Encounter with Kensai Kimura
　Kimura Kensai was born in 1814 as the eldest son of Tayama Fujishiro, a wealthy farmer in Numadate (Odate City, Odate Prefecture). Although Kensai excelled in learning from an early age, he left the Tayama family inheritance to his younger brother Tokuhei and studied at Meitokukan in Akita (Kubota). At that time, a doctor named Dotonin, who lived in Odate Mukaimachi, found Kensai in Kubota and brought him back to Odate, where he became the son-in-law of the Kimura family.
　During Kensai's lifetime, Japan was in the midst of a period of intense internal and external troubles. The appearance of Russian ships in the waters off Matsumae and Tsugaru increased tensions among the Tohoku clans, and in 1815 Odate was ordered to go to war to guard the Yezo region. After being relieved of this duty, he went to the island again and opened a medical practice in Hakodate, while establishing a private school to teach Chinese classics to the warriors guarding Hokkaido.　

​

　Nikolai attended Kensai's school every day, accompanied by an interpreter, to learn basic knowledge about Japan, including Japanese history, Confucianism, and Shintoism. In the spring of 1864, Kensai left Hakodate and returned to Odate. At that time, Nikolai gave him a pair of glass cups and a silver fork as a token of his appreciation for his study.
　The cups are now carefully preserved as family heirlooms in a paulownia wood box at the Kimura family's home in the town of Budare, Odate City. On the side of the box, Kensai wrote in large letters, "Western tea bowls and chopsticks in a box," and on the back of the lid he wrote, "In April of the first month of the first year of the Genji era, at the Ruseia Ryokan in Hakodate, Ruseia monk Nikolai and Kimura Mitsunaga(Kensai). On the other hand, the silver fork is said to belong to Kensai's sixth son, Yamashiro Tsunenosuke, but this has not been confirmed. The box letter seems to express Kensai's (Kimura Mitsunaga) affection toward Nikolai and his memories of Hakodate.

　In May of the same year, a young man named Shime Niijima, a samurai from the Annaka domain, appeared before Nikolai. Nicolai sent him to the consulate with the promise of teaching him Japanese and English in exchange, and he began to read the Kojiki to him.

　This young man was Jo Niijima, who later founded the Japan Union Christian Church and Doshisha. On June 14 of the following year, Niijima, who had escaped from Japan on a foreign ship, wrote in his "Hakodate Travels" that he was impressed by Nikolai's personality. At that time, Nicolai had his picture taken in the consulate for Niijima, who was leaving for the U.S. with big dreams.

​

After Kimura Kensai
　After returning to Odate in 1864, Kimura Kensai began to assist Nikolai in his missionary work.
Kimura Kensai, who was also a Confucian scholar, had a close relationship with Nikolai, but he did not become a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. However, he was apparently interested in Orthodoxy.

　When Nikolai stopped in Odate on his tour of the Ou region in May 1893, he wrote in his diary (dated May 22) about his surprise at hearing the name of Kensai unexpectedly from Moisei Shioya, a long-time follower. He died on February 21, 1883, at the age of 69.
 

And another Akita Kenjin: Ichitaro Tsuya.
　In the encounter between Nikolai and Akita people in Hakodate, there is another person who deserves special mention. Ichitaro Tsuya, who was born in Bozawa, Takanosu-machi(now Kita-Akita), was the one who nursed Nikolai tirelessly when he fell ill with a contagious disease.

　How happy Nikolai must have been to receive such devoted nursing care from Ichitaro Tsuya when he fell ill in a foreign land. When he returned to his hometown Takanosu in 1902 at the age of 70-plus, Nikolai never forgot to give him a monthly gift of 2 yen each for the rest of his life.

　Ichitaro passed away on May 13, 1908, at the age of 82. It is unknown if he was baptized, but it is recorded that there were some apparent believers in Takanosu at this time. His grave is located at Eian-ji Temple of the Soto sect in Bozawa, and his family name is "Kaian-in Tetsusen Ryouji.