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- Convenors:
-
Dick Stegewerns
(University of Oslo)
Koichiro Matsuda (Rikkyo University)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- History
- Location:
- Lokaal 1.10
- Sessions:
- Friday 18 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract
16th century diplomacy
Long Abstract
16th century diplomacy
Accepted papers
Session 1 Friday 18 August, 2023, -Paper short abstract
This paper aims to provide a new perspective on the Japanese legations to Europe during the Modern Age thanks to previously known documentation and unpublished discoveries related to the Keichō embassy, sent by Date Masamune in the early 17th century and its voyage back from Rome through Spain.
Paper long abstract
Within the historical dynamics in the beginning of the globalisation and the relations between the Iberian Peninsula and Japan, research has focused on the two major embassies to Europe: the Tenshō and Keichō Embassies. Recent research has delved into their passage through different countries or cities, but there has been no monograph or digital platform that breaks down this information in detail. In our country, the most recent studies on their passage through the country are that of J. Selfa (1997) on the passage of the Tenshō Embassy through Murcia, the article by J. López-Vera (2012) on the Keichō Embassy and the book by R. Abad and J. San Bernardino (2019) on Date Masamune's letter to the city of Seville sent within the framework of the latter.
Regarding the Spanish Levant, only the previously mentioned work by J. Selfa exists, but it mentions the area of Alicante briefly, yet is not widely known. During the author's bibliographical compilation for his research on the latter in 2021, new information on the return port of the Keichō Embassy to Spain from Rome and its first stop in our country was located in the local chronicle of the city of Alicante written by Vicente Bendicho in 1640. This information, developed in three lines in the original writing, reveals the port of return of the Keichō Embassy to the Iberian Peninsula from Rome, sometimes attributed to Barcelona, its port of departure to the Eternal City.
The research carried out has allowed us to contextualize more clearly the passage of the two legations through the Spanish Levant and has provided a new perspective on the legation sent by the Date clan to Europe in the Keichō era. Their stop in Alicante and their accommodation in the Convent of San Francisco de Paula (Mutxamel) not only give us a new piece to complete the puzzle of this journey but also information about the ambassadors since it is the first time that their knowledge of Spanish is mentioned in primary sources, as Bendicho was at the Convent during their arrival.
Paper short abstract
In 1587 Toyotomi Hideyoshi wanted to test the loyalty of the Christian daimyō on the island of Kyūshū, ordering one of them to abandon his faith. But, quite surprisingly, he chose Takayama Ukon, from Takatsuki, near Osaka. Perhaps, because Hideyoshi knew he would get the answer he was looking for.
Paper long abstract
In 1587, Toyotomi Hideyoshi conquered Kyūshū, within the process of unification of Japan started by Oda Nobunaga. This island was the Japanese territory that had received the most influence from Portuguese trade, arrived in 1543, and from the Jesuit mission, in 1549. There, several daimyō had converted to Catholicism, and had even converted their subjects by decree, to have good relations with the missionaries and, thus, attract Portuguese trade to their fiefdom. One of them even handed over the property of the city of Nagasaki to them. For all these reasons, in Japan there were many critical voices with this growing influence of European missionaries and the problems it could entail.
Hideyoshi was no stranger to this potential problem and, once he arrived in Kyūshū, he wanted to see how far the influence of the Jesuits extended. So he called one of these Christian daimyō and ordered him to abandon his faith, otherwise, he would lose his family name and his land. He had to choose, ultimately, between his duty as a samurai and his faith as a Catholic. If he did not obey his order, Hideyoshi would have shown how harmful this foreign religion could be, since Christian samurai lords could obey the Europeans and help them, for example, to conquer Japan. The Japanese knew about the evangelization and conquest of America, and this would fit with that same scheme.
But curiously, Hideyoshi did not choose a Christian daimyō from Kyūshū, but Takayama Ukon, christened Justo Takayama, from Takatsuki, near Osaka, who had traveled there accompanying Hideyoshi himself on his campaign of conquest. Takayama decided to remain a Christian, and this led to the famous anti-Christian edict of that same 1587. Why didn't Hideyoshi choose a Christian daimyō from Kyūshū, if the test was supposed to demonstrate the influence of the Jesuits especially there? Perhaps because he expected his test to have the result it had and, having met Takayama in the past, at times when his Christian faith had also been put to the test, he knew perfectly well what Takayama would choose also this time.