Hurrah for Japan! The Victory Song of Pyongyang (Nihon banzai, Heijô no gaika)

Published in the wake of the Japanese Army's decisive victory at Pyongyang on September 15, 1894, this print presents the battle's outcome as triumphant spectacle through the sensō-e genre that dominated Kiyochika's output during the First Sino-Japanese War. The subtitle — Nihon banzai, Heijô no gaika (Long live Japan, Victory Song of Pyongyang) — frames the image explicitly as celebratory, intended for a domestic audience processing news of a major engagement. Pyongyang, then the primary city of northern Korea, was defended by Qing forces who were routed by the combined Japanese advance; the capture of the city's directional gates (including the Genbu Gate) formed one of the battle's dramatic episodes. Kiyochika's composition likely shows victorious Japanese soldiers advancing through smoke and fire against the city's fortifications or celebrating in its streets, employing the dynamic multiple-figure groupings and dramatic atmospheric effects that characterize his war print series. The oban-format print was produced for rapid publication and wide circulation.