Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan's Gardens, Cities and Landscapes [1st ed. 2020] 978-981-15-0017-6, 978-981-15-0018-3

Table of contents :
Front Matter ....Pages i-xliii
Introduction: Japanese-Portuguese Sixteenth-Century Encounter (Cristina Castel-Branco, Guida Carvalho)....Pages 1-14
Portuguese Presence in Japan (1543–1600) (Cristina Castel-Branco, Guida Carvalho)....Pages 15-57
Seventeen Kyoto Gardens Described by Frois and Vilela (Cristina Castel-Branco, Guida Carvalho)....Pages 59-131
Six Gardens in Nara Described by Frois and Others (Cristina Castel-Branco, Guida Carvalho)....Pages 133-155
Nine Cities and Landscapes Described by Frois and Others (Cristina Castel-Branco, Guida Carvalho)....Pages 157-198
The Forgotten Treaty on Contradictions and the Unpublished Historia de Japam (Cristina Castel-Branco, Guida Carvalho)....Pages 199-222
Chronologies of Luis Frois, João Rodrigues, Gaspar Vilela and Luis de Almeida (Cristina Castel-Branco, Guida Carvalho)....Pages 223-234
Closing Thoughts (Cristina Castel-Branco, Guida Carvalho)....Pages 235-238
Back Matter ....Pages 239-241

Citation preview

Cristina Castel-Branco Guida Carvalho

Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes

Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes

Cristina Castel-Branco • Guida Carvalho

Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes

Cristina Castel-Branco Landscape Architecture Professor; Department of Natural Resources and Landscape, School of Agronomy University of Lisbon Lisbon, Portugal

Guida Carvalho ACB Landscape Architecture Studio Landscape Architect, MLA University of Lisbon Lisbon, Portugal

ISBN 978-981-15-0017-6    ISBN 978-981-15-0018-3 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0018-3 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Father Luís Frois and Sen no Rikyū met in Kyoto around 1580. Although their cultures and religions were almost opposite, they chose to listen to and learn from one another. The former expressed his feelings and impressions in literature, while the latter made his mark in garden art and the Japanese “way of tea”. Their followers, Father Graham McDonnell at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, and Soshu Sen, 14th President of Tea Ceremony, both in Kyoto, sought to keep their ancestors’ legacy of openness alive in the twentieth and twentieth-first century. To the four of them, we dedicate this book.

Foreword

Seen from Europe, the islands of Japan lie at the eastern limit of the globe; in the United States, and even in California’s West Coast, we still refer to that part of Asia as the Far East—although it may, in fact, be closer to us than the European continent. Even the Chinese people, who historically have referred to their land as the Middle or Central Kingdom, termed Japan the “Land of the Rising Sun”, acknowledging its position further east. Given the thousands of kilometres that separated Europe from Japan, in the sixteenth century, the four main islands and thousands of smaller islands that comprise today’s Japan might well have been part of another planet. Columbus’s fateful journey in 1492, despite his misdiagnosed landing point in Hispañola, helped popularize the perception of the Earth as a round sphere rather than a flat plane, although others like Pedro Nunes had reached a similar conclusion earlier on. During the Age of Discovery, landmark expeditions and circumnavigation followed suit. Portugal was to play a major role in the European “discovery” of lands both to the west and the east; discoveries begun during the reign of Prince Henry the Navigator (1394–1460). Vasco da Gama (1460s–1524) opened new vistas of geography and trade with his voyage to India, rounding Cape Horn—a first for European sailors—and arriving on the Indian subcontinent in 1498; a Portuguese settlement, Goa, was established thereafter. Those efforts were furthered by the Portuguese Fernão de Magalhães (Ferdinand Magellan, c.1480–1521) in his pioneer circumnavigation of the globe—that is to say, his ship, the Victoria, completed the journey. Magalhães himself was killed in the Philippines, and the mission was completed under the direction of the Spaniard Juan Sebastián Elcano (or del Cano). With a base established in India in 1510, and knowledge that the world was indeed round, the Portuguese pushed beyond the Asian mainland to the Far East. In 1511, they subdued Malacca; in 1518, they constructed fortresses in Sri Lanka and Indonesia; and in 1521, Tomé Pires arrived in Peking as the Portuguese Ambassador to the Chinese Imperial court. From their thriving base in Macau, China, they continually expanded their commercial routes, reaching Japan in 1543. For the Catholic kingdoms of Portugal and Spain, exploration always possessed two instigating motives: the acquisition of riches in precious metals and other rare commodities and the acquisition of souls for the Church. In some instances, the vii

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force for exploration was religious, although the possibility for trade in commodities such as silk supported—at times financially—any efforts for religious evangelization. Having learned that Japan might provide a substantial pool of converts from several Japanese who had accompanied the Portuguese on the return from their initial voyage, a second expedition was mounted 6 years later. Accompanying the sailors was the man who would later be canonized as St. Francis Xavier, who arrived in Kagoshima, on the southern island of Kyushu on 15 August 1549. Numerous publications have traced the rise and fall of Christianity in Japan during these early days, and there is no need to rehearse that story in detail. In summary, however, it could be said that the acceptance of Christianity was initially seen as a threat to neither the Japanese religious brotherhood nor the aristocracy. Shinto, the indigenous belief system of Japan, involves the worship of both animistic deities and the spirits of those who had once dwelled in human form—that is to say, one’s ancestors. The practice of Shinto did not proscribe the simultaneous holding of other beliefs, however. In 522 (an estimated date), Buddhism had been introduced to Japan; in the succeeding centuries, both religions would continue to thrive. Given this peaceful co-existence, perhaps those in power believed that Christianity constituted no threat to the shogunate, the imperial court, or the Buddhist institution. Over time, however, as it became clear that the missionaries were not as accepting of indigenous religious practices as the Japanese were of Christianity, and the threat of allegiance to the Pope and the Church of Rome increased, this benign attitude of acceptance changed. Ultimately, Christianity in all forms was banned in 1614, with Japanese Catholics being forced to apostatize or practise their religion underground; the missionaries themselves were expelled, leaving the Dutch, who were restricted to Dejima, a small island in Nagasaki Bay, as virtually the only remaining Europeans to engage in commerce, while continuing to import Western knowledge first brought to Japan by the Portuguese, which brings us to the observations of Japan and its garden culture, primarily by four Portuguese Jesuits living in the Land of the Rising Sun in the mid-sixteenth to late sixteenth century. The four principal players in Cristina Castel-Branco and Guida Carvalho’s novel investigation of the history of the gardens and landscapes of Japan were Luis Almeida, who arrived in Japan in 1552, who was followed by Gaspar Vilela in 1556, Luis Frois in 1563 and João Rodrigues in 1577. That is to say, Almeida arrived some 70 years before the ban against Christianity was enacted, a freedom which allowed an extended stay in Japan and relatively free movement. Like the Portuguese traders and religious who had come before them, these four Jesuits landed, and were subsequently based, on the southern island of Kyushu; with the support of influential Japanese lords, they were permitted to travel in central Japan. Vilela, described centuries later by a member of his Order “as strong, good-looking and of amiable manners”, arrived in November 1552 and soon began efforts to erect a church. His later protracted residence in Kyoto of almost (see pp.  42–43  in [1]) two  years proved sufficient for him to purchase a modest house and erect a simple chapel; it was probably during this time that he sampled Kyoto’s wealth of temples and commented on their architectural features and gardens in his writings. Frois’ landing in Japan in 1563 was heartily welcomed by Vilela as this recent arrival provided him with

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much-needed moral and religious support for the small mission in Japan then less than two decades old. Frois seems to have shared Vilela’s interest in all things Japanese, including the island nation’s gardens. In some ways, the missionaries arrived in Japan at a fortuitous if tumultuous time, as the consolidation of the fiefs of the independent daimyo (lords) into a more centralized government based on the Osaka plain, which included Kyoto, had been long underway. Oda Nobunaga (1524–1582), the lord of Owari Province, nearly succeeded in bringing the country under his control, but his efforts were cut short by his assassination at the hands of one of his retainers. Oda Nobunaga was unusually forward-­looking, traversing established codes when necessary to achieve his goals. He accepted gunpowder and firearms as advanced means necessary for victory despite their crossing of established samurai moral codes. He is also said to have enjoyed wine as much as any native alcoholic drink. These tendencies, whether due to curiosity, expedience or a general quest for knowledge, suggest why Nobunaga might have been receptive to the importation and use of foreign ideas and technology—for their military application, if for no other reason. To him, Christianity, it seems, was part of the package, and in all, he demonstrated considerable restraint in allowing the promulgation of Catholic doctrine. Through his at least tacit approval— with the support of other daimyo, some of whom had accepted Christianity—Vilela, Almeida and Frois conducted numerous visits to the city’s Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, visits and their subsequent recording that are the subjects of Cristina Castel-Branco and Guida Carvalho’s study. This book centres on the writings of Luis Frois—principally his Historia de Japam—which has provided us with the earliest and most comprehensive European description of Japanese culture and its built environment. As revealed in his description of the religious structures and gardens he witnessed first-hand, Frois seemed to have been unusually open-minded, less a Christian religious rendering judgement than an anthropologist or ethnographer trying to understand, and at times even appreciate, Japan’s “peculiar” culture and its constructions. For example, when commenting on the 1000 Kannon (the Buddhist goddess of mercy) sculptures in the thirteenth-century temple of Sanjusangen-do in Kyoto, he is remarkably approving of their beauty and quality rather than denying any aesthetic appeal based on a rejection of the religion they represented. His summary judgement states: “All these figures are gilded from head to toe with very fine gold thickly applied; the faces are well-proportioned and beautiful […] such a large and astonishing quantity of figures represents something very noble” (see pp. 20–22 in [2]). Perhaps, it was Frois’ stay in Goa that introduced him to Indian Buddhist and Hindu art and iconography and his subsequent appreciation of them. In this and other of his descriptions, we rarely find any condemnations of works created by the “heathens”. Quite to the contrary, at times, he demonstrates a true appreciation of the beauty of a building or garden or a cultural trait such as the cleanliness of the Japanese people. “I cannot explain all there is to tell about each garden and the houses of these monasteries”, he confesses and in all honesty writes that “when suddenly faced with the beauty, ingenuity and cleanliness of these houses no one may look at them for the first time without being greatly enthralled” (see pp. 182–183 in [3]).

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Father Gaspar Vilela shared a similar open mind about Japanese arts and their aesthetic judgement. In describing the porch of an unidentified temple in Kyoto, for example, he tells that it was made of “scented wooden planks kept scrupulously clean. […]I leave many things there are to tell, he confessed, but was forced to omit them so as to not cause boredom nor seem like an exaggeration; but [the temple garden] was so lovely and enjoyable that it seems unlikely that there are many places like this […] that are superior to this one” (see p. 321 in [4]). He understands the naturalism of many of the gardens he visits, gardens which differed considerably in design from the formal layouts and features common in Portuguese estates at that time. In all, Vilela understood that the intention behind their design was to produce the impression “as if they were nature’s work and not a human construction” (see p. 324 in [4]). Although Almeida’s, Frois’ and Vilela’s descriptions cited by the authors say little of the dry (kare-sansui) gardens, keen observations and evocative descriptions pepper the writings of these priests. Of their overall composition, for example, Vilela noted: “Each of the gardens is different from one another, and each one of them has something new in relation to the others, in accordance to its own taste”. While those Portuguese visiting Japan’s gardens at that time might have expected parterres, clipped hedges, basins and fountains in abundance, the friars encountered gardens whose stones and gravel were often their principal elements. “These gardens have a big diversity of stones”, Vilela recorded, “some are white, some are black, and some are greenish blue. They are not very big, but small and well-­ positioned between moss and greenery”. Commentary on vegetation also appears in the writings, and from them, Castel-Branco and Carvalho provide a new perspective on the role of plants and flowers in the Japanese gardens of the sixteenth century. “There are some small and twisted cypresses inserted in these stones, and also some small trees laden with flowers”. At that time, at least according to Frois, flowers and flowering shrubs played a larger part in the making of gardens than we might think. Today, flowers appear only to a limited degree within enclosed temple gardens, and even the azalea, a staple of the Japanese palette, has the majority of its blooms plucked by its gardeners to avoid being judged as too garish. The tsukubai, or stone often set adjacent to the veranda that serves as a water basin, was also new to the foreign visitors. “They have fountains and spouts, which are done with such artifice that the water seems to come out of the same stones” (see p. 324 in [4]). No doubt a dry garden like Ryoan-ji (of which there is no record, although Frois describes the temple’s pond) would probably have stymied the comprehension of the Portuguese religious as its form completely confronted their received ideas about what a garden should be—especially the reliance on stones and gravel as the garden’s prime materials. Still, the recorded observation (probably of the entry to Daisen-in, one of the sub-temples of Daitoku-ji) lacked any hint of condemnation. Alongside this corridor is a garden visible only after entering the veranda. It has nothing to see but some little mountains made by hand. They are made of stone [probably gravel] which is brought from afar, purposefully selected for this purpose. Over this collection of stones, [there were] countless small trees, paths, and bridges, […] through which the stones

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are reached. The ground was in part of extremely white coarse sand and in part of black gravel. From it rose several rough stones between one- and-a-half and two covados high.1

Almeida, Vilela and Frois displayed a genuine interest in plants, perhaps not unusual given the scientific interests of many of the Jesuit missionaries posted abroad. Indeed, Castel-Branco and Carvalho tell that by the early seventeenth century, Japanese plants, mostly plants of the Camellia family, had already been introduced into Portugal; conversely, the Portuguese had introduced to Japan the grape, the quince and the fig. Frois noted that in one garden “there were many roses and flowers, appropriate to the seasons”, their selection intended to “insure that some species would be in bloom year round” (see p. 183 in [3]). Colour also seems to have been of greater concern to Japanese garden-makers than we normally believe, but our contemporary opinions are based primarily on the reduction that characterizes so many of the existing dry gardens. The friars also expressed an interest in pruning techniques and the shearing of shrubs into ornamental forms, “some green pines and other trees”, remarked Vilela, had their “crown[s] shaped by hand”; these accompanied “garden beds and ornaments that no doubt gladden the eyes of those who see them” (see p. 324 in [4]). While serious about his religious vocation, it is obvious that devotion did not prevent Vilela from appreciating the lighter side of garden design. His mention of sheared plant forms, as Castel-Branco and Carvalho write, indicates that the shaped forms of topiary (karikomi in Japanese) had been introduced to the garden almost a century before the Edo-period date we normally assign to its appropriation and development. (See p. 369 in [6].) Among the interesting observations this book’s authors have uncovered is that meat and fish were prohibited within the precincts of gardens such as Kinkaku-ji, their being regarded as “filthy things that contaminate [the] place” (see pp. 29–30 in [2]). This belief was so strongly held that guards were positioned to prevent the entrance of these banned foodstuffs. We also learn that the highest of the three floors of the Golden Pavilion at today’s Kinkaku-ji was entirely gilded, an observation that contradicts the accepted lore that until the pavilion’s reconstruction after a fire in the 1950s, only the ceiling of the upper floor had been gilded—and that the pavilion’s name was more metaphorical than a literal description of its surfaces. As noted above, the abundance of flowering plants inside some gardens is also surprising as reduction and absence are usually considered the hallmarks of the Japanese aesthetic tradition. In their writing, the authors skilfully integrate the observations of Gaspar Vilela and Luis Frois with the history, contemporary descriptions and discussions of the 17 gardens in Kyoto and the six gardens in Nara about which Frois reported. Their text flashes back to historical conditions and integrates them with factual information about the garden’s history and the authors’ own interpretations. It is a skilful bit of storytelling, and like a historical novel enfolds chronicle and narrative, although in the end this book is without question a scholarly work of today. Those of us involved with landscape history in the English-speaking world are indebted to Cristina  Castel-Branco explains that the côvado is an old Portuguese unit of length equivalent to 66 cm [5].

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Castel-Branco and Guida Carvalho for bringing to light this story of the first Portuguese accounts of the Japanese garden; her fellow Portuguese should be equally appreciative for the scope of their efforts and accomplishment. Berkeley, CA, USA April 2019

Marc Treib

References 1. Johannes Laures, S. J. (1954). The Catholic Church in Japan. Rutland: Tuttle. 2. Fróis, L. (1981). Historia de Japam: 2o v., 1565–1578 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. II. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 3. Fróis, L. (1598). Doutra do padre Luis Fróes do Miáco, pera os irmãos da India a.27.de Abril, de. 1565. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 181–184). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 4. Vilela, G. (1598). Carta do padre Gaſpar Vilela de couſas de Iapaõ, pera os padres do conuéto de Auis em Portugal, de Goa aos 6.de Outubro de 1571. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 319–330). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 5. Barroca, M. J. (1992). Medidas-Padrão Medievais Portuguesas. Porto. 6. Ono, K. (2005). The form and function of some gardens in Kyoto in 1565 that can be read from the description of history of Japan by Luis Frois. Journal of the Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture, 68: 369–372. https://doi. org/10.5632/jila.68.369.

Preface

Though I was aware of the Portuguese presence in Japan beginning in 1543 and the subsequent efforts among Jesuits to introduce Christianity to the island nation during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was only during my first visit to Japan in 2007—and the research I undertook to gain a deeper understanding of the complex meaning of Japanese gardens—that I first took notice of Father Luis Frois. Ever since that first sojourn of 2 months in Japan for an intensive course in Kyoto at the Research Centre for Japanese Garden Art and Historical Heritage, I have been charmed by Japanese gardens and how they express the aesthetics of Nature while evidencing mastery of long-refined design techniques that support natural processes. However, during subsequent visits to the island nation, and bolstered by related research conducted in Portugal, I learned more about Japanese garden art and became increasingly informed about the Portuguese presence in Japan during the sixteenth century. Their compelling relationship with the Japanese lasted almost 100 years and left a legacy that can still be perceived in present-day words, recipes, paintings and other vestiges of a remarkable period in history. For instance, while I knew about the introduction of the teppo (rifle) in 1543, I was unaware that the Portuguese had taught geographical and cartographic sciences to the Japanese, had conveyed new nautical building techniques and had planted on their islands the first vines, olive trees, quince, peach and fig trees. Only then was I able to understand how momentous those early social, economic and cultural contacts had been for Japanese historical events and the passage to modern times. When I was taught the history of Portugal and the country’s far-flung impact during the Age of Discovery, it was largely in terms of major political and social events. Now, many decades later as a Landscape Architect and Garden Art Historian who has studied and worked in various countries, I have benefited tremendously from an enhanced understanding and appreciation of those early globalization efforts and the diverse range of cultural exchanges that occurred during the “Christian Century” in Japan. I was surprised but very proud that along with Italians, the Portuguese Jesuits had introduced new painting techniques with pigment, oil and egg white (tempera), as well as classical music and its instruments, and the first letterpress printing machine in Japan. I was happy to discover that a long period of mutual xiii

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interest and peaceful exchange had, in fact, preceded a much sadder period of Christian persecution (since 1597) and growing mistrust that resulted in the banishment of all Portuguese from the island in 1639, so poignantly brought to life in Martin Scorsese’s film of the period, Silence. As the first well-documented instance of globalization, the sixteenth-century incursion of Europeans in Japan opened the door to a broad spectrum of consequences that continue to be explored by historians, archaeologists, sociologists and others. For my own part, I decided that my next research venture would build on those early contacts and my own professional interests through an examination of Japanese garden design and urbanism. As my investigations unfolded, I was very sorry to realize that this period of positive encounters and toleration between Portugal and Japan had not been a subject taught at school when I learned the history of Portugal. Even now, it is still almost unknown at an international level. Moreover, I discerned that very few people (including me) knew the names, let alone the work, of the two Portuguese men from that epoch who had dedicated their lives to Japan and had left a vast written opus about that country. The first chronicler was Luis Frois who completed his life work, Historia de Japam, in 1591; his shorter Treaty on Contradictions discusses the hundreds of intriguing differences between the European and Japanese cultures. The second writer is João Rodrigues (the “Interpreter” as he was known in Japan at that time), who wrote the first grammar of the Japanese language, Arte da Lingoa de Iapam and the Historia da Igreja no Japão in 1610. Although a university professor and researcher, my ignorance of these men and their contributions to the historical record must be excused. Their written treasures, communicating for the first time what existed in Japan during the final four decades of the sixteenth century, remained unpublished until the end of the twentieth century—and could have remained unpublished in English, the lingua franca of our time, were it not for the dedication of a handful of individuals. This worldwide ignorance, therefore, is understandable. Of all the Portuguese in sixteenth-century Japan, Luis Frois is the most important, and this book will explain why. In any epoch, Frois would have been considered a gifted and insightful journalist. His descriptions approach the visual in their portrayal of the first encounters with the sixteenth-century Japanese and his interpretation of the impact of these Nanban-jin (Southern Barbarians, as the Portuguese were called) on the Land of the Rising Sun. Accordingly, Frois deserves a fuller rendering of the man and his impact. We know that he was born in 1532 and joined the “Society of Jesus” (the Jesuits) when he was just 16—the same age he left Portugal for India, where he spent 12 years working and studying with the Jesuits mostly in Goa and in Bassein. It was in India where he studied to become a priest with eminent professors, some of whom have documented the personal qualities that will become important for his success in Japan and his capacity to write such a large and discerning work about his experiences there. According to his superiors, Frois is good-natured and intelligent, but not religiously dogmatic—which helps us understand why he was so open to studying and

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understanding Buddhism and Shintoism. Frois is reported to have had a great sense of humour, which as we know today is a timeless quality that contributes to enhanced social acceptance and the ability to endure adversity. Available documentation also indicates that during his youth in Portugal, he was raised in the King’s court and interacted with the nobility and upper classes of his time. Thus, he knew from a young age how to behave in that milieu—knowledge that he later used well when interacting with Japanese warlords, nobles and aristocrats. Finally, those who wrote of him all seemed to agree that Frois was perceptively shrewd and judicious. Indeed, his authenticated attributes afford him the profile of a lawyer, capable of solving problems, facilitating solutions and demonstrating a good capacity for writing, as he was described as skilful at expediting any kind of paper work. In short, Luis Frois was a true “Renaissance Man” with enviable cosmopolitan experience and an unparalleled curiosity about the world. By the age of 30, he had already travelled to three continents: Europe, Africa and Asia. He was an international scholar, bolstered by a classical education that included Greek and Roman reference points. All through his texts, Frois compares Japanese places, buildings and culture to a range of other sources and locales (Portugal, India, Malaca, Macau and the Western classical world), giving his reporting a lively tone of a well-­ travelled reporter. A big surprise for those early chroniclers like Frois, who had little or no exposure to, or understanding of, garden art and traditions, is the fact that gardens served as an important artistic and cultural treasure, praised for their immaculate beauty and proudly displayed by the Japanese during Frois’ time. In fact, when Frois arrived in Japan in 1563, gardens in Portugal were rare. We can single out the Viceroys’ gardens of Quinta da Bacalhoa and Penha Verde, built in the mid-sixteenth century, and the Nuncio garden in Penha Longa in Sintra where the first Japanese embassy of four young nobles visited the Cardinal representing Felipe II (the King of Spain and Portugal) in 1584. According to his writings, Frois met with the renowned Master of Tea and advisor of the powerful warlord Oda Nobunaga, Sen no Rikyū, who was an excellent garden designer and knew how to use stones, plants and their setting to intentionally create an atmosphere of unaffected naturalness and ordinariness. We know that Frois visited Sen no Rikyū’s gardens and tea house at the Daitoku-ji Temple complex in Kyoto, indicating the high regard the Japanese had for Frois. Given that the tea house was a setting for important meetings where the influential gathered to connect and engage in decision-making, these gardens acquire tremendous value in that they speak to their tea masters’ high prestige. In Kyoto, 13 of the 17 gardens Frois described can still be visited; moreover, some of them have become UNESCO World Heritage Sites. In Nara, all but two of the six gardens that Frois described are now favoured destinations for pilgrimage and tourism. This book focuses on all these gardens that Frois endeavoured to communicate to a European audience—and which Guida Carvalho and I were fortunate to visit, study and record some 450 years after Luis Frois visited them and documented their wonders.

