This is a story about when the Russian envoy Putyatin came to Nagasaki. On July 17 of Kaei 6 (1853), 5 white sails were seen off Nagasaki, and lookouts at 3 locations immediately reported it.
On the following day, the 18th, 2 large ships and 2 steamships approached, and from their flags they were identified as Russian ships. The one who handled the negotiations throughout was the 30-year-old deputy commander Posyet, who had studied in Beijing for 7 years and was well versed in Chinese learning. The Saga, Kuroda, Ogasawara, Matsura, Shimabara, and Ōmura houses each rushed over by fast horse, but there was no sign of disturbance on land, so they left behind defensive forces and returned. Even when the magistrate offered to supply food, firewood, and water, this was declined, as there was no shortage.
From the 21st, every night around midnight, a disturbance continued in which men on the lookout ships shouted loudly. Voices arose suspecting it might be sorcery, and the matter even progressed to talk of reporting it to Edo. Baba Gorōzaemon, who served in the negotiations under the magistrate, stayed overnight on the ship himself and beat a drum, and after heavy rain around the 27th the disturbance subsided.
Baba also witnessed a large-scale drill of 300 men aboard the Russian ship. On another day he was led to a spacious room at the bottom of the ship and shown a projected-picture device. An elephant about 2 ken long, songs and dances of women from the home country, scenes of the capital, and coastal gun batteries. The cannons at Nagasaki’s 14 positions totaled only 124 guns, no more than the equivalent of a single one of the other side’s batteries, and Baba felt deeply ashamed. Tokutomi Sohō writes that while this manner of displaying military force under the guise of entertainment could not be taken lightly, their attitude was far gentler than that of the American envoy.
When vegetables were presented as a gift, the envoy said he could not accept assistance without reason and offered a return gift. So the magistrate delivered them in the form of a gift from a Dutch captain. The envoy said that the United States and Britain started wars on the pretext of trivial matters, but his own country was different. If you intend to drive us away, he said, let us hear the reason; we will not strike first. On July 20, 1 steamship was sent out bound for Kamchatka in the home country.
The envoy who went ashore presented the state letter atop a tall desk placed in the center of the room. It was addressed to the shogunate’s senior councilors, and the first point was to clearly divide the boundary between the two countries, and the second was trade at ports and the provisioning of goods for warships. The shogunate accepted the letter but delayed its reply, and the envoy requested an answer within 42 days, pressing again on September 1. At around the same time, Russia extended its reach to Sakhalin, where Nevelskoy occupied Tamari Village and raised the national flag. Sohō placed the account of the gentle negotiations and this report together in the same chapter.
The details of the negotiations at Nagasaki can be followed from Baba Gorōzaemon’s oral record, the exchange of gifts from the Kaei Meiji nenkanroku, and the scene where the state letter was presented from the Tsūkō ichiran zokushū.
The seventeenth day of the sixth month of Kaei 6 (1853).Original
Far out on the sea off Nagasaki, five white sails appeared.Original
Sentries at three posts at once sent word.Original
The magistrate’s sentries were somewhat slower, and the Saga side was a little ahead, but in front of the magistrate’s office the Saga man stumbled and fell, so the magistrate’s side arrived first, records the account kept by Baba Gorōzaemon, an attendant of the magistrate assigned to the reception.Original
A small stumble amid the confusion.OriginalOriginal
The next day, the eighteenth, the ships anchored off Takaboko.Original
Two large ships and two steamships.Original
All four flew small flags on their forward sails bearing the name of their country.Original
About three shaku wide and nine shaku long.Original
They were “ships of the Russian country.”OriginalOriginal
They said they had come expressly to convey something of benefit to Japan.Original
The vice-commander Posyet was thirty years old, had studied in Beijing for seven years and was well versed in Chinese learning, and it was he who handled the reception throughout.OriginalOriginal
Please consult the original page images for this source.
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThey asked a question.
