Crossing Anjô Proceeding in Battle (Anjô o watari shingeki no zu), Meiji period, dated 1894

Dated 1894, this print from Kiyochika's First Sino-Japanese War series depicts the Japanese military advance following the crossing of the Anjō River (likely in Manchuria or the Korean peninsula). War print production accelerated rapidly after hostilities began in August 1894, with publishers commissioning artists to meet public demand for battle imagery. The composition would show Japanese infantry or cavalry in modern Meiji-era uniforms pressing forward across terrain, with the dynamic compositional vocabulary of battle scenes balancing figures, flags, smoke, and landscape. Kiyochika applied his atmospheric light technique to war subjects, distinguishing his prints from the more schematic battle imagery of some contemporaries. The Anjō crossing represented one engagement in the larger campaign.