Watanabe Nobukazu (渡辺延) (artist 1874 – 1944)
Triptych of the 'Military Occupation of Liaoning City' (Eikō Hōdai Senryō no zu - 営口砲台占領之図)
1894
27.75 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Yōsai Nobukazu hitsu (楊斎延筆)
Publisher: Amishima Kamekichi (Tsujiokaya Kamekichi 綱島亀吉 Marks 549)
Honolulu Museum of Art Japanese soldiers, several on horseback, rout and slaughter Chinese soldiers, taking some prisoners. The melee is near a mountainous sea inlet with bridges and buildings. Soldiers are engulfed by smoke, explosions, and buildings on fire. Japanese flags are held high while a Chinese flag bearer flees Japanese bayonets, rifles, and swords.
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The Japanese, as well as the Russians and Chinese and everyone else, knew that to control Manchuria meant that someone had to control what the Qing dynasty called "The Eastern Three Provinces" which included what is today known as the areas of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang. This also held the key to controlling, by necessity, the Korean Peninsula. This explains the struggle for Liaroning as seen in this triptych by Nobukazu at the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War.
Tsujiokaya Kamekichi (辻岡屋亀吉) (publisher)
Senso-e (war prints) (genre)