十Christian Japan
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Embassies and Rome: Japan and the Popes

From Xavier's companion Bernardo to the Tenshō and Keichō embassies and the papal visits of 1981 and 2019, the links between Japan's Christians and Rome.

14 pages

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  1. 1The Tenshō Embassy: Four Japanese Boys in Renaissance Europe, 1582 to 1590In 1582 three Christian lords of Kyushu, on the plan of the Jesuit Visitor Alessandro Valignano, sent four…
  2. 2The Keichō Embassy: Hasekura Tsunenaga's Journey to Spain and RomeIn 1613 Date Masamune, lord of Sendai, sent his retainer Hasekura Tsunenaga and the Franciscan Luis Sotelo…
  3. 3Pope Gregory XIII and JapanGregory XIII (pope 1572 to 1585) never saw Japan, but he gave its young Church money for its seminaries…
  4. 4Pope St. John Paul II in Japan, 1981From February 23 to 26, 1981, Pope St. John Paul II made the first visit of a pope to Japan: he came, he…

Short history

Bernardo of Kagoshima was Francis Xavier's very first convert apart from the family and friends Anjirō had brought in123, and years later he told his confessor in Rome that he had slept for seven months in the same room as the saint41. The first embassy was the idea of Alessandro Valignano, the Jesuit Visitor56: a formal mission of obedience to Pope Gregory XIII, sent in the names of the Christian lords of Bungo, Arima and Ōmura78. Four Japanese boys entered Rome on March 22, 1585, and the next day the old pontiff received them in a public consistory and wept as he embraced them9.

In 1613 Date Masamune, lord of Ōshū, sent a second embassy to the king of Spain and to Pope Paul V, with the Franciscan Luis Sotelo and his retainer Hasekura Tsunenaga as envoys101112. Hasekura met the pope on November 3, 161513, but when the envoy reached Sendai in August 1620 his lord was anything but a patron of Christianity1415.

Rome kept Japan in view through the ban. Pius IX completed the cause of the Twenty-Six Martyrs16, and in December 1866 announced that he would beatify a large number of Japanese martyrs17. In 1981 John Paul II told Tokyo that he had come to return the visit of the Tenshō envoys19, and on November 24, 2019, Pope Francis flew to Nagasaki20.

01

The first Japanese in Europe

2 pages
LifeBernardo of KagoshimaA poor young man of Kagoshima, baptized by St. Francis Xavier in 1549 among his first converts, who…PlaceThe Gesù, Rome: The Arm of St. Francis XavierOn the altar step of a chapel in the mother church of the Jesuits, a reliquary holds the right forearm…
02

The Tenshō embassy, 1582 to 1590

5 pages
EventThe Tenshō Embassy: Four Japanese Boys in Renaissance Europe, 1582 to 1590In 1582 three Christian lords of Kyushu, on the plan of the Jesuit Visitor Alessandro Valignano, sent…PlaceRome of the Japanese Embassies, 1585 and 1615High on the wall of the great hall of the Quirinal Palace, a painted group of Japanese gentlemen leans…LifeBlessed Julian Nakaura, the Envoy Who Came HomeA boy from the Ōmura coast who went to Rome with the Tenshō embassy, came home to a country that had…LifeMartino HaraMartino Hara was one of the four young envoys of the Tenshō embassy to Rome, and the best Latinist among…LifePope Gregory XIII and JapanGregory XIII (pope 1572 to 1585) never saw Japan, but he gave its young Church money for its seminaries…
03

The Keichō embassy, 1613 to 1620

3 pages
EventThe Keichō Embassy: Hasekura Tsunenaga's Journey to Spain and RomeIn 1613 Date Masamune, lord of Sendai, sent his retainer Hasekura Tsunenaga and the Franciscan Luis…LifeBlessed Luis Sotelo: Franciscan, Ambassador and MartyrA Franciscan friar from Seville who worked in Japan from the early 1600s, led Date Masamune's embassy to…LifeDate Masamune: The Lord of Sendai and the ChristiansDate Masamune was the powerful daimyo of Sendai who welcomed Franciscan missionaries and sent an embassy…
04

