Gonza ( ja, 権蔵; russian: Гонза) (1718?–1739), sometimes also Gonzo, was a Japanese castaway who drifted ashore together with Sōza ( ja, 宗蔵; russian: Соза), sometimes also Sozo, in the environs of

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and wes ...

in 1729, after the wreck of their ship, the from

Satsuma Satsuma may refer to: * Satsuma (fruit), a citrus fruit * ''Satsuma'' (gastropod), a genus of land snails Places Japan * Satsuma, Kagoshima, a Japanese town * Satsuma District, Kagoshima, a district in Kagoshima Prefecture * Satsuma Domain, a sou ...

. The fifteen survivors from the two ships that went down were set upon by a contingent of

Cossacks The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...

under Andrei Shtinnikov: thirteen were killed, Gonza and Sōza enslaved. Shtinnikov was later jailed and then executed for his pains. In 1733 or 1734 the pair were taken to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, where they were presented to

Empress Anna Anna Ioannovna (russian: Анна Иоанновна; ), also russified as Anna Ivanovna and sometimes anglicized as Anne, served as regent of the duchy of Courland from 1711 until 1730 and then ruled as Empress of Russia from 1730 to 1740. Much ...

and baptised into the

Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church * Oriental Orthodox Churches * Orthodox Presbyterian Church * Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand * State church of the Roman Empire * True Orthodox church See also * Orthodox (di ...

, Gonza taking the name of Damian Pomortsev (Дамиан Поморцев), or "from the seashore", Soza that of Kozma Shultz (Козьма Шульц). Under the supervision of assistant librarian Andrei Bogdanov, who taught them Russian, from 1736 the pair were set to work teaching at the new school of Japanese at the

Academy of Sciences An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unite ...

Dembei Dembei ( ja, 伝兵衛 ''Dembei'', russian: Дэмбэй) was a Japanese people, Japanese castaway who, through Vladimir Atlasov, provided Russia with some of its first knowledge of Japan. He was a merchant clerk accompanying a fleet of "thirty tr ...

's school having closed some time before. Kozma died aged forty-three later the same year. Damian died aged twenty-one three years later, leaving behind a grammar, an anthology, and a reader, all printed in Russian. The school itself was restocked with shipwrecked Japanese in the 1740s, relocated to

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

in 1753, and continued to function until 1816.

References

{{Reflist Castaways Japanese emigrants to Russia 1710s births 1739 deaths Japan–Russia relations People of Edo-period Japan