Yamagata Aritomo, 1880

“It is true that the Meiji Restoration‟s achievements are

outstanding…[but these gains] are nothing compared

to the question of Japan‟s relationship with other

countries, which in turn is tied to Japan‟s rise and fall”

Sino-Japanese war 1894 - 5Causes, Course, Consequences and Historian‟s

Interpretations

Introduction based on the work of John Dower

(MIT)

Reading Items and Viewing

Images of a Disturbing Nature

A crowd views war prints displayed at a publisher‟s shop. Although dating from

1904, this western etching captures the scale of the woodblock prints and one of the

primary ways in which they were seen by a wide audience in Japan.

From Japan‟s Fight for Freedom, part III (1904), p. 74.

Confronting China: Satirical drawing in Punch Magazine[ (29

September 1894), showing the victory of "small" Japan over "large"

China (wikimedia commons)

Ukukata Toshiro remembers complex feelings about China in a

1931 memoir: Journalism Thought. (Quoted in

Huffman, Modern Japan)

Meiji Foreign Policy Developments

The main feature of Japan's foreign policy before

1894 was to obtain revision of her 'unequal

treaties' and thus to win international recognition

as an independent nation. (Nish p.102)

But there is a debate amongst historians: Was

Japanese foreign policy at the time about

„throwing off Asia‟ (John Dower), eradicating the

the feudal past (Akira Iyrie) or throwing off the

west (Nish)…or something else?

Japanese lines of

attack in the

Sino-Japanese War

(July 1894–April

1895)

Taken from ‘Throwing Off

Asia II’ MIT Visualising

Cultures

“Hurrah, Hurrah for the Great Japanese Empire! Picture of the Assault on Songhwan, a

Great Victory for Our Troops” by Mizuno Toshikata, July 1894

[2000.435] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

“Chinese and Japanese Troops: Picture of a Fierce Battle at Gaiping”

by Nakagawa, February 1895

[21.1540] Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

ActivityOrganise the material

What question might this material answer?

What additional information do you require to address the

question?

Prepare for a discussion