Kiyochika: Compassionate Hero (Sold)

Artist: Kobayashi Kiyochika
Title: Compassionate Hero
Series: Mirror of Army and Navy Heroes (Rikkai gunjin kômyô kagami)
Date: 1895, April

Captain Higuchi, Section Commander of the Sixth Division, heedless of the enemy fire that has blown off his hat, sallies forth with his sword drawn in one hand and a helpless Chinese child in the other. According to the excellent online MIT article, Captain Higuchi was one of the most celebrated heroes of the Sino-Japanese War, who reportedly rescued a Chinese infant in a crucial battle near Weihaiwei. At the end of the battle Higuchi is said to have returned the child to his parents. The article sums it up: “At a deeper symbolic level, he exemplified the whole notion of a righteous war against China. The implication was that the child had been left in peril by its own irresponsible parents and caretakers.”

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition.
Dimensions: ôban
Publisher: Inoue Kichijirô
Literature: http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_02/visnav_ii_d.html
Seal: Artist’s seals
Signature: Kiyochika

SKU: KYC197