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Early-modern Japanese journeys
devoted to Christianity

▼Japanese travel abroad during the Christian propagation▼
 In the Age of Exploration, Europeans have brought arms and religion to the world. Their foray into Japan began in 1543 when the Portuguese landed on Tanega-shima and brought in a gun, and six years later in 1549, Francisco de Xavier (1506-52) began to spread Christianity. Thereafter, Japanese Christians increased remarkably toward the end of the 16th century, producing many Christian daimyo. It was an event during the honeymoon period between Christian propagation and Nobunaga and Hideyoshi.
 However, it ends with Hideyoshi's an edict expelling the Jesuit missionaries in 1587 (Tensho 15) and the martyrdom of 26 saints at Nagasaki in 1593 (Keicho 1). As soon as Ieyasu Tokugawa (1542-1616) acknowledged the advance of the Netherlands, Britain and China into Japan, he issued a Catholic prohibition in 1612 (Keicho 17) and spread it throughout the country. As a result, the Christian propagation to Japan by Europeans has been frustrated, and the Christian propagation era, which has lasted for more than 60 years, has ended. Since then, it has been an era of Christian prohibition and persecution.
 In the Age of Exploration, Europeans were not the only ones. In East Asian waters, even in the early 16th century before the Europeans entered the Japanese market, they continued to tally trade by Kango-sen , and also acted as the Wako(Japanese pirates). In addition, during the Edo period after the stagnation of the Sengoku period, until the middle of 17th century, they sent sen Shuin-sen (Hosyo-sen) (shogunate-licensed trading ships). These trades in the East Asian waters were the Age of Exploration for Japanese people.
 However, as Portuguese ships enter the waters, they will trade in much the same way as Japanese ships. As a result, Japanese people will be able to further meet the demand for trade, and Japanese ships will not attempt to advance beyond East Asian waters. The Japanese were increasingly overwhelmed by European seapower and became more dependent on it. It was an abandonment of the self-sustaining, aggressive international trade, and an acceptance of standby trade.
 Along with this, it has become essentially impossible for Early-modern Japanese to outfit their own ships for their own needs and to extend beyond traditional waters to Europe or America. Despite this, during the era of Christian missionary work that lasted for more than 60 years, from the beginning of the mission in 1549 to the edict of 1612, a handful of Japanese, including Tensho and Keicho Mission were traveling to Europe or America.
▼Bernardo and Tensho Boys enters Rome▼

Statue of Bernardo
in Kagoshima Xavier Park
Portrait of Tensho Boys 
Augsburg (Germany) 1586
Kyoto University Libr0ary

