Published 1895, Waga gun taikyo shite Tainanfu o kakomu Ryûeifuku no konkyo o otoshi-iru (Capturing the base of Ryueifuku) 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 scene relates to Japan’s 1895 invasion of Taiwan after the Treaty of Shimonoseki ceded the island to Japan. Resistance continued under the short-lived Republic of Formosa, making the episode part of the beginning of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan. The catalog identifies battle, gun, landscape, men, 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 |
|---|---|
| Size | Oban triptych |
| Subjects | battle, gun, landscape, men, war |
| Year Published | 1895 |
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