Shchepkin, V. V. FIRST INFORMATION ABOUT PETER I AND SHAPING OF HIS IMAGE IN JAPAN // Proceedings of Petrozavodsk State University. 2020. Vol. 42. No 4. P. 115–122. DOI: 10.15393/uchz.art.2020.490


To the 350th anniversary of the birth of Peter the Great

FIRST INFORMATION ABOUT PETER I AND SHAPING OF HIS IMAGE IN JAPAN

Shchepkin
V. V. 		Saint Petersburg State UniversityInstitute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Keywords:
Peter I
image of Peter I
image of Russia
history of Russia-Japan relations
history of Japan
Edo period
modernization
westernization		 Summary: This article presents the results of the study on how first information about Peter I spread in Japan and how it influenced the shaping of his image in this country during the XVIII and the first half of XIX centuries. The image of Peter I could be used for popularization of the ideas of modernization of Japan according to the Western models, as well as for building a modern nation state with strong central power. The degree of influence of the European assessment of the activities of Peter I, which could be borrowed by the Japanese in their translations of the Dutch works, is also under estimation. It was found that by the end of the XVIII century, the image of Peter I as an outstanding ruler had formed in Japan, with his main achievement being the expansion of the country’s territory, after which European Russia suddenly shared a border with northern Japan. At the turn of the XIX century, with the return of the Japanese sailors who had visited Russia back home, information about the contents of Peter’s activities started accumulating. As a result, the example of Peter and his transformations in Russia started being used to covertly criticize the rigid views of central government officials on the international position of Japan and their resulting short-sighted foreign policy.



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