Picture of Captain Ôsawa and Six Others, the Death-Defying Seven from the Warship Yaeyama, Pushing Forward in Rongcheng Bay (Yaeyama-kan norikumi Ôsawa taii-ra shichimei no kesshitai Eijôwan ni funshin suru zu)
by Ogata Gekko
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Museum of Fine Arts Boston
- Image courtesy of
- Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Description
This print commemorates a specific heroic episode from the Sino-Japanese War: Captain Ōsawa and six crew members of the warship Yaeyama who performed a death-defying act in Rongcheng Bay. The Yaeyama was a Japanese gunboat that participated in the Yellow Sea campaign of 1894. Prints documenting named officers and their crews served a reportorial and commemorative function simultaneously, transforming tactical episodes into narratives of individual valor for home-front audiences. Gekko likely depicts the seven men at a critical moment of action — on deck, in a small boat under fire, or storming a position — with the warship's silhouette and bay waters providing geographic specificity in the background. The extended title functions as a journalistic caption, a convention Gekko used throughout his extensive war-print production.
More Prints by Ogata Gekko
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Featured in Collections
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Frequently Asked Questions
Picture of Captain Ôsawa and Six Others, the Death-Defying Seven from the Warship Yaeyama, Pushing Forward in Rongcheng Bay (Yaeyama-kan norikumi Ôsawa taii-ra shichimei no kesshitai Eijôwan ni funshin suru zu) was created by Ogata Gekko (尾形月耕).
Picture of Captain Ôsawa and Six Others, the Death-Defying Seven from the Warship Yaeyama, Pushing Forward in Rongcheng Bay (Yaeyama-kan norikumi Ôsawa taii-ra shichimei no kesshitai Eijôwan ni funshin suru zu) depicts landscapes.