Japan splits the Russian torpedo fleet

This woodblock print depicts a naval engagement from the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905), specifically a Japanese action against Russian torpedo boat forces. Naval battles between the Japanese Combined Fleet under Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō and Russian Pacific and Baltic squadron forces generated substantial print demand, and Kiyochika was among the most prolific illustrators of these engagements. Night and low-light naval scenes — with searchlights raking dark water, gun-flash illuminating gun smoke, and silhouetted vessels — aligned naturally with his lifelong concern for artificial and atmospheric light effects in the kosen-ga tradition. The composition likely shows warships in silhouette against an illuminated sea surface, the formal ambiguity between visual drama and documentary intent characteristic of Meiji-era battle prints.