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A report from a Hungarian adventurer named [[Mauritius Augustus Count de Benyowsky]] had reached shogunate officials two years earlier, claiming that Russia was preparing a naval assault against [[Matsumae han]]. This turned out to be untrue, but it nevertheless stirred up concern among many samurai officials. It is unclear whether Kudô would have ever seen the document, but by virtue of interactions with members of the [[Dutch East India Company]] based in Nagasaki, he possessed a certain awareness of the international situation; this 1783 memorial claimed that Matsumae authorities were engaging in unofficial trade with the Russians, and though he provided little hard evidence, this, combined with writings in a similar vein by [[Hayashi Shihei]], ultimately spurred Tairô Tanuma to send a mission to Matsumae in [[1785]] to investigate the situation.<ref>Hellyer, 102-103.</ref> Unlike Hayashi Shihei, who was arrested for publishing his writings, Kudô was careful to not circulate his memorial publicly, but rather to give it directly to only the right people; he presented it to [[Miura Shoji|Miura Shôji]], one of Tanuma Okitsugu's top retainers, who then passed it on to ''[[kanjo bugyo|kanjô bugyô]]'' [[Matsumoto Hidemochi]], who after consulting Tanuma ordered Matsumae to provide a series of reports on trade with Russia; this, in turn, later led to the 1785 investigative mission.

A report from a Hungarian adventurer named [[Mauritius Augustus Count de Benyowsky]] had reached shogunate officials two years earlier, claiming that Russia was preparing a naval assault against [[Matsumae han]]. This turned out to be untrue, but it nevertheless stirred up concern among many samurai officials. It is unclear whether Kudô would have ever seen the document, but by virtue of interactions with members of the [[Dutch East India Company]] based in Nagasaki, he possessed a certain awareness of the international situation; this 1783 memorial claimed that Matsumae authorities were engaging in unofficial trade with the Russians, and though he provided little hard evidence, this, combined with writings in a similar vein by [[Hayashi Shihei]], ultimately spurred Tairô Tanuma to send a mission to Matsumae in [[1785]] to investigate the situation.<ref>Hellyer, 102-103.</ref> Unlike Hayashi Shihei, who was arrested for publishing his writings, Kudô was careful to not circulate his memorial publicly, but rather to give it directly to only the right people; he presented it to [[Miura Shoji|Miura Shôji]], one of Tanuma Okitsugu's top retainers, who then passed it on to ''[[kanjo bugyo|kanjô bugyô]]'' [[Matsumoto Hidemochi]], who after consulting Tanuma ordered Matsumae to provide a series of reports on trade with Russia; this, in turn, later led to the 1785 investigative mission.

==References==

==References==