 1894 edition of The Morning Call go to http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc/cgi-bin/imageserver/imageserver.pl?oid=SFC18941005.1.1&key=&getpdf=true.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #571 and #2427 |
| Title or Description | Illustration of the Hospitalization of the Captured Commander Tso Pao-kwei 左寶貴生捕入院之圖 [左宝貴生捕入院之圖] |
| Series Title | Sino-Japanese War Picture Book 日清戦争画譜 Nishin sensō gafu |
| Artist | Yukawa Hiromitsu (active c. 1894) |
| Signature |  |
| Seal | Hiromitsu 広光 (see above) |
| Publication Date |  |
| Publisher |  [click on image to enlarge] |
| Impression | IHL Cat. #571: excellent IHL Cat. #2427: excellent |
| Colors | IHL Cat. #571: excellent IHL Cat. #2427: excellent |
| Condition | IHL Cat. #571: good - upper left margin corner missing; light overall soiling IHL Cat. #2427: good - minor soiling and handling creases |
| Genre | ukiyo-e; senso-e |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Format | shikishiban |
| H x W Paper | IHL Cat. #571: 10 1/8 x 8 5/8 in. (25.7 x 21.9 cm) IHL Cat. #2427: 9 11/16 x 8 1/4 in. (24.6 x 21 cm) |
| H x W Image | IHL Cat. #571: 9 1/4 x 7 3/8 in. (23.5 x 18.7 cm) IHL Cat. #2427: 9 1/4 x 7 3/8 in. (23.5 x 18.7 cm) |
| Literature | |
| Collections This Print | Penn Museum University of Pennsylvania 17719K |
last revision:
4/9/2021
4/27/2020
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