He went down to Hiroshima Imperial Headquarters as the supreme commander of the military and navy in the Sino-Japanese War that occurred in 1894, however he came down with typhoid fever (he was initially diagnosed as having malaria), and went to Arisunogawa no Miya Maiko villa in Kyogo Prefecture to rest.
明治27年（1894年）に勃発した日清戦争では陸海軍の総司令官として広島大本営に下るが、腸チフス（当初はマラリアと診断された）を発症し、兵庫県の有栖川宮舞子別邸にて静養に入る。