“The yellow peril”
A man representing Russia holds a cat-o’-nine tails labeled “Russia” with the lashes labeled “Absolutism, Persecution, [and] Tyranny.” Next to him, on the left, are several dead or wounded people with the word “Kish[i]neff” written on the ground, and in the background, clouds labeled “Finland” and “Poland” are hovering above large groups of people being persecuted by the Russians. The man is shielding his eyes against a burst of sunlight on the right in which is a Japanese woman labeled “Modern Japan” surrounded by the words “Justice, Progressiveness, Humaneness, Enlightenment, Tolerance [and] Religious Liberty.” The figure of a Japanese man labeled “Medievalism” lies on the ground, crushed by the light of “Modern Japan.”
Comments and Context
With the commencement of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 in the month before this cartoon’s publication, Puck clearly chose sides, as seen in this cartoon by Keppler. The world learned that the failure of often harsh diplomatic exchanges was quickly followed by Japan’s overwhelming victory over the Russian fleet in Port Arthur (occupied Manchuria).
