In Search of the Northern Silk Road: From China to Japan Through the Russian Far East

A view of Sakhalin around 7 km across the strait from Lazarev.

Taba Bay, where Mamiya landed in August 1809.

Portrait of Mamiya Rinzō (left) and an old path, matching the description in his records, near Taba Bay (right).

Mamiya’s sketch of Deleng (left) shows the huts of indigenous people around the fences of the trading post. The hills in the sketch of the view across the river from Deleng (right) are very similar to current scenery. Sketches from Mamiya Rinzō, Tōdatsu chihō kikō (Travels in Eastern Tartary) (held by the Cabinet Library in the National Archives of Japan).

Novoilnovka, the probable site of the Deleng trading post.

The hills across the Amur River as seen from Novoilnovka.

Samples of Yezo nishiki featuring gold dragons, from the collection at Khabarovsk Regional Museum.

The Yezo nishiki robe preserved by the Kuisali family in the village of Bulava.