Two Postcards from a Soldier in Imperial Japan near the End of the Russo-Japanese War
- Two postcards measuring 3 ½ x 5 ½ inches
- Tokyo, Japan , 1905
Tokyo, Japan, 1905. Two postcards measuring 3 ½ x 5 ½ inches. Near Fine.. Two postcards from Kyoske Uyeda in Japan to his friend Bessie Mulkey in San Francisco, dated May and July 1905. At the time, the Russo-Japanese War, fought over the Russian and Japanese Empires’ imperial ambitions for Manchuria and Korea, was nearing its end. Uyeda had been on the front; in his earlier postcard, he writes:
“May 5th 1905 I left the front at the end of March after the great victory around Mukden and have been back to Tokyo for sometime. I congratulate myself that I was fortunate enough to come back to the country at this glorious season of all sorts of beautiful flowers. The people, too, are enjoying the seasons as if there is no such terrible thing as war. They are having picnic[s] every day. I will leave the country for the front within [a] short time. Kyo.”
Mukden—present-day Shenyang, Liaoning province—was the site of the war’s final land battle, fought from February to March 1905 and resulting in a decisive victory for Imperial Japan. In his second postcard, Uyeda is set to depart for another significant location in the war:
“I will leave here for Port Arthur to-morrow, and having stayed there a day or two and coming back here, am probably to go to our Headquarters at Mukhden to attend to the annual celebration of the day in which our Manchurian Expedition Army organised, that is on the 6th of July, 04. I expect a grand time there, Marshal Oyama, Gen. Baron Kodama, Gen. Kuroki and many other grand chieftains will assemble at the Capital of Manchuria.”
Port Arthur, now Lüshunkou District in Liaoning province, China, was seized by the Japanese in 1894 during the First Sino-Japanese War; returned to China in 1895; and then leased in an unequal treaty by the Russian Empire in 1898. Japan’s surprise attack against the Russian fleet at Port Arthur launched the war in February 1904 and resulted in Japan retaking the port.
Uyeda’s notes are written on interesting themed postcards depicting the Imperial Japanese Navy; one reads “Our Combined Squadron steaming towards the enemy” and the other “Our torpedoboat squadron returning to a naval base after fighting with the enemy.” How Uyeda and Mulkey would have met and begun a correspondence is unclear.
“May 5th 1905 I left the front at the end of March after the great victory around Mukden and have been back to Tokyo for sometime. I congratulate myself that I was fortunate enough to come back to the country at this glorious season of all sorts of beautiful flowers. The people, too, are enjoying the seasons as if there is no such terrible thing as war. They are having picnic[s] every day. I will leave the country for the front within [a] short time. Kyo.”
Mukden—present-day Shenyang, Liaoning province—was the site of the war’s final land battle, fought from February to March 1905 and resulting in a decisive victory for Imperial Japan. In his second postcard, Uyeda is set to depart for another significant location in the war:
“I will leave here for Port Arthur to-morrow, and having stayed there a day or two and coming back here, am probably to go to our Headquarters at Mukhden to attend to the annual celebration of the day in which our Manchurian Expedition Army organised, that is on the 6th of July, 04. I expect a grand time there, Marshal Oyama, Gen. Baron Kodama, Gen. Kuroki and many other grand chieftains will assemble at the Capital of Manchuria.”
Port Arthur, now Lüshunkou District in Liaoning province, China, was seized by the Japanese in 1894 during the First Sino-Japanese War; returned to China in 1895; and then leased in an unequal treaty by the Russian Empire in 1898. Japan’s surprise attack against the Russian fleet at Port Arthur launched the war in February 1904 and resulted in Japan retaking the port.
Uyeda’s notes are written on interesting themed postcards depicting the Imperial Japanese Navy; one reads “Our Combined Squadron steaming towards the enemy” and the other “Our torpedoboat squadron returning to a naval base after fighting with the enemy.” How Uyeda and Mulkey would have met and begun a correspondence is unclear.