[Humorous picture showing a soldier extracting teeth from a Chinese man]

This caricature employs the visual metaphor of forced dentistry to represent Japanese military extraction of Chinese territorial or economic concessions during the First Sino-Japanese War. A soldier — depicted in the role of dentist — forcibly removes teeth from a Chinese subject shown in a position of helpless discomfort. Tooth extraction as a satirical motif carried currency in Japanese wartime imagery as a literal rendering of the verb to 'pull out' or compel surrender. Kiyochika's rendering of the Chinese subject follows the stereotyped physiognomic vocabulary common to Meiji-era wartime caricature, with queue hairstyle and Qing-dynasty robes providing identifying markers. The print's composition centers on the physical interaction between the two figures, using foreshortening and diagonal arrangement to convey the power differential. Printed as an oban sheet, it circulated widely as popular illustrated commentary.