Adam Laksman: ferskil tusken ferzjes

Laxman lâne op [[HokkaidōHokkaido]] yn oktober 1792 en moete dêr leden fan de [[Matsumae-clan]], dy't belêstige wiene mei de ferdigening fan Japans noardlike grinzen. Oars as eardere bûtenlanners waard Laksman gastfrij ûnfongen. Dat feroare lykwols doe't er easke om de skipbreklingen persoanlik nei [[Edo]] (it [[Tokyo]] fan no) te bringen. He was soon met by two envoys and five hundred men, sent from Edo by senior councilor [[Matsudaira Sadanobu]], who attempted to delay or prevent Laxman's traveling much deeper into Japanese territory. They asked that he travel to the town of [[Matsumae, (Hokkaido)|Matsumae]], overland and without his ship. Laxman refused, and ultimately was allowed to sail, with Japanese naval escort, to the port of [[Hakodate]]; from there, 450 Russians and Japanese would march toit kastiel [[Matsumae Castle(kastiel)|Matsumae]].

Oddly, despite his impudence, Laxman was granted lavish Western-style living quarters; they were allowed to ignore the custom of kneeling and bowing before the Shogun's envoys, and were bestowed three samurai swords, and a hundred bags of rice. The envoys then explained to him that Japanese law demanded that all foreign trade be performed at [[Nagasaki, Nagasaki|NagasakiNagasaky]]. Since he had come to return castaways, they explained, he would be allowed to leave peacefully. When Laxman refused to leave without a trade agreement, he was provided with papers that explicitly stated that Nagasaki would welcome one Russian ship, that foreign ships were not allowed to dock anywhere else in the country, and that Christianity would also not be tolerated anywhere in Japan.<ref>A. A. Preobrazhensky, “Pervoe Russkoe Posolstvo v Iaponiiu” (“The'De firstearste RussianRussyske missionmissy tonei Japan”Japan'), ''Istoricheskii Arkhiv,'' vol. 7, no. 4, 1961, pps. 115–148.</ref>

Laxman returned to Russia essentially empty-handed, though he held (quite possibly) the first official Japanese documents granting permission to trade, to a nation other than China[[Sina]] orof the Netherlands[[Nederlân]].<ref>George Alexander Lensen, “Early Russo-Japanese Relations”, ''The Far Eastern Quarterly,'' vol. 10, no. 1, November 1950, pp. 2–37, n.b. pps. 17–22.</ref> In 1804–1805, nine years after Laxman's return to Russia, an attempt was made to trade at Nagasaki as part of the expedition around the world led by [[Adam Johann von Krusenstern]], but the Russian ambassador [[Nikolai Rezanov]] was greeted with a lengthy dispatch from the Shogunate explaining that Japan was closed to foreign trade and demanding that they leave. After this major setback, the Tsarist government debated for many years the actual intention and meaning of the documents, and, leaving the opening of Japan to private entrepreneur explorers, ultimately failed to open Japan.