“The Japanese torpedo boat delivers a knock-out blow to Russian man-of-war.” Kobayashi Kiyochika. Medium: woodcut, color; 37.2 x 25 cm (sheet). Library of Congress collection, available at https://catalog.loc.gov/vwebv/search?searchCode=LCCN&searchArg=2009630474&searchType=1&permalink=y
This Japanese woodcut from 1904 by Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) shows a stalky, chiseled Japanese soldier delivering a knock-out blow to the unprepared and shocked Russian “Man-of-War.” At face value, this piece is meant to illustrate the Japanese superiority in naval technology and strategy. Of course, Japan’s maritime successes should not, perhaps, have been so shocking given her reliance on maritime power for imperial expansion and well-being. It’s also worth noting the significant size difference between the torpedo and the man of war. As powerful as Japan’s navy is, it still has to punch above its weight class to win this battle (and war). While we should hesitate to project Japan’s military (and economic / industrial) strength beyond 1905, we should nevertheless take note of Japan’s relative imperial and military strength at the outset of the twentieth century. Doing so provides a much different context to the typical Western narrative of shock at Japan’s rise leading up to World War II and subsequent economic preeminence in the last decades of the twentieth century.