"In the Second Army's Assault on Jinzhoucheng, Engineer Superior Private Onoguchi Tokuji, Defying Death, Places Explosives and Blasts the Gate of the Enemy Fort"

This print commemorates a specific act of battlefield heroism during the Japanese Second Army's assault on Jinzhoucheng (Jinzhou fortress) in the autumn of 1894, naming Engineer Superior Private Onoguchi Tokuji and his placement of explosives at the fort's gate. Meiji war prints frequently celebrated individual soldiers by name, transforming enlisted men into figures of loyal sacrifice legible within the older samurai valor tradition. The composition likely shows Onoguchi in a low crouching posture against the fort's massive gate structure, with explosive charge in hand and enemy fire implied through the surrounding chaos. Diagonal energy and dramatic foreshortening draw the viewer's focus to the lone figure against an architectural obstacle—a compositional device Gekko employed throughout his war print output. The specificity of name, rank, and location gave such prints a documentary authority that amplified their propagandistic function.