The Battle of Ueno: Defeat

The Battle of Ueno on the fourth day of the fifth month of 1868 was a decisive engagement of the Boshin War, in which imperial forces routed the Shogitai, a pro-Tokugawa militia that had fortified Kan'ei-ji temple on Ueno hill in Edo. The fighting lasted a single morning before the Shogitai collapsed, and the flames from burning temple structures were visible across the city. Kyosai, who lived through the Meiji Restoration and documented its violence with unflinching directness, depicted the aftermath of the battle in works that made no attempt to glorify the new imperial order. This print, subtitled "Defeat," focuses on the losing side — broken soldiers, flight, or slaughter — aligning with Kyosai's known sympathy for the old Edo world being dismantled around him. The composition likely employs the compressed, chaotic figure groupings found in his battle imagery, with figures in partial armor or civilian dress caught mid-collapse, rendered with the gestural economy that distinguishes his documentary works from purely decorative prints.