Great Victory of Our Armed Forces at the Battle of Pyongyang (Heijô gekisen waga gun dai shôri no zu)

This print depicts the Battle of Pyongyang (September 15–16, 1894), in which Japanese forces routed the Chinese Beiyang Army garrisoned in the Korean city, a turning-point engagement early in the First Sino-Japanese War. Kiyochika's composition likely shows Japanese infantry advancing through the city's fortifications or the final assault on the strategically crucial gates. His sensō-e prints characteristically incorporate Westernized spatial recession and dramatic contrasts between artillery flash and darkened sky—techniques developed in his atmospheric Tokyo views now redirected toward battle reportage. The figures of Japanese soldiers are typically rendered in the Western-influenced military uniforms of the Meiji army, distinguishing them from earlier ukiyo-e depictions of samurai combat. This print exemplifies the role of woodblock prints as immediate visual journalism before the dominance of photographic reproduction.