Menu of a Lunch Held in Otsu, Japan, 11 May 1891.
Semicircular white paper with gold border.
Inscribed by Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich in blue ink, center top: "Otsu".
Consomme a la Printaniers.
Saumon bouilly a sauce crevettes
Cotelettes de veau a la Maintenon
Cailles a la Francaise. Asperges en branche.
Beefsteak a l'allemande.
Glaces a la vanille.
Desserts.
19 x 10 cm.
ÃÀ ÐÔ, Ô. 601, Îï. 1, Ä. 119, Ë. 6
…Having spent a couple of pleasant days in Kyoto, we set off in the morning of 29 April in our rickshaws for the town of Otsu. We visited the temple and had lunch with the governor, and were just getting ready for our return to Kyoto when in happened. We had not gone two hundred paces when suddenly a Japanese policeman rushed into the middle of the street and, wielding a sword with both hands, struck me from behind on the right-hand side of my hand! I cried out in Russian: "What do you want?" and jumped over the rickshaw. Turning round, I saw that he was coming on me again with his sword raised, so I ran as fast as I could down the street, stemming the wound to my head with my hand. I tried to hide in the crowd, but they immediately ran off, and I had to take to my heels again to escape the pursuing policeman. In the end I stopped and turned round to see dear Georgie about ten paces from me, with the policeman, whom he had knocked to the ground with one blow of his cane, lying at his feet. Had Georgie not been in the rickshaw behind me, dearest Mama, perhaps I would never have seen you again! But God willed otherwise! When that monster fell, he was pounced upon by two rickshaw drivers; one of them used his sword to seize him by the neck and drag him bound to the nearest house. I was bandaged up and taken back to the governor's house. I was very touched by the Japanese, who knelt in the street as we passed and looked terribly sad. We returned to Kyoto by train, where I spent another two days. I have received a thousand telegrams from various Japanese expressing their regret. The emperor himself, and all the princes, came; I felt sorry for them, so stricken were they.
(From Tsarevich's letter to his mother Empress Maria Fedorovna, 2 May 1891. ÃÀ ÐÔ, Ô. 601, Îï. 1, Ä. 2321, Ëë. 175-176).