Photographing the Russo-Japanese War
Apr 23rd, 2019 by bachmann
The Russo-Japanese War, 1904–5, grew out of a struggle for dominance and influence over Manchuria and Korea. Russia was interested in maintaining and expanding trading ports in warmer southern coastal areas and eyed both Manchuria and Korea as desirable. Japan was willing to negotiate an agreement where Russian could control Manchuria but leave Korea alone. Russia’s rejection of this proposal led to an armed conflict with Japan. Tsar Nicholas II assumed Russia would prevail over a Japanese military he viewed as inferior. However a series of quick Japanese victories led to the fall of Port Arthur and the eventual destruction of the Russian fleet. With Tsar Nicholas unwilling to accept the humility of an outright surrender, Theodore Roosevelt stepped in and mediated a peace treaty between Russia and Japan in 1905. The outcome of the conflict was a weakened Russia and the rise of Japan as a military power with imperialist ambitions.
Starting with the Crimean War, photography was recognized as lucrative and influential for journalistic documentation as well as persuasive propaganda. Images could be more powerful than first hand written accounts and hold sway with public opinion more immediately and effectively. The Russo-Japanese conflict was the first war to be fully recorded by the international media, with journalists, photographers, and even motion picture makers capturing the battles and publishing these images across the globe. The publication 大本營寫眞班撮影 = The Russo-Japanese War taken by the Photographic Department of the Imperial Headquarters, was produced by the notable Ogawa Kazumasa, a photographer, publisher, and pioneer of photomechanical reproduction. Ogawa was a talented marketer and understood the potential for photographic reproductions, providing images from tense battle scenes to the mundane moments waiting for action.
The war which is now being waged between Japan and Russia is not only the greatest that our country has ever been engaged in, but is also of such magnitude as has seldom been recorded in the history of the world. It is otir good fortune to be living in these stirring times and witness with our own eyes this stupendous struggle as it unfolds itself before us ; and therefore, it is surely incumbent upon us to secure by every means in our power a true representation of its course for transmission to the remotest posterity. Our Imperial Headquarters, impelled by the same consideration, resolved to obtain such faithful pictures of all the actions, movements, and battlefields in this war as are beyond the power of tongue or pen to present with sufficient vividness, and for this purpose, as is doubtless well known to the public, attached photographic corps to the various armies in the field…And now when our war with Russia is in progress, I am further honoured with the special permission of the Imperial Headquarters to reproduce in succession the thousands of photographs taken by the aforementioned photographers and publish them under the title of “ The Russo-Japanese War.” Feeling it my duty, in the face of such high favour, to show, on the one hand, my gratitude for the extensive patronage I have enjoyed and, on the other, to prove my single-hearted devotion to the cause of my art, I put forth my best skill and energy for days and nights on end in the reproduction of these pictures, until at length, after months of ceaseless toil, I am in a position to bring them to the notice of the public. – K.Ogawa
- Description:
- Japan. Rikuchi Sokuryōbu, & Japan. Daihonʼei. Shashinhan. (1904). Nichi-Ro Sen’eki shashinchō : Rikuchi Sokuryōbu tokkyo. Tōkyō: Ogawa Isshin, Meiji 37-39 [1904-1906].
- Persistent Link:
- http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:30011101
- Repository:
- Widener Library
- Institution:
- Harvard University