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Yevfimy Vasilyevich Putyatin (view source)
Revision as of 16:53, 20 September 2015
, 16:53, 20 September 2015Created page with " Yevfimy Vasilyevich Putyatin was a Russian naval captain who led a significant Russian mission to Japan and Ryûkyû in 1853-1854, which ended in t..."
Yevfimy Vasilyevich Putyatin was a Russian naval captain who led a significant Russian mission to Japan and [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Ryûkyû]] in [[1853]]-[[1854]], which ended in the signing of treaties between Russia and those two island nations.
Putyatin first arrived in [[Nagasaki]] on August 22, 1853 (on the Gregorian calendar used in Western Europe & the United States; 7/18 on the Japanese calendar) aboard the ''[[Pallada]]''. His fleet then made port at [[Naha]], the primary port of the Ryûkyû Kingdom, from February 8th to 21st the following year (Ansei 1/1/11-24). The Crimean War broke out on March 27 that year (2/24 on the Japanese calendar), and on September 7 (int.7/15), Rear Admiral [[Sir James Stirling]] of the British Royal Navy led four ships to Nagasaki with aims of attacking Putyatin. Putyatin fled, but returned on November 8 (9/18) with a fleet headed by the ''[[Diana]]'', landing first at [[Osaka]], where they were told to make port at [[Shimoda]] instead. During much of his interactions with shogunate officials, [[Moriyama Einosuke]] (a student of [[Ranald MacDonald]]) served as interpreter.<ref>Mitani Hiroshi, David Noble (trans.), ''Escape from Impasse'', International House of Japan (2006), 174.</ref>
In the meanwhile, in 1854, expeditionary forces of the [[Russia-America Company]] occupied [[Sakhalin Island]]. Their actions were later justified by Putyatin, who invoked both the arguments of ''terra nullius'' (that no one was there) and of prior occupation (that the Russians had already been there).
At some point during Putyatin's visits to Japan, retainers of [[Saga han]] witnessed a model steam train aboard the ''Pallada'' and set to producing their own. After two years, they succeeded, and for a time, a small model train ran under its own power along a circular track in Lord [[Nabeshima Naomasa|Nabeshima Naomasa's]] private gardens. A number of Saga retainers then went on to serve as prominent engineers in [[Meiji period]] modernization and construction efforts.<ref>Plaques on the history of railroads in Japan at [[Sakuragicho Station|Sakuragichô Station]] in Yokohama.[https://www.flickr.com/photos/toranosuke/16673156149/sizes/k/]</ref>
Early in [[1855]]<ref>1854/12/21 on the Japanese calendar, Feb 7 1855 on the Western Gregorian calendar, and Jan 18 1855 on Russia's Julian calendar.</ref>, Putyatin, with Einosuke as interpreter, signed the [[Treaty of Shimoda]], also known as the Russo-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Amity. Patterned after the [[Convention of Kanagawa]] and the [[Anglo-Japanese Convention of 1854]], the Treaty extended [[most-favored nation status]] and various other privileges and stipulations to the Russo-Japanese relationship, and was the first of several agreements which formally established national borders and mutually recognized territorial claims between the two countries.<ref>Mitani, 247-250, 292.</ref>
Putyatin returned to Japan again in [[1858]], signing the [[Russo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce]] on August 11 (7/3 on the Japanese calendar) that year. The [[Dutch-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce]] was signed the previous day, and the [[Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce|Anglo-Japanese Treaty]] later that month, on August 26 (7/18).
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==References==
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[[Category:Bakumatsu]]
[[Category:Foreigners]]