MIT Visualizing Cultures
“Great Japanese Naval Victory off Haiyang Island” by Nakamura Shûkô, October 1894 [2000.380_11] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“Picture of the Naval Battle Capturing Haiyang Island”
by Ogata Gekkō, September 1894 [2000.107]
“Sino-Japanese Naval Battles: Illustration of the Great Victory of the Imperial Navy at the Great Pitched Battle off Takushan” by Utagawa Kokunimasa, October 1894
“Great Japanese Naval Victory off Haiyang Island”
by Nakamura Shūkō, October 1894 [2000.380.11]
“The Imperial Navy Wins a Major Victory in a Great Naval Battle Off Takushan” by Kuniomi, September 1894 [2000.135] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“Sino-Japanese Naval Battles: Illustration of the Great Victory of the Imperial Navy at the Great
Pitched Battle off Takushan” by Utagawa Kokunimasa, October 1894 [2000.380.10]
“Sino-Japanese War: The Japanese Navy Victorious Off Takushan” by Ogata Gekkô, October 1894 [2000.380_19] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“Great Victory of Our Forces at the Battle of the Yellow Sea – Fourth Illustration”
by Kobayashi Kiyochika, October 1894 [2000.380.18]
“Sino-Japanese War: The Japanese Navy Victorious Off Takushan”
by Ogata Gekkō, October 1894 [2000.380.19]
“Picture of the Naval Battle Capturing Haiyang Island” by Ogata Gekkô, September 1894 [2000.107] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston“Great Victory of Our Forces at the Battle of the Yellow Sea--Fourth Illustration” by Kobayashi Kiyochika, October 1894 [2000.380_18] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“The Imperial Navy Wins a Major Victory in a Great Naval Battle Off Takushan”
by Kuniomi, September 1894 [2000.135]
“Kabayama, the Head of the Naval Commanding Staff, onboard Seikyômaru, Attacks Enemy Ships” by Adachi Ginkō, October 1894 [2000.376] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“Japanese Warships Fire on the Enemy near Haiyang Island”
by Mizuno Toshikata, September 1894 [2000.380.13]
“Lieutenant Commander Sakamoto of the Imperial Warship 'Akagi' Fights Bravely” by Mizuno Toshikata, October 1894 [2000.380_20] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston “Japanese Warships Fire on the Enemy near Haiyang Island” by Mizuno Toshikata, September 1894 [2000.380_13] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston“Admiral Kabayama Fights Furiously in the Great Sino-Japanese Naval Battle off Takushan in China” by Toyohara Chikanobu,October 1894 [2000.243] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“Kabayama, the Head of the Naval Commanding Staff, onboard Seikyōmaru,
ttacks Enemy Ships” by Adachi Ginkō, October 1894 [2000.376]
“Lieutenant Commander Sakamoto of the Imperial Warship 'Akagi' Fights Bravely”
by Mizuno Toshikata, October 1894 [2000.380.20]
“Admiral Kabayama Fights Furiously in the Great Sino-Japanese Naval Battle
off Takushan in China” by Toyohara Chikanobu, October 1894 [2000.243]
“The Great Victory of the Imperial Navy” by Toyohara Chikanobu, August 1894 [2000.403] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“The Second Army Bombarding and Occupying Port Arthur” by Watanabe Nobukazu, November 1894 [2000.366] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“Picture of the Great Naval Victory During the Sino-Japanese War” by Ogata Gekkō, August 1894 [2000.150] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
“The Great Victory of the Imperial Navy”
by Toyohara Chikanobu, August 1894 [2000.403]
“The Second Army Bombarding and Occupying Port Arthur”
by Watanabe Nobukazu, November 1894 [2000.366]
“Picture of the Great Naval Victory During the Sino-Japanese War”
by Ogata Gekkō, August 1894 [2000.150]
The War at Sea


Many of the great battles of the Sino-Japanese War took place at sea, providing woodblock artists with an opportunity to depict a totally unprecedented subject: modern naval warfare itself. A mere four decades after Commodore Perry’s steam-powered gunboats had forced Japan to abandon its policy of feudal seclusion, “modern” Japan was deploying warships on a par with any in the world.

In artist’s renderings, the naval struggle was almost perfectly Manichaean—with white Japanese warships usually pummeling the darker, blacker Chinese.

Many naval prints also include tiny Chinese sailors tumbling, almost like rag-dolls, into the unforgiving sea.





Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Collection at
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

 Throwing Off Asia, by John W. Dower

 On viewing images of a potentially disturbing nature: click here.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
© 2008 Visualizing Cultures