Capture of Pyongyang

This war print depicts the Battle of Pyongyang, fought on September 15–16, 1894, one of the decisive land engagements of the First Sino-Japanese War. Japanese forces under General Nodzu Michitsura surrounded and overwhelmed the Qing garrison holding the Korean city, a victory that opened the road to Manchuria and marked the first major test of the newly modernized Imperial Japanese Army. Gekko was among the most prolific illustrators of this conflict, producing dozens of sensō-e prints for publishers eager to meet public demand for news from the front. The composition almost certainly depicts Japanese infantry advancing under fire or raising the flag over breached Chinese fortifications — conventions of the genre that Gekko handled with characteristic dynamism. Diagonal lines of rushing troops, billowing cannon smoke rendered in graduated bokashi, and the red and white of the Hinomaru flag would have served as organizing visual elements. The print likely appeared as a large ōban triptych, the standard format for battle subjects that demanded a wide panoramic field.