Nakamura Shûkô, 1894. Rijksmuseum Amsterdam
Part of the Matsushima-class consisting of the Itsukushima, Matsushima and Hashidate, preceded by the Naniwa-class based on the pinciples of the French Jeune Ecole. Ordered under the 1886 Fiscal Year, laid down by the Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée on 17 February 1888, launche don 22 January 1890, completed on 5 April 1892, sunk after an accidental explosion while berthed in the Pescadores islands of Hawaii on 30 April 1908 and stricken on 31 July 1908.
The caption of the illustration tells us that she just sunk a Chinese ship. In the battle she was flagship of admiral Itō Sukeyuki (20 May 1843-16 January 1914) who was forced to leave her as she was heavily damaged by enemy gunfire.
In the First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 1894-17 April 1895) collided the Chinese and Japanese empires mainly for influence over Korea. It was a total success for Japan including the Battle of the Yalu on 17 September 1894 in which the Chinese Beiyang Fleet was humiliated lossing several ships despite her superiority on paper. In reality most of the Chinese ships were aged, unsufficient maintained and her crews lacking discipline.
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