previous page

KIYOCHIKA, Kobayashi   (1847 - 1915) 'Long live Japan! - One hundred victories, one hundred laughs'
- Nihon Banzai hyakusen hyashusho -
(published from 1894-95)

The series title Hyakusen hyakusho, literally "One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Laughs", is a pun on the expression "One Hundred Battles, One Hundred Victories" (both pronounced Hyakusen hyakusho).1 The series was issued in three parts and presented parodies of the enemy, here of the Chinese in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. This part consists of fifty oban-sized prints entitled. One Hundred Victories, One Hundred Laughs, issued between September 1894 and August 1895, published by Matsuki Heikichi.

Each print in the series is illustrated with a humorous scene related to the war by the artist and contains accompanying comments, riddled with wordplay and irony, by the writer/journalist Nishimori Takeki (1861-1913), using the pseudonym Koppi Dojin ("Master Skin and Bones"). The series title Hyakusen hyakusho appears in the cartouche in the upper right of the print. The print's title and the pseudonym Koppi Dojin appear in the right most column within each text box at the top of the print.

The woodblock prints in this series are pure propaganda, and it cannot be denied that from today's point of view some depictions are quite racist.

Recommended reading:
Henry D. Smith II, KIYOCHIKA - Artist of Meiji Japan;
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1988; pp.112-13.


Currently only two designs are still available:

Please click on a picture to view its enlarged version.
Print captions contain:
Title and Publication Date  /  Ref./order no.  /  Price
Condition:
Fine impression and color, occasional slight surface soil
or minor paper crease, but generally in very good condition.




Lighthouse
(3.1895)
ref. no. # 692374
- Sold -


Weeping
(1895)
ref. no. # 692365
price:  € 260.00


Turmoil at Sanzu River
(1894-95)
ref. no. # 742993
price:  € 260.00




Other designs from the series, now all  SOLD:




Crying profusely
(2.1895)


Farewell
(12.1894)


Frightened by toy
soldiers
  (4.1895)


Precision shooting
(4.1895)




Agitation
(11.1894)


Going bankrupt
(12.1894)


A thick-skinned face
(2.1895)


Crushing the enemy
(2.1895)




'Harvesting' the enemy
(1895)


Spooked
(1895)


Trembling General
(5.1895)


Having a meal at the camp
(9.1894)




Torturing an old man
(10.1894)


Blockhead
(12.1894)


Preparing for escape
(12.1894)


Seppuku
(3.1895)




Soldier extracting teeth
from a Chinese man
(5.1895)


Chinese Emperor and
Empress
(3.1895)


The enemy's Navy as
if being toys
(4.1895)


Crushing the enemy
like toys
(10.1894)




China souvenir
(5.1895)


Frightened
(9.1894)


The horror of the war
(10.1894)


'Title sheet mokuroku
listing all 50 prints (1895)



   menu top of page    top of page