Motoyama Taskforce Night Warfare at Pyongyang Castle — 元山支隊平壌城下夜戦之図
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Japanese Art Open Database
Snow and night scenes traditionally command higher prices. Key value factors: Edition order (first Watanabe/Doi printing vs. posthumous reprints) is crucial. Snow scenes, night views, and bijin-ga typically command premiums. Publisher seals and artist signatures authenticate first editions.
This [triptych](/glossary/triptych) depicts the Motoyama Taskforce engaged in night warfare at Pyongyang Castle during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. War prints (senso-e) became a major commercial category during this conflict, with publishers racing to issue dramatic scenes of Japanese military victories. Arai contributed to this genre alongside better-known war print artists like Kobayashi Kiyochika and Ogata Gekko. The night setting adds dramatic intensity, with muzzle flashes and fire illuminating the castle fortifications. The Japanese title, Motoyama Shitai Heijo Joka Yasen no Zu, specifies both the military unit and location with documentary precision. These prints served as both patriotic propaganda and popular entertainment, circulating widely through the same distribution networks that handled Arai's peacetime work.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Motoyama Taskforce Night Warfare at Pyongyang Castle — 元山支隊平壌城下夜戦之図 was created by Yoshimune Arai (荒井芳宗).
Motoyama Taskforce Night Warfare at Pyongyang Castle — 元山支隊平壌城下夜戦之図 depicts castles and night scenes.
