The Russian Discovery of Japan, 16701800
During the period of the Tokugawa shogunates seclusion policy from about 1630 onwards there was very little European interaction with the Japanese except through the restricted Dutch presence at Nagasaki. During this period, however, Russians exploring Siberia and the Russian Far East came into contact with Japan, and further exploration and information collecting was encouraged by the Russian government, culminating in the first official Russian Embassy to Japan in 1792. This book examines the Russian discourse on Japan in the period, tracing the gradual accumulation of knowledge, and the development of Russian views, sometimes distorted, about Japan. The book includes key historical documents, some translated into English for the first time. The book is a prequel to the authors previous book, Russian Views of Japan, 17921913: An Anthology of Early Travel Writing.
David N. Wells is Manager, Collections, at Curtin University Library in Perth, Western Australia. He has published widely in information studies and on Russian literature and cultural history.
Routledge Studies in the Modern History of Asia
China in Australasia
Cultural Diplomacy and Chinese Arts since the Cold War
Edited by James Beattie, Richard Bullen and Maria Galikowski
Hagi A Feudal Capital in Tokugawa Japan
Peter Armstrong
Lord Salisbury and Nationality in the East
Viewing Imperialism in its Proper Perspective
Shih-tsung Wang
Ulysses S Grant and Meiji Japan, 186985
Diplomacy, Strategic Thought and the Economic Context of USJapan Relations
Ian Patrick Austin
Borneo in the Cold War, 19501990
Ooi Keat Gin
International Rivalry and Secret Diplomacy in East Asia, 18961950
Bruce A. Elleman
Women Warriors in Southeast Asia
Edited by Vina A. Lanzona and Frederik Rettig
The Russian Discovery of Japan, 16701800
David N. Wells
For a full list of available titles please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-the-Modern-History-of-Asia/book-series/MODHISTASIA
The Russian Discovery of Japan, 16701800
David N. Wells
First published 2020
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2020 David N. Wells
The right of David N. Wells to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-415-87026-9 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-79916-1 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
Contents
In preparing this volume I have relied on the electronic and print collections of many institutions. My thanks are due in particular to Irina Lukka and her colleagues at the National Library of Finland, to the Russian State Library and, in Australia, to the Baillieu Library at the University of Melbourne, the National Library of Australia and Curtin University Library for assistance in locating and viewing sometimes difficult-to-obtain items.
Many individuals have helped me with points of linguistic, geographical, historical and conceptual detail, and by referring me to relevant sources I might not otherwise have discovered. I would like to thank especially Kevin Windle, Robert Lagerberg, Petra Dumbell, Mark Ravina, Moriyama Takeshi, Matsuda Koichiro, Sakamoto Kazuto, Takamine Tsukasa, Robert Cribb (who also prepared three of the maps), and the collective wisdom of the SEELANGS mailing list. Above all thanks are due to Sandra Wilson for translating several works in Japanese and for her unfailing support at all stages of the writing process.
| PSI-1 | Pamiatniki sibirskoi istorii, kniga pervaia, 17001713, Moscow: Tip. Ministerstva vnutrennykh del, 1882 |
| PSI-2 | Pamiatniki sibirskoi istorii, kniga vtoraia, 17131724, Moscow: Tip. Ministerstva vnutrennykh del, 1885 |
| RE-1 | T.S. Fedorova et al. (eds), Russkie ekspeditsii po izucheniiu severnoi chasti Tikhogo okeana v pervoi polovine XVIII v.: sbornik dokumentov, Moscow: Nauka, 1984 |
| RE-2 | T.S. Fedorova et al. (eds), Russkie ekspeditsii po izucheniiu severnoi chasti Tikhogo okeana vo vtoroi polovine XVIII v.: sbornik dokumentov, Moscow: Nauka, 1989 |
Introduction
By the end of the nineteenth century, Russia and Japan had good connections and a reasonably clear knowledge of each other. The two countries had an established trading relationship; Japanese envoys had visited Russia in 1873 as part of their governments diplomatic initiative in the United States and Europe known as the Iwakura Mission, and there were established Russian communities in Nagasaki, Tky and Hakodate. Prominent works of imagination dealing with Japan, such as Pierre Lotis novel Madame Chrysanthme, enjoyed popularity in Russia, and a japonisme movement was prominent in artistic circles. Yet two hundred years earlier, Japan had been almost completely unknown to Russia. No Russian explorer had reached Japan, and Russians did not even know with any precision where Japan was in relation to their own country.
The turning point in the Russian discovery of Japan was the first official embassy led by Adam Laxman in 1792. Laxman spent a considerable period with Japanese officials on what is now Hokkaid, and was received formally in the towns of Hakodate and Matsumae. Although he did not achieve his primary aim of initiating a trading relationship, Laxmans embassy was treated with respect, and he received from the Japanese what he understood to be a permit to continue with negotiations at Nagasaki. He wrote a detailed account of his experiences and brought back numerous samples and specimens. Laxmans expedition was followed up by the mission to Nagasaki led by Nikolai Rezanov and Ivan Krusenstern (Kruzenshtern) in 18031805, the naval reconnaissance of Vasilii Golovnin in 1811 and the embassy of Admiral Efvimii Putiatin in 18531854, which led to the signing of the Treaty of Shimoda between the two countries in 1855. Each of these expeditions led to an increased understanding in Russia of Japan and the Japanese.
