Cavalry Sergeant Kawasaki Iseo

Cavalry Sergeant Kawasaki Iseo is commemorated in this February 1895 military portrait print as a hero of the First Sino-Japanese War. Kiyochika's series of individual soldier portraits, produced throughout 1894 and 1895, documented the military personalities whose names appeared in the popular press as examples of Imperial Japanese Army valor. The cavalry designation signals the modern combined-arms character of the Meiji military, and Kiyochika renders the sergeant with appropriate martial dignity.