The above Japanese woodblock print depicts "Japanese guards repelling an attack by mounted enemy scouts at Seven Star Gate" during the Russo-Japanese War. One of the main gates of Pyongyang's inner citadel around Moran Hill, it is known as Chilsong (칠성문 - 七星門) in Korean.The print is part of Illustrated reports on the state of battle in the Russo-Japanese war (日露戦況画報) made available by the British Museum's Online Collection. More information on this specific print can be found here.

This skirmish in Pyongyang likely occurred during the early phases of the conflict in March or April of 1904, when a unit of Russian Cossacks descended from Manchuria into northern Korea, operating out of the city of Anju. American author Jack London, working as a war corespondent for the San Francisco Examiner, reported on advanced elements of the Russian army operating in Korea in his article "Koreans are Fleeing Before the Slav Advance," filed from Seoul on March 2, 1904. Much of the subsequent fighting during the war between the Japanese and Russians would take place farther north than Pyongyang along the Yalu River and in Manchuria.

Below is a photo of the Chilsong Gate 112 years later in 2016.

'Turn Back the Clock Thursday' brings you 'then and now' views of Korea from more than two decades of Koryo Tours trips to the DPRK and images in the public domain.