The great victory of our Naval forces near Phung-to in Korea

This print commemorates the Battle of Pungdo (Hōgoto in Japanese reading), fought on July 25, 1894, off the coast of Korea, which marked the opening naval engagement of the First Sino-Japanese War. Japanese cruisers sank the Chinese troopship Kowshing and disabled the Chinese warship Tsi-yuan, establishing Japanese naval dominance at the conflict's outset. Kiyochika depicts the engagement at sea, with warships exchanging fire amid smoke and spray. His treatment of open-water naval combat relies on dynamic diagonal wave forms inherited from the ukiyo-e tradition while incorporating the atmospheric smoke and light effects characteristic of his mature style. The print was almost certainly produced rapidly for mass distribution in the months following the battle, when Japanese audiences were eager for visual documentation of military victories. Ships are rendered with detailed attention to their modern steel hulls and armament.