Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Tensho Embassy (Encore)

Starting point is 00:00:00 The following is an encore presentation of Everything Everywhere Daily. In 1882, a Japanese nobleman by the name of Lord Otomo Soren sent a group of onboys to Europe. The entire round trip of their journey took eight years, and along the way they visited several European countries, met multiple European heads of state, including two popes. It was hoped that this mission would revolutionize relations between Europe and Japan. Learn more about the Ten Show Embassy and the first Japanese mission to Europe. on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong?

Starting point is 00:00:50 ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed. It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. If you've been listening to this podcast long enough, you'll have noticed a theme that comes up several times. What happens when cultures come in contact with each other? The story of the Ten Show Embassy is one of cultural contact, but it's also something much more.

Starting point is 00:01:28 The story starts with the arrival of the first Europeans in Japan. The first Europeans to arrive in Japan did so completely by accident. In 1543, a Portuguese ship was blown off course by a typhoon and became shipwrecked on the island of Tanegasima in southwest Japan. This accidental landing led to a host of changes in Japan. The Portuguese introduced firearms to Japan. In fact, for a long time, the Japanese referred to these early firearms as Tanagashima. The Portuguese began trading with the Japanese, and the Japanese initially welcomed trade with the people whom they called Nabon Jin, or Southern Barbarians. This trade also opened up the door for Christianity to enter Japan. The Japanese at first thought that the Portuguese were from

Starting point is 00:02:12 India and that Christianity was some sort of Indian religion. They had no clue what or where Europe was. In 1549, Francis Xavier arrived in Japan. Xavier was one of the early founding members of a group known as the Society of Jesus, which most people know today as the Jesuits. The Jesuits are actually worthy of their own episode, given how influential they were all over the world. The early efforts of missionaries in Japan were rather ham-fisted. They didn't adapt to local customs and had a difficult time with the Japanese language. This began to change with the arrival of Alessandro Valagnano to Japan in 1579. And just as an aside, when Valignano arrived in Japan, he came with his assistant Yasuki, who was from Africa, and later became a samurai. It's a fascinating

Starting point is 00:02:59 story in its own right and will be the topic of a future episode. Valgnano was sent to take over the Jesuit mission to Japan, and when he arrived, he was shocked at what he saw. He later said in his own words, that the Jesuits would, quote, regard Japanese customs invariably as abnormal and to speak disparagingly of them. When I first came to Japan, ours, the crowd usually follows the leader, showed no care to learn Japanese customs, but at recreation and on other occasions, were continually carping on them, arguing against them, and expressing their preference for our own ways to the great chagrin and disgust of the Japanese, end quote. Valagnano changed the entire approach of trying to convert the Japanese and establish the Catholic Church in Japan. He purchased a

Starting point is 00:03:42 former Buddhist monastery and converted it to a Catholic seminary. However, he didn't change the design and decoration to make it more Western. He kept it as it was. The priests who were trained there were allowed to dress as Buddhist monks, which people were familiar with, not Western friars. They ate Japanese food, not Western food. He overhauled language instruction for the Jesuits in Japan, many of whom could barely speak Japanese even after a decade of living there. All new missionaries were required to take a two-year intensive course in Japanese. His efforts found success, especially in the conversion of several key daimos in Japan. Dymos were feudal lords who ruled over a particular area.

Starting point is 00:04:22 One in particular, Omura Sumitata granted the Jesuits control over a port in what was then just a small fishing village called Nagasaki. The Jesuits used trade from Nagasaki to fund their mission in Japan. However, Valgnano had a problem. Back in Europe, they thought the Japanese to be barbarians. Valignano had to convince the church and royal officials that Japan was in fact a highly developed culture that was worth investing in. By the same token, the Japanese still thought that the Europeans were barbarians. He wanted to show the Japanese the richness of Christian culture, which was very difficult

Starting point is 00:04:57 to do given how far away they were from each other. A solution to the problem came to Valignano after a meeting with Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga was sort of the grand shogun of Japan, who had unified most of Japan under his rule. He wasn't the emperor, but he was the de facto leader of Japan as the imperial regent. Nobunaga wasn't a Christian and was never really a patron of the Christians in Japan, but he did tolerate their presence and saw use for them as they opened up Japan for trade and valuable goods. In a meeting with Nobunaga, Valagnano was supposedly given a silk tapestry intended to be a gift for the Pope to demonstrate the cultural achievements of Japan.

