Russian Views of Japan, 1792-1913: An Anthology of Travel Writing (Routledgecurzon Studies in the Modern History of Asia)

230 Pages·2004·1.35 MB·English

by  David Wells

Russian Views of Japan, 1792–1913
Before Japan was ‘opened up’ in the 1850s, contact with Russia as with
other western maritime nations, was extremely limited. Yet from the early
eighteenth century onwards, as a result of their expanding commercial
interests in East Asia and the North Pacific, Russians had begun to encounter
Japanese and were increasingly eager to establish diplomatic and trading
relations with Japan. This book presents rare narratives written by Russians –
explorers, official envoys, scholars and, later, tourists – who visited Japan
between 1792 and 1913. The introduction and notes set these narratives in the
context of the history of Russo-Japanese relations and the genre of European
travel writing, showing how the Russian writers combined ethnographic
interests with the assertion of Russian and European values, simultaneously
inscribing power relations and negotiating cultural difference. Students of
Japanese history, nineteenth-century Russia, literature and cultural studies
will find this book provides an invaluable insight into the contact between two
civilisations at a time when they were particularly ignorant of each other.
David N. Wells is a senior librarian at Curtin University Library in Perth,
Western Australia. He has published widely on Russian literature, including
two books on the poetry of Anna Akhmatova. He is joint editor (with Sandra
Wilson) of The Russo-Japanese War in Cultural Perspective, 1904–5.
RoutledgeCurzon Studies in the Modern History of Asia
1 The Police in Occupation Japan
Control, corruption and resistance to reform
Christopher Aldous
2 Chinese Workers
A new history
Jackie Sheehan
3 The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia
Tai Yong Tan and Gyanesh Kudaisya
4 The Australia–Japan Political Alignment
1952 to the present
Alan Rix
5 Japan and Singapore in the World Economy
Japan’s economic advance into Singapore, 1870–1965
Shimizu Hiroshi and Hirakawa Hitoshi
6 The Triads as Business
Yiu Kong Chu
7 Contemporary Taiwanese Cultural Nationalism
A-chin Hsiau
8 Religion and Nationalism in India
The case of the Punjab
Harnik Deol
9 Japanese Industrialisation
Historical and cultural perspectives
Ian Inkster
10 War and Nationalism in China
1925–1945
Hans J. van de Ven
11 Hong Kong in Transition
One country, two systems
Edited by Robert Ash, Peter Ferdinand, Brian Hook and Robin Porter
12 Japan’s Postwar Economic Recovery and Anglo-Japanese
Relations, 1948–1962
Noriko Yokoi
13 Japanese Army Stragglers and Memories of the War in Japan,
1950–1975
Beatrice Trefalt
14 Ending the Vietnam War
The Vietnamese communists’ perspective
Ang Cheng Guan
15 The Development of the Japanese Nursing Profession
Adopting and adapting Western influences
Aya Takahashi
16 Women’s Suffrage in Asia
Gender nationalism and democracy
Louise Edwards and Mina Roces
17 The Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 1902–1922
Phillips Payson O’Brien
18 The United States and Cambodia, 1870–1969
From curiosity to confrontation
Kenton Clymer
19 Capitalist Restructuring and the Pacific Rim
Ravi Arvind Palat
20 The United States and Cambodia, 1969–2000
A troubled relationship
Kenton Clymer
21 British Business in Post-Colonial Malaysia, 1957–70
‘Neo-colonialism’ or ‘disengagement’?
Nicholas J. White
22 The Rise and Decline of Thai Absolutism
Kullada Kesboonchoo Mead
23 Russian Views of Japan, 1792–1913
An anthology of travel writing
David N. Wells

Russian Views of Japan,
1792–1913
An anthology of travel writing
Edited and translated by
David N. Wells
First published 2004
by RoutledgeCurzon
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by RoutledgeCurzon
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
RoutledgeCurzon is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
Selection and editorial matter © 2004 David N. Wells
Translation of chapters 1, 4–10 and 12 © 2004 David N. Wells
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.
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
ISBN 0-203-64426-3 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-67509-6 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–29730–3(Print Edition)
Contents
List of illustrations ix
Note on calendars, names and measures xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xv
Introduction: Japan through Russian eyes – history and context 1
1 Adam Laxman: Journal of Laxman’s embassy to Japan (Ezo,
1792–3) 32
2 Ivan Krusenstern: Voyage round the world (Nagasaki, 1804–5) 60
3 Vasilii Golovnin: Narrative of my captivity in Japan (Ezo, 1811) 81
4 Ivan Goncharov: The frigate Pallada (Nagasaki, 1853) 103
5 A. Kornilov: News from Japan (Edo, 1859) 118
6 Sergei Maksimov: In the East (Hakodate, late 1850s) 125
7 Ivan Zarubin: Around Asia (Nagasaki, 1880) 148
8 A. Cherevkova: On the Japanese railways (Nagoya, 1890) 162
9 Andrei Krasnov: Around the islands of the Far East
(Nagasaki, 1892) 170
10 Nikolai Garin-Mikhailovskii: Around Korea, Manchuria
and the Liaodong Peninsula (Nagasaki, Yokohama, 1898) 176
11 Vladimir Semenov: The price of blood (Kyoto, 1905) 187
12 E. Kobiakova: My first day in Japan (Gifu, 1913) 204
Index 210

Illustrations
I.1 The Kurile archipelago, according to Golovnin 4
1.1 Ainu houses 35
1.2 Japanese norimon 55
2.1 The Rezanov embassy 65
4.1 Officer on urgent duty 105
5.1 Yeddo from the avenue 121
6.1 A Japanese salutation 134
7.1 A rickshaw 151
9.1 Nagasaki harbour 172
10.1 Fujisan 181
12.1 How mothers dispose of their infants 205