The Journal of Japanese Studies

Abstract:

At the turn of the nineteenth century, the Tokugawa government of Japan took steps to bolster its authority over the northern borderland of Ezo (Hokkaido, Karafuto/Sakhalin, and the Southern Chishima/Kuril Islands) in response to Russian political, economic, and military pressure. In the process of projecting authority "outward" toward their Russian rivals, the Tokugawa effectively transformed Ezo into an imperial possession and Japan into an early modern imperial polity. In 1813, the Russians validated this authority in exchange for unofficial concessions when Captain Vasiliĭ Golovnin, captured in Ezo during an 1811 surveying mission, was released after a carefully scripted performance of political subservience.