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Creating a garden that endures in both memory and time requires not only imagination, experience and wisdom but also knowledge of Nature and its processes. Understanding the landscape and accommodating the interplay of light, water, soil, plants and sky are essential for designing a place for human enjoyment and aesthetic emotion. In the Western world, the Romans called this capacity to induce natural beauty and harmony in a place ars cooperative naturae, and landscape architecture professionals nowadays are increasingly emboldened to collaborate with Nature in creating gardens and landscapes that engage visitors on a more meaningful level. The Japanese garden, which has changed little over the four-and-half centuries since it was first described by Europeans, has long been considered as an exquisite cultural and artistic expression of man’s collaboration with Nature. Primarily, these gardens were used for peaceful meditation, social gatherings and religious ceremonies. Furthermore, the specialized gardens designed by masters of the tea ceremony are particularly known for their harmonious composition featuring just the right selection of plants, the correct placement of water and the judicious use of stones and voids in space—all intended to reflect refined and elegant simplicity. All the Portuguese whose written records of their first encounters with Japanese gardens are captured in this book—Gaspar Vilela, Luis Almeida, Luis Frois and João Rodrigues—were clearly impressed and report in their letters to Portugal the incomparable beauty of these Japanese temples and palace gardens. Frois records his impressions of urban locations as well, and we selected nine of the most relevant locales to describe herein. As a generality, we were astonished by the care with which these heritage places have been maintained. I leave the reader to discover Frois’ texts about Japanese gardens and cities in Chaps. 3, 4 and 5, but I share here my engagement with a particular garden that is almost exactly as Rodrigues described nearly four centuries ago. Rodrigues writes about a new art: the “way of tea” and its seminal interconnection with garden art and design. He tries to describe the qualities needed to be a Master of Suky (now known as Suki, which is a style of tea practice devoted to orderliness, simplicity and aesthetic appreciation) that was introduced during the period we studied (1543–1597) by Tea Master and Garden Designer Sen no Rikyū. Here, I attempt to translate the old Portuguese terms into English: “This Master, the head of Suky […] must have complete wisdom and an eye for proportion, a vision for the right things that are fit for each place and time, and the particular circumstances that make the same thing be fit now and not then”. Here, we see that the “way of tea” and garden design both require an eye, a vision and much wisdom in preserving traditional settings and creating new places with enduring value. As Rodrigues described all those centuries ago, we came upon the same implements and the same age-old routines that he would have enjoyed then. As an example of this timelessness, in the Mushanokoji Senke school and the tearoom Kankyuan, we experienced and were taught these ritualized tea gestures with great precision—so much so that those who witnessed it 450 years ago would find the experience exactly the same today.

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Fig. 1  The garden of Saiho-ji Temple (revived in 1339 by Muso Kokushi) also known as Kokedera Temple. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2009. All Rights Reserved)

Everything in the tea house—the dimensions, materials and routines—seeks to achieve the aesthetics of simplicity: “[…] everything used in the Suky is rough, the path of rough stone, water basin to wash the hands in the same rough stone, small barren trees and a moss-covered thicket (like velvet) and all other things rough and lacking any glamour”. On the path leading to the tea house, Rodrigues describes a garden that, while we cannot unequivocally identify it, is a prototype of a garden of the Muromachi (1336–1573) and Azuchi-Momoyama (1573–1603) periods. We know this because it is a garden that reveals a deep cooperation with Nature and a profound knowledge and respect for its processes. In this light, Japan can teach the world a lesson in how to create enduring and sustainable places. This “Rodrigues’ garden” brought to mind a similar image as I experienced in Saihoji (Fig. 1) in Kyoto, the moss garden and temple I visited during the red foliage season of 2009. The origin of Saihoji, which is now known as Kokedera (Moss Temple), goes back to Nara period (710–784). In 1339, Muso Kokushi, one of the most highly respected Zen priests at that time, revived the temple and renovated the garden. I almost floated with emotion as I strolled barefoot along the pond, completely losing all sense of time after writing my sutra in silence. (Every visitor to Kokedera is asked to contribute to the observances, copying Buddhist scriptures known as sutra.) Walking silently down the stone paths flanked by green mosses of varying hues and the brilliant red foliage, it was easy to recall Rodrigues’ descriptions: the moss-covered thicket, the teahouse hidden in the wood, the entrance porch leading to unfamiliar woods and the proper stones “fit for each place and time”. Kokedera is truly a celebration of enchanted spaces, a timeless and spectacular

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locale created by artists and lovingly maintained over the centuries so that successive generations can continue to experience it, each in her or his own way. After this aesthetic experience—certainly one of the most extraordinary moments of my “gardenist life”—I felt compelled to bring to light the old Portuguese texts about gardens so that the world would have access to the first European descriptions of Japanese gardens. While this book uses a number of Portuguese texts (and authors) in an attempt to portray the experiences of those early missionaries in a land so entirely unfamiliar, Luis Frois is the true hero of this book. Not only was he the first to describe Japan at length; he dedicated his entire adult life to travelling through much of the country in order to capture and record with freedom and truth his prescient observations. For us, the authors of this book, Frois represents the one who really loved Japan and its treasures most fervently. Lisbon, Portugal  Cristina Castel-Branco July 2019

Notes on Japanese Names and Spelling

1. The Romanized versions of Japanese proper nouns (mountains, rivers, temples and shrines, etc.) in this book adhere, in principle, to the latest instructions from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan: Chimei nado no eigo hyoki kitei (March 2016) http://www.gsi.go.jp/common/000138865.pdf Hence, long vowels in romaji are not indicated by macrons. 2. With regard to the Romanized Japanese spelling pioneered by Luis Frois and other Jesuits in the sixteenth century, we sometimes used their original spellings for Japanese words exactly as they wrote them. These include but are not limited to: Miaco (Miyako) Quambacudono (Kampaku-dono) beobu (byōbu) Quiomizu (Kiyomizu) Faxiba Chicugendono (Hashiba Chikuzen-dono) Cubo (Kubo) Vomi (Omi) Fosocavandono (Hosokawa-dono) Yamaxiro (Yamashiro) Tenca (Tenka) Quemneji (Kennin-ji) Fingaxiyama (Higashiyama) Quannon (Kannon) Xaca (Shaka) Minno (Mino) Voari (Owari) Vatadono (Wada-dono)

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Notes on Japanese Names and Spelling

tenxu (tenshu) Mirocubosar (Miroku Bosatsu) Combodaxi (Kobo-daishi) 3. Japanese names. In this book, modern Japanese names are written in Western style, i.e. a first name followed by a family name, while the names of historical persons are written in reverse order, e.g. Oda Nobunaga.

Acknowledgements

Our understanding of the sixteenth-century Japanese-Portuguese relationship owes much to Professor João Paulo Oliveira e Costa,1 Director of the Centre for the Humanities (CHAM, translated as “Centre for the Study of Overseas History”) at the New University of Lisbon, scholar on the early Portuguese-Japanese relationship and companion on our travels in Japan. We are also indebted to Dr. Pedro Canavarro in Portugal,2 who inspired this book through his enduring devotion to Japan and his insightful body of scholarship on its history. His late colleagues, Diego Pacheco, Kiichi Matsuda, José Wicki, Armando Martins Janeira and Yoshitomo Okamoto, whom we never met, also bring much to this work for having kept alive the flames of this rich and historic Portuguese-Japanese relationship. They compiled their scholarly research and published at a time when most of Frois’ treasures were still largely unpublished. The faculty members at universities in Kyoto, Tokyo, Lisbon, Berkeley and Paris shared their wealth of knowledge about Japanese garden history. In particular, we single out Prof. Makoto Nakamura, who in 2007 opened for us a universe on Japanese gardens with his intensive Japanese Gardens Seminar; he remained ever available to clarify the intricacies of themes related to Japanese gardens. Prof. Wybe Kuitert, a dedicated teacher and researcher at the Center for Japanese Garden Art in Kyoto University, presented to us historical data from sixteenth-century Portuguese chroniclers of Japanese gardens. Since 2009, Mikiko Ishikawa, Emeritus Professor of the University of Tokyo now at Chuo University, has contributed to our understanding of Japanese landscapes and urban design; she is an exacting scholar to whom I owe much in learning about the quest for perfection that Japanese apply to 1  João Paulo Oliveira e Costa received in 2015 the distinction of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon delivered by Ambassador Hiroshi Azuma in representation of his Excellence the Emperor of Japan. 2  Nominated in 1988 as Nagasaki Friendship Citizen by the Mayor of Nagasaki for having founded the Portuguese Japanese Friendship Association, Canavarro received in 2003 a Merit Award from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and received in 2006 the distinction of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon delivered by Ambassador Satoshi Hara in representation of his Excellence the Emperor of Japan.

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Acknowledgements

their lives and their diligent work. We are also deeply indebted to Prof. Marc Treib from the University of California, Berkeley, a scholar on Japanese gardens with whom we discussed the core of this book while visiting Kyoto and Berkeley. We also thank him for writing the Foreword of this book. With the support of Nagasaki Bank and the Embassy of Portugal in Japan, in 2010, Cristina Castel-Branco visited five of the principal cities where the sixteenth-­ century Portuguese lived, Nagasaki, Omura, Yokoseura, Kuchinotsu and Unzen, and is thankful to both. In Yokoseura during visits to Frois’ statue and museum, Dr. Katsuro Suwa, from Saikai, was very helpful in explaining the landscape that once had received and now celebrates Luis Frois in Japan. She also acknowledges the contributions of Ambassador Satoshi Hara and his wife, Michiko, for having shown her Koyasan in 2010, a place where Buddhism is treasured, and for inviting her to her first tea ceremony in Kyoto. A second visit to Koyasan with Kazushige Watanuki, his wife Lamyaa, and Noriko Matsuyama further strengthened her understanding of Frois’ texts, which was essential for this undertaking. Prof. Michihiro Konishi (Kyoto University) taught Cristina Castel-Branco how to paint with pigments in the byobu painting technique. Konishi sensei and his wife, Eiko, showed her Osaka City and explained the relationship of its canals to the ocean. Cristina Castel-Branco is also grateful to Philip de Souza, the Honorary Consul of Portugal in Kobe, who was a priceless guide while visiting the treasures of the Kobe Museum. To Mr. Jason Albaker, who welcomed her and hosted her in Osaka and Kobe, she is so thankful. When Cristina Castel-Branco was invited in 2015 by the Historiographical Institute of the University of Tokyo under the support of a Kajima Fellowship, she confirmed a number of Japanese sources with scholars in the institute. Dr. Mihoko Oka and Dr. Shigeo Fujiwara kindly corroborated the Portuguese texts and later made available images from byobus that showed some of the lost palaces and temples of Kyoto. Dr. Shigeo Fujiwara was instrumental in that work and the translation help afforded by Kyoko Shikanai is very much appreciated. Local experts at the gardens of Kyoto and Nara enriched our understanding of these sites—the point at which Guida Carvalho joined the project. Our visits to Kyoto temples and our growing knowledge of these incomparable places were made possible through the help of Ms. Yasuko Ota, who belongs to an old family in Kyoto—she kindly escorted us to the many locations once described by Frois with the invaluable translation assistance of Kyoko Shikanai. While in Japan in 2015, we also met with academics from different universities—all of whom were instrumental in helping us compare those centuries-old descriptions with their present-day appearance and usage. Accordingly, we acknowledge the contributions of the following scholars to whom we presented and discussed the ideas in this book: Yoshio Nakamura, Makoto Suzuki, Satoshi Hara, Wataru Ono and Shintaro Sugio and his wife, Kunie Sugio, all from Tokyo, Nicolas Fiévé from Paris and Kyoto, Kenji Wako from Osaka, Kenkichi Ono from Nara and Keita Yamaguchi from Kyoto. From them, we received important insights and encouragements to proceed for publication.

Acknowledgements

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To round out our knowledge database and attempt to tie each place to its philosophical meaning and historical evolution, we also relied on Japanese garden books and in particular teaching materials from the Centre for Garden Art at Kyoto University. It was at this institution where the author, Cristina Castel-Branco, after 20 years of teaching the History of Garden Art at the Higher Institute of Agronomy at the University of Lisbon, first received a deeper philosophical knowledge of Japanese gardens art, which was then augmented by many hands-on field trips detailing gardens, temples and cityscapes. Cristina Castel-Branco is also thankful to Prof. Mihoko Oka for the invitation to participate in an insightful conference on the “Christian Century and World Cultural Heritage” in 2015, at the General Development Center of Ikitsuki, Hirado, organized by the city of Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture and Ikitsuki Museum Shima no Yakata. Finally, she had the opportunity to visit the Gifu and Mino regions, which Oda Nobunaga conquered and Luis Frois visited and well documented. We note with pride that the Prefecture continues to celebrate its association with Frois. On the walls of the castle museum, there are both Japanese and Portuguese language versions of Frois’ descriptions of the palace and garden; additionally, objects introduced as presents from Portugal are displayed in the windows. Indeed, we praise the Japanese people at the municipality of Gifu for having maintained their heritage so meticulously. We thank Mr. Wataru Ono for the visit to Gifu; he also arranged a marvellous boat trip for Photographer António Sacchetti and Writer Cristina Castel-­Branco to view cormorant fishing, a sport that Nobunaga embraced as fashionable recreation. Also important for this book was a visit to Kamakura, where Mr. Gengiro Ito not only showed Cristina Castel-Branco the temples and the big Buddha statue at Kamakura but also shared his deep research work into the sixteenth-century Portuguese-Japanese relationship. Mount Azuchi provided the site for an unforgettable visit there—principally because Frois’ description was extremely detailed when he visited Nobunaga, the powerful warlord who during the 1570s supervised the construction of his castle there. This visit, organized by João Paulo Oliveira e Costa and Mihoko Oka, was made even more memorable with Frois’ writings in hand—an experience that we hope the reader can now have with this book. We are also thankful to the Azuchi Jokaku Museum where a miniature replica of Nobunaga’s lost tenshu was built based on Frois’ detailed descriptions. The experience of visiting that museum further confirmed the potential usefulness of writing and publishing in English Frois reports. Takatsuki, a city with a deep association to “The Christian Century” located between Osaka and Kyoto, has remained since the time of Takayama Ukon (a Japanese daimyo and samurai and one of the early Japanese converts to Christianity). Father Adelino Ascenso served as the Portuguese Priest of the Catholic Church there from 2009 to 2015 and for his PhD research examined Shusaku Endo’s quest to understand the Christian presence in Japan. Cristina Castel-Branco is most thankful to him for his ongoing support and discerning suggestions for that section of the book. He also showed her (along with the “Silence group” led by Dr. Pedro Cardigos) the places of the kakure kiristan (hidden Christians), who remained faithful and

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worshipped in secret in that region for almost 350 years. With him, the group journeyed down to the Western part of Kyushu (Sotome, Tabira, Hirado, Ikitsuki) in search of Endo’s Silence landscapes. Cristina Castel-Branco was able to accompany them on this trip and thus could witness and enjoy the waterfront landscape that would have greeted Portuguese ships so long ago. In Rome, Cristina Castel-Branco was allowed to explore the holdings of the Vatican Library for more information on this remarkable period and its players. She is grateful to the Most Reverend Monsignor José Tolentino de Mendonça, whose life and work have been an inspiration for her. Similarly, Castel-Branco was also given access to the Pontificia Università Gregoriana, where Rector Nuno da Silva Gonçalves S.J. received her and provided valuable insights for her research investigations. Also, her thanks are extended to Dr. Dario Scarinci from the Archivum Romanum, Societatis Iesu, where the manuscripts of the sixteenth-century Jesuits are maintained. In Paris, we often visited the library of Musée Guimet in order to utilize its rich Japanese assets. In Lisbon, we are thankful to Biblioteca Nacional da Ajuda and Bibliotaca da Academia das Ciências and their directors Cristina Pinto Basto and Salomé Pais, who are so knowledgeable and supportive. In Coimbra, we thank the Biblioteca Geral and the archives and our Japanese teacher Ayano Shinzato for her translations and help in Japanese concepts as well as Margarida Paes for her transcriptions. We returned to Japan several times during the preparation of this book to revisit some of the locations described herein based on the information from those early Europeans so we confirmed present-day status and visitors’ interest—and we have many people to acknowledge for assisting us along the way. We thank Photographers Madalena Machado, Alice Mattirollo and Antonio Sachetti for many of the images included in this book. We are also indebted to three local guides for their insights and knowledge: Yoko Takagi in Nara, Noriko Matsuyama in Koyasan and Miyuki Ogawa in Kyushu. We would be remiss if we did not express our gratitude to our good friends in Japan—Kyoko Shikanai, Father Graham MacDonell and his assistant Tomiko, Ambassador Satoshi Hara and Michiko Hara, Ambassador Francisco Xavier Esteves and his wife Ilda, Hirosuke Watanuki, Muhoan Idehara, Minoru Inui, Ryo Inui, Sakurako Shigemura and Masaru Shigemura, Nakamura Takeshi and Hironobu Kanai and his wife from Goshoboh at Arima Onsen—who welcomed us warmly during visits to Japan. They enlightened us on many essential cultural nuances, and their lively conversations encouraged us along this lengthy journey towards publication. Guida Carvalho, who recently completed her master’s degree in Landscape Architecture at the Higher Institute of Agronomy at University of Lisbon (2015– 2018), joined this project later in its evolution. Given that she wanted her work more widely disseminated in English, she acknowledges with heartfelt gratitude Mrs. Brenda Mulhall as the first reader of her master’s thesis for her very valuable English revisions and unconditional support. Also, she would like to thank Dr. Ana Fernandes Pinto for her insightful supervision and continuous encouragement. We are also thankful to the Japanese Embassy staff in Lisbon, namely, Ambassador Niimi Jun and Dr. Chiho Komuro who helped and supported us.

Acknowledgements

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Similarly, we are grateful for the revisions, help and encouragement of Mrs. Ingrid Martins Janeira. As we expanded our research findings, Maria José Sá da Bandeira undertook the translation of Frois’ texts describing the selected gardens for this book. Thankfully, translating old (but essential!) sixteenth-century Portuguese texts into contemporary English was a challenge to which Sá da Bandeira was able to respond with great skill—and we are incredibly grateful to her. Also, this book would have been impossible without the dedicated and meticulous editorial work of Ms. Laurie Good who in far-away Blacksburg, Virginia (USA), helped coalesce the English text, sending her thoughtful recommendations about essential problems. Her unwavering support was essential for us, and we are most thankful to her efforts. Thus, we are delighted to note that this book represents the contributions from individuals working on three continents! Finally, we are deeply grateful for the privilege of receiving advice and useful corrections on the historical and geographical descriptions from the following temples and shrines: Daisen-in Temple, Enryaku-ji Temple, IwashimizuHachimangu Shrine, Kasuga-taisha Shrine, Kennin-ji Temple, Kinkaku-ji Temple, Kiyomizu-­dera Temple, Kofuku-ji Temple, Kongobu-ji Temple, Oubai-in Temple, Sanjusangendo Temple, Todai-ji Temple and Zuiho-in Temple. Our correspondents at these shrines and temples very kindly, on our request, devoted valuable time to looking at our English manuscript and reported the errors that they noticed. The authors are solely responsible for any remaining mistakes. We would be greatly appreciative of any further comments and corrections communicated by our readers. Lisbon, Portugal Lisbon, Portugal July 2019

Cristina Castel-Branco Guida Carvalho

About the Book

This book focuses on Luis Frois, a sixteenth-century Portuguese Jesuit and Chronicler, who recorded his impressions of Japanese gardens, cities and building practices, tea-drinking rituals, Japan’s unification efforts, cultural traditions and the many differences between Europe and Japan in remarkable manuscripts almost lost to time. This research also draws on other Portuguese descriptions from contemporary sources spanning the years 1543–1597, later validated by Japanese history and iconography. Importantly, Explorer Jorge Alvares recorded his experiences of discovery, prompting St. Francis Xavier to visit Japan in 1549, thus ushering in the “Christian Century” in Japan. During this long period of accord and reciprocal curiosity, the Portuguese wrote in excess of 1500 pages of letters to European Jesuits that detail their impressions of the island nation—not to mention their observations of powerful public figures such as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Sen no Rikyū. In addition to examining these letters, we translated and researched early descriptions of 23 gardens in Kyoto and Nara and 9 important cities—some later visited, sketched, photographed and compared with the imagery painted on sixteenth-century Japanese screens. However, the data gathered for this project was found mainly within five large volumes of Frois’ História do Japão (2500 pages) and his Treaty on Contradictions— two incomparable anthropological works that were unpublished until the mid-­ twentieth century for reasons we detail herein. His volumes continue to be explored for their insightful observations of places, cultural practices and the formidable historical figures with whom he interacted. Thus, this book examines the world’s first globalization efforts that resulted in profitable commerce, the introduction of Portuguese firearms that changed Japan’s history, scientific advances, religious expansion and many artistic exchanges that have endured the centuries.

