Russian musical instruments in the Japanese sources of the first half of the XIXth century

The article analyzes the descriptions and images of some Russian musical instruments that can be found in such Japanese sources of the first half of the XIXth century as the treatise «Kankai ibun» («Amazing information about the surrounding seas») and a collection of engravings «Ifu syasin kagami» («Illustrations of everyday habits») by the Japanese artist Kawahara Keiga. The information reflected in these sources was the result of the first contacts between Russians and Japanese.