Tokyo nichinichi shinbun Story in briefThis nishikie was published to celebrate the agreement signed between the governments of Japan and the Qing Dynasty of China concerning Taiwan, which a Japanese expeditionary force had partly occupied in order to punish some Taiwanese who had killed a number of shipwrecked Okinawans. The picture shows the Japanese flag raised, geisha dancing, and men toasting the end of what some Taiwanese and Chinese call the First Sino-Japanese War. The story was inspired by a 9 November 1874 Tonichi article by Kishida Ginko (1833-1905). It is one of several TNS nishikie that reflect Ginko's reportage from Taiwan as a Tonichi correspondent. Ginko had resided in Shanghai for two years while helping James Hepburn publish the first Japanese-English dictionary. As an entrepreneur, he promoted business between Japan and China, and went so far as to market in China an eye medicine he had made popular in Japan. (WW) |
www.wetherall.org