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Contents

1 Introduction: Japanese-Portuguese Sixteenth-Century Encounter������    1 1.1 The Extraordinary Men Who Took Part in the First Encounter����������    1 1.2 Luis Frois: The First Chronicler of Japan ������������������������������������������    3 1.3 The Method Used to Research the Gardens and Cities that Frois Visited and Described����������������������������������������������������������������    5 1.4 The Passage of Time and Changes in Japanese Gardens��������������������    8 1.5 The Structure of This Book����������������������������������������������������������������   10 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   12 2 Portuguese Presence in Japan (1543–1600) ��������������������������������������������   15 2.1 Tracing Back What the Portuguese Brought from Japan��������������������   20 2.2 The Portuguese Influence on Sixteenth-Century Japanese Culture���������������������������������������������������������������������������������   30 2.3 Nagasaki: A Sixteenth-Century City Designed by Two Cultures ������   42 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   54 3 Seventeen Kyoto Gardens Described by Frois and Vilela����������������������   59 3.1 Kiyomizu-dera Temple������������������������������������������������������������������������   65 3.2 To-ji Temple����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   68 3.3 Kyoto Imperial Palace������������������������������������������������������������������������   69 3.4 Tofuku-ji Temple��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   73 3.5 Daitoku-ji Temple ������������������������������������������������������������������������������   77 3.5.1 Daisen-in Sub-temple (the Great Hermit Temple)������������������   82 3.5.2 Korin-in Sub-temple ��������������������������������������������������������������   82 3.5.3 Oubai-in Sub-temple��������������������������������������������������������������   83 3.5.4 Ryogen-in Sub-temple������������������������������������������������������������   84 3.5.5 Zuiho-in Sub-temple ��������������������������������������������������������������   85 3.6 Kinkaku-ji ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   86 3.7 Ryoan-ji Temple����������������������������������������������������������������������������������   90

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3.8   Enryaku-ji Temple: Mount Hiei��������������������������������������������������������   93 3.9  Honkoku-ji Temple ��������������������������������������������������������������������������   97 3.10  Palace of Hosokawa Harumoto ��������������������������������������������������������  100 3.11  Nijo Gosho Palace����������������������������������������������������������������������������  102 3.12  Jurakudai Palace��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  108 3.13  Kennin-ji Temple������������������������������������������������������������������������������  113 3.14  Ginkaku-ji Temple����������������������������������������������������������������������������  115 3.15  Senbon Enma-do Temple������������������������������������������������������������������  121 3.16  Sanjusangen-do Temple��������������������������������������������������������������������  122 3.17  Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine (Near Kyoto)��������������������������������  125 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  129 4 Six Gardens in Nara Described by Frois and Others ����������������������������  133 4.1 Kofuku-ji Temple��������������������������������������������������������������������������������  135 4.2 Kasuga Taisha Shrine��������������������������������������������������������������������������  138 4.3 Tamukeyama Hachimangu Shrine������������������������������������������������������  141 4.4 Todai-ji Temple ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  143 4.5 Unidentified Temple in Nara ��������������������������������������������������������������  148 4.6 Tamon-jo Castle����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  150 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  154 5 Nine Cities and Landscapes Described by Frois and Others ����������������  157 5.1 Gifu ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  157 5.2 Mount Azuchi��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  162 5.3 Takatsuki ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  170 5.4 Osaka��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  173 5.5 Sakai����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  177 5.6 Koyasan����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  182 5.7 Hirado��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  186 5.8 Yokoseura��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  189 5.9 Unzen��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  192 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  196 6 The Forgotten Treaty on Contradictions and the Unpublished Historia de Japam��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  199 6.1 Frois’ Character and How the Treaty on Contradictions Appeared and Disappeared ����������������������������������������������������������������  200 6.2 The Treaty on Contradictions; Europe and Japan: So Different in Their Customs!����������������������������������������������������������������  203 6.3 Frois the Anthropologist and the Initial Globalisation Efforts������������  213 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  221

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7 Chronologies of Luis Frois, João Rodrigues, Gaspar Vilela and Luis de Almeida����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  223 7.1 Luis Frois (1532–1597)����������������������������������������������������������������������  223 7.2 João Rodrigues (1561–1633)��������������������������������������������������������������  227 7.3 Gaspar Vilela (1526–1572) ����������������������������������������������������������������  229 7.4 Luís de Almeida (1525–1583)������������������������������������������������������������  230 References����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  232 8 Closing Thoughts����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������  235 Appendix: Luis Frois Main Publications ������������������������������������������������������  239

About the Authors

The authors, Cristina Castel-Branco (left) and Guida Carvalho (right), at Saiho-ji Temple in 2015

Cristina Castel-Branco  is a Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Lisbon since 1989. She received her MLA from the University of Massachusetts and her PhD in 1993. She has also taught master’s level courses at universities throughout the world (Spain, the UK, Japan, the USA, Italy and France). From 1993 to 1998, she led the consulting team on Landscape Architecture for EXPO ’98, which was held in Lisbon, and was Director of the Botanical Garden of Ajuda in Lisbon until 2000.  Since 1991, she has founded ACB Ltd., a landscape design practice in Lisbon specialized in incorporating sustainable heritage solutions into contemporary gardens design. ACB won the first Portuguese National Award for Landscape Architecture in 2005 and in 2008. She is the Author and Editor of dozen books which are widely published in journals. She is a Member of the ICOMOS xxxiii

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(UNESCO) for Cultural Landscapes since 2006 and Scientific Council President of the Institut Européen des Jardins et Paysages in France where she was awarded the Order of Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture in 2013. In 2017, she became a Correspondent Member of the Brazilian Academy of Art and the National Academy of Arts. Guida  Carvalho was born in Leiria, Portugal, in 1990. In 2009, she won a University of Lisbon Merit Award for Scholar Achievements. In 2014, she was granted a Darmasiswa Scholarship by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture and studied 1 year at Semarang State University, where she learned traditional Indonesian language, art and culture. In 2015, she joined the project of gardens and landscapes described by Jesuits and started her master’s dissertation under the theme “16th Century Images of Japanese Garden Art: Analysis of the Jesuits’ Texts Published in Portugal” at University of Lisbon, where she graduated in 2018. Since 2017, she has been working at ACB Ltd., a landscape architecture studio where recurring to AutoCAD and GIS technology she works with green space and spatial planning at regional, municipal and local levels. She also works with environmental impact assessment, collaborating with other professionals to find the best way to conserve or restore natural resources.   

List of Figures

Fig. 1.1 Nanban screen depicting Jesuits engaged in their main activities: teaching, evangelizing and facilitating trade between Japanese and Portuguese merchants. Kano Naizen Nanban Screens, Kano Naizen, Kobe City Museum. (©Kobe City Museum/DNPartcom)�������������������������������������������������    2 Fig. 2.1 The comparable geographic locations of Portugal and Japan in terms of their similar latitudes������������������������������������������������������   17 Fig. 2.2 Nanban screen depicting the arrival of the Kurofune and the unloading of merchandise from China, India, and Europe. Biombo Nanban (1593–1601), Kano Naizen. (Courtesy Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon, Direção-Geral do Património Cultural/Arquivo de Documentação Fotográfica (DGPC/ADF), 2015)�������������������������������������������������������������������������   22 Fig. 2.3 Japan, late sixteenth-century box (cofre) lacquered in black (urushi), decorated with gold lacquer (maquiye), and inlaid with mother-of-­pearl. (Private Collection in Portugal, ©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)����������������������������������������������   24 Fig. 2.4 Nanban screen detail, depicting four Portuguese carracks surrounding the globe. (Courtesy The Nanban Bunkakan Museum in Osaka, Japan)�����������������������������������������������������������������   33 Fig. 2.5 Detail of a folding Screen, illustrating Nagasaki bay, the Portuguese ship and the sea routes of the Nanban-jin to the south. (Courtesy Osaka Castle Museum)������������������������������������   34 Fig. 2.6 Early city map of Nagasaki Bay, seventeenth century. (Courtesy Museu de Marinha in Lisbon, Portugal)��������������������������   44 Fig. 2.7 Lisbon city represented in the Japanese folding screen Four Large Cities in the World, Kobe City Museum. (©Kobe City Museum/DNPartcom)�����������������������������������������������������������������������   45

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Fig. 2.8 Aerial photographs of identical features in Lisbon (top) and Nagasaki (bottom) bays. (©Bulletin of Japanese/Portuguese studies (pp. 96–97 [56])��������������������������������������������������������������������   49 Fig. 2.9 The name of Luis Frois was given to a street in the old Nagasaki area, as a tribute to the sixteenth century Portuguese presence. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)����   50 Fig. 2.10 View of Nagasaki city and bay where, unlike other Japanese cities, construction spreads on the slopes and roads access the hilltops. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������   52 Fig. 2.11 Streetscape in Nagasaki where urbanized hillsides are seen from the flat area of the old sixteenth century city built by Japanese and Portuguese. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������   54 Fig. 3.1 Map of contemporary Kyoto with the location of the 17 gardens/ temples described by Frois and other Portuguese chroniclers. (©Guida Carvalho, 2015. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������   60 Fig. 3.2 Sixteenth-century fan representing the Jesuits’ church and school for boys and girls. Painting of Nanbanji in Kyoto, Kano Soshu, Kobe City Museum. (©Kobe City Museum/DNPartcom)����   61 Fig. 3.3 Kyoto, traditional wooden house façade in the Gion district. The construction details and materials are similar to those from late-sixteenth century. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������   64 Fig. 3.4 Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Otowa Waterfall, Kyoto. Frois visited the temple and mentions fountains of excellent waters. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)����������������������������   67 Fig. 3.5 To-ji Temple described by Frois as a Kyoto landmark. In his letters Vilela refers To-ji gardens and lots of water. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)����������������������������������������������   70 Fig. 3.6 Courtyard, south of the ceremonial hall at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. (Wikimedia Commons, https://commons. wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kyoto-gosho_Shishinden_zenkei-3.jpg)���   71 Fig. 3.7 Tofuku-ji’s Sanmon Gate described by Vilela as a very beautiful wooden tower […] there I saw many books and antiques they keep there, and there were sixteen wooden statues of human size […]. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������   74 Fig. 3.8 Tsutenkyo Bridge over the river at Tofuku-ji Temple, nowadays a special spot to enjoy the red autumn foliage. Frois refers [it] has a little river, very fresh in summer, surrounded by woods of very graceful trees. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������   75

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Fig. 3.9 Illustrated impression of the Daisen-in sub-temple garden at Daitoku-ji, not intended to be a faithful rendering but rather Cristina Castel-Branco’s artistic interpretation of the site. Pen and ink sketch. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������   82 Fig. 3.10 Stone bridge at Korin-in sub-temple garden at Daitoku-ji. In Daitoku-ji, Frois describes a very similar scene: Over this collection of stones, [there were] countless small trees, paths and bridges a span and a half wide, through which the stones are reached. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)�����   83 Fig. 3.11 Illustrated impression of the Oubai-in sub-temple garden and teahouse at Daitoku-ji, not intended to be a faithful rendering, but rather Cristina Castel-Branco’s artistic interpretation of the site. Watercolour. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������   84 Fig. 3.12 Ryogen-in sub-temple garden at Daitoku-ji. According to Marc Treib the garden was refurbished in the 1980s with forms stronger in definition and profile than those executed in a more historical manner (p. 69 in [13]). (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)����������������������������   85 Fig. 3.13 Zuiho-in sub-temple garden at Daitoku-ji. Garden redesigned by Mirei Shigemori (twentieth century) celebrating the Christian founder Otomo Sorin. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������   86 Fig. 3.14 Kinkaku-ji Temple Golden Pavilion, pond and cascade, referred by Frois in 1565. Detail of Uesugi screens (sixteenth century) from Kano Eitoku. (Courtesy Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum)�����������������������������������������������������������������������   87 Fig. 3.15 The famous Karesansui (dry landscape garden) at Ryoan-ji Temple. (©Cristina Castel-­Branco, 2007. All Rights Reserved)������   91 Fig. 3.16 Oshidoridera pond at Ryoan-ji Temple, waterlilies described by Vilela in a letter dated 1571 as roses floating on the water. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)��������������������   92 Fig. 3.17 View from the top of Mount Hiei, near Kyoto, looking east towards Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, old Omi Province. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)������������   94 Fig. 3.18 Bell Tower (reconstruction) at Enryaku-ji Temple at Mount Hiei. The temple was visited by Gaspar Vilela in 1559, 12 years before Nobunaga ordered its entire destruction. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)���������������������������������������������������������������   95 Fig. 3.19 Honkoku-ji Temple (now lost). Vilela described this temple in a letter dated 1571. Detail of Uesugi screens (sixteenth century) from Kano Eitoku. (Courtesy Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum)�����������������������������������������������������������������������  100

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Fig. 3.20 Hosokawa Harumoto’s Palace and Garden (now lost) but referred by Frois. Detail of Uesugi screens (sixteenth century) from Kano Eitoku. (Courtesy Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum)������  102 Fig. 3.21 Nijo-jo Castle external moat and walls, built in 1603. These features are identical to Nobunaga’s Palace (Nijo Gosho) built in 1569 and later destroyed, which Frois described. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2007. All Rights Reserved)��������������������  108 Fig. 3.22 Illustrated impression, not intended to be a faithful rendering of Kennin-ji Temple’s garden but rather Cristina Castel-Branco’s pen and ink sketch artistic interpretation. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2007. All Rights Reserved)��������������������  114 Fig. 3.23 Kennin-ji Temple garden. Frois refers to Kennin-ji: these temples being very clean and sparsely adorned with things made for the contentment of the body. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)���������������������������������������������������������������  115 Fig. 3.24 Ginkaku-ji Temple garden, white sand sculpted into the shape of a truncated cone. Both sand banks were a later Edo period addition to the garden. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2009. All Rights Reserved)���������������������������������������������������������������  116 Fig. 3.25 Ginkaku-ji Silver Pavilion and pond. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2009. All Rights Reserved)  118 Fig. 3.26 An overview of Ginkaku-ji Temple from the forest path looking onto the Silver Pavilion, the “silver sand open sea” area, the Main Hall, the Togudo and Kyoto. (©Guida Carvalho, 2015. All Rights Reserved)���������������������������������������������������������������  120 Fig. 3.27 Enma-do Temple frequented by visitors as noted by Frois. Detail of Uesugi screens (sixteenth century) from Kano Eitoku. (Courtesy Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum)�������������������������������������  122 Fig. 3.28 The 1001 statues of Thousand-armed Kannon in Sanjusangen-do Temple. Frois describes All these figures are gilded from head to toe with very fine gold thickly applied; the faces are well-proportioned and beautiful […] such a large and astonishing quantity of figures represents something very noble. (Wikimedia Commons https://commons.Wikime dia.org/wiki/File: Sanjusangendo_1979.1.55P01B.jpg)������������������������������������������������  123 Fig. 3.29 Basu Sennin, a Buddhist deity at Sanjusangen-do Temple. It looked as a beggar statue to Frois, but he praises it as the most artful, inventive and coherent one. (Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/TwentyEight_Attendants_%28Basu_Sennin%29_Sanjusangendo.jpg)�������  125 Fig. 3.30 View from Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine level towards Kyoto. Three rivers meet at a junction referred by Vilela, which crossing must be made in a boat because there are no bridges. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)��������������������  126

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Fig. 3.31 Entrance road of Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine flanked by hundreds of stone lanterns. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  127 Fig. 3.32 Orange tree (tachibana) in Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine courtyard. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  128 Fig. 4.1 Sarusawa-ike pond south of Kofuku-ji Temple compound. Just like in Frois time Koi carp are still protected here: there is a pond […] which is brimming with fish that no one dares to fish. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)����������������  137 Fig. 4.2 Stone lanterns and sacred deer at Kasuga-taisha Shrine. Vilela refers in a letter dated 1571 that In the middle of each pillar, there are carved, with golden letters, the names of the ones who ordered the lanterns to be made. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)����������������������������  139 Fig. 4.3 Kasuga-taisha Shrine. The sacred giant Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) impresses by its age and size. In a letter dated 1571 Vilela wrote that The perimeter of many of these cedars is as large as five braças [~11 m], so wide that they seemed to have been enlarged in a potter’s wheel. This illustrated impression is not intended to be a faithful rendering, but rather Cristina Castel-Branco’s pen and ink interpretation. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2007. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  140 Fig. 4.4 Tamukeyama Hachimangu Shrine. Luis de Almeida wrote There is a courtyard in here, where many orange trees of similar size were lined, and between them there were rocks of [~66 cm] around and [~44 cm] high. In 2015 only one orange tree remained in the grounds. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)���������������������������������������������������������������  143 Fig. 4.5 Todai-ji Temple, burnt down in 1567 and rebuilt in the seventeenth century. Frois writes that This yard and cloister are one of the beautiful things I saw in as much as a well finished construction, strong and agreeable to behold. In its centre stands the temple. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  146 Fig. 4.6 Bell tower described by Frois at Todai-ji Temple. According to Frois, Outside the temple’s enclosure there is a very strong wooden tower […] where the main bell is located […] this bell, being so extraordinary, measured [4.4 m] […] Its sound is very smooth and travels a great distance. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  147

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Fig. 4.7 Map of contemporary Nara with the location of the 5 identified gardens/temples described by Frois and other Portuguese chroniclers. (© Guida Carvalho, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�����������  153 Fig. 5.1 Map with the location of the six cities/landscapes between Osaka and Gifu described by Luis Frois and other Portuguese chroniclers. (© Guida Carvalho, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�����������  158 Fig. 5.2 Map of contemporary Kyushu with the location of the three cities/landscapes described by Frois and other Portuguese chroniclers. (© Guida Carvalho, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�����������  159 Fig. 5.3 Gifu Castle rebuilt in the twentieth century at the top of Mount Kinka and the Nagara River at its base. The original castle described by Luis Frois was rebuilt by Oda Nobunaga after the 1567 conquest. Frois refers from there he [Oda Nobunaga] showed me a great part of the Mînno and Voári Kingdoms, those being flatlands within the fortress sight. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)����������������������������  160 Fig. 5.4 Water channel and cascade in the garden of the recently excavated Gifu Palace at the foot of Mount Kinka. Frois reports: From the same mountain sprouts a cascade of excellent water, which is dammed and distributed into channels, in some chambers used as fountains, in others to wash the hands, in other places for the palace service. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)���������������������������������������������������������������  162 Fig. 5.5 The archaeological excavations of Nobunaga’s palace described by Frois in Gifu. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  163 Fig. 5.6 View over Lake Sainoko, from Mount Azuchi, where Oda Nobunaga’s castle once stood. Frois reports: In the Vomi reign, 14 leagues from Miaco town, he [Nobunaga] built a new city, fortress and palaces, in Anzuchiyama with seven levels, the most superb and resplendent thing so far built in Japan, the whole founded on very tall and thick stone walls. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)��������������������  163 Fig. 5.7 Stone path and steps leading up to Azuchi Castle ruins. Both sides of the path are flanked by terraces sustained by stone walls where palaces once stood, described by Frois in 1569. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)����������  166 Fig. 5.8 Statue of the Takayama Ukon in Takatsuki, in a public garden where once Takatsuki Castle and a church stood. According to Frois [Takayama Zusho] built there a very large wooden church, […] Next to the church, he ordered the construction of an independent chamber to provide shelter to the priests […] In front of this chamber he ordered the construction of something that looks like a garden. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2009. All Rights Reserved)��������������������  171

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Fig. 5.9 Osaka castle grounds. Stones carved with the symbols of the families involved in the construction of Hideyoshi’s new castle. Frois in 1586 reported: most surprising […] was the enormous quantity of collected stones, […] some so large that they required […] thousand men to carry them, as was the case with one brought by Justo Ucondono [Takayama Ukon], one league by land and three by sea, which amazed everyone in Vozaca […]. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  174 Fig. 5.10 The imposing stone walls and adjoining moat of Osaka Castle, rebuilt in the 1620s by Tokugawa Hidetada. Quoting Frois […] And just the town of Sacay, obeying very precise orders, was due to send two hundred ships with stones every day. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)����������������������������  175 Fig. 5.11 Sakai’s waterfront. Hand-coloured photograph, late-nineteenth century. Vilela reports: Sacay is a wealthy and populated town and a good sea harbour where I spent a couple of years. [It] is governed by the consuls like Venice����������������������������������������������  178 Fig. 5.12 A two-story pagoda (saito) at the sacred Danjo Garan site founded by Kobo Daishi. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  184 Fig. 5.13 Okunoin Cemetery in Koyasan. Buddhist monks carrying a sedan to Kobo Daishi’s mausoleum in which food is placed for him as a special ceremony repeated twice a day. He is believed to be in eternal meditation which Frois interpreted in the following way: Some seven hundred years ago a man was buried there alive, claiming upon his burial that he was going to slumber […] Conbodaxî [Kobo Daishi] further said that no one should dare to wake him up or touch his tomb. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)������������  185 Fig. 5.14 Pagoda-shaped tombstones representing the basic elements: earth (chirin), water (suirin), fire (karin), wind (fuurin) and space (kuurin) in Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan. Frois refers that it is a custom in all Japan kingdoms that upon the death of a noble man or woman who can afford it, to send their bodies to Coya, after the cremation. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  186 Fig. 5.15 View from Hirado Castle over the bay and inlet. Luis de Almeida describes in 1562 that on both banks there are many villages, and harbours, very good for ships […] and in its entrance there is a tall and rounded islet with a beautiful cross on top, visible from far away. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)����  188

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Fig. 5.16 Yanoko Island, also known as St. Paulo Island, at Yokoseura. Frois refers that A church was built in Yokoseura and a cross raised facing it on the small Yanoko Island, which was later destroyed but nowadays stands erect again. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)���������������������������������������������������������������  190 Fig. 5.17 Yokoseura Village sitting on a natural inlet facing south, where the Portuguese ships once anchored. Frois reports that He [Omura Sumitada] would offer the aforesaid Yocoxiura [Yokoseura] harbour to the Church, to raise a large Christian settlement in which the houses of Portuguese merchants could be safely sheltered. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�����������  192 Fig. 5.18 Luis Frois statue at Yokoseura. Frois is celebrated here as a hero and his statue faces a steep slope planted with Cycas revoluta, common near many Jesuit houses. (©Madalena Machado, 2009. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  193 Fig. 5.19 Unzen Hot Springs and Unzen Hell. Frois wrote in c.1582 there are some concavities that continuously emanate strong streams of hot sulfuric water … [the] temples being dedicated to an idol called Ungen, and due to this reverence was that land of Tacau greatly renowned and famous in Japan. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)����������������������������  195 Fig. 5.20 View from Literary Sotome Museum celebrating renowned writer Shusaku Endo. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  196 Fig. 6.1 Frois’ signature as it evolved over time, 1559–1596������������������������  201 Fig. 6.2 Mill stone in Shuntoku-ji Temple garden, site of the former Todos os Santos Church. Mill stones were different in Europe and in Japan as referred by Frois: We have windmills, watermills, and beast-driven mills; in Japan all grinding is done with a hand-mill, using manual force. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  208 Fig. 6.3 The reading room at Ajuda Nacional Library in Lisbon. Some copies of the Frois and Rodrigues manuscripts on Japan are conserved here, BNA, Lisbon. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  213 Fig. 6.4 Noble Hall, Academia das Ciências in Lisbon, Portugal. Some copies of the Frois and Rodrigues manuscripts on Japan are conserved here. (Courtesy of ACAD, Lisbon, 2018)������������������������  214 Fig. 6.5 Keiran somen, a local delicacy of Fukuoka, which is similar to Palha de Abrantes. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  217 Fig. 6.6 Palha de Abrantes, a Portuguese delicacy that may have inspired Keiran somen. It is made from fios de ovos which are made with egg yolks and sugar. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  218

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Fig. 6.7 An old Portuguese sugary candy, Confeito was introduced in Japan in the sixteenth century (left). Today, Kompeito is Japan’s interpretation of this Portuguese treat (right). (©António Sacchetti, 2010. All Rights Reserved)����������������������������  218 Fig. 6.8 Nanban lectern, brought from Japan, conserved at the Jesuits church of St. Roque in Lisbon. It uses traditional Japanese lacquered techniques (uruxi). (©António Sacchetti, 2010. All Rights Reserved)�������������������������������������������������������������������������  220 Fig. 7.1 Luis Frois statue at Yokoseura park (detail). (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)����������������������������  224 Fig. 7.2 Luis de Almeida Statue in Oita, where he built the first hospital. (Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ commons/7/78/LuisdeAlmeida.jpg)��������������������������������������������������  231

Chapter 1

Introduction: Japanese-Portuguese Sixteenth-Century Encounter

1.1  T  he Extraordinary Men Who Took Part in the First Encounter It may have only lasted a mere 100 years (1543–1639), but the Portuguese presence on a formerly unfamiliar archipelago of islands that we know as Japan was characterized by intense and lucrative trade, resonant cultural interchanges, and surprising ethnological cross-pollination. As deliverers of enticing goods and extraordinary information about the external world, the Portuguese who ventured well beyond European shores during the Age of Discovery, who opened the East seaway to the rest of the known world, were the first to establish themselves in the Land of the Rising Sun and, despite a relatively brief sojourn there, left an enduring mark still perceptible nowadays. Those favourable structural conditions were bolstered by another element: the extraordinary men (referred to as Nanban by the Japanese) who boarded the famous Black Ships (kurofune) and sailed to the other side of the world, thereby initiating a century-long period of globalized trade and cultural exchange. The Portuguese adventurers who disembarked on a beach on the distant island of Tanegashima, and who were soon followed by other Europeans, set in motion a push-pull of cultural, artistic, religious, and economic exchanges that made this confrontation between East and West a unique moment in the history of mankind, and one that was mostly peaceful when compared to other encounters of that time. Portuguese registered this first contact with surprise at the new forms of civilization—actually very sophisticated in some areas and less developed in others— which we know from manuscripts, letters, and books that document this period of discovery and exchange. Astonishingly, the most significant of these historical documents remained unpublished until the twentieth century. Additionally, the paintings, screens and other artistic artefacts illustrate, among other things, the arrival

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 C. Castel-Branco, G. Carvalho, Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0018-3_1

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and departure of the Nanban on their kurofune and the mutual interest each culture expressed for the other (Fig. 1.1). Among the first contact pioneers was Fernão Mendes Pinto, who presented to us the Peregrinação, a fascinating account of his experiences. Mendes Pinto counted among his friends the renowned Saint Francis Xavier, the founder of Jesuit missions in Asia, who arrived in Japan in 1549 and lived there for a little over two years (1549–1551). An enticing personality, the Jesuit priest so impressed some of the

Fig. 1.1  Nanban screen depicting Jesuits engaged in their main activities: teaching, evangelizing and facilitating trade between Japanese and Portuguese merchants. Kano Naizen Nanban Screens, Kano Naizen, Kobe City Museum. (©Kobe City Museum/DNPartcom)

