Heda

• Japanese: 戸田 (Heda)

Heda is a village in Izu province, on the western coast of the Izu peninsula, facing Suruga Bay. It is today part of Numazu City, Shizuoka prefecture. Historically, Heda is perhaps best known as the site where members of Yevfimy Vasilyevich Putyatin's Russian embassy to Japan stayed for a time in 1854-1855 while building a new ship to replace the Russian vessel Diana, which was destroyed in a storm.

Tokugawa shogunate officials met with Putyatin on several occasions in early 1855 at temples in Heda including Daigyô-ji 大行寺 and Hôsen-ji 宝泉寺 to discuss terms relating to the return of a portion of the crew to Russia; Russian agreement to American sailors being allowed to remain in Shimoda; resident consuls; and port regulations in Shimoda and Hakodate.

The new ship, named Heda after the village, was completed sometime before 1855/3/18. On that day, Putyatin and more than 40 Russian sailors boarded the new ship and departed from Heda village; they soon encountered a French warship on the seas and returned to harbor, but then left again, this time for good, on 3/22.

References

• Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 1 (1937), 674-682.
• Ishin Shiryô Kôyô 維新史料綱要, vol 2 (1937), 7, 16, 18, 20, 23, 32.