Struggling Hard on the Battleship Hatsuse in the Harbor of Port Arthur 1904

Kobayashi Kiyochika made this print, Struggling Hard on the Battleship Hatsuse, without a date, but likely during the Meiji period in Japan. Looking at this print, I can imagine Kiyochika with his wood blocks, meticulously carving out each detail, thinking through the scenes of urgency and chaos on the battleship. The blue of the uniforms pops against the white smoke and the muted tones of the ship’s deck. I wonder what he was thinking, etching the small red crosses, a signal of hope and a reminder of the pain of war. It's almost journalistic, echoing earlier printmakers like Goya, chronicling war and social upheaval. There's a flow and a rhythm to it, like Hokusai's wave, even though the subject matter couldn't be more different. But it all comes from this tradition of seeing, of translating life onto a flat surface. Kiyochika must have been deeply moved by what he witnessed and the image carries forward, speaking to us now.