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principal Japanese warlords that he was able to foster the conditions by which Christianity spread in Japan. Among the missionaries who followed in his footsteps are the Portuguese Gaspar Vilela, founder of the accommodation model; the Spanish Cosme de Torres, Xavier’s successor; Luis Frois, a Portuguese first chronicler of the mission and one of the men who most promoted respect for the Japanese culture; the Italian Alexandre Valignano, the “Visitor Priest” who published in the sixteenth century; the young João Rodrigues, who later became the official translator for the Court and two of the military leaders; and finally, the Portuguese Luis Almeida, the medical doctor who introduced new surgical methods and established the first hospital in Japan. Among the sixteenth-century Japanese to whom we are indebted for their openness are the five warlords who converted to Christianity, were baptized, and remained faithful to the new faith even in the face of the intense opposition during the seventeenth century: Omura Sumitada Bartolomeu, Takayama Ukon Justo, Otomo Sorin, Otomo Yoshimune Francisco, and Konishi Yukinaga Agostinho. This was also the era of three remarkable warlords known for unifying the empire: Oda Nobunaga, the military genius who crushed all who opposed him; Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the warrior who continued the unification; and Tokugawa Ieyasu, the patient general who achieved final victory in the unification of Japan. This book also relies on the historical record of Sen no Rikyu, who served as the Tea Master for Nobunaga and Hideyoshi. Far from just preparing tea and designing gardens, however, Sen no Rikyu was a counsellor and a powerful strategist during the turbulent times of the late-sixteenth century. All these outstanding men witnessed the introduction of the firearms that drove the unification of Japan and the demise of the Japanese feudal structure and became dynamic actors who contributed profoundly to Japan’s history during the Momoyama period. […] although the hundreds of thousands Japanese who embraced Christianity and faced the hostility of political power cannot be forgotten. They are also the protagonists of this encounter who may not be ignored, since their individual choice (persistence in the Faith) was decisive for the sudden interruption in the Portuguese-Japanese encounter – because it was too successful and thus frightened the Shoguns. Gone the fright, there lingers a memory that both Portuguese and Japanese try to live up to and from which they seek to draw lessons of intercultural coexistence. [1]

1.2  Luis Frois: The First Chronicler of Japan Among the notables of the first encounter, Luis Frois is the chronicler most deserving of our gratitude for this work. His five-volume Historia de Japam (History of Japan), which remained hidden for centuries, serves as a foundational historical record for this era. Frois was an intellectual priest who at age 16 entered the Jesuit College in Goa, India, where he received a thorough classical education. We have a lively and accurate report of his character through the report of his professors (see

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p.  283  in [2]). According to Father Quadros, his Logics professor, Brother Luis Frois is tough and good natured, a good man but not religious, very humorous, […] it seems his preaching is attractive, he is very skilful in handling all type of temporal business, and he seems most firm in his vocation (see p.  283  in [2]). Professor Francisco Cabral wrote that Brother Luis Frois is ingenious, appears to be firm in the Company and displays common virtue; he is skilful at expediting any kind of paper work and very sensible. Father Belchior Nunes Barreto informs the General Priest that Luis Frois […] shows great skills for business; he was always firm in his vocation, somewhat opinionated and peculiar in conversations, but obedient nevertheless; he is naturally prudent and amiable in conversation, sometimes complaining over the chores imposed by obedience (see p.  283  in [2]). Wicki also refers Belchior Carneiro’s letter, who reports that Luis Frois is firm in his vocation, obedient, attends art studies (philosophy), amiable in conversation, because he had a palatial education that still shows nowadays […] (see p. 8 in [3]). Among his numerous fine qualities, Frois was eager to embrace the many new experiences afforded to him in Japan. [Frois] represents, quite early, an interesting combination of the Western and Eastern Worlds (see p. 157 in [4]). In particular, he was open to learning about Buddhist practices and generous in his praise of the gardens and temples where those practices were enacted. An international conference was held in Tokyo in 1993 on the “Portuguese Voyages to Asia and Japan in the Renaissance Period”, later publishing its proceedings, which were edited by Peter Millard. In that document we highlight Michael Cooper’s observation on the Jesuits’ engagement with those sites: Another aspect of Buddhist life for which the missionaries could not withhold their admiration was the beauty and orderliness of temples and gardens, especially those in Kyoto and Nara. Although compiled more than 400 years ago, their detailed accounts of these institutions show how little they have changed over the centuries. (See p. 152 in [5])

Here we stress that Frois wrote thousands of pages about Japan (2386 printed pages with comments from José Wicki or around 2500 manuscript pages) that were only published in their original Portuguese between 1976 and 1984. We now have five volumes of Frois’ Historia de Japam describing the country during the second half of the sixteenth century. From his accounts, we are able to examine and discuss selected landscapes, cities, buildings, and gardens from those Frois witnessed first-­ hand over 450 years ago. In the case of Kyoto, for example, we have descriptions of seventeen gardens recorded primarily by Frois, but also by Vilela who also lived in Kyoto for years. We are also privileged to have slightly later documentation of João Rodrigues, his book, This Island of Japan, translated in 1974 by Michael Cooper S.J. (Society of Jesus), documented his experiences in sixteenth-century Japan. We also note that after the publication of Frois’ initial volumes, a partial Japanese translation was undertaken by Kiichi Matsuda and Momota Kawasaki over a three-year period in the late 1970s entitled, “History of Japan by Luis Frois” [6] (revised and reprinted in 2000). In addition, in 1991 Okada Akio translated more of Frois’ writings: The Treaty on Contradictions resulting in the “European Culture and Japanese

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Culture”. We relied on both of these publications, as well as others by renowned Japanese historians of landscape architecture for the present work.

1.3  T  he Method Used to Research the Gardens and Cities that Frois Visited and Described This book represents the culmination of seven years of research, with contributions from individuals on three continents. In 2012, Cristina Castel-Branco initiated this search of the Portuguese impressions of Japan and its gardens during the second half of the sixteenth century, and two years later Guida Carvalho joined the project. When it became clear that meticulous translations of original texts from the period would be needed, we sought the expertise of Maria José Sá da Bandeira in 2015. Finally, beginning in late 2018, Laurie Good in Virginia provided editorial assistance to help coalesce the English text, but on a deeper level initiated fruitful debates about important issues. Additionally, her own independent inquiries about the period contributed to enrich this undertaking. The impetus for this book crystallized when in 2009 Dr. Shintaro Sugio and his wife, Ms Kunie Sugio—to whom we are deeply indebted—made us aware of an article written by Kenkichi Ono entitled, The forms and function of some gardens in Kyoto in 1565 that can be read from the description of the History of Japan by Luis Frois [7], which was published in the Journal of the Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture. Based on this pivotal event, the research goal became to locate within Frois’ writings—principally his Historia de Japam and Treaty on Contradictions, as well as within his edited Cartas (with contributions from other contemporary authors)—all references to gardens, urban landscapes, and garden-related traditions, and then consider those locations in light of their twenty-first century significance. Thus, the geographic scope expanded considerably: to consider all the gardens and cities that Frois described during his many years in the country. This investigation meant examining around 2400 pages of the Historia de Japam, 1500 pages from the Cartas, and the 60-page Treaty on Contradictions. Guida Carvalho, who was instrumental in identifying the gardens and geo-referencing them using GIS mapping, used this research to earn her Master’s degree in 2018, which focuses on Kyoto’s and Nara’s gardens as recorded by Portuguese Jesuits. Principally, we amassed information about the physical landscape of sixteenth-­ century Japan by studying the various germane texts available to us (both historical and contemporary), augmented by visits to particularly notable sites: 17 gardens in Kyoto, 6 gardens in Nara, and many cities in Kyushu, Kansai and Chubu regions— all described in the Historia de Japan or in the Cartas de Évora. We also engaged in an in-depth study of the main periods of Japanese garden-making up to that period. About that subject, numerous books have been written that address the macro and micro aspects of this complex body of knowledge. From their materials, techniques, the hydraulic infrastructure, maintenance and design—to their

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s­ ignificance, history, cultural influences, stone composition and distinctive style— the Japanese garden has long represented a unique artistic heritage of Japan. In particular, we are beholden to the work of Mirei Shigemori who, during the decades of intensive research during the 1930s, surveyed and recorded hundreds of historical Japanese gardens, augmented by magnificent drawings. His work was published in twenty-four volumes [8] and we had access to these meticulous surveys in Japan and at the Musée Guimet in Paris. As noted, numerous authors have extensively written about Japanese gardens, and those who were our teachers on the subject are referenced herein: Prof. Makoto Nakamura [9] from the University of Kyoto, Prof. Wybe Kuitert [10] from the University of Seoul, and Prof. Marc Treib [11] from the University of California, Berkeley. Their publications and textual source materials also serve as a foundation for our research. In particular, Prof. Treib’s A Guide to the Gardens of Kyoto [11] was instrumental in augmenting our understanding of the history and intricate evolution of landscapes and gardens as we discovered them in loco. Japan is somewhat unique in that it provides one of the earliest accounts of garden design and management in its eleventh-century treaty, Sakuteiki [12], which represents a benchmark for the world history of garden art via its account of the early gardens of the Heian period (784–1185). This remarkably precise and complete collection of recommendations highlights the originality of very early Japanese garden art [13]. The Sakuteiki, which serves as both a philosophy of garden aesthetics and a design approach (where stone placement is paramount), was employed in early Japan by the aristocracy in the creation of their landscapes. It remains a very useful document for understanding Japanese garden composition. A number of Western authors have praised the Sakuteiki, and their insights about the essence of Japanese garden evolution and related techniques have been extraordinarily helpful. We especially note the contributions of Michel Baridon [13], Gunter Nitschke [14], Wybe Kuitert [10], Marc Keane [12, 15], Loraine Kuck [16], Matthew McKelway [17], Jake Hobson (for his knowledge of specific pruning techniques) [18]. And Stephen Turnbull for writings on the lives of the samurais [19– 21]. We also utilized the multi-volume Cambridge History of Japan [22] to corroborate the sixteenth-century texts. These many experts on the historical and cultural context of Japanese gardens augmented our understanding of the development of garden styles, as well as helped us envision what the Portuguese likely witnessed during their decades in Kyoto, Nara, and elsewhere in Japan. Japanese garden historians who have been translated into English were also useful—principally, Kenkichi Ono’s [23] garden dictionary. As already noted, Kenkichi Ono afforded us a valuable glimpse into additional historical records regarding Frois’s exploration of Japanese gardens. We also acknowledge the work of Japanese authors who have researched and written about related subjects—notably we found a valuable source of information about that period, in Gyuichi Ota’s Chronicle of Lord Oda Nobunaga [24] and Essays on the History of Chanoyu edited by Paul Varley and Isao Kumakura [25]. We were also captivated by Soshitsu Sen’s [26] examination of the tea ceremony and the importance of the tea garden; indeed, a high moment of our research was

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finding the description of the dinner during which Sen no Rikyu met with Frois at the invitation of Takayama Ukon. Indeed, much had to be said about Sen no Rikyu and his role during the decades we studied, almost coinciding with the Azuchi-­ Momoyama period. We found a good source of information about his life and influence in the catalogue of Kyoto National Museum [27]. Finally, the first academic study of early foreign reports of Japanese gardens can be credited to Makoto Suzuki’s [28] review of the Western perspective of Japanese gardens when he wrote a PhD dissertation, partly published in 1997 as The Image and View of Japanese Gardens in the Minds of Westerners in the Journal of Landscape Architecture. He states: In the view of the garden described by Frois, the Japanese garden [Niwa] and the Western garden [Jardin] are different. The way that the gardens are seen: the trees do not have fruit, the understanding of recreation and the notion that flowers are for restoration of the mind is a description in contrast with the cultivation of fruit trees and medicinal herbs in the monastery’s surrounded by the Western garden of the time. And Frois is surprised by intense incorporation of nature, reproduction of nature with scenery, artificially pruned trees, the variety of trees, precious natural stones, trees trimmed and repaired, ponds interspersed with island and freed fish is also found in the Japanese garden. Although it was their actual condition, he was describing gardens in comparison with the Western gardens and striving to understand by comparison with the Western garden at the time. (See p. 525 in [28])

Research on the Portuguese-Japanese historical records was triggered in part by João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, who has since 2002 been the editor in-chief of the Bulletin of Portuguese-Japanese Studies, an international peer-reviewed journal published by the Portuguese Centre for Global History (CHAM). These bulletins served as a rich source of information on subjects that ancient Portuguese and Japanese documents discussed. In particular, we emphasize those by Ana Fernandes Pinto, João Paulo Oliveira e Costa, Alexandra Curvelo, José Miguel Pinto dos Santos and others. Ambassador Armando Martins Janeira’s work on the Impact of Portuguese in Japan [4] was very useful—especially when corroborated by the books of Kiishi Matsuda [29] and the Proceedings of the Tokyo Conference on Luis Frois [30], which compiled articles from many different individuals worldwide who have also been captivated by Frois’ historical magnum opus. Léon Bourdon [31] immense research on the Jesuits in Japan, from 1993 also provided an historical framework of information for our studies. Apart from Luis Frois’ Historia de Japam and his Treaty on Contradictions [32], we also read the writings of João Rodrigues Tçuzu [33], a sixteenth-century interpreter, as well as the writings of the Visitor Priest, Alessandro Valignano [34], for bearing witness to the Japanese ways of life during the second half of the sixteenth century. We also utilized the letters (Cartas) [35], a selection of letters from European Jesuits writing from Japan during the period 1549 to 1589. Published in Portuguese in 1598 in the Portuguese town of Evora, it is in the Cartas that Luis Almeida, Gaspar Vilela and Lourenço Mexia left their enduring imprint. Finally, we were able to access the Jesuit Society Archive in Rome, where we found the manuscripts and letters of Frois and Valignano; similarly, the library at the Pontifical Gregorian University and the Vatican Library were also helpful in this regard.

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Over the course of the last seven years we read with surprise the detailed accounts of places, historical personages, and remarkable facts. We then visited the places described four centuries ago, only to find that our experiences of the sites reflected the veracity of those much-earlier accounts, as well as heightened our curiosity about the extent to which the two cultures cooperated and learned from each other during the first five decades of the encounter.

1.4  The Passage of Time and Changes in Japanese Gardens In our quest for authenticity as art historians visiting and researching the heritage buildings and centuries-old gardens, we were confronted with the impossibility of knowing the exact age of the gardens and their elements seen by Frois. Despite the fact that we knew different elements to be of sometimes vastly different ages, the overall feeling of places was harmonious and appealing. This experience stems from the fact that the Japanese relationship with aged things derives from a sense of renewal, an everlasting cycle of maintenance, replacement of elements, and endless repetition used in traditional institutions where gardens belong. This sense of renewal is an essential part of the Japanese Shinto native religion, an animistic dimension whose practice centres on the worship of the deities (kami) in the form of natural objects such as mountains, forests, trees and stones—all of which represent locations where the kami, the Shinto deities, are thought to dwell. As such, those practicing Shinto worship the importance of places rather than religious images and search for renewal and purity. The shrine buildings are constructed of wood and, as a symbol of renewal, shrines must be rebuilt in the same form and using the same materials. The Ise Shrine, constructed by Emperor Temmu, was first rebuilt in 692 AD by his wife, Empress Jito, and for almost 1500 years each of the shrines in this complex has been rebuilt every 20 years. This regular renewal process implies that the rebuilding of each shrine will be enacted three or four times during one’s lifetime. Specifically, the building is demolished except for the centre post, after which the new identical building is constructed at the adjacent location. Then, the old location is covered with white gravel, thereby creating a rectangular void with a post in the centre to mark the spot of the former shrine. Despite the passage of centuries, the building materials and the form of the temple will not vary and the end result will be an authentic facsimile of its predecessor. Truly, it is difficult to distinguish the features of a past epoch from those of the present, because its forms and its materials are timeless and the techniques are maintained unaltered throughout the ages. These faithful and cyclical reconstructions facilitate the transmission of knowledge of traditional building techniques and materials from parent to child. These reconstructions are carried out: […] so that it is impossible, on the basis of our historicist criteria, to affirm whether Ise is six years or two thousand years old […] Time leads to time following a movement that has nothing to do with our linear sense of history. Everything coexists in layers […] except that

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they do not succeed one another, they intertwine by cancelling the chronologies of the spaces and the times, that one traverses and one measures in all the directions, and which are never straight. [36]

Japanese gardeners, who through the centuries have respected and even loved their “charges”, have succeeded in almost stopping time by maintaining ancient traditions, techniques and materials. In their well-maintained gardens, time is meant to be eternal, a time without age [37]. In reading the descriptions that Frois and other Portuguese recorded so long ago, one would think that, over the span of 450 years, the gardens had hardly changed. The small tea pavilions, essential meeting places in the spatial arrangement and in the life of these gardens, have kept their simple aesthetic, directly linked to the timelessness of nature. Thanks to João Rodrigues [38], interpreter at the Shogun court, we know that the paths to these pavilions, as well as the ways to serve and drink tea in the garden, have remained largely unaltered since the sixteenth century. Nonetheless, the reader must be aware that over four-and-a-half centuries, changes did occur—even during Frois’ time. For instance, Gunter Nitschke described changes that occurred in the garden at Nijo Castle that are very meaningful: A similar stereotypical version of the pond garden comprises part of the ninomaru, the second keep of Nijo castle […]. The pond in this garden, too, contains a large central island representing Mount Horai and smaller crane and turtle islands […] (see p. 126 in [14]) and Nitschke explains how rocks were turned around and the Nijo Castle entirely remodelled to prepare for the reception for Emperor Gomizuno-o in 1626 with Kobori Enshu, the renowned tea master as the designer “highly experienced in all the arts of the day and in the tea ceremony and garden making in particular […] The garden’s underlying theme is revealed in the large Horai island in the centre of this pond, with its striking monumental rock settings” (see pp.  126–128  in [14]). Nitschke calls our attention to the: […] the bridge connecting the central Horai island to the mainland, since it reflects a fundamental reinterpretation of one of the most pervasive archetypes in Japanese garden art, namely the myth of Mount Horai. This isle of the Blest is no longer designed to appear far away and out of the reach of ordinary mortals. It is now accessible on foot via a bridge […]. (See pp. 126–128 in [14])

Mirei Shigemori [8] (1896–1974), the remarkable modernist Japanese landscape architect and expert on the history of Japanese gardens, analysis this change in this pond garden and remarks that From Momoyama times on gardens are designed by humans, for humans. This signals a new trend in creative arts (see p. 12 in [14]). It was Shigemori who was eventually called upon to restore some sub-temple gardens at Daitoku-ji—sometimes involving a change in the layout and sand patterns. Thus, while Frois’ description of Zuho-in sub temple dedicated to the Christian daimyo Otomo Sorin in Daitoku-ji refers to a place and ambiance that may be the same where we enter today, Shigemori’s modernist composition of rocks and sand patterns and plants has introduced novelties in design and composition. Similarly, Shigemori’s ability to draw from centuries of tradition in creating a modernist design of moss and stone completely revolutionized the Abbot’s Quarters at Tofuku ji.

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According to Christian Tschumi (2007), the gardens of the Abbot’s Quarters can be considered an early masterpiece among Shigemori’s works; indeed, they are now viewed as the epitome of contemporary Japanese gardens (see p. 75 in [39]). In this work, the old and the new meet in a revolutionary design that reintroduces the essence of Zen by borrowing ancient concepts and reinterpreting them with “innovative verve” (see p. 124 in [40]).

1.5  The Structure of This Book After this introduction, the second chapter addresses those first encounters, the mutual assimilation of each culture, the vestiges of Japan in Portugal and vice-­ versa. In the third chapter our interest focuses on describing Kyoto gardens where documents evidence that Frois and other Portuguese had visited. When the Portuguese arrived in 1543, gardens in Japan were already a well-established artistic expression, an essential part of its culture. From our readings of Frois, Rodrigues, and other Jesuits, the Portuguese wrote with astonishment about the refinement of Japanese garden construction, maintenance and use. We argue that gardens remain a meaningful indicator of the cultural and civilizational level of a country anywhere in the world, as in many ways they reflect the historical, technological and artistic level of a society [41]. First and foremost, however, we describe Kyoto that serves as the main stage for this undertaking. Kyoto was the nucleus of political power when Frois was sent there in 1565, and he lived in Kyoto and Sakai for 12  years—some years without having any contact with Europeans. His main relationship was with Brother Lourenço, a Japanese Christian who helped Frois to understand, respect, and ultimately come to appreciate the Japanese culture, so different from his own. We also examine sixteenth-century Kyoto in relation to the changes inflicted by Nobunaga and Hideyoshi in their quest to leave their political mark in this ancient urban center. The fourth chapter also addresses gardens, principally in Nara, but also describes the city and a castle there that represents an innovation in castle-building and defensive embellishments. In fact, the building novelties introduced by powerful daimyos like Matsunaga Hisahide as he battled for power with Oda Nobunaga directly evolved from the introduction of new military weapons by the Portuguese. As evidenced in both Chaps. 3 and 4, these early visitors to the country praised the gardens with awe, expressing heartfelt emotion when confronted with these unique spaces crafted with so much aesthetic care and originality: There are no words to describe the beauty of these gardens, says Frois. The fifth chapter presents a selection of nine cities where the Portuguese merchants and Jesuits lived, and where their references are fascinating, especially when compared with twenty-first century development. In particular, we focus on two areas: the central part of Japan from Sakai to Gifu and Kyushu island.

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The sixth chapter presents a discussion of the unpublished Treaty on Contradictions and addresses the controversial subject that tries to explain why Frois’ books remained unpublished for centuries. In comparison, Alessandro Valignano, the Italian Priest Visitor, ensured that his own work saw print during his lifetime, gaining him worldwide recognition as the first Japanologist in Europe. As a result of those many years of observation and reflection, Frois wrote the Treaty on Contradictions, which is the text that better reflects the enculturation attitude, of acceptance of “the other”, never judgmental or pejorative. Claude Lévi-­ Strauss [42] comments that the Treaty on Contradictions is, in essence, the first treatise on comparative anthropology; in its pages we begin to understand how Frois assimilated to the Japanese culture during his lonely years in Kyoto [42]. Chapter 7 is a compilation of the lives of the four Portuguese most quoted in this book and who wrote about sixteenth century Japan: Luis Frois, João Rodrigues, Gaspar Vilela and Luis Almeida. They are presented in individual chronologies and the chapter is a synthesis of articles and research by historians. For Frois we surveyed his Letters and Historia de Japan to identify his voyages within Japan and understand his movements and from where he wrote. The eighth and final chapter presents our concluding thoughts on the life and vision of a remarkable sojourner and observer. His accounts of the Japan of 450 years ago are nothing short of priceless and allows for four issues steamed from our research. To conclude we report to Lévi-Strauss, who well captured for us how two cultures so clearly different from each other could come to be viewed in a new light, producing the most unexpected results: When the traveller convinces himself that the customs so totally opposed to his own, which he might be tempted to look upon and reject with disgust, are in fact identical if looked upon from the opposite angle, he finds a way of absorbing the strangeness into something familiar.1

In the seventeenth century, Engelbert Kaempfer also noted some correspondence he found between Portuguese and Japanese, stating that: I had already noticed a certain natural similarity between the spirit and tendencies of Portuguese and Japanese people born under identical climates; mainly a strong affability and a serene and pleasant composure common to both nations. (See p. 157 in [43])

This statement helps us to understand the initial fifty years of the Portuguese presence in Japan—one that was marked by mostly peaceful relations and mutual discovery. In fact, this book focuses purposely on the period from 1543 to 1596, the period that Frois chronicles with such insight and appreciation. Following his death in 1597, the relationship takes a decidedly dark turn, which has been masterfully presented in Martin Scorsese’s film “Silence”, inspired by Shusaku Endo’s literary work. While Endo and Scorsese reveal the human pain and conflict from that epoch until the Portuguese were driven out in 1639, we focus on the years of early contact when the relationship flourished and mutual curiosity was preeminent.  Translation by Cristina Castel-Branco from [42].

