Triptych: Despite the Heavy Artillery Like Rainfall, He Alone Opens the Hyonmu Gate (Danû o okashite tanshin Genbumon o hiraku), Meiji period, dated 1894

The Hyonmu Gate (Genbu-mon) was the north gate of Pyongyang, breached during the Battle of Pyongyang on September 15, 1894, when Japanese forces captured the city. The title frames the event as individual heroism: a single soldier opens the gate amid artillery described as falling like rainfall. Kiyochika likely renders the monumental Chinese-style gate architecture as a structural foil to the small human figure at its center, with shellbursts providing the harsh illumination that throws the scene into relief. This compositional device—a solitary figure set against massive architectural or natural form—recurs throughout his oeuvre. The print belongs to a category of sensō-e that elevated specific named acts of valor into Meiji-era martial mythology, combining factual reportage with the iconography of heroic sacrifice.