「日本万歳 百撰百笑」「北京の摘草 骨皮道人」

From 'Nihon Banzai! Hyakusen Hyakushō,' the subtitle 'Pekin no tsumikusa' (北京の摘草, 'Gathering Herbs in Beijing') uses foraging as a metaphor for Qing helplessness — 'picking weeds' signaling privation and powerlessness in contrast with Japanese military advance. The image likely depicts figures in Beijing reduced to scavenging, projecting the imagined humiliation of the Qing court and military at the moment of potential Japanese encirclement of the capital. The series, produced under Kiyochika's pen name Kokkepidōjin (骨皮道人), consistently deployed such deflating domestic metaphors to mock Qing authority, translating battlefield events into absurdist vignettes accessible to urban Japanese audiences throughout the 1894–95 conflict. The Beijing setting gave the image added weight as the symbolic seat of Qing imperial power.