Japanese Travellers in Sixteenth-Century Europe: A Dialogue concerning the Mission of the Japanese Ambassadors to the Roman Curia (1590)
2014; Liverpool University Press; Volume: 91; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1478-3398
Autores Tópico(s)Philippine History and Culture
ResumoDEREK MASSARELLA, Japanese Travellers in Sixteenth-Century Europe: A Dialogue Concerning the Mission of the Japanese Ambassadors to the Roman Curia (1590). Translated by J. F. Moran. Hakluyt Society, Series III, No. 25. Farnham: Ashgate. 2012, 504 pp. ISBN: 978-1-908145-03-1.Meaningful events and their historiographical nexus, already uncovered by scholars, often remain concealed to readers for a long time until a new rendering comes to light, making possible new avenues of investigation. Massarella's edited book presenting Joseph Moran's refined translation of the Latin De Missione is one such case. This volume explores one of the most interesting publishing enterprises between Europe and East Asia that unfolded in the last two decades of the sixteenth century. De Missione Legatorum Iaponensium ad Romanam curiam, rebusq; ...Bin sermonan latinum versvs ab Eduardo de Sande Sacerdote societatis Iesu is the original Jesuit publication of the Dialogue of the Japanese legates sent to Europe, printed in Macao in 1590. As is indicated by the title, the text was written in Latin by the Portuguese Jesuit Duarte de Sande (1531-1600), who translated it from a manuscript in which the Visitor of the East Asia mission, Alessandro Valignano (1539-1606), arranged in the Spanish language the legates' travel journal, which unfortunately has not survived. Strikingly this text was among the first editorial outcomes generated by the printing press acquired in Lisbon, which travelled on the same ship on which the 'four boys' - as the Japanese legates are often called - embarked for the journey back to Japan. Japanese Travellersin Sixteenth-CenturyEurope presents Moran's translation of the Dialogue in its original form of 34 colloquia that, from Colloquium XVI to Colloquium XXXI, follow the most significant moments of the European journey covering Portugal, Spain and Italy. Colloquium I includes a discussion of the establishment of the embassy, while the Colloquia II, III, VI, XXXII provide accounts of the voyages to and from Europe. Colloquia VII-XV detail the Indian journey, Colloquium XXXIII a delineation of China, and lastly Colloquium XXXIV ends with a 'summary description of the whole world'.The Dialogue, which benefits of Massarella's introductory analysis and critical apparatus, involves all the four converted Japanese boys, even though Miguel Chijiva Seizaimon (Michael in the text) has the role of main narrator constantly backed by the other three, Mando Ito Sukemasu, Julian Nakaura and Martin Hara; and by Leo and Lino (or Linus), first cousins of Miguel. …
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