Sino-Japanese War: Picture of the Great Victory at Fenghuangcheng (Nisshin sensô, Hôôjô dai shôri no zu)

One of two Gekko prints recording the Japanese occupation of Fenghuangcheng (Hôôjô) in October 1894, a walled Manchurian town taken by the First Army under Field Marshal Yamagata Aritomo as it pushed inland from the Yalu River crossing. The fall of Fenghuangcheng opened the route to Mukden and demonstrated the depth of Japan's advance into Chinese-controlled territory. This sheet, the second of Gekko's paired treatments, likely depicts a complementary moment to its companion—perhaps the entry of Japanese troops into the city or the raising of regimental standards over the fortifications. Sensō-e publishers routinely released multiple sheets on the same battle to maximize revenue, varying titles slightly in the cartouche (daishōri no zu in one version, dai shōri no zu in the other). Gekko's composition would deploy the characteristic devices of Meiji battle printing: diagonal recession into pictorial depth, smoke and fire contrasting with ordered military formations, and color printing from multiple blocks using pigments appropriate to an autumn Manchurian setting.