Visit of the Empress to the Field Hospital [in Hiroshima] (Yasen byôin gyôkô no zu)

This print by Kiyochika documents the Empress's visit to a field hospital in Hiroshima, where Emperor Meiji had relocated the Imperial Headquarters during the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895). Hiroshima served as the military nerve center for Japan's continental campaign, and the Emperor and Empress's presence there was extensively recorded in both print and photography. Kiyochika renders the hospital interior with attention to the spatial arrangement of wounded soldiers and attending medical staff — a compositional approach influenced by Western graphic journalism. The print belongs to a large body of Sino-Japanese War imagery in which Kiyochika balanced visual documentation with the propagandistic demands of the Meiji publishing market. The Empress's role in these prints is consistently one of compassionate patronage, framing imperial power in terms of humanitarian concern. Together with Reiyô hôken no zu, this print forms part of a cycle depicting the imperial family's wartime ceremonial activities.