 According to the record, first Japanese to enter Europe was Bernardo of Kagoshima or Satsuma (? -1557), who was first baptized by Francisco Xavier as Japanese. He was one of four Japanese who followed Xavier, and they traveled from Bungo in November 1551(Tensho 20), through Melaka and Cochin, to Goa in February 1552. In Goa, he separated from Xavier and other Japanese, traveled to Europe alone as a student in March 1553, and arrived in Lisbon in September of same year. He lived in Coimbra monastery since 1554 and has been trained to become a Jesuit member.
 Bernard departed Lisbon in July 1554, by land, passed Spain, and sailed from Barcelona. He appears to have landed in Sicily. Later, he arrives in Rome via Naples in early January 1555. In Rome, he was taken care of by the founder of the Jesuit, Ignatius de Loyola (1491-1556), and was granted an audience with Pope Paul IV (1555-59). He left Rome in October 1555, entered Alicante by sea from Genoa the following year, and returned to Lisbon by land. However, he died at Coimbra in 1557 and could not return to Japan. He was 23 years old. His tomb was in a Jesuit cemetery, but has now been moved to a new cathedral, under the floor where the statue of Ignatius de Loyola is located.
 After Bernardo, there were no reports or records of Japanese who traveled to Europe. The next record was the Tensho Boys' Mission to Europe which sailed from Nagasaki in 1582 (Tensho 10) and returned to Nagasaki in 1590 (Tensho 18). The "four boys" (Quatro Ragazzi) are said to be first Japanese to enter Europe and return to Japan. It was about 30 years after Bernardo traveled to Europe, middle of Christian propagation era
 Meanwhile, Japanese Christians increased to 150,000 in 1582, and reached 300,000 in 1592, the largest of the Early-modern era. It is alleged that a Christian daimyo had sent a letter to Vice-President of Portuguese India, asking him to dispatch an ambassador and open a trading house, but there is no record that Japanese people have traveled to Europe.
 In 1579, Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606), an Italian-born Jesuit East Indies patrol, arrives in Japan and enters a new phase in Christianity propagation. He thought it was urgent to train a Japanese priest. In the early 1580s, he set up Seminarillo in Azuchi and Arima, Koregillo in Bungo, and Noviciado (training school) in Usuki. As part of this Japanese missionary reform, he planned and carried out the dispatch of the Tensho Boys' Mission to Europe.
 After the Tensho Boy's Mission to Europe, there seemed to be Japanese who had traveled to Macau, then to Lisbon or Rome, and tried to become priests. But they are not obvious. For example, Sebastian Kimura(1566-1622), who studied at Arima Seminarillo, finally became the first Japanese priest in 1601 (Keicho 6) after studying in Macau. It is said that Araki (Thomas), whose birth year and birthplace are unknown, had become a priest in Rome before 1615.
▼Katsusuke Tanaka crosses the Pacific Ocean to Mexico▼
 Thirty years have passed since the Tensho Boy's Mission to Europe.The Christian propagation was already over, and the persecution of Christians was escalating。In such situation, two travel projects were undertaken. There was continuity between those, and both involved Ieyasu Tokugawa. The business was done in partnership with the Spanish, not the Portuguese, and traveled east rather than west.
 One of these was Katsusuke Tanaka's traveling to Mexico. His birth and death years are unknown, but he was an upper-class townsman in Kyoto, with a shop name of Shuya, and is believed to have been assigned to Kinza in Kyoto. "Shu" refers to mercury. His journey had a certain background. The previous year, on September 30, 1609, the Galleon's flagship San Francisco (above 1,000 tons) carrying former Philippine Extraordinary Governor Don Rodrigo was cast ashore in Iwawada-mura, Kazusa (now Onjuku-cho, Chiba-ken) due to a typhoon. The 317 crew members (56 dead) rescued at that time were sent back to Mexico by a Shogunate ship built in Japan. Tanaka was to board the ship.
 Don Rodrigo reportedly visited Ieyasu on October 29 of the same year and agreed to direct trade between Japan and Mexico and dispatch of craftsman of mining and refining. Ieyasu was interested in the amalgam refining method.
As a part of this, Shozaburo Goto (1571-1625), a wealthy merchant in Kyoto, the head of Kinza, and Ieyasu's economic adviser, let Don Rodrigo take Katsusuke Tanaka on the repatriation ship in an attempt to respond to Ieyasu's interests.
 The repatriation ship was a Western-style sailing ship built in 1607 in Ito, Izu, by William Adams (the Japanese name Anjin Miura, 1564-1620), under the control of Ieyasu. The ship was a Japanese ship (Anjin=maru) named San Buena Ventura (120 tons).
Kyoto cityscape
with Nanbanjin
By Kano Takanobu 
Rakuchu rakugai zu byobu,
 17C
Fukuoka City Museum
San Buena Ventura
(Anjin=maru).
 1997 Production
]Itou(Sizuka-ken

 On August 1, 1610 (Keicho 15), departed from Uraga, Sagami-no-kuni (the port that only Spanish ships had entered every year since 1604), and headed for Nueva Espana (Nobispania, now Mexico). The ship arrives on October 27 of the same year in Acapulco (more precisely, Matanchel, California). This makes the San Buena Ventura the first Japanese ship to cross the Pacific Ocean. The ship's passengers were not only the victims of the San Francisco, but also Alonso Munoz (? -1620), director of the Japanese Foreign Affairs Department of Order of Friars Minor with the parent letters of Ieyasu and Hidetada, and 23 merchants including Katsusuke Tanaka. In Mexico, some people, including Katsusuke Tanaka, have been baptized and do business, obtaining woollen cloth and wine. Only 17 of the 23 returned to Japan and some remained in Mexico. The ship will be sold on by a promise upon arrival in Mexico, and will be launched on the Galleon route connecting Manila and Acapulco. The sale of the vessel funded the purchase of Mexican goods.
 Katsusuke Tanaka and his colleagues return from Mexico on a ship carrying a return ambassador for Don Rodrigo and his group's grace (rescue and repatriation). The effect of this Katsusuke Tanaka trip to Mexico is unknown. The return ship San Francisco (II) leaves Acapulco on March 22, 1611, and enters Uraga on June 10 of the same year. As a result, Katsusuke Tanaka left the footprint on the Americas across the Pacific Ocean and became the first Japanese to return.
 The ship was carried by Sebastian Vizcaino (1548-1624, trader, explorer), a return envoy sent from Vice-President of Nueva Espana. He was chosen in line with the request of Ieyasu, who is interested in mining and refining. He was to explore the gold and silver island called Japan
 It should be noted that the first San Francisco had a Japanese Christian crew member and was acting as an interpreter. Already many Japanese have traveled to Macau and Luzon, and have moved to Mexico via them, so Katsusuke Tanaka is not the first comer. Similarly, the Tensho boys' Mission to Europe is watching Japanese slaves while traveling. From that point, not a few Japanese traveled to Europe, such as Portugal and Spain, via Goa (Lucio de Souza, Mihoko Oka, Japanese Slaves during the Age of Great Voyage, Ch?k?s?sho,, 2017, etc.).
▼Keityo Mission to Europe, Petro Kibe's Pilgrimage to Jerusalem▼
 Thirty years after the Tensho Boys' Mission to Europe, or just before the end of the 60-year Christian propagation, another travel project will take place. It is not a Kyushu Christian daimyo but an envoy designed by the Sendai-han, an Influential territory in the Tohoku region. The Tokugawa Shogunate was involved in this mission.
 This mission is called the Keicho Mission to Europe. They will sail the Oshika Peninsula on October 28, 1613 (September 15, Keicho 18) on a Japanese ship San Juan Bautista (500 tons) built in Sendai territory. The ship crosses the Pacific Ocean and enters Acapulco on January 28, 1614. And they land across Sevilla from Mexico across the Atlantic.
 This mission is to audience with King Philip III of Spain (1598-1621) and Pope Paul V (1552-1621). Thereby, they serve a prima facie purpose. They return from Mexico to Rome, depart Acapulco on April 2, 1618, and arrive in Manila, Philippines on August 10. They stayed for a long time and returned to Japan on September 22, 1620 (August 26, Genwa 6).
Hasekura Tsunecho 
San Juan Bautista
By Alquita Rich ,17c
Borghese, Rome
Petro Kibe Kasui
Kunisaki-shi (Ooita ken)

