Tenshō embassy

The Tenshō embassy (Japanese: 天正の使節, named after the Tenshō Era in which the embassy took place) was an embassy sent by the Japanese Christian Lord Ōtomo Sōrin to the Pope and the kings of Europe in 1582. The embassy was led by Mancio Itō (伊東 マンショ Itō Mansho, 1570–1612), a Japanese nobleman, who was the first official Japanese emissary to Europe.

The first Japanese Embassy to Europe, in 1586.
Top, from left to right: Julião Nakaura, Father Mesquita, Mancio Itō.
Bottom, from left to right: Martinho Hara, Miguel Chijiwa.
The Japanese embassy with Pope Gregory XIII on March 23, 1585.[1]

Embassy

The idea of sending a Japanese embassy to Europe was originally conceived by the Jesuit Alessandro Valignano, and sponsored by the three Kirishitan daimyōs Ōmura Sumitada (1533–1587), Ōtomo Sōrin (1530–1587), and Arima Harunobu (1567–1612). Mancio Itō was chosen to act as a spokesman for the group dispatched by Ōtomo Sōrin, who was daimyō of the Bungo Province on Kyūshū and a close relative of Mancio's father; Shurinosuke Itō. On February 20, 1582, Mancio Itō left Nagasaki in company with three other noblemen:

  • Miguel Chijiwa (千々石 ミゲル Chijiwa Migeru)
  • Julião Nakaura (中浦 ジュリアン Nakaura Jurian)
  • Martinho Hara (原 マルチノ Hara Maruchino)

They were accompanied by two servants, their tutor and interpreter Diogo de Mesquita, and their mentor Valignano, who only accompanied them as far as Goa in Portuguese India, where he was to take up new responsibilities. On their way to Lisbon, where they arrived in August 1584, they spent nine months visiting the Portuguese territories of Macau, Kochi, and Goa. From Lisbon, the ambassadors went on to Madrid and then to Rome, which were the two main goals of their journey. In Spain they visit Talavera de la Reina, Toledo, Madrid, where they met with Philip II who was king of Spain and Portugal. They visit El Escorial monastery, the Alcalá University, Murcia and Alicante. In Rome, Mancio Itō became an honorary citizen and taken into the ranks of European nobility with the title Cavaliere di Speron d'oro ("Knight of the Golden Spur"). During their stay in Europe, they met with King Philip II of Spain, Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pope Gregory XIII, and his successor Pope Sixtus V.

Title page of the Mission report

The ambassadors arrived back in Japan on July 21, 1590. On their eight-year-long voyage they had been instructed to take notes. These notes provided the basis for the De Missione Legatorum Iaponensium ad Romanam Curiam ("The Mission of the Japanese Legates to the Roman Curia"), a Macau-based writing by Jesuit Duarte de Sande published in 1590.[2] According to Derek Massarella, "Valignano conceived the idea of a book based on the boys’ travels, one that could also be used for teaching purposes in Jesuit colleges in Japan," but "despite its authors’ intentions," De Missione "made no lasting impact on Japanese perceptions of Europe.[3]

The four were subsequently ordained as the first Japanese Jesuit fathers by Alessandro Valignano.

Mancio Itō died in Nagasaki on November 13, 1612. Martinho Hara was banished from Japan by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1614, and acted in Macau. He died in Macau on October 23, 1629. Miguel Chijiwa left the Society of Jesus before 1601, and died in Nagasaki on January 23, 1633. Although he is generally believed to have abandoned Christianity, the discovery of what appear to be rosary beads in his grave in 2017 place this in some doubt.[4] Julião Nakaura was caught by the Tokugawa shogunate, and died a martyr by torture in Nagasaki on November 21, 1633. He was beatified on November 24, 2008.

Itinerary

1583
  • February Four Japanese, Mancio Itō, Miguel Chijiwa, Julião Nakaura and Martinho Hara, with Alessandro Valignano, Father Nuno Rodrigues, translator Diogo de Mesquita, and a servant depart Nagasaki.[5]
  • March 9 Macau. Chinese servant joins group.
  • Malacca to Cochin and Goa.
  • September 12 Valignano prepares letter of instructions at Goa and Father Nuno Rodrigues takes charge.[6]

1584

1585

1586
  • April 8 Depart Lisbon for return.

1590
  • July 21 Arrival in Japan

See also

Notes
  1. The World and Japan, p. 165.
  2. According to Massarella, "both Valignano and de Sande emphasised that the book was based on journals kept by the boys during their trip, and that the boys, whose time was strictly governed, had been diligent in keeping them. Unfortunately, these journals are no longer extant and we have no knowledge about which language they used for writing them." (4)
  3. Massarella, 2, 8
  4. Nakagawa, Tsuyoshi (September 10, 2017). "Possible rosary beads found in grave dig of Miguel Chijiwa". The Asahi Shimbun. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  5. Unless noted, itinerary to 1586 follows Lach, 688-701.
  6. Lach's September 12, 1583 date appears to be an error.

References
  • Boxer, C.R. The Christian Century in Japan 1549–1650 ISBN 1-85754-035-2
  • Cooper, Michael. The Japanese Mission to Europe, 1582-1590 (Kent: Global Oriental, 2005).
  • Iwao Seiichi. Biographical Dictionary of Japanese History (Tokyo 1978)
  • Lach, Donald F. Asia in the Making of Europe, Vol. 1, Book 2 (Chicago: U of Chicago P., 1965), 688–701.
  • Massarella, Derek. "The Japanese Embassy to Europe (1582–1590)," Journal of the Hakluyt Society (Feb. 2013), 1-12.
  • The World and Japan: the embassies of Tensho and Keicho (世界と日本：天正と慶長の使節 ), Sendai City Museum, 1995.
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