「日本万歳 百撰百笑」「木偶の坊 骨皮道人」

This print shares the subtitle 'Kuguri no bō' (The Wooden Puppet) with kobayashi-kiyochika--213, forming a pair of caricatures within the Nihon Banzai: Hyakusen Hyakushō series that elaborates the puppet metaphor across two distinct compositions. The 'wooden puppet' conceit characterizes Chinese soldiers or commanders as inert, puppeteered, and incapable of self-directed military action — a recurring satirical premise in Japanese wartime popular media of 1894–95. The [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) print format of this series permitted swift production and wide circulation at low cost, serving a public hungry for news from the Korean and Manchurian fronts. Kiyochika's caricature draftsmanship in this series is economical and expressionistic, using simplified anatomy and exaggerated gesture in place of the careful tonal gradation that defined his earlier work. The comedic subtitle is presented in a cartouche following the series title block, identifying Kotsuhi Dōjin as the designer.