Naval Battle near Phung-to, Korea

This sensō-e by Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847–1915) depicts the naval engagement near Pungdo (Phung-to), an island off the western coast of Korea, on July 25, 1894 — the opening naval action of the First Sino-Japanese War. The battle involved Japanese cruisers, including the Naniwa under Captain Togo Heihachiro, engaging Chinese warships and the British-chartered troopship Kowshing, which was carrying Qing soldiers to Korea. The Kowshing's sinking became an international incident. Kiyochika's composition likely depicts warships in close engagement with cannon fire, billowing smoke, and rough sea conditions establishing the drama. His naval battle prints use strong contrasts of dark hull silhouettes against churning water and smoke-filled sky — a compositional approach shaped by his study of Western photography and academic illustration in Yokohama. The prints were issued rapidly following telegraph reports of engagements, meeting a substantial public appetite for visual documentation of the conflict's early phase.