Battle at Kinshujô on the way to Ryojun (Ryojun-dô Kinshujô sen), Meiji period, dated 1894

The earliest or primary impression in the series of three known versions of this 1894 battle print, this sheet depicts the Japanese military engagement at Kinshūjō during the Sino-Japanese War campaign toward Port Arthur. Kiyochika's war prints represent a significant body of work distinct from his Tokyo meisho-e, demonstrating his versatility in applying kosen-ga lighting principles to martial subjects. Gunfire, burning structures, and the chaotic movement of troops across contested terrain are rendered with the same attention to illuminated atmosphere that characterized his peaceful urban landscapes. The Kinzhoucheng/Kinshūjō engagement was a strategic victory clearing Japanese access to the southern Liaodong Peninsula, and prints documenting it would have carried strong propagandistic resonance during the autumn of 1894. Published in the standard oban format, these prints circulated widely through the Meiji-era print trade as both reportage and collectible documentation of the war.