Captain Higuchi, Company Commander in the Sixth Division, from the Series ‘Mirror of Famous Army and Navy Men’ 1895

This is a woodblock print by Kobayashi Kiyochika, titled ‘Captain Higuchi, Company Commander in the Sixth Division, from the Series ‘Mirror of Famous Army and Navy Men.’ It is an image of a Japanese officer carrying a child away from a battlefield. It’s fascinating to consider what this image might tell us about the social values and political conditions of the time in which it was made. The print was created during the Meiji period in Japan, a time of rapid modernization and military expansion. The image of a heroic officer rescuing a child taps into a broader cultural narrative of self-sacrifice, honor, and duty that was promoted by the government in an effort to galvanize popular support for its imperial ambitions. But we need to consider the politics of imagery. What is being shown and what is being left out? What is the public role of this art? Historians can draw on all sorts of resources, from official government publications to popular literature and art, to gain a deeper understanding of the complex social forces that shaped the production and reception of this work.