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As the reader will discover, Luis Frois is the main character in the book. He lived and worked in Japan longer than any of the other chroniclers and researched the Japanese religions and culture with rigor and acumen. After having spent so much time absorbing his texts and insights, we now view him as one of our favourite teachers in Japanese matters. His enthusiasm and appreciation of the novelties he witnessed clearly charm him—as they charm us. Reading his descriptions prior to seeing the places he visited only confirms the authenticity of both his eye and his pen. He has become a close friend of sorts—a trusted guide whose perceptiveness and keen eye opened vistas we never thought to see. While this book was written for experts and scholars interested in Japan, garden history and art, or Portuguese expansion, we also hope it will be useful for anyone who visits Japan—whether first-time tourists to the island nation or experienced travellers who may not be aware of these deep cross-cultural ties between Portugal and Japan or the profound significance of Japanese gardens. This book also celebrates what was for many decades a mutually beneficial relationship whose vestiges can still be seen on opposite sides of the world.

References 1. Costa, J., & Oliveira, P. (2010, July 10). Outstanding characters in 16th century Japan. Expresso. 2. Feldmann, H. (1994). The image of Francis Xavier in “The History of Japan” by Luís Fróis and “The History of the Church of Japan” by João Rodrigues. In Portuguese voyages to Asia and Japan in the renaissance period: Proceedings of the international conference, Sophia University, Tokyo, September 24–26, 1993 (pp.  282–297). Tokyo: Renaissance Institute, Sophia University. 3. Wicki, J. (1976). Introdução. In Historia de Japam: 1o v., 1549–1564 (Vol. I, pp. 1–49). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 4. Janeira, A.  M. (1988). O Impacto Português sobre a Civilização Japonesa. Lisboa: Dom Quixote. 5. Cooper, M. (1994). The early Jesuits in Japan and Buddhism. In Portuguese voyages to Asia and Japan in the renaissance period, Proceedings of the international conference, Sophia University, Tokyo, September 24–26, 1993 (pp.  146–161). Tokyo: Renaissance Institute, Sophia University. 6. Frois, L. (1977). Kan’yaku Furoisu nipponshi [Complete translations of Frois History of Japan] (trans: Kiichi, M., & Momota, K., 12 Vols.). Tokyo: Chuokoron-Shinsha. 7. Ono, K. (2005). The forms and function of some gardens in Kyoto in 1565 that can read from the description of History of Japan by Luis Frois. Journal of the Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture, 68, 369–372. 8. Shigemori, M., & Taikei, K. (1936). Nihon teien-shi zukan [Illustrated history of the Japanese garden] (24 Vols.). Tokyo: Yukosha. 9. Nakamura, M. (2007). An outline of Japan’s garden history. Seminar presented at the Japanese garden, Intensive Seminar, Kyoto. 10. Kuitert, W. (1988). Themes in the history of Japanese garden art. Honolulu: Hon University of Hawaii Press. 11. Treib, M., & Herman, R. (1980). A guide to the gardens of Kyoto. Tokyo: Shufunotomo.

References

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12. Takei, J., & Keane, M. P. (2008). Sakuteiki: Visions of the Japanese garden. North Clarendon: Tuttle Publishing. 13. Baridon, M. (1998). Les jardins: Paysagistes, jardiniers, poètes. Paris: Robert Laffont. 14. Nitschke, G. (2007). Japanese gardens: Right angle and natural form. Kõln: Taschen. 15. Keane, M. P., & Ohashi, H. (1996). Japanese garden design. Rutland: Tuttle Publishing. 16. Kuck, L. E. (1968). The world of the Japanese garden; from Chinese origins to modern landscape art. New York: Walker/Weatherhill. 17. McKelway, M.  P. (2006). Capitalscapes: Folding screens and political imagination in late medieval Kyoto. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 18. Hobson, J. (2007). Niwaki: Pruning, training and shaping trees the Japanese way. Portland: Timber Press. 19. Turnbull, S. (2014). Osaka 1615: The last battle of the samurai. London: Osprey. 20. Turnbull, S. (2005). Japanese fortified temples and monasteries AD 710–1062. Oxford: Osprey. 21. Turnbull, S. (2011). The samurai and the sacred: The path of the warrior. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. 22. Hall, J. W., Jansen, M. B., Kanai, M., & Twitchett, D. (Eds.). (1988). The Cambridge history of Japan (6 Vols.). New York: Cambridge University Press. 23. Ono, K., & Walter, E. (2010). Japanese garden dictionary—A glossary for Japanese gardens and their history. https://www.nabunken.go.jp/org/bunka/jgd/index.html. Accessed 17 May 2019. 24. Ōta, G. (2011). The chronicle of Lord Nobunaga (ed: Mostow, J., Rose, C., Nakai, K. W., & Elisonas, J. S. A.; trans: Elisonas, J. S. A., & Lamers, J. P., Brill’s Japanese studies library, Vol. 36). Leiden: Brill. 25. Varley, H. P., & Kumakura, I. (Eds.). (1994). Tea in Japan: Essays on the history of Chanoyu. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 26. Sen, S. (1975). Everyday life and the heart of tea. In Chanoyu—Tea and the arts of Japan (trans: Nishi, M., & Shapiro, H., Vol. 11, pp. 1–11). Kyoto: Urasenke Foundation of Kyoto. 27. Kyoto National Museum. (1990). Special exhibition, Sen-no Rikyu, the 400th memorial, a guide to the exhibition. Kyoto: Kyoto National Museum. 28. Makoto, S. (1997). Ōbeijin no nihon tienkan [The image and view of the Japanese gardens in the minds of westerners]. Journal of Landscape Architecture. Extra Issue 2. 29. Matsuda, K. (1965). The relations between Portugal and Japan. Lisbon: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar. 30. de Carvalho, K. (Ed.). (1997). Luis Frois: Proceedings of the international conference, United Nations University, Tokyo, September 24–26, 1997. Embassy of Portugal in Japan. 31. Bourdon, L. (1993). La Compagnie de Jésus et le Japon, la fondation de la mission japonaise par François Xavier (1547–1551) et les premiers résultats de la prédication chrétienne sous le supériorat de Cosme de Torres (1551–1570). Paris: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian Centre Culturel Portugais. 32. Loureiro, R. M. (Ed.). (2011). Os Portugueses e o Japão nos séculos XVI e XVII. In Tratado das Contradições e Diferenças de Costumes entre a Europa e o Japão (Memória Do Oriente). Lisboa: Imprensa Oficial. 33. Rodrigues, J. (1955). História da Igreja do Japão: 1620–1633 (BA-149-XV-12/13) (ed: Pinto, J. A. A., Vol. I). Macau: Notícias de Macau. 34. Valignano, A., & Bésineau, J. (1990). Les jésuites au Japon—Relation missionnaire (ed and trans: Bésineau, J.). Paris: Desclée de Brouwer. 35. de Lira, M., & de Bragança, T. (1598). Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus, que andão nos Reynos de Iapão ascreuerão aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 até o de 1580: primeiro [-segundo] tomo… Impressas por mandado do… Senhor dom Theotonio de Bragança, Arcebispo d’ Euora. Em Euora: Manoel de Lyra. 36. da Costa, J. B. (2001). Quinze dias no Japão. Lisbon: Centro Nacional de Cultura.

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37. Castel-Branco, C. (2012). Le temps des jardins est un temps sans âge. Revue JARDINS, 3, 85–93. Paris: Éditions du Sandre. 38. Rodrigues, J. (1973). This island of Japon: Joao Rodrigues’ account of 16th-century Japan (ed and trans: Cooper, M.). Tokyo/New York: Kodansha International. 39. Tschumi, C. (2007). Mirei Shigemori—Rebel in the Garden. Boston: Birkhäuser Architecture. 40. Clancy, J., & Simmons, B. (2013). Kyoto City of Zen: Visiting the heritage sites of Japan’s ancient capital. Tokyo/Rutland: Tuttle Publishing. 41. Castel-Branco, C. (2008). The gardens of the viceroys Fronteira. Lisbon: Asa. 42. Lévi-strauss, C. (1998). Préface. In Européens et Japonais—traité sur les contradictions et différences de mœurs. Paris: Chandeigne. 43. Kaempfer, E., & Scheuhzer, J. G. (1906). The history of Japan, together with a description of the Kingdom of Siam, 1690–92 (ed: Delboe, S., Gibben, H., & Ramsden, W.; Vol. II). Glasgow: J. MacLehose and Sons.

Chapter 2

Portuguese Presence in Japan (1543–1600)

The first written information about Japan from a Portuguese source dates to 1513. Tomé Pires1 while travelling in China, describes the trading practices between China and the unfamiliar island of Jampom. According to what all chijs [Chinese] report the island of Jampom is larger than the Lequeos’ [Ryukyu] and its King is more powerful and more important and is not prone to trading, as neither are his people; he is a heathen King in liege to the King of China; they do not trade with China very often because it is far away and they do not own junks nor are they seafarers. The Lequeos travel to Jampon in seven or eight days and bring the aforesaid merchandises and [the Japanese] pay in gold and copper everything they get from the Lequeos; they bring the scarves from Jampom and they trade in cloths, fishing nets and other goods with those coming from Jampom. (See p. 373 in [1])

The precise date that the Portuguese first arrived in Japan remains somewhat controversial, but most scholars agree that a small Chinese junk with three Portuguese men aboard likely reached the very southern island of Kagoshima in the 1540s, and were received peacefully. The Portuguese Jesuit record by Cros (see p. 51 in [2]) dates that initial landfall to the year 1542, while the Japanese Buddhist record places first contact in 1543. The more intriguing controversy focuses on the identity of the three Portuguese men who were aboard that Chinese junk. The Portuguese merchant, explorer and writer, Fernão Mandes Pinto, claimed to have been the first European to set foot in Japan, along with António Peixoto and Francisco Zeymoto, the owner of the famous gun offered to the daimyo of Tanegashima. However, Cros’ written record does not mention Mendes Pinto,2 instead naming António da Mota as the third Portuguese on that fateful journey.

1  Tomé Pires apothecary and medical doctor of King of Portugal D.  João II’s unfortunate son, Prince Afonso (1475–1491). 2  Wenceslau de Moraes comments that the Jesuits did not sympathize with Fernão Mendes Pinto since he had once quitted the Company of Jesus and, thus, might purposely have erased him from history.

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 C. Castel-Branco, G. Carvalho, Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0018-3_2

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While we may never know who the trio was for certain, Mendes Pinto kept a remarkable journal, the Peregrinação, published in 1614, in which he records that early encounter, and the curiosity that both the Japanese and the Portuguese surely must have experienced. This is what he wrote: […] and facing the northern winds and strong adversary currents we arduously sailed along a route during the next twenty three days, upon which it praised the Lord to show us land, which we approached trying to discern some kind of bay or accessible harbour, and perceived a large fire on its southern end, close to the sea line, which led us to believe that it was inhabited by people […] And when we arrived to seventy braças from the island we were met by two small canoes with six men who came aboard and after they saluted and presented their courtesies in their own way, inquired about the provenience of the junk, and were elucidated that it came from China with goods to trade with them, if they thus permitted, to which one of them replied that Nautoquim, the lord of that Tanixumaa island, would willingly grant permission if we paid the taxes in force in Japan – that being the vast land we had arrived to. (See p. 388 in [3])

Murdoch, the renowned researcher of Japan, later attacked Mendes Pinto’s claim, calling him a liar and documenting the latter’s geographic errors as proof. In contrast, Wenceslau de Morais, a Lisbon-born nineteenth-century writer of China and Japan, defended Pinto as the discoverer—in large part because of the historical value of those first Japan descriptions and the fact that he viewed Pinto’s mistakes as minor and mostly likely due to extreme differences in language. He suggests that Pinto, although a fantasist in his texts and an actual seagoing pirate and robber, left us a memorable story of adventures, as well as a record of the true nature of the risk, courage and danger that the Portuguese had to face to reach the extreme Orient and Japan. What we know for certain is that the Portuguese were first Europeans to reach Japan. But unlike many initial encounters elsewhere in the world and throughout the historical record, the Portuguese were well received, as evidenced by Pinto’s text about his meeting with the daimyo: […] and upon seeing the three Portuguese he (Nautoquim) asked which people we belonged to, since from the difference in our faces and beards they could tell we were not from China. The Captain answered that we came from a land by the name of Malaca, where we had arrived many years before from another one called Portugal, which King, according to what we had often heard, lived in the far end of the world. This greatly astonished Nautaquim […] Then he called his wife Lequia, who was the interpreter […] and told her to ask Necodã [the ship’s captain] where had he found these men or why had he brought them to their land of Japan, to which he vouched that we were merchants and reliable people and that he had taken us in because he had found us lost in Lampacau. And the following day […] he disembarked and took the three of us plus some ten or twelve Chins with him. […] Upon coming to Nautaquim’s residence we were all very well received […] And giving leave to Necodá and his whole escort, he invited us to stay ashore with him for the night, because he had so many questions to ask us about the world […] he found us shelter with a very rich merchant who fed us abundantly, both that evening and during another twelve days we spent with him. (See p. 389–391 in [3])

Surprisingly then, this first encounter was a peaceful one, reinforced by mutual curiosity and interest. Once Mendes Pinto returned to India and shared what he had

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seen and experienced, interest in trading with Japan took root. And it was not long after that Jesuits in India initiated their systematic quest for information to prepare for the launch of the Christian evangelization in Japan. Jorge Alvares, a notable Portuguese ship captain during the Age of Discovery, was asked to bring information about Japan during his travels in the eastern seas and so purposefully landed there, later describing the islands, their landscapes, and the people. In 1548, St. Francis Xavier, who was based in Malaca, received from Jorge Alvares possibly the first European portrait of Japan, which begins with the sentence: This is what I came upon in this land of Japan. Alvares’ description is organized into 20 entries, revealing the southern islands, both coastal and rural landscapes, and explaining Japanese customs and traditions. Their encounter with areas of the Japanese archipelago gave the Portuguese a different experience than any other they had encountered in Africa, India, or China. The Japanese landscape and climate share similarities with Portugal and its volcanic islands in the Atlantic, the Azores and Madeira. The latitudes of both countries are around the same. Consider that Lisbon is at 38°, while the Azores are situated between 36° and 39° (Fig. 2.1). In Japan, the latitudes of Kyushu in the south to Kyoto further north range from 31° to 36°. Moreover, the southern Japanese coastal landscape is comparable to both Portuguese coastal regions and to the Azores. And with each region impacted by one of the world’s great oceans, Japan and Portugal have in common areas of rugged topography with high capes falling to the sea. In terms of climate, although it is cooler in Japan, both countries feature a four-season

Fig. 2.1  The comparable geographic locations of Portugal and Japan in terms of their similar latitudes

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climate with vegetation that shows the same growing capacity. As St. Francis Xavier pointed out, In this land one may find almost all the fruits and birds we find in Europe [4]. The Portuguese attraction for Japan—although initially driven by trade and the desire to spread Christianity throughout the region—most certainly was heightened by similarities in geography, ecosystems, and climate, which facilitating not only the relatively easy settlement of the Portuguese, but also their enjoyment of the country, its sister landscape, and its proximity to the ocean. To a certain extent they encountered in Japan similar surroundings, agricultural production, and vistas that called to mind their faraway homeland. Jorge Alvares wrote: This land of Japan is high and stretches along the sea line. The whole land is put to use, pointing towards industrious people and amenable climate: every year it yields three crops, namely: in November they sow wheat, barley, turnips and radishes… that they eat; in March they sow millet, corn, mung beans, grain, beans and watermelons, cucumber, melon; in July they sow rice, yam, garlic, onions. All this is equivalent to fertilizing the land each time with horse manure. [5]

Jorge Alvares described a landscape of great natural beauty: It is a shadowy and gracious land with many pines and cedars and plum, cherry and peach trees (…) and very tasteful vines of white grapes, which they did not used to eat but seeing us eat them they now do [5]. The flatlands of Japan were—and continue to be—densely cultivated, while the natural vegetation along the scarped slopes is similar to that of the northern Portuguese coast with pine trees, cedars, maples and oaks that differ somewhat in species from those found in Portugal. Even more alike are the botanic species found in the Azores, which in many cases were imported from Japan and acclimatized to perfection in the nineteenth century. These include cryptomerias, azaleas, camellias and hydrangeas that grow in wild lands and thrive due to the similarity of natural elements such as soil, topography, insulation, proximity to the sea— and for the Azores the contribution of the volcanic soil that shapes the landscape. One cannot help but wonder what propelled the Japanese to accept these Portuguese “intruders”. What led the Japanese to receive the Europeans so graciously when a reasonable need to defend the island would more logically have led them to rebuff the visitors? Instead, they welcomed these men with curiosity, which led to a productive partnership in many areas of commerce, science, and gradually religion. Moreover, the several Japanese village harbours even competed to accommodate the large Portuguese carrack or Nau that conducted trade with China, and also transported the seminarians and Jesuit missionaries. From these early encounters we have a registry of the Japanese impression of this “new” people, who they called Nanban-jin, meaning Barbarians from the South. Written in 1606  in the Teppo-ki,3 the Rifle Chronicle recorded these observations: 3  The Chronicle of Teppo-Ki (The Rifle Chronicle) was ordered by the Lord of Tanegashima, Tanegashima Hisatoki, to Nampo Bushi, a monk from Dairyuu-ji/Tairyuu-ji Temple in Satsuma. It deals with the acquisition of two rifles and the process of their reproduction by Tanegashima Tokitaka, Hisatoki’s father. The book was originally published in 1606 and is now fully translated into Spanish by Mario Martín Merino in Nampo Bushi, Teppo-ki.

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These men, barbarians from the southeast, are traders. To a certain point they understand the difference between superior and inferior, […] but I am not sure whether they follow etiquette of their own. They drink from cups without offering to others; they eat with their fingers and not with sticks, as we do. [6]

Among other evidence of this new and questionable civilization, the Japanese also recorded these observations: […] these southern men show their feelings without any kind of restriction […] they spend their time drifting from here to there, with no fixed abode, and they trade things they own for things they do not possess, but in the bottom they are harmless. [6]

One letter sent in 1562 by the Kagoshima daimyo to a Jesuit provincial priest in India reflects the affability shown by the Japanese: And because the Portuguese are good men we greatly appreciate their coming to our lands, where they will suffer no offense, rather they will be favoured in every way, because from the very beginning of the world we have never encountered any people who resembles the Portuguese. [7]

Similarly, Paulo de Santa Fé,4 from Goa writes in November 1548 about the Japanese: […] a people very sensible and thirsty of knowledge, both in matters related to God and in others related to science (see p. 23 in [8]). From the aforesaid it would appear that from the outset those early encounters between the Japanese and Portuguese were amenable, reflecting reciprocal curiosity, amazement, and economic interest. It was only later that the mistrust, rivalries, and political intrigue that characterized the late-sixteenth-century relationship took root. Indeed, from 1597 onwards we see an intermittent persecution of converted Christians and priests and the banning of trade with the Portuguese in 1639. Here, though, we want to emphasize the marvel of those years from 1543 until 1597: Portugal was responsible for bringing the western culture to Japan. The kings of Portugal, not the kings of Spain or even the Pope, were the ones who enlivened the Christianization and friendship ties with the daimios, sent them letters, presents and words of motivation. It was the “generous donations” of the kings of Portugal, part of the commercial profits from Malacca that financially maintained the missions. (See p. 19 in [9])

That initial encounter in 1543 was followed by nearly a century of oftentimes-­ capricious connections: some of great friendship and cooperation, others of competition and hatred that left scars on both cultures and threatened religious freedom. Various scholars refer to that period between 1543 and 1639 as The Christian Century, during which the Portuguese took the lead in establishing European roots in Japan. João Paulo Oliveira e Costa5 describes those early European incursion and

4  Anjiro, baptized as Paulo de Santa Fé, was the first recorded Japanese Christian. After committing a murder he fled from Japan to Portuguese Malacca where he met St. Francis Xavier. Anjiro’s description of the land of Japan impressed Xavier so much that he decided to go to Japan himself. Anjiro followed Xavier and returned to Japan as his interpreter. 5  João Paulo Oliveira e Costa is a Japanologist and the Director of the New University Research Centre for the Humanities and Overseas History in Lisbon.

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the dominance of the Portuguese (although the Company of Jesus was based in Italy). In his own words: From the beginning the Portuguese Jesuits were not the only ones acting in Japan; some missionaries came from other countries, mainly Spaniards and Italians. Notwithstanding, we will go on saying the “Portuguese”6 whenever the missionaries who acted in the Japanese archipelago are concerned. Integrated in the Portuguese Patronage of the East those missionaries represented in fact the Portuguese interests, which in the missionary context mostly coincided with those of the Church. As an example let us consider Xavier’s expression […] when mentioning his trip to Japan Francisco wrote that three Portuguese and three Japanese are going. (See p. 152 in [11])

We must also pay homage to Portuguese Jesuit letters from 1549, the Historia de Japam and the Treaty on Contradictions by Luis Frois, two priceless Renaissance publications that brought those early descriptions of Japan to Europe through Portugal. Accordingly, the focus of his books culminates in 1597—the year that both the Nagasaki Martyrdom took place when 26 Japanese Catholics were crucified, and when Luis Frois passed away in that same city. The Portuguese influence in Japan is still visible in small things such as words and recipes, and even in the original urban layout of Nagasaki, which spreads up the hill. By the same token, the Japanese influence in Portuguese culture is also manifested in the introduction of new words, the creation of new artistic objects in which the two cultures merged, and last but not least, in the importance of the “new” beverage known in Japan as Cha and in Portugal as Cha (tea)—long before tea became popular in Europe in the early-seventeenth century.

2.1  Tracing Back What the Portuguese Brought from Japan Tracing back the myriad ways that Portugal and the Portuguese were impacted by less than a century of interactions with the island nation is, to varying degrees, an intriguing exercise in historical synthesis. The Portuguese Jesuits, merchants, and sailors who laboured to bridge the very dissimilar cultures did, for a remarkable period in the early history of global trading, engage peacefully and productively with Japanese lords, merchants and the local people. The resulting fortunes that were amassed by the trade between Portugal, India, China and Japan were invested in Portugal. And while the details of how it was spread among families in many regions in Portugal and beyond is impossible to trace, we have the Jesuits churches and a range of artistic artefacts that speak to the enduring Japanese imprint. Churches like Espírito Santo’s Church in Évora, St. Roque’s Church in Lisbon, Sé Nova in Coimbra and São Lourenço’s Church and College in Porto, are good examples of the rich monuments built by Jesuits from the 1550s to 1600 in the main cities of Portugal. 6  Between 1549 and 1594 more than half of the European Jesuits living in Japan were Portuguese, on average 75% in the 1550s and 1560s, 65% in the 1570s and 1580s and 58% in the 1590s in [10].

2.1  Tracing Back What the Portuguese Brought from Japan

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Another intriguing reflection of the early relationship between Japan and Portugal—and critical for this book—are the manuscripts of the Jesuits who reported vividly and rigorously from this new land and new culture. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 all depend on those early texts. Some of them were immediately published in Évora like the Cartas written by several Jesuits, and Frois’ letters published as small books in Rome. As this section details, however, it is the artistry of the period that provides the most colourful evidence of the historical association between the two countries. The Nanban screens (byobu) and lacquer work where the Portuguese are pictured serve as vivid portraits of sixteenth-century Portuguese at work: navigating and trading. Like a four-and-a-half centuries-old mirror for the Portuguese, the Japanese Nanban screens are the best portrait we can have of the Renaissance Portuguese men in full action: as sailors, merchants, and “discoverers” in a new land, finding new markets and new people. From the fine Japanese Nihonga colour painting technique,7 we observe how life was carried in the carracks, the mixture of people and races within it to make that unique sixteenth-century vessel work and sail. On land, we have material evidence of how merchandise was deposited and trading goods were carried in a procession of tall people wearing European trousers and jackets to meet Japanese people. In their shops we can see the fashionable products in the windows, women and children peeking behind the curtains, and the tall Jesuits wearing long black robes peacefully overlooking the hustle and bustle. There is a pair of Nanban screens (byobu) in the Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis in Porto, and two pairs of large byobu can be found in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon; others are held in private collections. It is not possible to recognize if they represent any exact location in Japan; nevertheless, they reflect a type of waterfront location and the commotion and excitement associated with the arrival of the Portuguese Kurofume8 in Japan and the commercial engagement that then followed. Painters such as Kano Naizen (1570–1616) used their seals to mark screens from the first epoch of the Kano School’s academic period, while scenes of popular celebration including events such as those which happened in the port of Nagasaki were faithfully represented in the painting. […] Although Nagasaki was certainly the main port where trading was carried out between the Portuguese and Japanese (and is therefore more closely linked to the history of the screens) we should not forget the ports of Satsuma and Bungo, Hirado and Yokoseura, that had previously welcomed vessels. (See p. 9 in [12])

Alexandra Curvelo, a historian of Japanese arts, recently published an analysis of 12 byobu owned by Portuguese and Japanese museums. The enlarged details she provides of some of these lively and colourful images offer rigorous information about 7  Nihonga is a general term for traditional Japanese painting originated during the Meiji period, to distinguish Japanese painting from Western-style oil painting. Nowadays the term is commonly used to refer to Japanese art based on painting styles that follow traditional models. The support is paper, silk, wood, or plaster, to which natural pigments were applied, with nikawa, an animal glue, as the adhesive. Gold and other metals were also commonly applied in these paintings. 8  Kurofune, meaning black ship, so named for the black pitch painted on the hull.

