Daikokuya Kōdayū
Encyclopedia
His ship landed at Amchitka
Amchitka
Amchitka is a volcanic, tectonically unstable island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The island is about long, and from wide...
, 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
Alexander Bezborodko
Prince Alexander Andreyevich Bezborodko was the Grand Chancellor of Russia and chief architect of Catherine the Great's foreign policy after the death of Nikita Panin.-Ukrainian origins:...
and Alexander Vorontsov
Alexander Vorontsov
Count Alexander Romanovich Vorontsov was the Russian imperial chancellor during the early years of Alexander I's reign....
. Two made it back to Japan alive, one died when they stayed in Yezo(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...
), two stayed in Irkutsk as they became Christians, 11 died.
Early life
Daikokuya Kōdayū was born in Wakamatsu, Ise ProvinceIse Province
or was a province of Japan including most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces.The ancient provincial capital was at Suzuka...
. (Suzuka
Suzuka, Mie
is a city located in Mie, Japan.As of 2011, the city has an estimated population of 198,716 and the density of 1,020 people per km². The total area is 194.67 km².Located about 83 km east from Nara, and 52 km southwest from Nagoya.-History:...
, Mie
Mie Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan which is part of the Kansai regions on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Tsu.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, Mie prefecture was known as Ise Province and Iga Province....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
)
He was adopted by a merchant, Daikokuya in Shiroko, Ise.(also Suzuka, Mie)
Drift
As the captain of the ship, Shinsho-maru(神昌丸). Kōdayū set sail for Yedo in 1782. The ship was caught in a storm around EnshūTotomi Province
was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today western Shizuoka Prefecture. Tōtōmi bordered on Mikawa, Suruga and Shinano Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was .-History:...
.(Western Shizuoka
Shizuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...
)
After drifting for seven months, one man died.
Amchitka
Just after the man died, they found and landed on the island, AmchitkaAmchitka
Amchitka is a volcanic, tectonically unstable island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The island is about long, and from wide...
where Russians and Aleut people lived.
They witnessed Aleuts' revolt in 1784.(Amchitka#Aleuts' revolt)
Kamchatka
Russians and Kōdayū's people escaped from the island by building new ship of driftwood with their sails being made of otter fur. They sailed the ship for one and a half months.Russian officials in Kamchatka at first could not believe they had sailed from Amchitka to Kamchatka by a "hand-made boat".
At Kamchatka, Kōdayū met Barthélemy de Lesseps
Barthélemy de Lesseps
Jean-Baptiste Barthélemy de Lesseps was a French diplomat and writer, member of the scientific expedition of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse and uncle of Ferdinand de Lesseps.-Family and early career:His childhood was spent in Hamburg and then St...
, a French diplomat. Lesseps wrote about Japanese castaways and the leader Kōdayū in his book, Journal historique du voyage de M. de Lesseps published in 1790.
According to Lesseps, The crew had special feeling of attachment and respect with Kōdayū. He also showed his attachment as much as they did to him, and he always paid attention if they had any frustrating matters as possible as he could. Kōdayū did not hide what he thought and his Russian had strong accent and spoke very fast so sometimes Lesseps could not understand Kōdayū. He wore Japanese cloths which did not cover his throat even when it was freezingly cold despite other Russian people's recommendation that he should have covered his throat.
Okhotsk
A captain in Kamchatka, Hokkeich(ホッケイチ), led Kōdayū's people to OkhotskOkhotsk
Okhotsk is an urban locality and a seaport at the mouth of the Okhota River on the Sea of Okhotsk, in Okhotsky District, Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. Population: 4,470 ;...
.
In the book 《Daikokuya Kōdayū》 (Iwanami Shoten, 2004), Japanese author Yamashita Tsuneo (山下恒夫) says Hokkeich(ホッケイチ) is ホトケーヴィチ, which sounds equivalent to a Russian name Khotkevich.
Irkutsk
Kōdayū's people met Kirill Laxman as Captain Hokkeich introduced them to each other.Tsarskoye Selo
Kōdayū's people had assistance by others, including Kirill Laxman, in Irkutsk. Kōdayū then left for Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
in order to accompany Kirill to ask to be returned home in 1791. By the instrumental help of Kiril, Kodayu was granted an audience with Catherine the Great in Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo
Tsarskoye Selo is the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of St. Petersburg. It is now part of the town of Pushkin and of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments.-History:In...
and Kodayu's people were permitted return home in the same year.
See also
- Kirill Laxman
- AmchitkaAmchitkaAmchitka is a volcanic, tectonically unstable island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. The island is about long, and from wide...
- Catherine the Great
- Alexander BezborodkoAlexander BezborodkoPrince Alexander Andreyevich Bezborodko was the Grand Chancellor of Russia and chief architect of Catherine the Great's foreign policy after the death of Nikita Panin.-Ukrainian origins:...
- Alexander VorontsovAlexander VorontsovCount Alexander Romanovich Vorontsov was the Russian imperial chancellor during the early years of Alexander I's reign....
- Alexander I of RussiaAlexander I of RussiaAlexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
- Paul I of RussiaPaul I of RussiaPaul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...
- Alexander RadishchevAlexander RadishchevAlexander Nikolayevich Radishchev was a Russian author and social critic who was arrested and exiled under Catherine the Great. He brought the tradition of radicalism in Russian literature to prominence with the publication in 1790 of his Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow...
- Grigory ShelikhovGrigory ShelikhovGrigory Ivanovich Shelekhov Grigory Ivanovich Shelekhov Grigory Ivanovich Shelekhov (Григорий Иванович Шелехов in Russian; (1747–July 20, 1795 (July 31, 1795 N.S.)) was a Russian seafarer and merchant born in Rylsk....
- Barthélemy de LessepsBarthélemy de LessepsJean-Baptiste Barthélemy de Lesseps was a French diplomat and writer, member of the scientific expedition of Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse and uncle of Ferdinand de Lesseps.-Family and early career:His childhood was spent in Hamburg and then St...
(uncle of FerdinandFerdinand de LessepsFerdinand Marie, Vicomte de Lesseps, GCSI was the French developer of the Suez Canal, which joined the Mediterranean and Red Seas in 1869, and substantially reduced sailing distances and times between the West and the East.He attempted to repeat this success with an effort to build a sea-level...
) in Kamchatska - DembeiDembeiDembei was a Japanese castaway who, through Vladimir Atlasov, provided Russia with some of its first knowledge of Japan. He was a fisherman who, along with a number of others, had been caught in a storm; they found their way to Kamchatka, where Dembei was found by Atlasov in 1701 or 1702. Despite...
- History of Alaska#Russian Alaska: Aleutian islands and about Shelikhov.