Our Forces Great Victory in the Battle of the Yellow Sea

A Sino-Japanese War triptych depicting the naval engagement of September 17, 1894, in which the Japanese Combined Fleet decisively defeated the Beiyang Fleet. Kiyochika renders the scene with dense gun smoke billowing across the composition, warships exchanging fire at close range amid churning yellow-grey seas. The composition employs dramatic diagonal lines of cannon fire and listing vessels to convey the chaos of modern naval warfare. Kiyochika's Western-influenced approach to light and atmosphere, developed in his earlier Tokyo views, here translates into the rendering of smoke-filled skies and reflected gun-flash on water. Printed in the large ôban triptych format, this work belongs to the surge of woodblock war reportage produced for a domestic audience hungry for news of Japanese military victories during the conflict with China.