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the annual arrival of the Portuguese ships in the sixteenth century and the subsequent trading throughout Japan. The trip from Macau to Nagasaki was not very long, only around 20–30 days, so the sailors depicted in the byobu do not appear beaten down by the ocean and the winds—instead they all dressed quite elegantly. The crew’s hierarchy is evident in the fancy dress and jewels worn by the sea captains. On the carrack’s deck they wear hats and an important person sits on a chair, a servant holding an umbrella to shade him. A beverage is served on a small table and most of the important men who sit around it sport moustaches and feature the long noses of Westerners. Members of the crew perform unimaginable acrobatics: hanging from ropes, sliding down along the masts, climbing up a grid of ropes, crowding three and four on the small unbalanced crow’s nest up on the highest point of the carrack, or standing on the tip of the ship’s bow—all displaying youth and energy. Other activities occur on the deck, where some well-dressed men lean on a table as if playing chess or cards. Others lean lazily, but most of the people on the boat seem to be disorderly active, talking, gesticulating, pointing to the distance or calling with movements of the arms (Fig. 2.2). Priests, who are instantly recognizable with their long black robes and peculiar hats, also stand on the deck. While no pilot or captain is easily discernible we know

Fig. 2.2  Nanban screen depicting the arrival of the Kurofune and the unloading of merchandise from China, India, and Europe. Biombo Nanban (1593–1601), Kano Naizen. (Courtesy Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon, Direção-Geral do Património Cultural/Arquivo de Documentação Fotográfica (DGPC/ADF), 2015)

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they were there—if sound were to be added to this picture, we would almost certainly hear the shouting, the sound of the wind, and perhaps the black-robed Jesuit preaching from the flat area of the ship’s stern. From an analysis of centuries-old merchandise and trading lists and cross checking with pictorial evidence from the byobu, we can see the diversity of objects and animals introduced in Japan. Small boats rowing toward land carry silk bales, large ceramic pots, cages with animals, boxes, chairs, and wrapped large packages. Furthermore, reliable evidence enables us to know what was sold in Japan, and how the price of merchandise increased from India to China—and yet again from China to Japan. For some decades this trading was a monopoly of the Portuguese sailors and merchants who had established a trustful relationship with the feudal Lords of Kyushu to whose lands the carracks first arrived. And though it was important for the Japanese to receive these ships for the products they carried, the truth is that on the Portuguese side the struggle to go into these voyages was even bigger. The reason for such an interest laid on the fabulous profit it represented to the ship-owners. Soon the Portuguese realized that the merchandise the Japanese most coveted was the Chinese silks, to be traded by silver and copper. In fact they also acquired Japanese goods, such as lacquered objects, swords and screens, all of them much appreciated in Europe, but the bulk of the profit came from the Chinese silks and the silver. The Portuguese crown was fast to regulate this trade, decreeing that the post of skipper for the Japan voyage was granted against a donation, fitting into the traditional graces bestowed on the noblemen for services rendered to the king and the kingdom. [13]

We know from the historical record that the captains of the Black Ships were noblemen who, if they were able to return to Lisbon without encountering merciless pirates or even more merciless storms, were able to increase their investment one hundred times over during their four-year absence. The same way we saw the production of luxury goods such as furniture in Goa, India—ordered by Portuguese according to the needs and tastes of a European clientele, crafted by Indians, and shipped to Lisbon for sale (see p. 80 in [14])—we later witness the Japanese production of local crafts transformed into refined items for export. The range of Indo-Portuguese art and utilitarian objects that were shipped to Portugal on a regular basis for acquisitive buyers included chests, writing desks made of exotic woods and silver, tortoise shell and mother of pearl objects, church utensils, and sculpted ivory Christian symbols. It wasn’t long after that the Japanese-­ Portuguese trading movement sparked the same taste for exotic materials made of Japanese lacquer, mother of pearl, and varnished ray skin gorgeously incorporated in objects and decorated with silver finishing. Serving both religious and secular purposes, Japanese arts and crafts—some specific to the Japanese habits of calligraphy or tea making—surprised and enchanted Portugal. In particular, a range of unique Japanese lacquer-work products were easy to transport and thus were an early representative of the influx of exotic products to be sold in the European markets (Fig. 2.3). In the Empire of the Rising Sun lacquers had for a long time led the rank of ornamental arts, these lacquered objects being appreciated both for the perfection in the application and polishing of the protective coating as for the exquisiteness of the decorations with precious materials. (See p. 41 in [15])

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Fig. 2.3  Japan, late sixteenth-century box (cofre) lacquered in black (urushi), decorated with gold lacquer (maquiye), and inlaid with mother-of-­ pearl. (Private Collection in Portugal, ©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

João Rodrigues explains this new material and how habitually the Japanese used it. His fascinating description of this new technique of varnishing with a particular kind of tree sap that has to be extracted at just the right time pays homage to the Japanese commitment to perfection: […] It is the varnishing art we usually call uruxar, from the word uruxy that means a varnish made from the sap of some trees where incisions in the trunk are made on specific epochs of the year, exuding an excellent sap that serves as varnish; those trees also exist in China, in Cauchi (in the Annan bay), Camboja and Sian. But of all the nations the Japanese are the most expert in this art and so skilful that they make things with this varnish that resemble shining, smooth horn; this art is common throughout the whole Kingdom, since all eating appliances as bowls and other containers and utensils are varnished with this varnish as well as the tables and trays where they eat with much solitude and art, and any kind of liquid, hot as it may be, poured into these bowls and vases does not cause any damage, as if they were made of glassed clay. They also varnish […] the sheaths of the katanas… and a multitude of things and thus it is the most universal art in the whole kingdom, because they apply it to almost everything. [16]

Similar to the information gleaned from painted Nanban screens, we have much to learn from the variety of Japanese lacquer work objects, some of which depict the Portuguese Nanban-jin in a caricature fashion with their long noses, mustached faces, and thin legs. Fortuitously, lacquer-work Nanban screens were transported to Portugal and are now displayed in the National Museums, in churches and in private collections. A careful examination of their detailed information links the Portuguese to their faraway past and to daily life in historical Japan. If any doubt existed about the good entente between these two peoples, even a cursory viewing of the Nanban screens and the lacquer work makes evident that Portugal and Japan had a first coup de foudre that no other culture ever reached. On that matter, Chantal Kozyreff [17] questions very pointedly why there are no portraits depicting the Dutch or the English traders in Nagasaki—only Portuguese vessels, sailors and merchants, and the Jesuits.

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25

In an analogous way to how the Kano school painted the Nanban ships and depicted trade, Portuguese Jesuits recorded Japan and its people in texts and letters—but principally through the huge Historia de Japam by Luis Frois, on which this book largely depends. In addition to Frois, who arrived in Japan in 1563, we must also give credit to other Jesuits such as Luis Almeida and Gaspar Vilela who introduced Japan to Portugal through their letters. This corpus of letters and the Historia de Japam has become more and more cherished as historians are discovering and revisiting the rich database they hold. For the Jesuits, education was (and still is) a priority, and those sixteenth-century chroniclers seem to have been programmed to work steadily and produce information on a regular basis. The annual letters sent from Asia on the Portuguese carracks revealed an island realm and a culture as yet unknown in Europe prior to the sixteenth century. Many Jesuit priests sent letters from India, Malaca, Macau and Japan to the Jesuit colleges of Coimbra, Evora, Lisbon and elsewhere, full of captivating information about these new lands. The letters were written in Portuguese in a simple journal style, and yet they afford an almost impressionist view of those faraway lands, punctuated by opinions on the novelties they confronted. A compilation of these letters constitutes two large volumes entitled Cartas que os Padres e Irmãos da Companhia de Jesus que andão nos Reynos do Japão escreverão aos da mesma Companhia da India e Europa desdo anno de 1549 até ao de 1580. Created under the patronage of Archbishop D.  Teodósio de Braganza and dated 1596, this publication represents a treasure trove of historical information and impressions from a range of personages—from the exalted to the unassuming. Consider, for example, that the first letter is from St. Francis Xavier, while the second one was penned by a humble Japanese friar, Paulo (Angero), who met St. Francis in Macau and accompanied him as his translator in Japan. The editor assembled these many letters, but added two standouts: one from D. Sebastião, the King of Portugal, to the feudal Lord of Bungo, and a second letter from the Lord of Hirado to the King of Portugal. While those initial impressions of Japan as conveyed by pen and ink likely prompted more questions than they answered, they opened a door to new land then unknown in Europe. And now, for researchers of feudal-era Japanese gardens, temples, cities, and landscapes, these letters have served as a rich database, and we are indebted to four chroniclers who offered us a tremendous help through their texts and rigorous reports. All four chroniclers appear in the first and second volumes of Cartas: Gaspar Vilela, who signed his first letter in 1554; Luis Frois, whose first published letters date from when he was still in Malaca in 1556; Luis Almeida, who wrote from Macau in 1557 for the first time; and Lourenço, the Japanese brother who was so helpful in teaching the Japanese ways and language to the Portuguese chroniclers, signed one of the published letters in 1566. Our knowledge of the period is augmented later by others’ writings, notably João Rodrigues who arrived in Japan in 1577 and remaining until 1610. His Historia da Igreja do Japão was not published until the twentieth century. As noted, however, this book simply could not have been written had not Luis Frois created his Historia de Japam, which only came to be published in Portuguese

26

2  Portuguese Presence in Japan (1543–1600)

from 1976 to 1984 in Lisbon. Short chronologies of Gaspar Vilela, Luis Almeida, and João Rodrigues are presented as attachments. The life of Luis Frois is accorded significantly more detail since he is the one who dedicated ten years of his life to systematically portraying Japan in a deeper and more organized way in his Historia de Japam, which remained hidden and silent for 400 years.9 We credit these four Portuguese with their intense work and appreciation of Japan for conveying their knowledge to the wider world. They spoke Japanese, understood and respected the Japanese culture, and spent around thirty years traversing the country and endeavouring to understand the Japanese landscape and its inhabitants. In their letters and in the Historia de Japam they frequently use Japanese words. This acculturation is an interesting point since words from the Portuguese culture were used and adopted in Japan as well. Janeira (see pp. 331–340 in [18]) complied 35 Japanese words introduced into the Portuguese language that are still used today, including biombo (screen), banzé (noise), catana (katana), quimono (kimono), chá (tea), chávena (tea cup) and many others. Wealth from trade entered Portugal from the revenues of merchants, from the Jesuits’ percentage of trading profits, and finally from the nobles and the Crown who soon after the “discovery” of this profitable trade controlled its enterprise. It is impossible to attribute the economic growth that occurred during the second half of the sixteenth century to distinctly Japanese, Chinese, or Indian trade—or what monuments, palaces, gardens, and churches were built with those profits. Nonetheless, that period coincides with the raising of important buildings indicating wealth, refinement and containing symbols of the Japanese-Portuguese relationship. Also supporting the strength of those economic ties is that during those decades Portuguese merchants and sailors were the only commercial intermediaries between China and Japan: The itineraries made in the sixteenth century, later copied and printed since the last years of the century, registered the main routes and rules for Portuguese merchants’ voyages to Japan. [19]

It was, however, in no way a one-sided relationship. The Japanese feudal lords competed for this lucrative business and welcomed the Kurofune (the Black Ships) to their lands, and different regions were receiving the boats for a specific reason. When we visited the southern coast of Kyushu, the large southern island of Japan, we quickly realized that a boat sailing from the south could enter any of the hundreds of natural inlets along the Japanese coastline. Thus, prior to the 1571 establishment of Nagasaki as the principal receiving port, a certain random anchoring of those vessels occurred. Soon thereafter, however, the Portuguese came to realize the importance of partnering with Omura Sumitada, the feudal lord of the Omura region, who ruled over a large tract of oceanfront land that was well suited for the annual arrival of the Portuguese carracks. Also important to this relationship is that Sumitada became the first daimyo (feudal lord) to become Christian and was the diplomat who brokered the financial relationships between the Jesuits and the  A possible reason for this unpublished manuscript is provided in Chap. 6.

9

2.1  Tracing Back What the Portuguese Brought from Japan

27

Japanese and concocted the regulations for tax paying at Yokoseura (one of the first anchoring locales). Indeed, Martins Janeira maintained that the priests’ activity focused on taking advantage of the opportunities created by commerce. In the XVI century the pioneers who found the Japanese islands met with a country closed upon itself, which soon surrendered to the Nanban-jin (barbarians from the south) who “offered” them goods from other worlds in exchange for local goods. At the time Japan was divided in small feuds whose lords soon started to dispute the coming of these vessels to their lands. After several stop-overs, the Nagasaki port was finally selected and became the annual harbour for the Portuguese ships, between 1571 and 1639. […] And although the skipper was financially responsible for rigging the ships and all risks were on his own account, besides being required to be the governor of Macau as long as he stayed there, the truth is that this enterprise yielded such a profit that receiving it was considered a great favour. [13]

While the Jesuits may have had a strong Christian mandate to evangelize the Japanese, they took their auxiliary roles as diplomats and financial brokers quite seriously. It is well known that the Jesuits were good businessmen and profited from decades of East-West trade, which was, of course, spearheaded by the Portuguese. Consider, for instance, that in the early-seventeenth century Macau was the richest Portuguese town in the east, second only to Goa. Approximately one thousand Portuguese lived there. Faria e Sousa reports that a stream of gold was sent from there to support the religious directives of the Jesuit Company in the East (see p. 363 in [20]). Janeira, who studied the myriad impacts of the Portuguese arrival on Japanese soil (and vice-versa) gathered financial data validating the profits that resulted from trade: Still during the last years of commerce with Japan did the Portuguese bring back 150 to 200 thousand kilograms of silver annually, in a time when world production of silver amounted to 370 to 420 thousand kilograms; thus the production from Japan only represented one third to a half of the current world production.10 The trade continued to be highly profitable. In 1580 Father Valignano reported that the Portuguese made an annual profit of 500 thousand silver ducados from the commerce between China and Japan. In 1562, there were ninety Portuguese in Hirado, which accounts for the relevance the trade had achieved. Therefore the Jesuits asked the daimyo for permission to build a church. Many Portuguese merchants in Hirado, and later in Nagasaki, were married to Japanese women (unlike the Dutch who, according to the reports that survived, lived with them in concubinage). Many Portuguese merchants were married to the daughters of wealthy Japanese. Some of those Portuguese spoke Japanese fluently. It is reported that a Portuguese who settled in Nagasaki in 1571 established a glass factory there. [18]

Similarly, C. R. Boxer [21] studied the percentages of profits that were allocated to the activity of the Jesuits (mostly in the silk trade with China) and how from 1584 an agreement regulated the Church’s profits between the King of Portugal and the Jesuit Society. The tangible symbols of the Jesuit wealth that emerged from the profitable trade with Japan and China during the sixteenth century is evident in the pace with which Jesuit churches, colleges, and religious monuments were built in Portuguese lands.  Quoting Arcadio Schwade “Das erste Jahrhundert der Begegnung—Die Portugiesen als Interpreten Europas” in p. 121 in [18].

10

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2  Portuguese Presence in Japan (1543–1600)

In just fifty years the Jesuits built about twenty major churches and colleges—the most important of which are the following, with some earning a place on the list of UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites. The church of S.  Roque was constructed in 1553  in Lisbon; interestingly, the main chapel of S. Roque was sponsored by Bartolomeu Frois, probably the uncle of Luis Frois. Eight years later in the northeast corner of Portugal in Bragança, the church of São João Baptista was also completed. In 1566 in Évora, a powerful city where King Manuel had his palace, the church of Espírito Santo and the Jesuits’ grandiose college were built. Far away in the Atlantic island of Madeira, the Jesuits’ College in Funchal was established in 1569; similarly, in 1575 the College of Santo Inácio (now Palácio dos Capitães Generais) was constructed at Angra do Heroísmo in the Azores. In Portugal, Porto received its church and the college of São Lourenço in 1577, while in Braga the church of São Paulo was erected in 1589. During the last decade of the century, Ponta Delgada built its church and college of the Jesuits in 1592, and Coimbra received the Sé Nova or Church of the Onze Mil Virgens in 1598. Bearing in mind that the Society of Jesus arrived in Portugal in 1540, invited by the King D. João III to start its missionary activity there, it would only have been possible to achieve that near-frenetic level of building over such a short period of time had the financial support been both significant and steadfast. In just five decades, the Society spread its imposing and robust presence throughout southern Europe and all over the newly discovered world through the construction of magnificent architectural sites embellished with elaborate decorations, sculptures and paintings. In many other instances, the wealth that emerged from the East facilitated structural modifications or decorative flourishes to existing churches, as evidenced in the addition of chapels built and decorated by private initiatives. Consider the Capela do Santíssimo that was added to S. Roque in Lisbon in 1636. Its construction was sponsored by Luiza Frois (the sister of Luis Frois), who was also a benefactress of the Santo Antão Jesuit College. In S. Roque’s main chapel, whose altarpiece was built between 1625 and 1628, the four frontal niches display statues of the Jesuit Company saints: St. Inácio de Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, St. Luís de Gonzaga, and St. Francisco de Borja. Additionally, in the aisle there are four paintings representing the Polish Jesuit, St. Estanislau Kostka, as well as representations of three of the twenty-six Japanese martyrs who were crucified in Nagasaki in 1597: St. Diogo, St. João Mártir, and St. Paulo Miki. These three paintings serve as a tribute to the Jesuits’ evangelization of Japan, ultimately crushed by the Tokugawa shogunate in the beginning of the seventeenth century. In the sacristy of S. Roque, the painter André Reinoso produced in 1619–1620 a series of paintings that represent episodes of St. Francis Xavier’s life, including his travels to Kyoto and a meeting with Japanese (probably bonzos), where he illustrates in great detail the encounter and the beginning of the evangelization of Japan [22]. The S.  Roque Jesuit College and house were transformed into museums in Chiado (Lisbon) where nowadays we can see Japanese artefacts, oratories, wafer boxes, and crucifixes manufactured in Japan during the late sixteenth and early sev-

2.1  Tracing Back What the Portuguese Brought from Japan

29

enteenth centuries—many of which feature the distinctive Japanese lacquers and unique techniques such as maquiye.11 In fact, the lacquer technique described earlier in this section was favoured in Portugal for a wide range of religious objects used during mass such as missal lecterns and oratories. While their basic shapes are very much in the European style, the use of black lacquer, mother of pearl and golden powder to display Christian symbols surrounded by Japanese designs of plants and animals is testimony of the cultural and artistic influence of Japan. Moreover, it is known that special objects were crafted purposely for the Portugal market: […] the Portuguese ordered either from Kyoto or from Nagasaki another type of lacquered artefacts for religious or civil usage, which were sent to Portugal where they still remain. Among this type of objects with a Portuguese influence and usually called Jesuit lacquers, special reference is made to the missal lecterns, the oratories, the wafer boxes with the Jesuit ensign, usually with mother of pearl inlays, and also endless vaults with bulging lids like travel trunks – not to mention desks, chests and trays. [15]

Indeed, a list of personal objects left in Macau by the Priest Manuel Barreto (1563–1620) and transcribed by Curvelo (see pp.  32–33  in [23]) from an Ajuda Library manuscript in 1616, indicates the range of exotic pieces accumulated by the Portuguese priests and merchants to bring back as presents, souvenirs, or remembrances of their stay in Japan. The document [24] refers […] the following Japanese items: –– –– –– –– –– –– ––

Seven small lacquered chests (cofrinhos de Maquiye), […] A small trunk containing three hundred and forty two Japanese fans (abanos); Ten Japanese tables (Mezas de Japão); A five store jobako (hum Jubaco de sinco sobrados); Five lacquered lecterns (Estantes de Maquiye boas); Two sombreros or Japanese hats made of urushi [Japanese lacquer] […] A big uruchi bench from the Procuratura’s room (Hum banco Grande uraxado da Salla da Procuratura); –– One tatami in Martim da Rocha’s house, seventeen tatami from Kyoto […] –– Also in the same house mention is made to a urushi bowl or pot (Hum vaso uraxado), nine urushi chalice boxes (Nove Caixas de Calix uraxadas), and eight brooms (Oito Vasouras Novas de Japão); (see pp. 32–33 in [23])

This document also distinguishes between two kinds of artefacts: the genuine Japanese ones (tatamis, brooms and fans, for example), and those which were made to the export market following native or western models […] (see pp. 32–33 in [23]). Another interesting object is the oratory in the altarpiece of Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Caridade owned by Misericórdia of Sardoal. Sardoal is a small village in the centre of Portugal and for a long time this work was considered to have been created in India. In the 1980s, however, a scholarly investigation conducted by Maria Helena Mendes Pinto, an expert in Portuguese-Japanese and Indo-Portuguese artistic productions, revealed its true Japanese ancestry. This oratory, which has been in the same location since 1670, says this:  Maquiye is a generic designation for lacquer work where grinded precious metals are applied on the surface (see pp. 107–108 in [15]).

11

30

2  Portuguese Presence in Japan (1543–1600) Gaspar de Souza de Lacerda ordered this Lady of Hope with her oratory to be put in this altar to be buried near him and so it was done by his wife D. Hyeronima de Parada on 7 September 1670. (See p. 61 in [25])

That caption, in spite of its relatively late date, may be considered the oldest document directly related with a Nanban object so far discovered in Portugal (see p. 64 in [15]). In actuality, there is an abundance of Japanese objects, both large and small,12 spread throughout the whole of Portugal—from Aljezur in the south to Bragança in the northeast. Although today found mostly in churches, these lacquerware pieces and other objects bring to mind those who returned from Japan bearing souvenirs, as well as reminding us of the relatively brief, but intense, period of sacred and secular engagement between Portugal and Japan.

2.2  T  he Portuguese Influence on Sixteenth-Century Japanese Culture After more than a decade of studies and work within Japan, the Portuguese ambassador to Japan, Armando Martins Janeira, published a book in 1970 entitled The Portuguese Impact on Japanese Civilization. This book represents a trustworthy compilation of much of what we know about the intense relationship that developed between the two nations, including what enfolded when the peace was shattered early in the seventeenth century. Janeira dedicates a large chapter to documenting the early years following the arrival of the Portuguese and the Europeans, culminating with a synthesis of the impact of the encounters with Japanese civilization. Notably, he paints an evocative picture of the cultural collision between the two cultures, which as this chapter will entail, spread to other realms of artistic, intellectual, and cultural expression: It all comes down to the collision between two moral worlds, the Westerner and the Eastern, so far closed and estranged from each other, that now suddenly meet in a period of History, without any transition that would soften the impact of the encounter. (See p. 145 in [18])

The second portion of his book is devoted to political and diplomatic relationships, focusing on the Portuguese impact on Japan, which he indicates was monumental: In no other country, except Brazil, has Portugal exerted such a deep influence as in Japan. […] How much do we know about the facts and the repercussions of that exceptional encounter East-West triggered by the Portuguese during the 16th century? [18]

Rooted in a European context, the Portuguese influence on the culture, educational system, arts, sciences, and technology of Japan was understandably intense after almost a century of contact, as Kiichi Matsuda relates in his book, The Relations

 Mª Helena Mendes Pinto published an inventory of the Jesuit lacquers and the impressive number of towns owning them in [15].

