1939 Kaneko View of Wuhan, China

A rare Japanese-issued October 1939 view of Wuhan drawn by Tsunemitsu Kaneko and issued in Shanghai by Zhiseitang. The view looks northwest on Wuhan, from a fictional high point far to the southeast, across the Yangtze River. The focus is the foreign concessions in the Hankou / Hankow district, but Wuchang and Hanyang are also represented. Full coverage extends west along the Yangtze as far as Chongqing, and east as far as Shanghai. The cartography reflects the strategic significance of the three towns of Wuhan, and textual content underscores Japanese owned businesses and facilities. The view follows shortly after the Battle of Wuhan and was issued for Japanese soldiers to send home to their families.

Capture of Wuhan

The Battle of Wuhan (武漢之戰), popularly known to the Chinese as the Defense of Wuhan, and to the Japanese as the Capture of Wuhan. The battle was a large-scale battle of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937 - 1945). Engagements took place across vast areas of Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Hubei provinces over a period of four and a half months. The Battle of Wuhan was the longest, largest, and arguably the most significant battle in the early stages of the war. Although the battle ended with the eventual Japanese capture of Wuhan, it came at a high cost, with heavy casualties on both sides. With the Japanese suffering their heaviest losses of the war, they instead diverted their attention further north, prolonging the war until the attack on Pearl Harbor expanded it to a global conflict.

Publication History and Census

This view was drawn by Tsunemitsu Kaneko and published in Shanghai by the Zhiseitang publishing house on October 3, 1939. Scarce on the market.