 Notably, the San Juan Bautista returned to Japan afte sending a mission to Mexico. Then he heads to Mexico again, greets his return home in Acapulco and arrives in Manila. As a result, the members of the Keicho Mission to Europe became the first Japanese to cross the Atlantic Ocean in addition to the Pacific Ocean. That means traveling two-thirds of the earth. The San Juan Bautista was also the first Japanese ship to make two round trips in the Pacific at once.
 The Keicho Mission to Europe departed in 1612. The following year, the Keicho ban was expanded nationwide, and the following year, 148 people, including the Christian daimy? Ukon Takayama, were expelled overseas.
 In contrast to these, there were some rigid people who were forced to leave Japan, became bishops in Rome, etc., and then returned home to sneak in. Among them is Petro Kibe Kasui (1587-1639). He left Japan in 1615, visited Jerusalem for the first time as a Japanese, became a priest in Rome, and returned in 1630. After that, he was a martyrdom person who continued to preach in a forbidden country.
 Since then, there have been no cases where Japanese people have actively traveled abroad. All that is there is the distress of the Japanese‐style ship sailors. This remains a very rare record.
In the following (See website), I will interpret the travel status of the Tensho Boys' Mission to Europe, the Keicho Mission to Europe and Petro Kibe Kasui from the literature. A brief chronology of their travel is as follows.

Tensho
 Mission
Keicho
Mission
Petro Kibe
Departure
1582(天正10)
1613(慶長19)
1615(元和元)
Audience of King of Spain
1584(天正12)
1615(元和元)
Pope Audience
1585(天正13)
1615(元和元)
1620(元和 6)?
Return home
1590(天正18)
1620(元和 6)
1630(寛永 7)

▼1860, 240 years later, Kanrin-maru  crosses Pacific Ocean▼
 Early-modern Japanese traveled abroad in the latter half of the 60 years of the Christian evangelism, and as the Christian ban became severe. Moreover, they had to travel abroad depending on the Christian missionary of Europeans.
 One of the most admirable points, during the Keicho envoy to Europe, the Japanese mainly operated Japanese vessels and crossed the Pacific Ocean for several times. It was that Petro Kibe Kasui made a pilgrimage from the Middle East to Europe and returned to Japan with his own will and talent. Nonetheless, these voyage records were buried and not disseminated.
 After the Masamune ship San Juan Bautista, the Japanese who crossed the Pacific Ocean and landed on the American continent were the Party of Katsu Kaishu, who rode on a screw propeller-type combined steam and sail ship Kanrin-maru (made in the Netherlands, 100 hp). The ship set sail 240 years later, in 1860. Captain Kaishu Katsu and others were under the guidance of American officers. Also on board was John Manjiro (1827-98). He entered the United States after drifting and became a whaling sailor, returning from San Francisco to Shanghai in 1851.
 [Note] This manuscript is an English translation of Foreword and Afterword  on web page "TENSHO and KEICHO Mission to Europe, and Petro Kibe"。The table of contents is as follows.
Preface─Early-modern Japanese traveling abroad─
1 Tensho Boys' Mission to Europe, Turnaround (1582-90)
2 Keicho Mission to Europe, Different thoughts (1613-20)
3 Petro Kibe Kasui " I never apostatize " (1615-30)
Afterword─1860, 240 years later, Kanrin-maru  crosses Pacific Ocean─
(2020/04/23)

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