The first attempt official contact between Russia and Japan,XIX century

Тhoughts to write about how was established the first attempt official contact between the authorities of Russia and Japan I came after we have received catalog with the recent past the auction of rare books.On the auction were three well-preserved quality lithography reproducing the sceneof a visit of captain Kruzenshtern to the territory of Japanese Islands in the beginning of XIX century.

A little about the journey-it was the first round the world travel which carried out Russian on sailing ships. For these purposes, Russia purchased two sloops from Great Britain.The first Russian round-the-world voyage was undertaken in 1803-1806 on the sloops "Nadezhda" and "Neva" under the command of Ivan Kruzenshtern and Yuri Lisyansky. Circumnavigation
became an important milestone in the history of Russia, in the development of its fleet, it made a significant contribution to the study of the world's oceans, many branches of the natural and human sciences.

The first half of the voyage was marked by the eccentric behavior of Fyodor Tolstoy-the uncle of a famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, who had to be landed in Kamchatka(first of all on one of the islands of the Pacific Ocean he covered his body with tattoos which he then happily demonstrated in St. Petersburg in high society, bringing in the amazement of many,
he once gave a priest accompanying the "Neva", and when he lay dead drunk on the floor, glued his beard to the deck boards with a sealing wax, sealing it with a seal. As a result, the beard had to be cut off so that the recovered priest could free himself - Tolstoy frightened him that it was impossible to break the seal. Another time, in the absence of Kruzenstern, Tolstoy crept into his cabin with the team's favorite, a hand-held orangutan that Tolstoy bought during one of the stops on the islands in the Pacific Ocean. There he took out a notebook with Krusenstern's notes, put a sheet of blank paper on top of it, and began to show the monkey how to fill in the paper with ink. Then he left orangutan in the cabin of one, and he began to imitate Tolstoy on the captain's notebooks. When Kruzenstern returned, all his records were already destroyed)

And the conflicts of Krusenstern with N.P. Rezanov, who was sent by Alexander I to Japan with diplomatic gifts as the first Russian envoy in order to establish trade between countries and was officially approved as the head of the expedition. In a word it is clear that the journey was not easy.

Taking the honor guard from the governor of the Kamchatka region P.I. Koshelev (2 officers, drummer, 5 soldiers) for the ambassador, "Nadezhda" took a course to the south, arriving at the Japanese port of Dejima near the city of Nagasaki on September 26, 1804. In the harbor, the Japanese were forbidden to enter, and Kruzenshtern dropped anchor in the bay.

First visit of Japanese translators/Первый приезд японцев на шлюп "Надежда"

Since the prankster Fyodor Tolstoy was already landed on the shore of Kamchatka, respectively, the notes from Krusenstern's visit to Japan remained. Therefore, we read what he writes about how they spent six months trying to establish ambassadorial relations between the two countries.

It should be noted that the port of Nagasaki was the only port in Japan at which foreign ships could enter at that time. In other ports of Japan, the entry of foreign vessels was prohibited.Let's start with the fact that the good fellow Russian travelers certainly wanted to go ashore with their full military armament, the Japanese were not allowed to take their guns, but they were allowed to keep their swords and sabers, which others, for example, the Dutch, were not allowed.The emissary of Emperor Alexander I very much wanted to go ashore and demanded that this occur in the presence of his honor guard. However, the Japanese categorically opposed this.only a month and a half after the continuous message with letters between the Russian envoy and the Japanese prince it became possible to allow the Russians ashore, fenced off by the fence, next to the fortress.Each trip of a boat from a Russian ship to the Japanese coast was accompanied by at least ten or fifteen Japanese guarding boats.

Японская шлюпка охраны и крепость на берегу/Japanese security boat and fortress on the shore

Еven sailing on boats around their ships. And even more so when sailing on boats to a Dutch ship in the neighborhood was strictly forbidden by the Japanese authorities. Тhe Japanese even banned sending letters with the Dutch ship sailing back to their homeland. However, only the ambassador was allowed to write a message to Emperor Alexander I, and only after this letter was delivered to Nagasaki by the Japanese to the Japanese envoy who read it and made a copy to him and returned it back to the Russian ship. Аfter almost 3 months, the Russian envoy still allowed to descend to the shore where they equipped him with a special home in a fenced area, also allowed Russian sailors to repair the rowing boats. In the village near the place where it was allowed to stay Russian, numerous guards were delivered.

In the end, the Japanese sent a special boat on which the Russian flag was raised in a solemn atmosphere, delivered the Russian envoy to the shore, where he was immediately locked up in the place for a solemn meeting. The next day on the sloop "Nadezhda" arrived Japanese envoys who were supposed to pick up gifts for the Japanese emperor. Among the gifts were 2 Large Mirrors. Krusenstern told the Japanese that the mirrors needed to be very careful what the Japanese envoys said mirrors would carry on their hands, to which Krusenstern was very surprised, saying that at least 60 people needed to change each other to bring such large mirrors from one city to another. To which the Japanese envoys responded that there is nothing impossible for the Japanese emperor, After all, when last year the Chinese emperor sent him a living elephant as a gift, the people on their hands carried an elephant to the capital.

In late December, the Japanese allowed the Russian ship to withdraw from the outer roadstead and enter the inner harbor, where the Russian sailors immediately lifted the ballast from the sloop and proceeded to repair it.

On February 19, the Japanese announced that the emperor had sent a high envoy to meet with the Russians, accompanied by eight nobles.The messenger, according to the Japanese, was of such a high rank that he could look the emperor to his feet while the rest were to prostrate before the Mikado.Nikolai Rezanov insisted on welcoming the envoy of the Japanese Mikado in a European way. However, the negotiator insisted that Ryazanov should sit in the same way as the Japanese Envoy with his legs stretched out in the direction.

Тhe ship of the Japanese prince on which Nikolai Rezanov rode ashore/Судно принца Чингодзина, на котором Н.Резанов поехал на берег

The first Audience consisted of endless ceremonies and greetings.to the second audience all negotiations were over. The ambassador stated that Mikado can not accept neither gifts nor letters from the Russian emperor himself should send the same gifts to the Russian emperor in return. However, Japanese laws prohibit the Japanese from leaving Japan, therefore it is impossible to send an embassy from Japan to Russia.then the condition was set that Russian ships would never again go to Japan and Russian would not sell and would not trade with the Japanese and would not give any gifts. And if suddenly a Japanese ship happens to crash off the Russian coast, then the rescued crew should have been handed over by the crew of Dutch ships to return to their homeland(it is clear that the Dutch had a special attitude towards the Japanese))). It was forbidden to buy anything from the Japanese and all these supplies and which the Russians used for almost 7 months of parking near the Japanese coasts Mikado attributed to their own account. Japanese Mikado gave the crew of the vessel 2000 bags of salt, 2000 silk rugs and 300 bags of rice (at 50 kg each).

Although the Japanese persistently advised Kruzenshtern not to pass through the strait between the Japanese islands and the mainland, motivating it with reefs, Kruzenshtern disobeyed them and set off on their further voyage which brought many geographical discoveries...