150 years ago today the Chōshū Domain took on Britain, France, Holland and the United States in a bid to expel all barbarians from Japan. The Shimonoseki War is not much commemorated in the West, but it was a major event in the development of modern Japan. And though the Chōshū Domain lost this battle, its leaders went on to dominate the governments of the Meiji period.
The painting is Attack on the Japanese Battery at Shimonoseki by a Naval Brigade, September 1864 by Niels Møller Lund. It's held at the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth.
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