Japanese polychrome woodblock print (nishiki-e) titled "Saigo Kohei", from the series "Heroes of Kagoshima" (Kagoshima Eiyuden). Designed by Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847–1915) and published in Tokyo in 1877. Printed in the traditional oban format, the composition depicts Saigo Kohei in military dress beside a fallen horse, captured in a dramatic moment of action. The image bears the series title "Kagoshima Eiyuden" ("Heroes of Kagoshima"), the subject's name Saigo Kohei, and the artist's signature Kiyochika. Preserved in excellent condition. Newly framed in solid wood under UV-protected museum glass.

The series Heroes of Kagoshima (Kagoshima Eiyuden) was produced in 1877 during the year of the Satsuma Rebellion, one of the most significant conflicts of early Meiji Japan. The series portrays figures associated with Kagoshima and the former Satsuma Domain, whose samurai played a central role in the political upheavals that shaped modern Japan.

The present print depicts Saigo Kohei, a samurai associated with the Satsuma Domain and the military events surrounding the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. Members of the Saigo family became emblematic figures of the conflict, which marked the final large-scale resistance of former samurai against the modernizing Meiji government.

Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847–1915) was one of the most important Japanese printmakers of the Meiji period. Born in Edo (present-day Tokyo), he lived through the political and social transformation that followed the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the modernization of Japan under Emperor Meiji. Kiyochika is widely regarded as the last major master of the ukiyo-e tradition and an important bridge between classical Japanese woodblock printing and modern artistic developments. His work is distinguished by its sophisticated use of light and shadow, leading later scholars to describe him as a master of kosen-ga ("pictures of light rays"). In addition to landscapes and views of modernizing Tokyo, he produced historical and military subjects, political satire, illustrations, and portraits.