Two children wearing sailor outfits are playing with a balloon tethered to a Russian battleship. The balloon has burst revealing the head of a Russian admiral or czar and the battleship has been sunk. The Russian child, standing, pointing to the balloon, is crying, the Japanese child, sitting, is joyfully clapping.

Featured on PDR in the collection Kobayashi Kiyochika’s Cartoons of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–5)

This series of prints, from the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5, depict scenes fairly typical of Japanese propaganda for the period. The victorious Japanese forces are shown as valiant heroes; the invading Russians are thin, foolish and effeminate. Many similar prints were produced over the course of the war by other artists, but this series stands out as their creator, Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847–1915), was not only an extremely accomplished and versatile artist, but also an unlikely propagandist.