They had heard that a fast courier could go from Nagasaki to Edo in five or seven days — could the round trip be made in fifteen days?Original
That speed was for ordinary matters; for important matters a samurai had to make the crossing, so the round trip could not be done in less than about thirty days.Original
One might read this exchange as foreshadowing the long wait that followed.Original
The Shouting from the Guard Boats
The houses of Saga, Kuroda, Ogasawara, Matsura, Shimabara, and Ōmura sent men galloping to the scene, but as the Russian ship showed no sign of causing trouble on land, each left a defensive force behind and withdrew the rest.Original
The magistrate offered to supply provisions or firewood and water if needed, but the reply was, “we lack for nothing at all, we decline.”Original
They declined, saying there was no shortage of anything.Original
The offer was also conveyed through the Dutch kapitan who had entered port in the sixth month, but the answer was the same.Original
It was said that the wife of the King of Holland was a daughter of the King of Russia.Original
But the kapitan’s rank was too low, and he could not meet with the ship’s commander.OriginalOriginal
From the twenty-first day, every night around the hour of nine (midnight), the men on the guard boats would, as if possessed by something, suddenly cry out loudly.Original
Everyone grew suspicious, debate raged over whether this was some sorcery of the Russians, and it went so far that people spoke of reporting it to Edo.Original
Baba gave the matter thought.Original
He reasoned that people were doing this out of the fear they felt, for their own peace of mind, and that it would naturally stop if heavy rain fell.Original
As a trial he spent a night aboard one of the guard boats, and indeed a tremendous commotion arose, so he had the drums beaten.Original
There was nothing else strange about it.Original
Around the twenty-seventh day, after a heavy rain, it stopped altogether.Original
The account states that the tale of the “Nagasaki apparition” that spread in Edo seems to have been this story with embellishments added.OriginalOriginal
One day, Baba watched a great military drill aboard the Russian ship.Original
Three hundred men took part in the large drill, thirty in the small one.Original
The commander directed the men with a sword.Original
The guns were fitted with a tontoru mechanism, so that pulling a cord fired three rounds at once.Original
Each cannon was operated by five men.OriginalOriginal
On another day, in the evening, many glass lanterns were lit, and he was led down a stairway into a wide room in the ship’s hold.Original
By means of a projected-image device, an elephant about two ken in size appeared, moving its limbs as though alive.Original
Next came a dance by women of the home country, a depiction of the capital of that country, and then a coastal battery.Original
The battery was set up on all four sides, each with upper, middle, and lower tiers, forming crossing fire.Original
Using no stone, built only of mountain sand and plaster, it was said to become as solid as rock, following the method left by Qin Shihuang’s construction of the Great Wall, with a hundred cannon placed for every ri.OriginalOriginal
或日罷越候節、象の運動一見可被致とて、巳に夕刻に及候得ば、數多の硝子之燈籠を點し候。至て美麗にて、三面をすり有之、一面のみみがき相成候由夫より先導致、段々階を下り、船底に至候へば、廣き一室有之
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryBaba thought to himself privately.Original
He had believed that Nagasaki’s coastal defenses had become strict in recent years and that its defenses were in good order.Original
But the guns at Nagasaki’s fourteen positions numbered only a hundred and twenty-four in all.Original
That was barely enough to match a single one of their batteries.Original
“My heart was filled with shame.”Original
He felt deeply ashamed.
Baba supposed that this passage of shadow-pictures had probably been shown for just that purpose.OriginalOriginal
Here Tokutomi Sohō writes that one can imagine from the apparition affair how unsettled people’s hearts were, and that the Russians’ use of the magic-lantern entertainment to display military might was “a rather calculated performance, not to be taken lightly.”Original
Sohō also notes, however, that their manner was far gentler than that of the Americans, and that Nagasaki apparently did not experience the anxiety seen at Uraga.OriginalOriginal
A Basket of Vegetables and Suspicion of Trade
Since the Russians said they were short of vegetables, the magistrate sent over a small quantity of vegetables.Original
The Russians said they would promptly return the favor.Original
He said as follows.
Since this was not a drifting or fishing vessel but an envoy’s ship, there was no reason to receive help without cause.OriginalOriginal
So the magistrate had the resident kapitan instructed, and sent the gift as though it came from the kapitan.Original
It was arranged this way because the country was a relative, the Russian king’s daughter having been made the wife of the Dutch king.Original
When the kapitan went to the ship and presented the gift, it was accepted at once.Original
According to the man sent along with him, the kapitan appeared unable even to pay his respects directly to the envoy, instead stepping before an official four or five ranks below the envoy to express his thanks before withdrawing.Original
The *Kaei Meiji nenkanroku* records that the envoy appeared to be a person of considerable rank.OriginalOriginal
在留の甲比丹使節布恬延へは禮もでき申さぬ樣子にて、使節より四五人めに居たる官人の前に出、慇意の禮節を述て引退しとなり
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryOn one occasion, the envoy spoke to the officials receiving him.Original
America and England, he said, have a violent manner, and open war on the pretext of trivial matters.Original
Our country is not like that.
