Picture of Officers and Men Worshiping the Rising Sun While Encamped in the Mountains of Port Arthur 1894

Ogata Gekko created this triptych woodblock print depicting officers and men worshiping the rising sun in Port Arthur. Woodblock printing is a labor-intensive process, involving carving a design into wood, inking it, and then pressing paper onto the block. In this case, three blocks were needed to create the full image. The flat expanses of color demonstrate the inherent qualities of the medium. This was not about illusionism, but about clear communication. Consider how this print was likely made and distributed. The artist would have relied on skilled block carvers and printers to realize his vision. Prints like this would have been produced in large numbers for mass consumption, offering a window into a key moment in Japanese military history, and also the wider landscape of Japanese printmaking as an industry. Thinking about the materials, making, and cultural context allows us to appreciate this image not just as a historical document, but as a complex object of artistic and social production.