Starting point is 00:05:37 Valagnano thought that this was a great idea, but then he realized that he shouldn't be the one to present it to the Pope. It should be presented to the Pope by Japanese Christians. In Valagnano's mind, this would kill two birds with one stone. A group of Japanese Christians who could tour Europe to meet the Pope and other heads-of-state would improve their perception of Japan. And a small group of Japanese who toured Europe could then come back to Japan, and tell everyone about the accomplishments of the Christian world.

Starting point is 00:06:05 He conferred with several prominent Christian daimos, led by Otomo Soren, and they selected four young men, approximately 14 years old, who would travel to Europe to represent Japan. The spokesman for the group was to be Ido Mencito, the son of Ido Yoshike, one of the regional dimos. Mensito had been baptized a Christian and had studied Latin. Accompanying him were three sons of other high-ranking Christian dimos. Miguel Chigiwaiwaiiwai.

Starting point is 00:06:31 Juliano Nakura and Martino Hara. All of those were Christianized names that they took when they were baptized. The diplomatic mission became known as the Ten Show Embassy, as it took place during the Ten Show period, named after the Japanese Emperor at the time. The group set sail on February 20, 1582. They were accompanied on the first leg of the voyage by Villagnano. Their first stop was in the Portuguese enclave of Macau.

Starting point is 00:06:58 From there in March, the four boys in Villagnano sailed to Malacca, Koshi, and then finally, Goa in India. In Goa, Villagnanoi parted with the boys, wrote them letters of introduction, and the rest of the group set sail in September for Portugal, along with father Nunoz Rodriguez, who took Villagnano's place. The boys used the time aboard the ship productively. They received lessons in Latin and in Japanese from a Japanese Jesuit who came with them. They were admonished not to neglect their studies in their mother tongue. Finally, after two and a half years in transit, the group finally arrived in Lisbon on August 10th, 1584.

Starting point is 00:07:33 As they later wrote, quote, On August 10th, we reached the port of Lisbon. The flood of joy we experienced as we entered that port is almost beyond the power of words to express, because it was the end at last of the troubles and difficulties, and because we can now feast our eyes on an amazing range of new things, end quote. In Lisbon, the boys, now over 16, had the proverbial red carpet rolled out for them. They were toured around the city in the personal coach of the Cardinal of Lisbon, and they were amazed at what they saw. For the very first time, they experienced glass windows.

Starting point is 00:08:06 They saw the rich and the poor, cathedrals, and hovels. Over their first few weeks, they visited almost every church, hospital, and royal palace in Lisbon. After their world-win tour in Lisbon, they met with Albert the 7th, Archduke of Austria and the Viceroy of Portugal. It was here that they unveiled the silk tapestry that had been sent with them from Odunobunaga, who, unbeknownst to them, had been killed just months after they left Japan. Albert had been reading updates sent from the Jesuits in Japan and was up to date on the domestic political situation in Japan. The boys were surprised, as they assumed nobody in Europe knew or cared about Japan.

Starting point is 00:08:43 As for the tapestry itself, it showed the castle of a great ruler. The boys had actually never seen the tapestry themselves until it was unveiled. From Lisbon, they next went to Spain. They went to Toledo and then to Madrid. On November 14th, they met with King Philip II of Spain. They were shown maps to demonstrate the size of Phillips Empire, which they stressed was the largest in the world. And at that time, it was.

