Sino-Japanese War: Japanese Military Might Captures Pyongyang (Nisshin sensô, Nissei Heijô shôhô zu)

The third of Gekko's prints depicting the fall of Pyongyang to Japanese forces in September 1894, this sheet completes a multi-panel treatment of one of the war's defining early battles. The Qing garrison, estimated at fifteen thousand troops, withdrew northward following the Japanese assault; sensō-e artists frequently depicted both the attack and the subsequent rout, giving publishers additional titles from the same engagement. This panel may show the entry of Japanese commanders into the captured city or the scene of Chinese forces in flight across the Taedong River—subjects that conveyed both Japanese martial achievement and the decisive nature of the victory. Compositionally, Gekko would have varied the viewpoint and figure groupings across the three sheets to create visual variety while maintaining thematic coherence. The prints were distributed by Tokyo publishers within weeks of the battle, relying on telegraph dispatches and illustrated newspaper accounts rather than direct eyewitness observation.