Soon afterwards, it became the residence for a delegation of Russians under Vice-Admiral Euphimy Vasil'evich Putiatin, who was trapped in Shimoda at the end of 1854 when a tsunami caused by the Ansei-Tōkai earthquake destroyed his fleet.
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This group resided at Gyokusen-ji after the departure of the Russians until the arrival of Townsend Harris, the first American Consul General to Japan in 1856.