Adam Laxman
Encyclopedia
Adam Kirillovich Laxman (1766 - 1806?) Finland-Swedish military officer and one of the first Russian subjects to set foot in Japan. A lieutenant in the Imperial Russian military, he was commissioned to lead an expedition to Japan in 1791, returning two Japanese castaways to their home country in exchange for trade concessions from the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

. Son of Erik Laxman.

Expedition to Japan (1792)

Laxman landed on Hokkaidō
Hokkaido
, formerly known as Ezo, Yezo, Yeso, or Yesso, is Japan's second largest island; it is also the largest and northernmost of Japan's 47 prefectural-level subdivisions. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaido from Honshu, although the two islands are connected by the underwater railway Seikan Tunnel...

 in October 1792, where he was met by members of the Matsumae clan
Matsumae clan
The was a Japanese clan which was granted the area around Matsumae, Hokkaidō as a march fief in 1590 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and charged with defending it, and by extension all of Japan, from the Ainu 'barbarians' to the north. The clan was originally known as the Kakizaki clan who settled...

, who were entrusted with defending Japan's northern borders. Unlike previous foreign visitors, Laxman was treated hospitably, but this changed when he demanded, imprudently, that he be able to deliver the castaways (Daikokuya Kōdayū
Daikokuya Kōdayū
was a Japanese castaway who spent eleven years in Russia.His ship landed at Amchitka, Aleutian Islands. They managed to escape to the Russian mainland and had Catherine the Great allow them to go back to Japan by Kirill Laxman's effort with Alexander Bezborodko and Alexander Vorontsov...

's party) to Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

 (modern-day Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

) in person. He was soon met by two envoys and five hundred men, sent from Edo by senior councilor Matsudaira Sadanobu
Matsudaira Sadanobu
Japanese daimyo of the mid-Edo period, famous for his financial reforms which saved the Shirakawa Domain, and the similar reforms he undertook during his tenure as chief senior councilor of the Tokugawa Shogunate, from 1787 to 1793....

, who attempted to delay or prevent Laxman's traveling much deeper into Japanese territory. They asked that he travel to the town of Matsumae
Matsumae, Hokkaido
is a town located in Matsumae District, Oshima, Hokkaidō, Japan. The former home of the Matsumae Han, it has an Edo period castle, Matsumae Castle, the only one in Hokkaidō, and Ryūun-in.The total area of the town is .-Geography:...

, overland and without his ship. Laxman refused, and ultimately was allowed to sail, with Japanese naval escort, to the port of Hakodate; from there, 450 Russians and Japanese would march to Matsumae Castle
Matsumae Castle
is a castle located in Matsumae in Hokkaidō, Japan. It was the home of the Matsumae Han. It is perhaps the only traditional style Edo period castle in Hokkaidō.-History:...

.

Oddly, despite his impudence, Laxman was granted lavish Western-style living quarters; they were allowed to ignore the custom of kneeling and bowing before the Shogun's envoys, and were bestowed three samurai swords, and a hundred bags of rice. The envoys then explained to him that Japanese law demanded that all foreign trade be performed at Nagasaki. Since he had come to return castaways, they explained, he would be allowed to leave peacefully. When Laxman refused to leave without a trade agreement, he was provided with papers that explicitly stated that Nagasaki would welcome one Russian ship, that foreign ships were not allowed to dock anywhere else in the country, and that Christianity would also not be tolerated anywhere in Japan.

Laxman returned to Russia essentially empty-handed, though he held (quite possibly) the first official Japanese documents granting permission to trade, to a nation other than China or the Netherlands. In 1804-1805, nine years after Laxman's return to Russia, an attempt was made to trade at Nagasaki as part of the expedition around the world led by Adam Johann von Krusenstern
Adam Johann von Krusenstern
Adam Johann Ritter von Krusenstern , was an admiral and explorer, who led the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe.- Life :...

, but the Russian embassador Nikolai Rezanov
Nikolai Rezanov
Nikolay Petrovich Rezanov was a Russian nobleman and statesman who promoted the project of Russian colonization of Alaska and California. One of the ten barons of Russia, he was the first Russian ambassador to Japan , and participated in the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe ,...

 was greeted with a lengthy dispatch from the Shogunate explaining that Japan was closed to foreign trade and demanding that they leave. After this major setback, the Tsarist government debated for many years the actual intention and meaning of the documents, and, leaving the opening of Japan to private entrepreneur explorers, ultimately failed to open Japan.

External links

  • National Archives of Japan
    National Archives of Japan
    The preserve Japanese government documents and historical records and make them available to the public. Although Japan's reverence for its unique history and art is well documented and illustrated by collections of art and documents, there is almost no archivist tradition...

    : Hokusabunryaku, 1794
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