Dersu Uzala: Arsenyev's Ussuri Taiga

Vladimir Arsenyev began his service in Vladivostok in 1900 and led his first military expedition into the Far East two years later, in 1902. That is where this journey starts: a surveyor's desk in a port city, and a taiga that had barely been mapped. His memorial house is now a branch of the Arseniev Museum, which is the main museum of Primorsky Krai and the natural place to see the maps, books and photographs of the man who made Dersu Uzala famous.

Visitor guidance: Arsenyev's memorial house is a branch of the Far East History Museum; check opening hours before you go.

Arsenyev's first expedition to the Khanka area came in 1902. In Kurosawa's film, he and Dersu leave the party to explore the lake alone and are caught in a blizzard. Dersu saves Arsenyev's life by building a shelter and tending to him through the night, the scene that first shows who is really the expert here. Khanka is the largest lake in Primorsky Krai, and its northern part lies across the border in China.

Location precision: The pin marks the lake as a whole; the film does not fix the exact spot of the storm.

The book's Dersu guided Arsenyev's surveying crew through the taiga from 1902 to 1907 and saved them from starvation and cold. Arsenyev's most important expeditions went into the Sikhote-Alin in 1906, 1907–08, 1908–10 and 1912–13. His exploration and advocacy helped lead to the Sikhote-Alin and Lazo wildlife refuges, set up in 1935 to protect the region's unusual wildlife.

Location precision: The expeditions crossed the whole range; the pin marks the Sikhote-Alin mountains in general.

From 1907 Arsenyev invited Dersu to live in his house in Khabarovsk, because failing sight made it hard for the old hunter to survive alone in the forest. It did not work. In the film, Dersu struggles to adapt to city life, feeling confined and out of place. In the spring of 1908, in the book, he grew discontent with the city and bade farewell to Arsenyev.

Location precision: The book places Dersu in Arsenyev's house in the city but gives no address; the pin marks Khabarovsk.

Dersu walked back toward the forest and never reached it: he was killed near the town of Korfovskiy, in his sleep, and his rifle was stolen. He was buried in a hastily dug, unmarked grave beside two large cedar trees. Years later Arsenyev returned but could not find it, because a new quarry and town had been built there. Korfovsky is today an urban-type settlement in Khabarovsky District.

Location precision: The book says only that Dersu was killed near Korfovskiy and that his grave was lost; the pin marks the settlement.

Akira Kurosawa's film crew travelled by train from Khabarovsk to Arsenyev, a town named after the explorer himself. Soviet authorities gave the Japanese team access to Primorsky locations usually forbidden to foreigners. Temperatures dropped to minus forty, and Kurosawa developed frostbite. Filming wrapped on 28 April 1975. The Arsenyevka river carries his name too.

Location precision: The film was shot across Primorsky Krai; the pin marks the town of Arsenyev, the crew's base.