Matsumae clan

They were given the domain as a march fief in 1590 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and charged with defending it, and by extension the whole of Japan, from the Ainu "barbarians" of the north.

The Matsumae official tried to explain that he had no authority to agree to trade on behalf of the shōgun and suggested that the Russians come back the following year.

In 1779, a massive earthquake struck Hokkaidō, and a forty-two-foot tsunami lifted the Russian ship[clarification needed] out of the sea, depositing it a quarter-mile inland.

At roughly the same time, in 1789, a Finnish professor, Erik Laxmann, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, came across several Japanese castaways in Irkutsk.

In 1791, she appointed the professor's son, Lt. Adam Laxman, to command a voyage to return these castaways to Japan, and to open discussions towards a trade agreement.

They were given a guest house near Matsumae Castle, and were, unusually, allowed to maintain their own customs: they did not deny their Christianity, remove their boots indoors or bow to the Shōgun's envoys.

The Japanese envoys gave them three swords and a hundred bags of rice, but also informed them that the Shōgun's rules remained unchangeable: foreigners could trade only at Nagasaki, and only if they came unarmed.

The envoys returned three days later with a document restating the rules regarding trade at Nagasaki and the laws against the practice of Christianity in Tokugawa Japan.

The Russian expedition led by Adam Johann von Krusenstern and Nikolai Rezanov stayed for six months in the port of Nagasaki in 1804–1805, failing to establish diplomatic and trade relations with Japan.

Black seal letter of 1604 from shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu to Matsumae Yoshihiro , first daimyō of Matsumae Domain , granting the Domain exclusivity as intermediaries in trade with the people of Ezo ( Hokkaido Museum )
This 1856 print is entitled "Deputy of the Prince of Matsmay." This artist's impression of four samurai was among the images that were published after the Perry Expedition "opened the door" to Japan.
The Matsumae Folding Screen depicts in detail the castle town bustling with trade circa 1754–1764.
Palace reception near Hakodate in 1751. Ainu bringing gifts.
Cropped and enlarged segment of "Deputy of the Prince of Matsmay" (image at left). The detail of the Matsumae clan mon on the clothing of the standing figure in background looks like four diamond-shapes turned sideways.
Matsumae Takahiro , a Matsumae lord of the late Edo period .