12

2.2  The Portuguese Influence on Sixteenth-Century Japanese Culture

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between Portugal and Japan. The initial influences were most certainly transmitted by the Portuguese Jesuits, which we know from several sources created a very good impression among the Japanese people: The majority [of Jesuits] were undoubtedly Portuguese, just as their achievements were Portuguese achievements (see p. 65 in [26]). One of the most well-known outcomes of this first contact was the introduction of the first matchlock-style guns (harquebuses) at Tanegashima. Ana Fernandes Pinto, a Japanologist scholar who developed her PhD thesis around this topic [27], tells us: The gun was spontaneously introduced by the merchants, but the daimyo of Tanegashima bought two weapons straightaway, without even discussing the price, and ordered one of his vassals to study the method of the harquebuses manufacture. The study was successful and the fame of the firearms spread from Kyushu to Kyoto. [28]

Perhaps counterintuitively, we nonetheless interpret this event as a most exceptional act of peace between people who were meeting for the first time. The Japanese war lords took a very natural interest in the weapon, and, under Portuguese instruction, thousands of muskets were manufactured by the Japanese in Tanegashima. (See p. 66 in [26])

Equally important, this single event fundamentally altered the long-established feudal system whereby each warlord competed with rivals using the same warfare techniques. As such, it was difficult for one warlord to gain supremacy over another given the similarity of their weaponry. The introduction of the gun, therefore, gave an enormous advantage to the daimyos and warlords who used them against their enemies, who were ill-equipped to defend themselves using the traditional feudal weapons that had long served them on the battlefield. The daimyos who first wielded the powerful harquebuses were principally located on the island of Kyushu where Portuguese trade was occurring, but those living in the Sakai area (near Osaka), where the guns were manufactured, also enjoyed an immediate advantage with the new firearms. Those warriors who were able to acquire and master the new weapons soon easily dominated their adversaries. According to Frois, although a number of daimyos vied for ascendency, it was Nobunaga who rose to dominance; not surprisingly he also protected the Portuguese and the Jesuits with them. The use of guns brought a revolution to the military techniques in Japan and became a significant contribution towards the country’s unification, initiated by Oda Nobunaga. This great tactician innovated these military techniques during the 1575 Nagashino battle by dispensing the artillery among several groups that opened fire alternately. [29]

Even though the introduction of the rifle is nowadays widely known throughout Japan, the Portuguese can also be credited with the promulgation of other scientific and technological advancements, as the twentieth-century emperor, Akihito, himself declared. I would like to acknowledge some of these early cultivators of science in Japan. […] It is said that in 1543, Tanegashima, an island in the South of Japan, was visited by Portuguese

32

2  Portuguese Presence in Japan (1543–1600) who introduced firearms to the inhabitants. Within only a few years, several dozen guns had been manufactured on the island, and the techniques for their manufacture had begun to spread throughout Japan. In the meantime, the Portuguese returned home with stories about Japan, and thereafter Portuguese ships loaded with merchandise for trade appeared frequently in Japanese ports. […] After 1549, Francis Xavier and many other Jesuits came to Japan, serving both as missionaries and as conduits of European learning. It was during this period, for example, that the Japanese first learned that the earth was round and were first exposed to European medical practices, including surgery, which was not part of Chinese medicine. […] The interchange with Portugal and other European countries, which had such a great influence on Japanese learning and technology, lasted no more than 100 years […]. [30]

This notable observation was taken forward by Henrique Leitão, a renowned scholar of the history of science, in order to highlight the significance of the Portuguese introduction of scientific knowledge and the way it was absorbed by Japanese scientists [31]. In particular, Leitão stresses two areas of influence that were vital to the island nation: medicine and cartography. The introduction of European medical practices that Emperor Akihito mentioned can be largely credited to one exceptional man, Luis de Almeida. His life story was recorded in the 1969 by Pacheco [32], who conducted a thorough investigation of Almeida’s influence and translated Frois’ text: He was the one who invented the idea of making the Hospital in Bungo, near our House where we hosted abandoned children. […] In the other area, the Priests are determined to build a hospital […] as Father Torres considered the need in this land, they determined as a service to the Lord to build a Hospital which is a new thing among them… Many rushed to be cured by a Brother [Luis de Almeida] whom we received here […]. (See p. 117 in [33])

According to these records and other sources devoted to the history of medical science, the Portuguese were influential in this regard, and in a short period of time passed their scientific and medical knowledge to the Japanese through the establishment of treatment facilities: [Luis de Almeida] became a Jesuit and by 1557 had established a Hospital in Funai (now Oita), in the province of Bungo, where he was the chief doctor (see p. 67 in [26]). In addition to caring for the sick (notably the lepers) on Kyushu, the Portuguese Jesuits also implemented free social assistance programs as part of their Christian charity mandate to assist the needy and indigent. Today in Oita, the city continues to recognize the legacy of Luis Almeida. Indeed, a statue of the Portuguese surgeon, missionary, and merchant still stands in memory of a hero who gave much to the city as the founder of the first nursery in Japan in 1556, and the first hospital in Oita in 1557. An essential element in the transmittal of scientific and medical knowledge was learning the Japanese language, which became a requirement for any Japan-based Jesuit. Only then could they convey information about complex fields such as the abstract sciences. And for that purpose, an academy of mathematics and astronomy was set up in Miyaco (Kyoto) (see p. 69 in [26]). Francis Xavier specifically sought Portuguese missionaries who were acquainted with astronomy, as the Japanese were interested in the movements of the heavenly bodies, the nature of solar eclipses, and in the waxing and waning of the moon. Matsuda asserted that astronomy lifted positive science and rationalistic spirits in Japan […] made an epoch-making impact on the history of Japan (see p. 69 in [26]). This impact in specific areas such

2.2  The Portuguese Influence on Sixteenth-Century Japanese Culture

33

Fig. 2.4  Nanban screen detail, depicting four Portuguese carracks surrounding the globe. (Courtesy The Nanban Bunkakan Museum in Osaka, Japan)

as medicine and cartography is corroborated by Japanese documents and continues to be recognized in Japan. Geographical, nautical, and astronomical studies also represent areas of knowledge and scholarship much prized by the Japanese, who were eager to expand their understanding of the sixteenth-century world. After the arrival of the Portuguese merchants and Jesuits, the Japanese concept of the world changed entirely and the theory that “the world is round” was accepted in Japan (see p. 71 in [26]). Consider the byobu (folding screen) held in a private collection in Osaka13 depicting four caravels with Portuguese flags surrounding the globe (Fig.  2.4), confirming this then-new concept. The Japanese book, Genna-­ kokaisho (1618), which translates to “Voyage of the Genna-age”, is a translation and adaptation of a Portuguese nautical guide. Its author, Ikeda Koun, learned astronomy and navigation from the Europeans and the book describes usual techniques and procedures used by Portuguese sailors for measuring the altitude of the Sun and the Southern Cross, the use of quadrant, compass astrolabe, etc. (See p. 281 in [31])

Given the long historical importance of Portuguese seafaring and exploration, it is no surprise that they were masters of cartography—a field of expertise in Portugal in the fifteenth century. As an applied science that supported the Japanese sense of pragmatism, map-making became a subject of intense exchange.  The Nanban Bunkakan Museum in Osaka is a private collection founded by Kitamura Yoshiro who collected Nanban objects during the twentieth century. There, a precious piece is displayed: the cross offered by the Pope to the Tensho Boys’ Embassy who visited him in Rome.

13

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2  Portuguese Presence in Japan (1543–1600) One of the more interesting aspects of the Western influence is on cartography, in particular the work of Inácio Moreira. This is a theme where a true exchange of knowledge between East and West took place. A clear influence of Western knowledge on Japanese cartographic techniques is discernible, but as some authors have noted, we should also not neglect the improvement in European charts due to the import of Asian knowledge. (See pp.  281– 282 in [31]) Jesuits stationed in Japan introduced Nanban maps. Portuguese explorer, Ignacio Moreira, who entered Japan in 1590 and stayed for two years, improved Japanese cartography by charting more precise coastlines. Nanban maps continued to be used during the period of isolationism […] (See p. 21 in [34])

We know from existing Japanese arts of the period that cartography was highly valued by the upper classes. For proof, one needs only consider the traditional blue and golden leaf byobu in the Osaka Castle Museum that Toyotomi Hideyoshi ordered, which depicts the Portuguese system of routes and geographic representations (Fig.  2.5). Using precious gold sheets, this byobu illustrates with precision Kyushu Island, the Nanban sea route to Europe, the sea route to Korea, and the Kagoshima route. While this screen represents a local interpretation of newly imported cartography knowledge, with its depiction of the continent landscape and the thousand nooks of the basalt island, it is both a work of art and a cartographic representation of its day. The discovery of Japan, mistakenly registered in early descriptions as an island and not an archipelago, was soon incorporated into Portuguese maps as news of its existence made its way to cartographers. The reflection of this news comes into light for the first time in a Portuguese map of unknown author of around 1550, which is kept in the Vallicelliana Library in Rome. The word Japan appears for the first time in the cartography and identifies a bigger island in the

Fig. 2.5  Detail of a folding Screen, illustrating Nagasaki bay, the Portuguese ship and the sea routes of the Nanban-jin to the south. (Courtesy Osaka Castle Museum)

2.2  The Portuguese Influence on Sixteenth-Century Japanese Culture

35

middle of a group of islands that extend to the North and South of the main island, in two parallel strips. (See p. 32 in [35])

The evolution of data arriving in Portugal about the newly identified country of Japan was synthesized by Oliveira e Costa: We can conclude that the first global image of Japan results from various complementary visions; from Anjirô the real size of the country and its main socio-political characteristics; from Jorge Álvares the portrait of the country found by the Westerners and the cold analysis of the population features and their civilization; and from St. Francis Xavier and his companions, a concrete knowledge of the country was deployed, but through the lens of a mythical anticipation of the Japanese Empire to Christianity. [36]

In terms of allocating credit for those early Portuguese maps, scholars principally refer to Cortesão: The kind of Bartolomeu Velho map, as he is called by A. Cortesão, can easily be distinguished from the rest because it represents Japan as an archipelago and includes, for the first time, the Lezo Island in the North in a group of four main islands. If we exclude the North-­ South orientation of the archipelago, the islands, from their position and dimension, originally remind us of the real archipelago. Cortesão considers this drawing “the most noteworthy representation of Japan in the sixteenth century”. (See p. 71 in [26])

However, Matsuda leaves open the possibility of the cartographer having received influence from Japanese cartography, although it seems it is not a Gyogi type map, but a more advanced model (see p. 35 in [35]). The author also discusses other geographic influences (see p. 70 in [26]) indicating that Ignacio Monteiro […] surveyed western Japan during 1590 and 1591 and made the first geographical map of Japan (see p. 71 in [26]). Representations of ports, bays, and physical regions were made by both cultures, and from readings of both Japanese and Portuguese sources it is clear that the two collaborated, buoyed by ties of trust between both cultures. Matsuda confirms that […] Japanese merchantmen who traded in the Southern Ocean, carried Portuguese pilots [interested in] other sciences of the Nanban-jin of those days (see p. 70 in [26]), and that both science and practical knowledge of daily life were exchanged and discussed among Japanese and Portuguese men of the sixteenth century. The growing knowledge of cartography made available by the Portuguese piqued Hideyoshi’s curiosity, and in 1592 the offering of Abraão Ortelius’ world atlas and its 53 maps much pleased him and sparked the production of maps made on ceramics, drawn on paper, depicted on small lacquered boxes, and ultimately, on byobu. In fact, the Japanese were eager to reinterpret the beauty of the maps in the creation of art works in different materials, culminating in the gold and blue screens. José Yamashiro, a descendant of the Japanese in Brazil, describes the unrelenting curiosity of the Japanese in his book “Luso Collision in Japan of the 16th and 17th Centuries” (Choque Luso. No Japão dos Séculos XVI e XVII): As far as geography is concerned, Nobunaga, as well as Hideyoshi and Ieyasu, were introduced to the external world (i.e., other than Korea, China, India and a couple of countries in Japan’s vicinity) through the maps and globes exhibited by the Europeans. In one of his letters, Luis Frois writes that Nobunaga interrogated him during three hours about India’s geography, its mountains and castles, customs from other countries, etc. The priest

36

2  Portuguese Presence in Japan (1543–1600) Organtino was given the opportunity (1579) of providing Nobunaga with explanations, using a globe that existed in a room at the Azuchyy castle. (See p. 154 in [37])

Oda Nobunaga himself was one of the enthusiasts for exotic objects brought by the Portuguese. In 1581 he was described wearing a black Southern Barbarian hat. […] Over red court robes, he wore a sleeveless jacket of Chinese brocade and chaps of tiger skin (see p.  384  in [38]). And Derek Massarella describes the “Embassy” (envoy) of four young samurai boys representing the most important Christian families [39] sent in 1582 on a diplomatic mission to reinforce the links between Japan and the Christian church; they are considered to be the first Japanese ever to visit Europe. Once back in Japan the four young men14 […] They accompanied Valignano, in his capacity of ambassador of the Portuguese viceroy in Goa, on his visit to Hideyoshi in Kyoto in 1591. On the way, Valignano used every opportunity to show off the young men before Japanese notables. They relished their role as teachers on such occasions. Speaking in Japanese, and utilising the books, which included Abraham Ortelis’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum,15 artefacts, including an astrolabe and a globe, and musical instruments they had brought back from Europe, they described their travels. According to Luís Fróis, they did this more effectively and skilfully than most Europeans in similar circumstances would have been able to do. These impromptu tutorials were a tableau vivant of the colloquia in De Missione and a rehearsal for how the book was intended to be used. (See p. 12 in [40])

The Portuguese also impacted the system of education in Japan. Colleges were built by Jesuits and: […] the Ratio Studiorum came into force. This was a regulation issued by the Society of Jesus in 1558 which required that the children of Christians should attend Christian schools. […] in 1583, every church had a similar (adjacent) school until there were some 200 of them. If each school averaged 60 pupils, there must have been 12,000 pupils in western Japan being taught the new civilization and thought. (See p. 74 in [26])

Matsuda claims this propagation to be […] a turning point in the educational history of Japan (see p. 74 in [26]). Consider also how the influx of Portuguese merchants and missionaries impacted the Japanese language, especially in light of a population eager to know more about their visitors from the West. During the sixteenth century many Portuguese words were introduced into the Japanese vocabulary, referring new things unknown to Japan. In Kiushu, according to Jiujiro Koga, they used as many as approximately four thousand words, most of them obsolete nowadays. Sansom refers the indignation felt by a Japanese grammar scholar towards the new habit of introducing Portuguese words in normal Japanese conversations. Among the Portuguese words still in use nowadays the most current ones are related to food and garments, evidencing the depth of the influence in every day’s life, as Prof. Kiichi Matsuda pointed out. It also reflects the Japanese openness to anything new and coming from abroad. (See p. 210 in [18])

 Referring to the Tensho embassy, composed of four young Japanese boys representing the most important Christian daimyos, sent by the Japanese Christian Lord Otomo Sorin to the Pope and the King of Portugal and Spain in 1582. They returned to Japan in 1590. 15  The Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Abraham Ortelius is considered to be the first true modern atlas. It was originally printed on May 20, 1570, in Antwerp, and contained 53 bundled maps by several masters. 14

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Janeira lists about two hundred Portuguese words still in use in Japan that are vestiges of that first Japanese-Portuguese contact. Xavier de Castro (Michel Chandeigne) in his 2013 book about the Discovery of Japan (see pp. 388–390 in [41]), refers to religious expressions, geographic terms, nautical words and phrases, food and garment names imported from Portuguese. Other European imports such as glass, which was adapted from the original Portuguese word, Vidro, to the Japanese word, Biduru enriched the Japanese vocabulary with new words that remain into this day in a modified format: veludo—birodo (velvet), capa—kappa (cape), manto—manto (cloak), botão—botan (button), sabão—shabon (soap), bolo—boro (cake), biscoito—bisukoito (biscuit), caramelo—kyarumero (caramel), confeito—konpeio (confetti), pão—pan (bread), Tabaco—tabako (tobacco), missa—misa (mass), carta—karuta (letter), caju—kashuu (cashew), etc. As the Jesuits became more fluent in Japanese they could more easily carry out their main goal of evangelization—but they also became invaluable as translators and mediators for the trade between Portuguese and Japanese merchants. This dual role is evidenced in most Nanban screens where we can see them in their long black robes standing in small numbers adjacent to ships, ready to engage with the disembarking population of European merchants and traders. With the availability of the Gutenberg printing press, invented in Europe circa 1450 but as yet unknown in Japan, the Visitor Priest from the Jesuit Society, Alexandro Valignano16 realized the utility it would serve in spreading his religious message through printed books and pamphlets. He is also the one who decided to send the Japanese Tensho “embassy” to Europe, which upon their return brought the first printing press to Japan. This embassy, which included four Japanese noble boys between 13 and 14 years old, accompanied by the Portuguese Jesuit master Diogo Mesquita, left Nagasaki on 20 February 1582. They came to Europe to show themselves and visit Lisbon, Madrid and Rome—and above all to be introduced to the Pope Sixtus V (see p. 22 in [15]). They returned to Japan eight years later as young men, bringing with them the novel and very useful printing press. One of the […] cultural achievements of the Portuguese Jesuit mission was the introduction to Japan […] of the printing press (see p. 48 in [42]). With the new printing press in Nagasaki, the Jesuits printed the first books in Japan meant to help facilitate communication between Portuguese and Japanese. In particular, we have the Vocabulário da Lingoa de Iapam (a pioneering Portuguese-­ Japanese dictionary in Latin characters, known as Nippó Jishó) that was published in 1603–1604, as well as João Rodrigues Tçuzu’s remarkable The Art of the Japanese Language (Arte da Lingoa de Iapam) that represents the oldest Japanese grammar book in existence. Tadao Doi considers the Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam a most valuable source for the study of the Japanese of the sixteenth and

 Alessandro Valignano was an Italian Jesuit missionary who helped supervise the introduction of the Christian religion to the Far East, and especially to Japan, where he arrived for the first time in 1579.

16

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seventeenth centuries,17 while Boxer tells us that this Japanese-Portuguese dictionary is a masterpiece of its kind.18 Kiichi Matsuda goes further: The grammars published by the Mission Press played an important part in the history of Japanese culture. Fr. Rodrigue’s grammar not only brought system to the Japanese language for the first time but made reference to many authorities on the language and the various dialects […]. The pronunciation given by the Japanese to Chinese characters in those days cannot be identified from the characters themselves and it is only because these were spelt phonetically in Portuguese that we know today the Japanese pronunciation of the 16th and 17th centuries. This fact has enhanced the value of the Jesuit Mission Press and made its publications indispensable to the study of the Japanese language today. [26]

Between 1591 and 1611, the Jesuits printed a range of books devoted to doctrinal and liturgical themes and known as Kiristan-ban or Yasokaiban (Imprensa da Missão Jesuíta), 29 of which have come to our knowledge (see p. 35 in [42]). Of this list, seven are written in Japanese and printed in Japanese characters, nine are written in Japanese and printed in Latin characters; the others are written in Latin, Latin-­ Japanese-­Portuguese, Latin-Japanese and Japanese-Portuguese (see pp.  50–60  in [42]). Though published in Macau, we reference a special and very rare book, the only known copy in the world in Biblioteca Nacional da Ajuda in Lisbon, the Christiani Pueri Institutio, written by João Bonifácio for the students of the Jesuits seminaries (schools) in Japan, published in Latin, showing the strong priority given to education by the Jesuits. The art of painting also underwent a major change during the Momoyama period in Japan, which was in large part influenced by the influx of European visitors. There is no doubt that Europe was more developed in this realm with a greater variety and more advanced representation techniques, namely concerning the art of oil painting, perspective, and the use of chiaroscuro effects: […] the European painting style was introduced, with later repercussions on the Japanese painting art […] (see p. 237 in [18]). An appreciation for European paintings happened gradually, beginning with the art works depicting figures of saints painted in oil, which arrived on the Portuguese carracks and filled the Japanese Christians with awe. There are records of beautiful paintings of Our Lady in Kagoshima, in the hospital of Bungo, in the church of Yamagushi, in Hirado and in the belongings of several daimyos (see p. 238 in [18]). The continuing admiration of European art in Japan was reinforced with the f­ ounding of Jesuit-led art schools close to the seminaries and colleges, extending their teaching mission to oil techniques and the use of shadowing. João Rodrigues, who lived longer in Japan than in Portugal and became an intimate of the military leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi, records an interesting observation of Japanese painting techniques of the time: In what concerns the painting of figures and their parts they have little science and proportion and still they may be compared to our painters, both in the proportion of the body parts among them referring to the same body, because they lack the true science of shadowing the figures, which is what makes them real, giving them strength and beauty. (See p. 13 in [16])  Tadao Doi in p. 47 in [42].  C.R. Boxer in p. 47 in [42].

