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Paper short abstract

This study explores youth conversions in Kirishitan Japan, using Chikatora Simão as a case study. Based on an examination of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Jesuit annual letters, I argue that these accounts shed light on both Ignatian rhetoric and children's experiences in the mission.

Paper long abstract

In the scholarly examination of early modern Catholic missions in East Asia, the functions assumed by local actors have attracted interest. While the contributions of these individuals to the advancement and preservation of such initiatives have been a focal point, the emphasis has predominantly been on adults, thereby marginalising the role of youth.

Against this backdrop, this paper will analyse Jesuit accounts of youth conversion found in the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century annual letters of Japan, using as a case study the narrative of the conversion of Chikatora Simão (the adopted son of Tawara Chikakata, an important vassal of daimyo Ōtomo Sōrin of Bungo and his brother-in-law) around 1577.

Building on Pia Jolliffe’s work, I identify recurring motifs associated with children to discuss the rhetorical instrumentalisation of these testimonies. However, I will also move beyond this to retrieve markers of youth agency in this context. By juxtaposing Chikatora Simão’s case with other episodes, I aim to demonstrate how these descriptions functioned simultaneously as evidence of local conduct and as persuasive devices targeting European readers.

With this, I propose a synthesis between perspectives emphasising Jesuit rhetoric and those recovering children’s experiences, capable of offering a more comprehensive view of the proselytising enterprise and a richer understanding of the nature and impact of the narratives intended to describe it. By repositioning youth as historical actors in the Japanese mission, I also demonstrate the value of “age” as an analytical category alongside “gender” and “social status” in studying global Catholic missions. Finally, I argue that Chikatora Simão’s case operates as a missionary microcosm, condensing the Ignatian ideals and the local responses to the surrounding sociocultural landscape through which Christian belonging was created in early modern Japan.

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Paper short abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine, through the writings of Juan de Jesús, a Franciscan missionary active in Manila at the turn of the eighteenth century, the image of Japan that emerged within the Spanish missionary imagination in the decades following the country’s closure in the 1630s.

Paper long abstract

Juan de Jesús, OFM (†1706), was a Spanish Discalced Franciscan friar who spent nearly three decades in the Philippines, where he held several leadership positions and produced a remarkable yet almost entirely overlooked body of writings. His work consists of one major treatise and eight short opuscula, which address a wide range of missionary, linguistic, spiritual, and historical issues.

His main work, and the only one to have received sustained attention in recent scholarship, is the Arte de la lengua de Japón, a Spanish adaptation of Diego Collado’s Ars grammaticae Iaponicae linguae (Rome, 1632). Far from being a mere translation, Juan de Jesús’s Arte expands Collado’s grammar by incorporating original linguistic, missionary, and intercultural reflections, which make the text, to a significant extent, an autonomous work.

Among his eight opuscula, one particularly striking text offers a critical reassessment of earlier Philippine chronicles and provides an internal account of Jesuit and mendicant evangelization efforts in Asia, with a strong focus on Japan. Drawing on oral testimonies and personal experience, this treatise preserves valuable information absent from other contemporary sources and sheds light on intra-missionary debates during the period of Iberian presence in East Asia.

Across both his grammar and his shorter writings, Juan de Jesús reflects on the symbolic and spiritual significance of Japan within the Spanish missionary imagination, expressing a recurring longing to return to the land of martyrs, a territory that had been effectively closed to foreign contact for several decades.

The aim of this paper is to analyze through Juan de Jesús’s writings, and particularly through these two works, the image of Japan that took shape within the Spanish missionary imagination in the decades following the sakoku. It examines how this image oscillates between critical reflection on the actions of the different religious orders during the period of Iberian presence in Japan, the idealization of Japan as a land of martyrdom, and the persistent hope of a future return.

Keywords: Early Modern Japan, Catholic Missions, Franciscans, Religious Historiography, Spanish Philippines

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Paper short abstract

This presentation focuses on the cosmic diagrams depicted in two movements that emerged during Edo period. One was Buddhist calendar movement, and the other was Kokugaku movement. Both movements created cosmic diagrams which were based on Western astronomy introduced by Jesuit missionaries.

Paper long abstract

From the late 18th century through the 19th century, new cosmologies emerged and spread by two movements throughout Japanese society. One was the Buddhist calendar movement, spearheaded by the Tendai sect monk Entsū, which attempted to revive the theory of Mount Sumeru. The other was Kokugaku movement which created cosmic diagram by Hattori Nakatsune and Motoori Norinaga. Both Entsū and Hattori were inspired by You Yi's Tianjing huowen, an introductory text on Western astronomy, to create new cosmologies. Jesuit missionaries brought tools like world maps, globes, and telescopes to China and Japen, but also Aristotelian solar system diagrams and natural philosophy, utilizing them for missionary work. Yu Yi was not a Christian but rather held Confucian views; nevertheless, he became an introducer of Western astronomy brought by the Jesuit missionaries. Tianjing huowen illustrated the solar system, a spherical Earth, and the mechanisms of solar and lunar eclipses, and it was widely read in Japan. Interestingly, while there is little evidence that Tianjing huowen was widely read in China, it became a bestseller in Japan.

Entsū, however, reacted against Western astronomy, asserting that the Mount Sumeru theory represented the authentic cosmos and advocating for the revival of the Buddhist calendar. Entsū's Buddhist calendar movement gained supporters across sectarian lines within the Buddhist community. Meanwhile, Hattori, a disciple of Motoori, illustrated the birth processes of the sun, moon, and earth based on Kojiki Den. This earned him Motoori's praise, and Norinaga incorporated Hattori's diagrams into Kojiki Den. But among Motoori's disciples, a serious controversy erupted over Hattori's diagrams.

The Buddhist calendar movement and Kokugaku movement have often been treated as unrelated and contradictory ideologies, yet they shared a common foundation in expressing their cosmologies through geometric models. Entsū sought to return Buddhism to its Indian roots by illustrating the Mount Sumeru theory, while Norinaga and Hattori attempted to unravel the secrets of cosmic creation using Kojiki, aiming to return to the utopian prehistoric Japan.