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A painting of the Lighthouse at the Entrance of Port Arthur Harbour
A painting of the Lighthouse at the Entrance of Port Arthur Harbour

A painting of the Lighthouse at the Entrance of Port Arthur Harbour

Artist (Japanese, 1872 - 1944)
Publisher
Date1894
Object number00004610
NamePrint
MediumWoodblock print on paper.
DimensionsOverall: 492 x 860 x 25 mm, 4 kg
Display Dimensions: 249 x 725 mm
ClassificationsArt
Credit LineANMM Collection
DescriptionWoodcut print drawn by Yosay Nobukazu (1872-1944) of a Japanese naval attack against Chinese forces on the Liaotung Peninsula in 1894.HistoryThis woodblock print depicts an event from the first Sino-Japanese war of 1894-1895 when Japan and China were competing for control of Korea. War was declared on 1 August 1894, by March 1895 Japan had successfully invaded Shantung and Manchuria. The Chinese sued for peace. Three boats of Japanese marines attempting a landing attack the Chinese army on shore. Their battleship is in the background firing on and destroying a Chinese naval vessel. The event is taking place at the entrance to Port Arthur Harbour on the Liaotung Peninsula. The area is known to the Chinese as Lushun and to the Japanese as Ryojun. On taking the city the Japanese massacred the Chinese civilian population. Japanese text inside the outline of the cat are the publication details; block cut and print published 10 December 1894 by Hasegawa Sonokichi. The title is upper right corner 'A painting of the lighthouse at the entrance of Port Arthur Harbour'. Red characters in the bottom right hand corner is the artist's name 'Commissioned print drawn by Yosay Nobukazu'.SignificanceThe 1902 Anglo-Japanese treaty (signed at the end of the Anglo-Boer war) alarmed Australia as it indicated a lessened British strategic willingness to deploy to the ‘far east’. What really tipped the scales was the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War, which really drove home the power of the modern Japanese navy against European fleets and was a stimulus for the formation of the Royal Australian Navy. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894 was a prelude to these developments.