Published 1894, Chin’en jūran no zu (Popular Viewing of the Captured Chinese Warship Chenyuen) belongs to Sino-Japanese War Triptychs. This design belongs to Gekkō’s imagery of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95, a conflict over influence in Korea that ended with China’s defeat and the Treaty of Shimonoseki. Such triptychs circulated rapidly in Japan as a hybrid of illustrated news, military spectacle, and nationalist propaganda; their dramatic narratives should not be read as neutral records of combat.
The captured ironclad Zhenyuan—rendered Chinyen in Japanese service—had belonged to China’s Beiyang Fleet. Its public display turned enemy technology into a visible trophy of victory and naval modernization. The catalog identifies boats, men, figures, sea, and war among the principal motifs. Gekkō uses their relationship to clarify action, season, setting, and narrative emphasis rather than treating them as interchangeable decoration.
The three-sheet format creates a broad visual field suited to simultaneous action, opposing forces, processions, or panoramic space; the joins between sheets also structure the narrative rhythm.
Additional information
| Editions | First Edition |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Takegawa Risaburo |
| Size | Oban triptych |
| Subjects | boats, men, people, sea, war |
| Year Published | 1894 |
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