The Japanese Navy Sinks Chinese Destroyers in the Yellow Sea (Waga kantai Kôkai ni oite shikan o shizumeru no zu), Meiji period, dated 1894

Dated 1894, this sensō-e depicts Japanese naval forces sinking Chinese warships in the Yellow Sea during the Battle of the Yellow Sea (September 17, 1894), one of the largest naval engagements of the First Sino-Japanese War. The subtitle identifies this as a variant state of Kiyochika's composition on this subject. His Yellow Sea naval prints show modern ironclad warships in combat, using dense black ink to render billowing smoke against gradated open sky—a dramatic application of his kōsen-ga atmospheric technique to the subject of naval warfare. The sea surface is rendered with abbreviated wave marks in blue-green tones, the churned wakes of maneuvering vessels disrupting the regularity of open-water patterns. The title 'sinks Chinese destroyers' (shikan o shizumeru) emphasizes decisive destruction, aligning the image with the triumphalist mode of Meiji sensō-e intended to build public support for the war and celebrate the performance of Japan's newly built Western-style navy.