Published 1894, Kaiyôtô senryô kaisen no zu (Naval Battle Capturing Haiyang Island) 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.
Modern steamships, artillery, smoke, and rough water made naval combat a potent symbol of Meiji technological power. Because artists rarely witnessed such actions directly, these scenes combined reports with imaginative reconstruction. The catalog identifies battle, boats, 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 | Sasaki Toyokichi |
| Size | Oban triptych |
| Subjects | battle, boats, sea, war |
| Year Published | 1894 |
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