Japan Meets the West: New Documents about the First Japanese Embassy to Italy (1585)
Japan Meets the West: New Documents about the First Japanese Embassy to Italy (1585)

Summary/Abstract: One of the most significant events which marked the encounter between Japan and the West in the Early Modern age was the organization of the Tenshō shōnen shisetsu. This mission, considered an «esperimento illuminista ante litteram», was promoted to pay homage to Pope Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncompagni, 1572-1585) and Philip II (1527-1598), king of Castile and Portugal. It was organized by Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606), who had been appointed Visitor of the Jesuit missions to the Far East in 1573 by the fourth Superior general Everard Mercurian (1514-1580)4 and was supported by three daimyōs of Kyūshū: Ōmura Sumitada (1532-1587), baptized in 1563 under the name of Bartolomeu; Ōtomo Yoshishige (1530-1587), who became a Christian and took the name of Francisco in 1578 and Arima Harunobu (1567-1612), baptized in 1580, taking the name of Protásio.

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