![[Humorous picture showing a Japanese soldier blowing away the flimsy structures or fortifications of the Chinese] by Kobayashi Kiyochika — Japanese Woodblock print](https://data.ukiyo-e.org/loc/thumbs/01000v.jpg)
[Humorous picture showing a Japanese soldier blowing away the flimsy structures or fortifications of the Chinese]
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Library of Congress
- Image courtesy of
- Library of Congress
A wartime satirical print in which a Japanese soldier blows forcefully to topple Chinese military fortifications, depicted as insubstantial temporary structures that scatter at the slightest breath. Kiyochika deploys the visual logic of the fairy tale — specifically reminiscent of the Three Little Pigs motif — to characterize Chinese defensive works as inadequate and hastily constructed. The soldier's posture is exaggerated for comic effect, cheeks puffed and body angled into the action, while the fortifications collapse in disarray. This print belongs to a series produced in association with the First Sino-Japanese War and was aimed at reinforcing domestic confidence in the Japanese military campaign. The draftsmanship favors clean contour lines and bright flat colors over the atmospheric tonal gradations of Kiyochika's landscape work, calibrated for the mass-reproduction requirements of the illustrated press.
Hebizukai
1932
Color woodblock print; oban
1935
Color woodblock print; oban
1964
Acrylic paint and oil pastel with oiled charcoal and ink over an ink and graphite underdrawing on paper
1964
Color lithograph with relief block and hand coloring; edition 35/36
[Humorous picture showing a Japanese soldier blowing away the flimsy structures or fortifications of the Chinese] was created by Kobayashi Kiyochika (小林清親).
[Humorous picture showing a Japanese soldier blowing away the flimsy structures or fortifications of the Chinese] depicts animals.
