Toyohara Chikanobu, Battle Scene from the First Sino-Japanese War, 1894
Following a distinguished military career, Chikanobu turned to maing a living as an artist in Tokyo. Though he portrayed many different incidents from history and mythology, Chikanobu naturally excelled in his rendering of battle scenes.
The ghostly army advancing from the left may have been inspired by Édouard Detaille’s Le Rêve.
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Though large and small guns were the major weapons of war at this time, bladed weapons do most of the actual killing in Chikanobu’s rendering of the battle.
