Treaty of Shimoda

• Date: 1855

The Treaty of Shimoda, signed between the Tokugawa shogunate and Russia was the first of a number of agreements seeking to define geographical borders between the two countries' territories.

The shogunate assumed direct administration of Ezo in order to more solidly claim the territory and repel Russian incursions, and the Kuril Islands were officially given to Russia, but the status of Sakhalin was left undecided. This Treaty represents the first establishment of "modern" political borders for Japan, and is the only one of the Bakumatsu period so-called "Unequal Treaties" which explicitly addressed the lack of Japanese extraterritoriality overseas (in this case, in Russia).

References

• Mitani Hiroshi, David Noble (trans.), Escape from Impasse, International House of Japan (2006), 292.