Rome, Japan and the modern popes

4 pages
LifePius IX: The Pope Who Raised the Martyrs of JapanPope Pius IX canonized the Twenty-Six Martyrs of Japan in 1862, beatified 205 more in 1867, and wrote…EventThe Iwakura Mission and Urakami (1871 to 1873)In December 1871 Japan's new government sent most of its leaders abroad.EventPope St. John Paul II in Japan, 1981From February 23 to 26, 1981, Pope St. John Paul II made the first visit of a pope to Japan: he came, he…EventPope Francis in Nagasaki, 2019In one morning in Nagasaki Pope Francis spoke against nuclear weapons at the hypocenter, prayed as a…
Sources

Footnotes

  1. 1 Brodrick 1952 Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552), 398-399 (from people/bernardo-kagoshima, note 13)
  2. 2 Cary 1909 vol. 1, p. 34 (from people/bernardo-kagoshima, note 14)
  3. 3 Bartoli-Maffei, p. 350-351 (from people/bernardo-kagoshima, note 15)
  4. 4 Schurhammer v4, p. 66 (n. 6) (from people/bernardo-kagoshima, note 17)
  5. 5 Michael Cooper SJ, "Spiritual Saga: The Japanese Mission to Europe, 1582-1590" (1982), digital edition in Francis Britto SJ, All about Francis Xavier (Sophia University). (from articles/tensho-embassy, note 1)
  6. 6 Kotobank, "天正遣欧使節": entries from 日本大百科全書 Nipponica (by Matsuda Kiichi), 改訂新版 世界大百科事典 (by Gonoi Takashi), ブリタニカ国際大百科事典, 山川 日本史小辞典, デジタル大辞泉 and others. https://kotobank.jp/word/天正遣欧使節 (from articles/tensho-embassy, note 2)
  7. 7 Bartoli 1825 Libro Primo, pp. 266-267 (from articles/tensho-embassy, note 11)
  8. 8 Bartoli 1825 Libro Primo, p. 271 (from articles/tensho-embassy, note 12)
  9. 9 Michael Cooper, The Japanese Mission to Europe, 1582-1590, and Kotobank. (from people/pope-gregory-xiii, note 1)
  10. 10 Profillet v1, p. 321 (from articles/keicho-embassy, note 1)
  11. 11 Cary 1909 vol. 1, p. 169 (from articles/keicho-embassy, note 15)
  12. 12 Morris 2017 The Kirishitan Century in Tōhoku, p. 140 (from articles/keicho-embassy, note 12)
  13. 13 Sendai City Museum, "主な収蔵品　12　支倉常長に関する資料（3）: 5 ローマ教皇に会う" (updated February 1, 2024), https://www.city.sendai.jp/museum/shuzohin/shuzohin/shuzohin-25.html (checked October 19, 2026) (from sites/rome-tensho-embassy, note 4)
  14. 14 Cary 1909 vol. 1, p. 199 (from articles/keicho-embassy, note 61)
  15. 15 Cary 1909 vol. 1, p. 174 (from articles/keicho-embassy, note 64)
  16. 16 Spinola 1868, p. 115 (from people/pius-ix, note 2)
  17. 17 Spinola 1868, p. 3 (from people/pius-ix, note 34)
  18. 19 CBCJ, "日本到着のあいさつ" (February 23, 1981). https://www.cbcj.catholic.jp/catholic/pope/johnpaulii/popeinjp/arrive/ (from articles/john-paul-ii-1981, note 1)
  19. 20 Holy See, program of the apostolic journey to Thailand and Japan, November 19 to 26, 2019. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/travels/2019/outside/documents/papa-francesco-thailandia-giappone-2019.html (checked October 20, 2026) (from articles/pope-francis-2019, note 1)

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