Naval Officers Discussing Strategy to be Used in the War against China
- Date:
- September 1894
- Medium:
- Triptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
- Source:
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
Naval Officers Discussing Strategy to be Used in the War against China is a 1894 senso-e print by Mizuno Toshikata held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (accession reference at metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/55276). Unlike the named-hero prints of the Sino-Japanese War that dominate the senso-e genre, this composition takes a less common subject: a council of officers planning their campaign before the engagement. The choice gave Toshikata, a Yoshitoshi student already accustomed to staging conversation between multiple figures in his historical and literary prints, room to use the conventions of group portraiture rather than the single-figure heroism of typical battle pictures. The print is a useful document of how senso-e publishers occasionally departed from the formula in order to vary the visual diet for buyers: across 1894–1895, hundreds of war prints flooded the Tokyo market, and design variety helped publishers move impressions. The naval focus also reflects the strategic centrality of the Combined Fleet during the war, with Vice Admiral Ito Sukeyuki's command becoming the focus of much popular attention after the September 1894 Battle of the Yalu River. Among Mizuno Toshikata's Meiji prints, the strategy-council subject is a relatively unusual contribution and is worth noting alongside his more numerous heroic-individual prints. The Met's 1894 dating places the work in the heart of the wartime boom.
Naval Officers Discussing Strategy to be Used in the War against China was created by Mizuno Toshikata (水野年方) in September 1894.
