1937 Battle Map of Port Arthur (Lüshun), Russo-Japanese War Commemoration

A celebratory map of Japan's stunning victory over the Russian Empire in the Russo-Japanese War (1904 - 1905), this 1937 map by Hattori Kantarō covers the port of Lüshun / Ryojun (旅順), more commonly known internationally as Port Arthur, site of Japan's most significant land victory during the conflict. The map and verso content provide a tourist's guide to the port city, some thirty years after the decisive battle.

A Closer Look

Oriented towards the north-northwest, the map covers Port Arthur (Lüshun / Ryojun, now part of Dalian), divided by the Ryō River (龍河) into an old and new town. At the mouth of the port, the Japanese fleet is displayed, bottling up Russian ships (also visible) at Port Arthur. Roads, hills, and structures - both civilian and military - are labeled throughout in both Japanese and English. Red lines trace the front lines at various dates, demonstrating the gradual but methodical Japanese advance. A key and lists of the Japanese and Russian ships engaged appear at bottom in Japanese and English. Untranslated is an impressive circular infographic displaying the Japanese chain of command, centering on General Nogi Maresuke (乃木大將) and his Chief of Staff, Ijichi Kōsuke (伊知地少將). Below is a table of the relative strength of the Japanese and Russian land forces.

Given the history of this map's publication (see 'Publication History and Census' below), the English text was likely added later to make it accessible to foreigners passing through the city. In any event, someone with a limited grasp of English appears to have translated the text, given several obvious typos and strange constructions. Similarly, the names of Russian ships sunk at Port Arthur have been translated from Cyrillic to Japanese kana to the Latin alphabet, rendering them hardly recognizable.

Verso Content

The verso, entirely in Japanese, provides a guide to sites critical to the battle, with their distance from nearest train station noted. The bottom quarter of the sheet offers statistics about the battle, brief guides to war memorials and parks, and more general information about the city (in 1937), such as its population, schools, religious sites, and so on.

Russo-Japanese War

The Russo-Japanese War, fought from February 8, 1904 - September 5, 1905, pitted Imperial Japan against Tsarist Russia over rival ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. Both Russia and Japan had grand visions for the region. Russia traditionally had only one Pacific port, Vladivostok, which was operational only during the warm summer months. In 1898, Russia coerced China, then weakened after the First Sino-Japanese War (1894 - 1895), to lease them Port Arthur, a warm water port on the Liaodong Peninsula. They also negotiated a right-of-way to connect Port Arthur to the China Eastern Railway, which ran from nearby Jinzhou (Dalian, Dalniy) to Harbin, and ultimately linked up with the Trans-Siberian Railway. Port Arthur was thus the cornerstone of a sphere of influence covering Manchuria and Korea.

Japan had its own imperial designs and saw itself as the natural overlord in East Asia, particularly after their victory in the First Sino-Japanese War. Korea and Manchuria were thus important steppingstones into China, with its seemingly unlimited resources. There was initially some attempt at negotiation between the imperialist powers. The Japanese leadership was far from unified on a decision to attack Russia given the size of Russia's military and the high financial costs of a war. But the hawks won the debate, while Tsar Nicholas II arrogantly believed it impossible that Japan could challenge a major European power. Japan proved him wrong, launching a surprise attack on the Russian Eastern Fleet stationed at Port Arthur on February 8, 1904. The battle was inconclusive, but over the following months, the Imperial Japanese Navy maneuvered to trap the Russian ships at port.

In the meantime, Japanese land forces reached the area and began to chip away at the well-entrenched Russian troops. After several failed breakout attempts, what remained of the Pacific Fleet was still bottled up at Port Arthur while the Japanese made gradual but costly progress against Russian fortifications on land. With little hope of relief in sight, the Russian General Anatoly Stessel, commander of the Port Arthur garrison, surrendered to the Japanese in early January 1905. The Russian Baltic Fleet, sent to relieve Port Arthur, arrived in East Asia after the port's surrender following a harrowing journey, only to be ambushed and resoundingly defeated by Japanese ships in the Straits of Tsushima. In addition to these stunning setbacks, the costs of the war and simmering discontent at home forced the Tsar to negotiate and U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt arbitrated a peace, confirmed by the Treaty of Portsmouth.

The treaty recognized Japan's claims on Korea and called for the evacuation of Russian forces from Manchuria. Port Arthur was handed over to the Japanese as was the southern section of the China Eastern Railway, which became known as the South Manchuria Railway. The company created to manage the railway, the South Manchuria Railway Company (Mantetsu), soon developed into a mega-conglomerate, overseeing hotels, mines, mills, power plants, and much more, that expanded Japanese influence in Manchuria to the point that it became a virtual colony, before becoming the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932. By the 1930s, Mantetsu was the largest company in Japan and by itself formed a significant portion of the Japanese economy.

The victory of Imperial Japan came as a surprise to international observers, being the first major military victory in the modern era of an Asian over a European power. The consequences transformed the global balance of power and confirmed Japan as the pre-eminent power in East Asia.

Publication History and Census

This map was edited, printed, and published by Hattori Kantarō (服部勘太郎). It is noted as being reviewed and approved by the Ryojun garrison (旅順要塞司令部) and sold by Yamagata Bun'eidō (山縣文英堂) in Ryojun. The National Diet Library catalogs an example of the map from 1919 in Japanese only, while the same institution and the Nichibunken (International Research Center for Japanese Studies) list bilingual examples from 1935, and the NDL also holds an example of the present edition. Therefore, it appears that the map was originally intended for Japanese visitors to the city and was then republished in the mid-1930s with the English text added, likely due to the increased number of foreign visitors on their way to the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo just to the north.