“If there is to be a repelling action, we would first hear the reasons for that repelling action.”Original
If driving-off measures were to be taken, he said, he would first ask to hear the reasons for it, and he would never initiate hostilities himself.OriginalOriginal
On the twentieth day of the seventh month, citing business in his home country’s Kamchatka, he proposed sending one steamship there.Original
Japan’s five o’clock, it was said, corresponds to their four o’clock.Original
Their steamship has both paddle wheels on its bottom.Original
Previously they had been on both sides, but because they struck obstacles at sea, this was said to be a new invention.Original
At departure, the smoke gradually increased, a sound like thunder was produced, and the ship circled around the commander’s ship some twenty or thirty degrees.Original
At first it moved quietly, then gradually faster.Original
Music was played as they parted.Original
Baba watched through a telescope, but it had already vanished from sight.OriginalOriginal
The High Desk at the West Magistrate’s Office
Regarding the conveyance to be used on landing, the ship’s captain requested to use a palanquin of hoi rank.Original
Lending the magistrate’s own palanquin might cause difficulties later, so a palanquin was borrowed from Zenrinji and sent instead.Original
It was white, with black-lacquered carrying poles.Original
On landing, the captain is said to have greatly admired it.Original
The other side made a further request.Original
The captain, they said, held the rank next to the regent of his country and was of weighty status, so he wished to be received with the formal status of a magistrate.Original
They also said that at the meeting, their side would use a folding chair while the Japanese side would sit.Original
The Japanese side did not agree to this.Original
They then produced a bronze plate from beside their seat and claimed that there was a precedent from a reception held in Ezo in a previous year.Original
On that bronze plate was even engraved a likeness of the person who had received them.Original
After several exchanges, it was decided that a high desk would be placed at the center of the seating, that both sides would face each other to receive the letter, and that afterward each side would sit at ease to converse.Original
There was no welcoming reception.Original
Nor was there any banquet.Original
On the day, gold screens were set up around a twelve-mat study room, with a high desk placed in the center.Original
The desk was placed slightly toward the magistrate’s side.Original
Seven boats were used for the landing.Original
The commander’s boat was tame-nuri lacquer with a thin gold border, the deputy commander’s was white-lacquered, and the rest were black outside and blue inside.Original
Twenty guards from the magistrate’s side provided escort, with unit commanders from the Kuroda house riding on horseback in front and on both sides.Original
The ship’s captain wore a black wool coat with white trousers, and hung gold tassels.Original
His hat had an eagle design on a black ground.Original
His attendants were one deputy commander, three attendants, one boatswain, and six further attendants.Original
The captain first bowed and apologized for his late arrival.Original
The deputy commander carried a black-lacquered box and placed it in the center of the desk.Original
The captain opened the box and took out the letter.Original
It was in a purple velvet pouch shaped like a swallow’s mouth, with white wax poured over the seam and a vermilion seal affixed.Original
The magistrate said, “As our country has many matters to attend to, we may not be able to give a prompt reply,” meaning that since Japan had many affairs at hand a swift answer might not be possible, and that if they understood this, the letter would be received.Original
The captain replied that this was no problem, and the finance official Sugimoto Kinrokurō took charge of it, after which both sides withdrew.Original
In a separate seating, the captain sat on a folding chair, while the magistrate sat on two stacked tatami mats with a cushion laid upon them.Original
The letter consisted of three copies: the one in the home country’s own language, a Chinese version, and a Dutch version.Original
According to the Tsūkō ichiran zokushū, the envoy is said to have remarked in Japanese that the preparations must have been tedious given how long they had taken.Original
Looking at the above, Tokutomi Sohō writes, one can see how much more moderate the Russian envoy’s conduct was compared to that of the American envoy.OriginalOriginal
數度及問答、其中を取て、席之中央に高き机を置、双方對立にて、呈書請取可申、兎角之儀相濟候後は、各安座にて對話可致旨申聞、承知仕候由
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe Minister’s Letter and the Magistrate’s Clerk’s Opinion
The letter was addressed to the senior councilors of Japan.Original
The first article concerned clarifying the boundary between the two countries.Original
The Great Emperor stated, “There is no intention of seeking new territory,” meaning he had no wish to seek new land, but that fixing the boundary was the basis of peaceful relations.Original
The second article concerned Russian people trading at Japanese ports, and Russian warships obtaining needed supplies along the way.Original
