Japan's latest "victory" on land, Mukden, had cost Japan more dead and wounded than Russia and was "won" when the Russians withdrew largely intact to new defenses a few days march north.
The Japanese "won" a "victory" at Mukden? I'm not sure why you feel the quotes are needed...
The Russians had 330,000 men and 800 artillery pieces laid out in a purely defensive arrangement. The Japanese had only 270,000 men and 500 cannon, and they still won. To be sure, some of this was Russian ineptitude instead of Japanese brilliance. Kuropatin expected the attack to come on the mountainous right (Western) flank. It came on the left, and Kuropatin's shifting of troops to that side was executed badly enough to leave much of that flank in chaos. It's also true that the victory was not what the Japanese leadership so badly wanted. Oyama wanted to encircle and destroy the Russians, and they never did that. In fact, when the stretched supply lines couldn't keep up, they had difficulty pursuing the rapidly-retreating Russians. Finally, as you correctly noted, the Japanese forced suffered higher total deaths than did the Russians, with their already smaller forces. But despite all this, it was very much a Japanese victory.
The Japanese never did manage to encircle the Russian forces, but they did manage to totally encircle the western flank, and seperate it from the rest of Russians. The men in that third of the front began to retreat, but Japanese forces under General Nozu managed to get into their rear. The Russian retreat became a disorganized rout. Russian wounded and weapons were left behind in the confusion. The Japanese captured 58 cannons and 22,000 prisoners. It was hardly the orderly retreat to prepared positions you laid out in your post. It's true that the Russians retreated 10 day's march to another Russian stronghold at t Hspingkai, but they didn't stay there and prepare a new defense. Under Kuropatkin's orders, they keep going towards the Russian-Chinese border.
It's absolutely true that it wasn't the decisive victory that the Japanese wanted. The Russian forces were largely intact, if, like the Japanese, too exhausted to fight. But a smaller Japanese force took on a larger Russian force, with more cannon, that was set up in a purely defensive manner. The outcome was that the Russians were forced to retreat from fear of encirclement. The Russians chose to retreat not back to prepared lines, but out of Manchuria and towards Russia. And if the Japanese were too exhausted from the fight for another battle, well, so were the Russians.
It was a Japanese victory. No quotation marks are needed.