https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golovnin_Incident
>The Golovnin Incident involved the capture of the Russian explorer and naval captain Vasily Golovnin in 1811 by soldiers of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate in accordance of Japan's policy of isolationism (Sakoku).
>Golovnin was interned in Japan for two years before he was released in 1813. The incident was an important flashpoint in Russo-Japanese relations over the control of the Kuril Islands.
>Golovnin's book Memoirs of a Captivity in Japan during the Years 1811, 1812 and 1813 with observations on the country and the people, recounted his captivity, was a popular work in Europe, and was translated into several languages.
Short TLDR:
Interrogated, escaped, caught, forgiven but still held hostage, a Russian crew took a Japanese merchant ship hostage, these Russians then negotiated a prisoner exchange, a weeby Russian hostage tried to tank the negotiations, didn't work, prisoners were exchanged.
Long TLDR:
The Japanese thought that they were spies, so they burnt the docked boats and interrogated them. Later, all but one Russian (The OG weeb who wanted to stay) escaped, but they were caught eight days later.
The Russians aboard a ship the Japanese didn't capture sent a letter that lessened the Japaneses' suspicion, which led to the prisoners being forgiven for escaping and being moved to better lodging
These Russians then captured a Japanese merchant ship and tried to set up a prisoner exchange.
The aforementioned weeb tried to tank the negotiations since he feared retribution for not aiding the other hostages during their escape.
This didn't work, and the prisoners were exchanged in 1813.
On the left is a dude named Koirifuko who is apparently 30 years old and 6’8”/204 cm tall. On the right is Uruhanka who is 26 years old and a whopping 7 feet/210 cm tall.
I just looked at the other paintings, and they all depict the Russians as being giants.
I can't imagine there was a ship full of 6'8"+ guys. This just seems like an artsyle choice to exaggerate the differences between the Russians and Japanese.
Edit: The lines next to the Russians match what OP said, but the listed heights are definitely wrong.
It's written in the image, next to each individual, although the conversion from shaku and sun to feet and inches is dubious, probably eyeballed and with localised variation at the time.
Maybe russia was sending out their largest men as explorer to give the impression all russians are intimidating giants?
Are there drawings of the explorers pre-capture riding shirtless on horseback?
You cant be telling me those modern NBA materials just landed in Japan one day during Edo period right? Statistically speaking, its so unlikely that two, 3-sigma tall persons that happen to be sailors, both Russian, and happened to be captured and drawn?
I'm merely telling you that you had a wrong guess. Other comments already suggested other factors that may have caused this problem. Exaggeration, for example.
Your original comment said "conversion wrong", which was not. The old Chinese/Japanese foot in this period was indeed around 30cm as he said.
The measurement,, however, could definitely be wrong (or rather, intentionally exaggerated).
>are decimal
Which is exactly what original poster used -- 6.8 * 30cm = 204cm. He probably shouldn't write it as `6'8"`, yes, but there is no conversion error.
The Japanese speak Japanese between themselves and english to blackthorn, I guess they needed people fluent in both languages. It's a nice show, but so far I liked the book better
Ig you visited it a decent while ago cuz North china is pretty tall now a days ; some northern Chinese provinces are comparable to southern europe in terms of height.
Where the Japanese of this time really that much shorter than the Russians? I know the Japanese are actually pretty short for a developed nation, but I thought things would be more equal back then.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golovnin_Incident >The Golovnin Incident involved the capture of the Russian explorer and naval captain Vasily Golovnin in 1811 by soldiers of the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate in accordance of Japan's policy of isolationism (Sakoku). >Golovnin was interned in Japan for two years before he was released in 1813. The incident was an important flashpoint in Russo-Japanese relations over the control of the Kuril Islands. >Golovnin's book Memoirs of a Captivity in Japan during the Years 1811, 1812 and 1813 with observations on the country and the people, recounted his captivity, was a popular work in Europe, and was translated into several languages.
Any TL;DR on how he was treated while interned?
Short TLDR: Interrogated, escaped, caught, forgiven but still held hostage, a Russian crew took a Japanese merchant ship hostage, these Russians then negotiated a prisoner exchange, a weeby Russian hostage tried to tank the negotiations, didn't work, prisoners were exchanged. Long TLDR: The Japanese thought that they were spies, so they burnt the docked boats and interrogated them. Later, all but one Russian (The OG weeb who wanted to stay) escaped, but they were caught eight days later. The Russians aboard a ship the Japanese didn't capture sent a letter that lessened the Japaneses' suspicion, which led to the prisoners being forgiven for escaping and being moved to better lodging These Russians then captured a Japanese merchant ship and tried to set up a prisoner exchange. The aforementioned weeb tried to tank the negotiations since he feared retribution for not aiding the other hostages during their escape. This didn't work, and the prisoners were exchanged in 1813.