What the Russian government valued most, it was said, was peace, not merely the pursuit of profit from trade.Original
Might it not be that, having secretly learned this summer of the purpose behind the American warship’s visit to Uraga, Russia had sent reinforcement ships?Original
Was it not their intention, should America attack, to side with Japan and quell the vanguard, and thereafter to establish “trust lasting ten thousand ages,” that is, a lasting bond of good faith?OriginalOriginal
扨第二條の事、大皇帝眞實に願ひ候儀は、本國の人民、貴國の湊に至り、貨物を取換へ交易致候を、御許被下、且又臨時に本國の兵船海を渡り、かんさぬか、並北あめりかの地え參り候者、肝要の事ありて、貴國の湊へ到り、入用の品を相求め調候事あるべし
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe Forty-Two Day Deadline
The shogunate side, as was customary, accepted the letter while deciding to delay its reply, Tokutomi Sohō writes.Original
However, the envoy could not remain long in Nagasaki.Original
The reason he had come to Nagasaki rather than going to Edo was, in his own words, “ultimately because he was observing the laws of Great Japan in this way.”Original
In short, he said, it was out of respect for Japan’s laws.Original
The envoy understood that the round trip between Nagasaki and Edo took less than twenty days.Original
His argument was that a reply should be given within about forty-two days of the letter’s arrival, and that even allowing twenty-one days for deliberation, a decision should still be possible.Original
The suggestion that the reply be sent by a Dutch ship was turned aside, since Russian warships were already plentiful in the western seas and such a thing was unnecessary.Original
What the envoy sought was, in his own words, “only to confer directly with persons of high rank in Japan.”Original
That is, he simply wished to confer directly with high officials of Japan.Original
A further demand, dated the first day of the ninth month, followed.OriginalOriginal
凡四十二日許之內には、右御答可有之、右御答之爲之御評議も、右四十二日之内二十一日許も御掛被爲成候はゞ、究而御決談に相成可申事と奉存候
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryThe Russian Flag at Tamari Village
Here we return to the fact that Sohō placed at the opening of this chapter.Original
Tokutomi Sohō writes that the first of Japan’s uninvited guests was not America, nor England, nor France, but Russia.Original
Since the envoy Rezanov’s arrival at Nagasaki during the Bunka era, Russia had kept out of sight for a time, and in that interval America had come forward.Original
Russia, sensing this, could not simply “fold its hands and look on.”Original
How could it stand idly by with arms folded?OriginalOriginal
Russia’s eastward advance gained great momentum under Nicholas I.Original
In Kōka 4, General Muravyov was appointed Governor-General of Eastern Siberia.Original
The ship’s captain Nevelskoy explored the mouth of the Amur River and discovered that Sakhalin was not a peninsula but an island.Original
In Kaei 4, the settlement of Nikolaevsk was established at the mouth of the Amur, and Sakhalin alone remained.Original
From the seventh month of Kaei 6, Russia encroached upon Sakhalin, and on the twenty-first day of the ninth month by the Russian calendar, Nevelskoy occupied Tamari Village and planted the Russian flag there.OriginalOriginal
船長は一八四八年八月クロンスタド港を發し、翌年五月べトロバウロスクに到り、樺太の北端を通過し、六月の末、黑龍江口に碇泊し、その附近を探檢して、樺太が世人の想像したる如く、半島でなくして島であることを發見した
Open the original page at the National Diet LibraryNevelskoy’s report back states the following.Original
Tamari, on Aniwa Bay, was the only point where a large landing force could be put ashore in late autumn.Original
Since the people of northern Matsumae lived on the fish of that bay, if a firm base were established there the Japanese would be compelled to enter into friendly relations.Original
It was fortunate that the Americans had not set their eyes on Sakhalin.Original
Sakhalin, moreover, was rich in coal.OriginalOriginal
The envoy who handed over the state letter across a high desk at the West Magistrate’s Office, and the ship’s captain who planted the flag at Aniwa Bay, were two hands of the same government.Original
One side writes that it has no intention of seeking new territory, while the other writes that it means to seize fishing grounds and compel friendly relations by force of circumstance.Original
Yet Tokutomi Sohō set this mildness side by side, within the same chapter, with the report concerning Sakhalin.Original
Might it not be that the darkness in the ship’s hold, in which Baba Gorōzaemon, upon seeing the magic-lantern image of the gun battery, felt ashamed, reflected both of these things at once?Original
| Source text | Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, Perry’s Arrival and Its Time (1929). National Diet Library Digital Collections (PDM). PID 3431222 |
| Dates and names | All 6 dates in the text exist in the calendar for their year, and the Western years given alongside them agree. The 0 people named in the text were checked word for word against the source text. No matching entry was found in vol. 1. |
| English gates | 144 of 144 sentences passed the checks on the English text. |
This article is a reading of Kinsei Nihon kokuminshi, Perry’s Arrival and Its Time. Tokutomi Sohō’s views are those of the 1920s and 1930s and may differ from current scholarship. The source text is a century old and may differ from current scholarship.
