A scene of the battle of Kagoshima, triptych, 1877

A triptych depicting scenes from the Battle of Kagoshima during the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877, one of Chikanobu's extensive series documenting the final military uprising of the samurai class against the Meiji government's modernization program. The rebellion's romantic appeal — Saigo Takamori's last stand against the forces of modernity — made it an irresistible subject for popular print artists, and Chikanobu's battle scenes served the public's enormous appetite for visual documentation of a conflict that had concluded the samurai era. The triptych format enabled the panoramic sweep appropriate to large-scale military engagement.