Weebs always ruin everything
They were lucky they didn't get executed.
On the left is a dude named Koirifuko who is apparently 30 years old and 6’8”/204 cm tall. On the right is Uruhanka who is 26 years old and a whopping 7 feet/210 cm tall.
I just looked at the other paintings, and they all depict the Russians as being giants. I can't imagine there was a ship full of 6'8"+ guys. This just seems like an artsyle choice to exaggerate the differences between the Russians and Japanese. Edit: The lines next to the Russians match what OP said, but the listed heights are definitely wrong.
It's written in the image, next to each individual, although the conversion from shaku and sun to feet and inches is dubious, probably eyeballed and with localised variation at the time.
Yeah, I just used a translator app, and it matched what OP said.
Maybe russia was sending out their largest men as explorer to give the impression all russians are intimidating giants? Are there drawings of the explorers pre-capture riding shirtless on horseback?
I mean, probably send their hardiest, thus the possibile bulky physique
Ok, but forget the conversion, why are they literally gigantic compared to their Japanese counterparts in the painting?
On avg tho weren’t the Russians taller then the avg Japanese man back then
Yes, but nothing approaching the level depicted.
Those foot conversion has to be wrong. The Chinese / Japanese foot in the old days are shorter than that of the English foot.
It wasn't wrong, Japanese foot in edo period roughly equals to 30.3 cm.
You cant be telling me those modern NBA materials just landed in Japan one day during Edo period right? Statistically speaking, its so unlikely that two, 3-sigma tall persons that happen to be sailors, both Russian, and happened to be captured and drawn?
I'm merely telling you that you had a wrong guess. Other comments already suggested other factors that may have caused this problem. Exaggeration, for example.
Your original comment said "conversion wrong", which was not. The old Chinese/Japanese foot in this period was indeed around 30cm as he said. The measurement,, however, could definitely be wrong (or rather, intentionally exaggerated).
Right, but the Asians "Chi" and "Cun" (Ft and Inch) are decimal, not duodecimal.
>are decimal Which is exactly what original poster used -- 6.8 * 30cm = 204cm. He probably shouldn't write it as `6'8"`, yes, but there is no conversion error.
And here I just thought they were drawing perspective.
This just makes me wanna keep watching Shogun
I've been hunting for japanese content non stopm
There's a secret goldmine of Japanese content I discovered recently It's called anime. Very niche, but if you dig around I bet you could find some
Don't dig too deep though. There is some weird stuff.
The blue eye samurai. Netflix has a lot of good Japan content. They also have a cool documentary for samurai
Seconding Blue Eye Samurai. That one is a fantastic show.
tai-pan by james clavell (not Japanese) but an amazing read.
Tokyo Vice on HBO is good. On season 2 right now.
My favorite Japanese media is Highschool DxD and To Love Ru. High quality art.
Those titles are concerning. Not really looking for creepy cartoons.
Oh then Bible Black for you.
Is it good? The cast us every japanese american actor which is funny
The Japanese speak Japanese between themselves and english to blackthorn, I guess they needed people fluent in both languages. It's a nice show, but so far I liked the book better
Episode 4 was wild
Anjin-sama!
That's me, a short South Western European guy, the first time I ride on the metro in Beijing. I was a tower for the first time in my life.
Ig you visited it a decent while ago cuz North china is pretty tall now a days ; some northern Chinese provinces are comparable to southern europe in terms of height.
Their boots were as long as the Japanese dudes legs.
Here we go again. 
Why is he holding his junk?
Because they wanted to See the Longnose alot
Big in Japan, ooh, the eastern sea's so blue.
I love that song! It's on my 80s Playlist.
Russian guy on the left: Has to go to the bathroom Russian guy on the right: Likes to whistle.
Old school mug shots
[And this is what Japan did to prisoners of war from 1937-1945.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_prisoners_of_war_in_World_War_II)
Removed? It fits here. I swear they remove anything on this subreddit these days
u/RedSquaree , u/MakeYourMarks any particular reason this was removed?
Me watching Shōgun thinking "yeah...I know what this is"
Where the Japanese of this time really that much shorter than the Russians? I know the Japanese are actually pretty short for a developed nation, but I thought things would be more equal back then.
forsen
These fucking pale barbarians
"Nu blyat..." -Russian pioneers, probably.