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# The Spectacle of War in Woodblock Prints
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/the-spectacle-of-war-in-woodblock-prints/
- Published: 2014-10-24T15:14:59.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:47:38.000Z
- Description: When late 19th-century Japan fought China for control over Korea in what became known as the First Sino-Japanese War, its explosive naval and land battles offered printmakers sensational, politically gripping new subject matter.
- Author: Laura C. Mallonee
- Tags: Art, History, Japan, Photo Essays, Printmaking, Woodblock, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 07:03 (2014, 2015, part 1)

![(All images courtesy of Mead Art Museum) ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/10/a-naval-battle-near-phung-to-in-korea-during-the-sino-japanese-war-a-picture-of-the-great-victory-of-our-forces.jpg)

Kobayashi Kiyochika’s woodblock print depicts a naval battle near Phung-tō in Korea during the Sino-Japanese War. It is part of an album published by Daikokuya Heikichi in 1895\. (all images courtesy of Mead Art Museum)

When late 19th-century Japan fought China for control over Korea in what became known as the First Sino-Japanese War, its explosive naval and land battles offered printmakers sensational, politically gripping new subject matter. As a result, the traditional woodblock publishing industry known as *ukiyo-e* — then stagnating, due to the advent of lithography and photography — began to thrive.

![The program for "Pain's Superb Pyro-Spectacle: War Between China and Japan" (1895)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/10/pains-spectacle.jpg)

The program for “Pain’s Superb Pyro-Spectacle: War Between China and Japan” (1895)

The Mead Art Museum at Amherst College now features an expansive collection of these historic Japanese prints in its exhibit [*Pain’s Pyrotechnic Spectacle*](https://www.amherst.edu/museums/mead/exhibitions/2014/pains-pyrotechnic-spectacle?utm%5Fsource=October+and+November+2014&utm%5Fcampaign=October+and+November+2014&utm%5Fmedium=email)*,* which also includes a [digital platform](http://www.painspyrospectacle.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com#explore). The show’s title refers to an 1896 reenactment on a Manhattan beach of a battle that had taken place just a few months before in Korea, revealing the far-reaching intrigue that helped fuel the demand for such artwork. It also helped that, in 1872, Japan repealed a strict law forbidding artists from depicting current events. A morbid public curiosity and a favorable artistic climate converged to create a genre of war prints known as *sensō-e*, which would soon reappear during the Russo-Japanese War.

Aside from 15 woodblock prints, the show includes 35 never-before-seen images by Kobayashi Kiyochika, bound into an accordion-like book called *A True Account of the Sino-Japanese War*, published by Daikokuya Heikichi around 1895\. The album is unusual, and not just because no identical copies have ever been found. As co-curators James Kelleher and Bradley Bailey explain in their online [statement](http://www.painspyrospectacle.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com#about), such large series simply don’t exist: “Each print would be a representation of a specific battle, or act of heroism, or exotic landscape. By compiling a large number of prints into one volume to create a narrative, the album itself becomes a spectacle.”

\* \* \*

![A Picture of the Fall of Hoojō (Fenghuangcheng)](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/10/a-picture-of-the-fall-of-hoojo-fenghuangcheng-.jpg)

This 1894 polychrome woodblock triptych by Mizuno Toshikata was published by Akiyama Buemon and depicts the fall of Hoojō (Fenghuangcheng).

![Soldier on Top of the Genbu Gate in Heijō (Pyongyang)  Taguchi](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/10/soldier-on-top-of-the-genbu-gate-in-heijo-pyongyang-taguchi.jpg)

Taguchi Beisaku’s 1894 print, published by Inoue Kichijirō, depicts a soldier on top of the Genbu Gate in Pyongyang, when the Chinese surrendered the city on September 15, 1894.

![A Picture of Our Navy Sinking the Chinese Forces in the Yellow Sea](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/10/a-picture-of-our-navy-sinking-the-chinese-forces-in-the-yellow-sea-.jpg)

The Battle of the Yalu River, or Yellow Sea, on September 17, 1894 resulted in the sinking of three Chinese warships — the Yang-wei, the Chao-yuen, and the King-yuen. Kobayashi Kiyochika’s polychrome woodblock print, published by Daikokuya Heikichi in 1894, shows the Chinese troops struggling to survive.

![Harada Jūkichi, a Brave Soldier, Defeated Immense Enemies by Climbing Over the Wall at the Genbu Gate](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/10/harada-jukichi-a-brave-soldier-defeated-immense-enemies-by-climbing-over-the-wall-at-the-genbu-gate-.jpg)

Einen’s woodblock print depicts the war hero Harada Jūkichi dragging a Chinese soldier by his ponytail after charging over the wall at Genbu Gate. It was published by Akiyama Buemon in 1894.

![A Picture of Our Forces Occupying Ryūkō (Liugong) Island](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/10/a-picture-of-our-forces-occupying-ryuko-liugong-island-.jpg)

Japanese forces raise their flag over Ryūkō (Liugong) Island in this print by Kobayashi Kiyochika, published by Daikokuya Heikichi in 1895.

![Kobayashi Kiyochika's image captures troops at Ikaiei Weihaiwei. This print, published by Inoue Kichijirō, features artificial aniline dyes, which were brighter than more traditional inks. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/10/a-picture-of-the-advance-disposition-of-our-troops-at-ikaiei-weihaiwei.jpg)

Part of his 1895 album “A True Account of the Sino-Japanese War,” Kobayashi Kiyochika’s image captures troops at Ikaiei Weihaiwei. This print, published by Inoue Kichijirō, features artificial aniline dyes, which were brighter than more traditional inks.

![This print by Kobayashi Kiyochika, part of the album published by Daikokuya Heikichi in 1895, depicts the Japanese army attacking the Chinese camp.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/10/our-army-attacks-the-chinese-camp-at-pyongyang-.jpg)

This print by Kobayashi Kiyochika, part of the album published by Daikokuya Heikichi in 1895, depicts the Japanese army attacking the Chinese camp.

![A Japanese shell explodes in the Chinese camp at Kinshū (Jinzhou) in this print by Kobayashi Kiyochika, part of the album published by Daikokuya Heikichi in 1895. ](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2014/10/a-picture-of-our-second-army-landing-at-kinshu-jinzhou-and-bombarding-the-enemy-camp-.jpg)

A Japanese shell explodes in the Chinese camp at Kinshū (Jinzhou) in this print by Kobayashi Kiyochika, part of the album published by Daikokuya Heikichi in 1895.

[Pain’s Pyrotechnic Spectacle](https://www.amherst.edu/museums/mead/exhibitions/2014/pains-pyrotechnic-spectacle?ref=hyperallergic.com) *is on view at the Mead Art Museum (41 Quadrangle Drive, Amherst) through January 4, 2015.*