Maggs Bros.

This beautiful sketch-book was compiled by a Japanese soldier around the end of the Russo-Japanese War, just a few weeks after the battle of Mukden (March 10th, 1905).

The author is unclear, but ‘Haru’ is clearly signed on the upper cover. The drawings represent his original impression compiled into a hand-made booklet, and show a wide variety of subjects, from landscapes, to villages, interior scenes (possibly a field hospital), a ruin with the remnants of a Buddhist statue, and a number of sunsets. It includes studies of local flowers and plants, with some small samples inserted within.

A unique, artistic view of a particularly tense time in Japanese modern history.