V. M. Golovnin was a soldier from the Russian province of Rjazan. As a naval officer, he participated in the war against Napole´on, and in 1809, was posted to Kamchatka. He was subsequently involved in a coastal survey, and in 1811, was captured in Kunashiri by a Matsumae clan retainer and sent to Hakodate where he was imprisoned for 26 months and 26 days.
　　In this book, Golovnin gives a frank account of his life as a prisoner of the Matsumae in Hakodate. In Russia, this book was first published in 1815 in installments in a magazine; the book itself was published the following year. Soon afterwards, translations appeared in several European languages including German, Dutch and English, and the book became a best-seller of its time. A translation from the Dutch version (published in 1817) by Sajuro Baba was also commissioned in Japan by the bakufu. This translation finally appeared in 1825 under the title Soyaku Nihon kiji.