Starting point is 00:09:08 By the time they got to Spain, they had become the talk of Madrid. People lined up to see them in their white Japanese robes. When they arrived in the presence of the king, they did as they were trained, to bow rather than prostate themselves on the floor as they would have had to do back in Japan. They presented official documents from Otomo Soren, and to their shock, the king then hugged Ido. Philip was fascinated by the boys and asked them countless questions about their country, and the day after their first meeting, the queen immediately had a Japanese-style gown created. After a month of Madrid, they moved on, slowly going through Spain and eventually traveling to Italy,

Starting point is 00:09:45 where they arrived on March 1, 1585. They worked their way through Italy, meeting aristocrats, until finally arriving in Rome on March. 22nd. They entered Rome with an escort provided by Pope Gregory the 13th. By this time, word had spread of the four Japanese boys, and they were being referred to as Magi, a reference to the wise men from the East described in the Bible. Large crowds came out to see these Christians from Japan. Pope Gregory was quite ill, but was determined to meet them. Geographers at the time thought that Japan was larger than India or Arabia, and that these four, now young men, represented the future of the Catholic Church.

Starting point is 00:10:25 In the formal meeting with the Pope, they finally presented him with the tapestries which were gifted by Oda Nobunaga. He presented the young men with many gifts and honors and spent days asking them questions. However, on April 10th, just 18 days after they arrived, Gregory the 13th died. The new Pope was 6th.

Starting point is 00:10:44 During his coronation on May 1st, all four of the young men were given prominent roles during his coronation ceremony. Soon after, Sixtus honored, all four of them by making them knights in the order of the Golden Spur. They spent the rest of 1585 traveling through Italy, Spain, and Portugal, visiting Mantua, Verona, Milan, Genoa, and Barcelona. By April 1586, they were in Lisbon, and ready to begin their voyage home. The journey back home took much longer than the journey there. With stops in

Starting point is 00:11:14 various Portuguese settlements along the way, in Mozambique, Goa, and Macau, they finally arrived back in Japan on July 21, 1590. Eight, years after they first left. Things had changed dramatically in Japan over the last eight years. The new Imperial Regent had expelled all the Jesuits, and Valagnano had to return to Japan to smooth everything over. He did eventually get an audience with the new region where the four young men were present.

Starting point is 00:11:40 The audience was a hit, as the Regent peppered the four with questions about Europe, just as the boys had been questioned in Europe about Japan. It seemed like Valignano's plan had worked. all four were ordained Jesuit priests, and a book was written about their adventure, which was to be used in classrooms for Japanese students. However, by 1603, a military government known as the Tokugawa Shogunate came to power and eventually banned Christianity under the penalty of death. Mancio Ido, the group spokesman, died in 1612 after an illness. Martino Hara was banished from Japan and fled to Macau in 1614.

Starting point is 00:12:18 Miguel Chichiwa left the Jesuits in 1601 and, supposedly renounced Christianity. He died in 1633. However, in 2017, his grave was exhumed, and it was discovered that he was buried with a rosary, giving question to if he had actually abandoned Christianity at all. Julian Nakura did not flee Japan, nor did he abandon Christianity. Rather, he went underground to minister to the hidden Catholic community in Japan. He was captured, tortured, and executed in November 1633. He was eventually beatified by the Catholic Church in 2008. Despite the grand plans for the Tencho Embassy, it had very little long-term impact on either Japan or Europe. The Tokugawa Shogunate closed off Japan from the outside world. There was

Starting point is 00:13:05 another embassy sent to Europe and the Americas in 1613, but it was never received with the same enthusiasm that the Tencho Embassy was. There wouldn't be another formal delegation sent by Japan to Europe for over 250 years. Thank you to producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Oakden and Cameron Kiefer. I want to thank everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. I'd also like to thank all the members of the Everything Everywhere community who are active on the Facebook group and the Discord server. If you'd like to join in the discussion, there are links to both in the show notes.

Starting point is 00:13:46 And as always, if you leave a review or send me a boostagram, you two can have it read on the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Tensho Embassy (Encore)

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