17 18

2.2  The Portuguese Influence on Sixteenth-Century Japanese Culture

39

So hungry were the Japanese to be schooled in more advanced oil-painting skills that Jesuit masters in chiaroscuro and perspective came to Japan to teach. As a result, Japanese painting in the new style began to surge, the proven outcome of the variety of non-religious instructional activities that took place at the Company colleges. Indeed, Alexandra Curvelo described Nagasaki as an European artistic city in the early modern Japan (see p. 24 in [23]), explaining the impact the painting course taught at the Jesuit Seminary, had on the success of the city. Master Giovanni Niccolo, a Jesuit who arrived from Italy in 1583 in order to preside over the Fachivaró (Arima) Seminary, created a discipline where young Japanese copied with western techniques, among others, sacred models from Flanders and Rome or adaptations of the same, brought from Spain and Portugal. (See p. 64 in [15]). […] western painting with oil, perspective and chiaroscuro was taught in Japan at the Jesuit Company’s colleges, the process that originated the Maruyama Japanese painting. (See p. 29 in [43])

A great success followed this initiative as Japanese art students began to apply their new skills to both painting sacred themes and more secular subjects such as maps and urban and landscape scenes.  Naoko Frances Hioki refers a cross-cultural relation between Japanese and European painters giving way to a ‘‘bilingual’’ aesthetics [57]. Arguably, however, the greatest survivors of this unparalleled moment in the early history of East-West globalization are the Nanban screens, wherein the techniques are entirely Japanese and the overarching theme is the encounter, the arrival, and the trade with the Nanban-jin. Fortuitously, Japanese artists used the arrival of the large carracks from the south as an artistic topic and left a tremendous (almost photographic) corpus called the Nanban byobu, in Portuguese known as the Biombos Nanban. [Among] the decorative arts pertaining to that period in Japan, one object – the screen – is outstanding: Besides forming part of the daily life of the Japanese people, the screens of the period give us an insight into the aesthetic standards prevailing at the time of the historic meeting between Europe and the Far East. Nanban screens are an allegoric and symbolic reflection of that meeting and the unfolding of real events is evident in them. (See p. 5 in [12])

The Nanban byobu depicts the arrival of the big vessel into a Japanese port and the disembarking of a mixed population of Portuguese, African, and Indian crew ­members carrying objects, animals, and garments that for many years were a complete novelty for the local people. In the painting of screens with this kind of perspective (oriental perspective) some of the events occurring in Japanese cities of the coast are developed as if in a documentary film, and minutely detailed by some well-known painters, including those of the Kano school. (See p. 9 in [12])

Without question, we attribute the most remarkable of the Nanban folding screens to the painters of the Kano school—among the great protagonists of this stylistic synthesis. Their history has been thoroughly researched by Alexandra Curvelo:

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2  Portuguese Presence in Japan (1543–1600) In 1593, when […] these painters [from the Kano school] were on their way back to Kyoto, they visited Nagasaki. There, they saw and drew the Portuguese and all that was associated with the nanban-jin, that is, the commercial life of the city as well as its Christian backgrounds. According to Tadao Takamizawa, it was within this historical frame that the idea of making folding screens depicting the Europeans did occur. The most ancient examples date back to 1593–1605, and were probably made on request of wealthy merchants living in the outskirts of Kyoto. Based on the sketches and drawings made by Kano school artists in Nagasaki, these works must have belonged to rich and well-to-do merchants, and not only or largely to feudal lords of Kyúshu and southern Honshã [Honshu]. (See p. 25 in [23])

In the early twentieth century only nine Nanban byobu were known (see p.  2  in [44]). Nevertheless several dedicated scholars19 such as Yoshitomo Okamoto20 and a team of Japanese researchers have catalogued 91 Nanban folding screens that have withstood the passage of centuries and are now spread across museums and private collections all over the world. This number speaks to the importance and popularity of this pictorial tradition that fused advanced painting techniques, geographic themes, and depictions of the early period of Portuguese and Far East exchange (see p. 7 in [45]). Janeira records their significance: One of the screens that make visible the Portuguese-Japanese adventure in Japan may be found in the Kobe Museum. It was painted under the supervision of a European who came to Japan. The screen is made with the pigment painting technique and without oil but already shows assimilation of the shadowing and perspective notions, and above all it reveals the great curiosity towards the town where the Nanban originated, a town perched on a hill with wide waterfront spaces looking onto the sea, so different from the Japanese towns. On the other hand, a town full of movement and agitation that spoke for the bustle that made possible to maintain the flow of ships and carracks to reach the end of the world – Japan. [18]

One curious sixteenth-century import from the west evidenced in the Nanban byobu is the four-legged upright chair. When Portuguese sailors first arrived in Japan, they soon discovered that chairs they were accustomed to simply did not exist in Japan. Their discomfort was exacerbated because meals took place at very low tables around which the guests would kneel. Thus, according to Oliveira e Costa,21 the chair was one practical object the Nanban-jin introduced to the Land of the Rising Sun. Thus, when the nobility learned that in addition to serving as more comfortable seating for social interactions, the chair in its throne-form was also a token of power in the West, it slowly began supplanting the traditional low stool. The artists of the Nanban screens, always so alert for curiosities, portray the Portuguese sitting on folding chairs and depict the servants of noblemen and merchants carrying those  The first study on Nanban byobu was made by Oscar Münsterberg in 1910–1911, followed by: Joseph Dahlmann S.J. in 1922; José da Costa Carneiro in 1929 with his Notas sobre a iconografia dos Portugueses no Japão nos séculos XVI e XVII; Mr. Tokutaro Nagami in 1930  in his book Namban Byobu No Kenkyū; and Professor C.R. Boxer from 1936 onwards. 20  In 1970 Yoshitomo Okamoto published a major work in Japanese on Nanban art entitled Nanban byobu. An English updated version, called The Namban Art of Japan, by Yoshitomo Okamoto and Ronald K Jones was published in 1972. 21  João Paulo Oliveira e Costa is a Professor, a Japanologist and Director of the New University Research Center for Overseas History in Lisbon. 19

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chairs. In 1581, Oda Nobunaga, who initiated the political reunification of the Empire and lived amicably with the Jesuits, was carried through a parade in Kyoto sitting on a state velvet chair that Valignano had offered him (see p. 255 in [33] and p. 389 in [38]). As an object never before seen in Japan, the chair served to emphasize the warlord’s power. As noted by Luis Frois in his report on the visit of the four young samurai boys to Europe [39], we can credit the Jesuits for the introduction of European classical music to Japan with the arrival of those unfamiliar orchestral instruments. According to Frois, the returned young men brought with them four musical instruments: a harpsichord, a harp, a violin, and a lute. Frois records how much Hideyoshi enjoyed their playing in 1592 that he asked the young men to repeat their performance three times. Promptly they brought in the instruments prepared for the occasion, and the four noblemen started strumming the clavier and harpsichord, the lute and rebeck, and this they achieved with great composure and art and glibness, as a result of their intense study in Italy and in Portugal. And he ordered them to sing, listening with great attention and curiosity, because after having played for a while they deferred the play for a while as if respectfully avoiding causing boredom; and three times he ordered them to go on playing and singing with the same instruments. Thenceforth he took each instrument separately in his hands and started to ask many questions from the 4 Japanese noblemen. (See p. 308 in [46])

In the twenty-first century, a monument to the four young adventurers playing the four instruments was erected in a park in Omura and every half hour, a door opens and the little figures come out from a diminutive reproduction of Lisbon’s Belém Tower and they play together, to remind the local population of that special first moment of classical music. It is also during this relatively short period that a new city, Nagasaki, was built with a novel urban design and new features, such as schools, hospitals and churches, and the next sub-chapter is dedicated to this global achievement. The Azuchi-­ Momoyama period is particularly notable for a major shift in garden-making and garden art—in large part championed by Sen no Rikyu, who was a tea master and the garden designer for Nobunaga and Hideyoshi. Scholars in painting such as Curvelo have gathered much evidence pertaining to major changes in techniques, themes, and materials during this era that directly stem from those early contacts with European visitors, also resulting in new approaches to Japanese artistic creation. When looking at any exhibition that features Momoyama-period artistic expressions such as ceramics and lacquers, differences from the preceding Muromachi period (1393–1568) are evident. The chanoyu utensils of the latter period become rougher and feature earthy, natural-tone glazes. Indeed, the ceramics of the Momoyama period seem to want to emphasize the inherent, robust, and imperfect qualities of the ceramics—representing an intentional shift from the Chinese legacy of well-designed and thin porcelain. From an article entitled History of Japanese Ceramics by Takamasa Saito, we are told that: It was at this time that the ritual of tea ceremony was formalized by Sen no Rikyu, and native Japanese ceramics were provided with an unprecedented forum for activity. These

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2  Portuguese Presence in Japan (1543–1600) uniquely Japanese ceramics went beyond imitation of Chinese ceramics and porcelains. Momoyama tea wares were born as the result of the energies of the populace in the capital region being given free expressions in the arena of the tea ceremony. In the midst of these conditions, many kilns, including Karatsu, Bizen, Mino and Raku, all of different regions and genealogies, engendered a continuous explosion of creativity. (See p. 89 in [47])

Saito’s description of a lively foreign exchange and […] explosion of creativity occurring in Japan during this period were most certainly stimulated through diverse interactions with the European visitors. He also points out that Sen no Rikyu, who was a major actor in the artistic importance of chanoyu (the highly ritualized Japanese tea ceremony), spurred changes to both implement- and garden-making. In both these artistic expressions we witness a modified attitude and new aesthetics, which we believe was provoked by the introduction of new cultural influences. Simultaneously, we must not forget the major historical change that occurred as a result of the new military weaponry imported by the Portuguese: Hideyoshi succeeded where Nobunaga had failed, and consolidated the power of non-imperial rule to one of almost absolute control (see p. 24 in [48]). After this point, opulence and ostentation became an artistic requirement for obviating wealth and power. In contrast, garden art and garden-making deviated markedly from hyper-­ornamentation as explained by Marc Treib, a scholar of Japanese garden art. This was an age characterized by opulence and ornamentation, with a nouveau-riche aesthetic antithetical to the “refined poverty” of tea—though the simplicity of the tea aesthetic continued to flourish and develop in parallel to the newer style. […]. (See pp. 24–25 in [48])

Japanese scholars have called the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1569–1603), which almost exactly coincides with the time of Luis Frois’ reports from Japan (1563–1597), one of the most fruitful periods of intellectual, commercial, and artistic exchange. It was a relatively short period and overlaps with the Portuguese presence in Japan, which officially terminated around 1614. In actuality, however, we can say that after 1600 a mixture of influences, mostly led by the Spanish culture with the new King Philip II ruling over Portugal beginning in 1582, changing diplomatic relations. Additionally, the Dutch and English soon got wind of the tremendous commercial opportunities on the other side of the globe and entered the picture in great numbers beginning in 1600. These new economic players all changed the balance that had been achieved between the Portuguese merchants and the Japanese daimyos, as well as between the Jesuits and the military leaders.

2.3  N  agasaki: A Sixteenth-Century City Designed by Two Cultures Situated on a southern exposed Kyushu peninsula, the small fisherman’s village of Nagasaki (meaning long and narrow cape) was to become the first location to receive the Portuguese carracks that would commercially link Japan to the world. Unlike perhaps any other city in Japan, Nagasaki represents the merging of two

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43

cultures in a new city design [56]. The result was the first cosmopolitan city in Japan, designed in concert by Japanese officials, a Portuguese pilot and Jesuit leaders within a peaceful context of mutual curiosity, economic interest, and respect. In that sense, Nagasaki, which was founded circa 1570, can be considered to be the first city of globalization, designed for commerce and displaying a peculiar layout that uses both Portuguese and Japanese urban traditions. There is in Japan a town that is different from all other Japanese towns: Nagasaki. […] all Japanese towns, with the exception of Nagasaki, are plane, built on flat ground. Nagasaki obeys a different urban system. The site of its location was chosen by the Portuguese and they were the ones who started its construction. For that purpose they chose a raised spot looking out unto the sea, which would be easier to defend. That was the Greek Acropolis system, and the system of medieval towns. (See p. 180 in [18])

We can credit highly respected men for identifying Nagasaki as the location where one of the early “Black Ships”, the Kurofune, first made landfall in Japan. Specifically, it was Omura Sumitada, the daimyo of the Hizen province, and Cosme de Torres, the Superior of the Jesuits who succeeded Francis Xavier, who collaborated to ensure that Portuguese ships travelling from Lisbon to Goa in India, then through Malaca towards Macau, would eventually reach Japan. Other Japanese ports such as Hirado, Funai, Kagoshima, Yokoseura and Kuchinotsu had received foreign vessels, but it was Nagasaki, designed for that purpose, that prospered during those early trading days, eventually becoming the international port city that it is today. In addition to historical documentation that corroborates the fact that the city’s original plan emerged from joint development efforts between the Japanese and Portuguese, several existing urban planning elements support this hypothesis. First, Portugal contributed to the site selection based on the location’s deep water port that would accommodate their large ships. Second, the site included a large open area near the water for the unloading of goods. Third, the organic city layout that grew un-geometrically and the construction of streets and houses on the nearby hills were common in Portugal but unknown in Japan up to that point. In addition to these Portuguese influences, the contributions of those early Japanese “urban planners” can be seen in the flat areas of Nagasaki that feature the traditional Japanese city grid (seen also in Nara and Kyoto), as well as the natural open streams that flow freely throughout the urban development. The contributions of each culture to this sixteenth-century urban design can be seen in the original Nagasaki plans archived at the Museu de Marinha in Lisbon22 (Fig. 2.6). Finally, the regulations governing city management had to be determined in collaboration, adjusting the elements retained by both ways of life: Western and Eastern. As indicated, a number of historical sources23 including Historia de Japam by Luis Frois confirm that Nagasaki grew from an initiative stimulated by Omura  A Nagasaki map dating from late-fifteenth to the early-sixteenth century can be found in the Museu de Marinha in Lisbon. 23  These reports include those published by Janeira in 1970, Matsuda Kiichi in 1965, Yuuki (Diego Pacheco S.J.) in 1989, João Paulo Oliveira e Costa in 1999 and the research obtained from Frois’ Historia de Japam. 22

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Fig. 2.6  Early city map of Nagasaki Bay, seventeenth century. (Courtesy Museu de Marinha in Lisbon, Portugal)

Sumitada, controlled by the Japanese bureaucracy, and basically planned together with the Portuguese merchants and sea captains seeking to create highly profitable commercial anchorage for trading ships. Augmenting these shared economic interests was the Jesuits’ objective of spreading Christianity throughout the country and strengthening their economic foundation for doing so via profits from trading in silk and silver [18]. Owing to their unique position, the Jesuits in Nagasaki served an essential role in mediating and facilitating the mutually advantageous relationship between adventurous Portuguese traders and Japanese daimyos interested in the tantalizing commercial possibilities of their new harbour. As reported by João Rodrigues in his História, This city of Nagasaki, where the Portuguese who go to Japan conduct their trade, was given with its revenue as an endowment by Don Bartolomé (Omura Sumitada) to the Society for its upkeep [49]. When the Jesuits sailed away from the ancient city of Lisbon in the sixteenth century to travel to India, China, and Japan, the most striking elements of the Portuguese Renaissance city were its natural features: the large bay at the mouth of the Tagus River and the hills surrounding the flatter regions. From the humanized landscape they would remember the densely built eastern hill topped by the castle, the large harbour plaza with the King’s Palace on the western side, the convent of Carmo on the western slopes, and the newly expanded commercial centre of the town and its main thoroughfare, the Rua Nova. Indeed, when describing a newly rebuilt part of Kyoto, Luis Frois compared it in terms of the size of the Rua Nova. This humanized image has been reproduced in countless engravings and paintings

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of Renaissance Lisbon, so it is not surprising that in the byobu housed in the Kobe museum we also witnessed what Japanese artists depicted as their vision of seventeenth-­century Lisbon (Fig. 2.7). Nara, the capital of Japan before Kyoto, presents the archetypal grid-based development pattern inspired by the older Chinese tradition, which was to be repeated in many other cities in Japan over the centuries. While the regularized grid pattern covers most of the flat areas, the mountain slopes or hills were typically left in their natural state. And any existing rivers or streams would freely meander across that grid while maintaining their natural course through the built environment, to be later criss-crossed by bridges. This respect for the natural course of rivers and streams promoted the importance of aesthetically and ecologically sound city, while the intact slopes and mountains emphasized Shinto respect for the natural areas where the Kamis dwell. Diego Pacheco, S.J., a Jesuit who served as Director of the Museum of the 26 Martyrs in Nagasaki, studied and wrote about the foundations of this pivotal city. Both his account [50] and Japanese descriptions of that seminal event agree that in 1568, Nagasaki was a mere fishing village with some utilitarian sheds and a small promontory that was covered with shrubs overlooking the bay, as seen in the Hideyoshi byobu. The Pacheco documentation [50] finds the first reference to

Fig. 2.7  Lisbon city represented in the Japanese folding screen Four Large Cities in the World, Kobe City Museum. (©Kobe City Museum/DNPartcom)

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Nagasaki in Western sources in a letter written by Brother Miguel Vaz from the town of Shiki (Amakusa) in 1568. A few days before the China ship left last year, Father Cosme de Torres sent Brother Luis de Almeida to a village where a few Christians lived; it is called Nagasaki and the lord of the place is a vassal of Don Bartholomew (Omura Sumitada) and was already a Christian; Brother Almeida stayed there until Christmas […] (See p. 15 in [50])

Before the establishment of Nagasaki, trading ships first stopped at Satsuma and Bungo prior to 1560, Hirado until 1564 then went on to Yokoseura two times in 1562 and 1563, after which they would travel to the Port of Fukada (situated in the lands of Omura) between 1565 and 1570.24 Fukada was not a well-chosen port, the main danger being its position on the bay, which put it at risk for typhoons. Another type of danger was experienced by João Pereira: in 1565 when his ship anchored in the port of Fukada, it was attacked by a fleet from Hirado (see p.  15  in [50]). Moreover, an existing text from Luis Frois supports the rationale for establishing Nagasaki as a principal trading port established in a safer location. Four or five years after the conversion of Don Bartholomé [the baptismal name for Omura Sumitada], Father Cosme de Torres ordered Father Belchior de Figueiredo to go and live at the port named Fukada […] But because Fukada was not a good port and the ship there was exposed to various dangers the Father wished to seek a safe port so that the ship could continue to come to the lands of Don Bartholomé and in this manner the Christian community would be favoured and helped. Taking a pilot and some companions, the Father carefully explored the coast, sounding the bays to find out which seemed best. He discovered that the port of Nagasaki was suitable and convenient for this purpose, and having made the necessary agreements with Don Bartholomé the Father and the Christians who followed in the wake of the ship together with their families started to establish there a definitive town and settlement. Most of these people were Christians exiled from various regions; some of them had been expelled by their lords or had withdrawn, not wishing to apostatize while others had been exiled and separated from their home as a result of the wars. (See pp. 376–377 in [51])

Japanese sources also speak to the geographic significance of Nagasaki, as well as date this momentous event: In the spring of 1570, the Southern Barbarians sent a small boat to the bay of Nagasaki within the territory, and they sounded the sea and explored the geography of the bay. Seeing that it was a good site they asked permission to establish a port there. But for good reasons Sumitada did not grant this permission. […] In March 1571, Sumitada issued orders to his vassal Tomonaga Tsushima to draw up the plan of the town […]. [26]

Earlier documentation, however, confirms that the Jesuits had already established a presence in Nagasaki. As Pacheco points out: In September 1568 Torres stopped at Nagasaki on his way from Kuchinotsu to Fukada and Omura, and at the end of the same year he ordered Father Gaspar Vilela to take charge of the evangelization of Nagasaki. Towards the end of 1569 Vilela built the All Saints Church there near the residence of Nagasaki Jinzaemon. [50]

24  Although Nagasaki became the main port in 1571, Kuchinotsu and Hirado remained important ports, frequented mainly by small vessels, between 1576 and 1586.

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The location of this now-absent All Saints church can be visited today because a Buddhist temple, Shuntoku-ji, occupies its site at mid-height along the hill with an excellent southern view towards the bay. A half-century later, in 1619, Pedro Morejón also recorded the religious significance of early Nagasaki: This was the foundation of Nagasaki. Although uninhabited and unknown, it was one of the best, safest, and largest ports of Japan. […] From its beginning the Father divided the plots and streets among the people who had been persecuted by the tyrants and had come to this port from Shiki, Goto, Hirado, Shimabara and other places. [50]

From these excerpts, it becomes clear that the site for the new city of Nagasaki was selected in large part by Portuguese seafarers, well experienced in identifying coastal locations that would accommodate their vessels. Commercial and religious activities immediately followed, and the new city grew very fast as it responded to the trading ambitions of its founders—while also becoming a sanctuary to protect the faithful arriving from other cities to this haven of Christianity in Japan. Omura Sumitada, the first Christian daimyo who became known as Don Bartolomeu, sought to advance the burgeoning trade routes that were making the surrounding regions prosperous. Additionally, the Portuguese were highly interested in promoting trade between China and Japan, as noted by Oliveira e Costa: Once in Japan the merchants discovered a highly profitable business, worth all the risks, and a population interested in hosting them (see p. 119 in [36]). This was the era when trade between Japan and China blossomed: Japan highly prized China’s gold and silk, and China was eager to acquire Japan’s silver. And the Portuguese merchants and their large Black Ships were able to capitalize on the symbiotic relationship between the two nations. With the expansion of commercial interests, the population of Nagasaki grew rapidly. In 1579 Nagasaki was a village of about 400 houses. By 1590 it had become a town known all over Japan, with a population of 5,000. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the population had reached 15,000. We may therefore say that Nagasaki was discovered by the Portuguese and developed by Portugal and the Catholic Church […]. (See p. 36 in [26])

Similarly, the number of churches grew to serve the needs of the growing number of Christians: […] since it is growing so fast [Nagasaki] it becomes necessary to increase the number of parishes and churches to assist them in their spiritual needs.25 The Portuguese responded to this growth by ordaining three Japanese clerics. During the following year the number of parishes increased to five. In 1606 there were as many as eight parishes of which four—Santa Maria, S. Pedro, S. João Baptista and Santo António—were confined to the secular priests (see p. 41in [52]). From an urban planning point of view, the creation of this new waterfront city and its distinctive design is notable in that it encompasses both cultures: it embraces features that respect the Portuguese/European city layout, as well as the Japanese way of planning cities in a unified space. The main Nanban actors instrumental in establishing Nagasaki as a powerful trading port were four: Cosme de Torres led the negotiations with Omura Sumitada to establish the regulations for the city. Belchior 25

 Annual letter from 1606, Ajuda Library in Portugal, 49-IV-59, fls. 393-393v in [52].

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Figueiredo26 was the Portuguese pilot who recognized the potential of Nagasaki’s harbour where larger ships could safely anchor; as such we credit him with site selection as “the engineer of the bay”. The third “Southern Barbarian” was Gaspar Vilela who played the role of architect, taking an active part in the building part of the port of Nagasaki. Finally, Luis Almeida came to evangelize and establish the church along with its many associated activities. From compiling a range of sources, Diego Pacheco determined that for a period of five years (1565–1570) the foundation of the port of Nagasaki was at least being considered—if not actually in the planning stages—by Cosme de Torres and Omura Sumitada in a close collaboration. At the end of 1568, Torres appointed Gaspar Vilela, the Portuguese Jesuit, to Nagasaki, where about November he built the church of All Saints. Vilela stayed in Nagasaki until […] August 1570, […].27 A letter written by Vilela describing his return to India confirms his contribution to the building of Nagasaki: There are about 1500 Christians in Nagasaki with a church, called All Saints, which I built for them. I lived there for two years and from there I embarked for India (see p. 25 in [50]). Shortly thereafter, in the spring of 1571 according to reliable Japanese sources, Tomonaga Tsushima directed the planning of the new city of Nagasaki. In terms of urban planning processes, this information confirms that the geographic importance of Nagasaki based on the relative safety of its location and the potential of its natural harbour was determined prior to any development activities. Once the Portuguese established a foothold in Japan, trade flourished: […] commercial relationship followed very quickly: silk from China bond to be sold in India would start a more complex traffic. It was first sold in Japan where silver was acquired, then again in China the silver was sold allowing to buy a larger amount of silk in China that finally was traded in India. From the first voyage it was recognized at Liampo (Macau) of the great advantages of this new commercial scheme that became known in Portugal as the China business meaning [until today] a very profitable trade. [53]

A treasured iconographic source for information are the old maps of the period, as they provide a clearer picture of Nagasaki’s urban growth. What becomes evident when analyzing the Nagasaki maps (the oldest dating back to 1613) is that this city’s earliest urban development efforts reflect the influence and priorities of both the Japanese and Portuguese cultures and city planning traditions. A book entitled the Restoration of Nagasaki at the Edo time (see p. 3 in [54]), comparing the original plans of the city with its present-day urban layout, allows us to see the disposition of important buildings and the design of the city in the sixteenth century. It confirms the old map layout and illustrates the five elements discussed earlier that reinforce the idea of a fused urban planning effort that reflects Japanese city building processes and what the Portuguese recast based on their own home geography and urban traditions: the bay selection, the potential for building on the hills, the central plaza near the port, the grid plan, and the open streams within the city.  According to [50], Belchior Figueiredo was a well-known and experienced pilot who contributed to the site selection of Nagasaki. 27  Also according to p. 25 in [50], Gaspar Vilela was in Nagasaki from 1568 to 1570. 26

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Fig. 2.8  Aerial photographs of identical features in Lisbon (top) and Nagasaki (bottom) bays. (©Bulletin of Japanese/Portuguese studies (pp. 96–97 [56])

First, it is important to remember that Lisbon and Nagasaki are quite similar (Fig. 2.8) in terms of their proximity to large, deep bays that feature a narrow channel for the passage of ships; both sites were also easy to defend with sixteenth century canons. Second, Lisbon and Nagasaki are both surrounded by hills. In terms of the remaining three elements, the geographical reconstruction of the original sixteenth-­century layout was studied in order to find traces of the central plaza, the grid plan, and the streams, using available historical maps.28 From this plan we find the Jesuit College at the edge of the water, as described by Oliveira e Costa, along with the housing for the men who supervised the arrival and departure of ships. Today’s visitor can only imagine how the city must have appeared almost four-­ and-­a-half centuries ago, but fortunately will encounter a number of hints like the 28

 We thank Ayano Shinzato Dias Pereira, University of Coimbra for her translations.

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Fig. 2.9  The name of Luis Frois was given to a street in the old Nagasaki area, as a tribute to the sixteenth century Portuguese presence. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

street called Luis Frois (Fig. 2.9) and informative panels within the city that describe the various built structures that once stood in this area: Site of the Society of Jesus Headquarters: Portuguese ships first entered the port at Nagasaki in 1571. Around the time the new town was built, Father Figueiredo constructed a small church at its edge, as a centre of faith for Portuguese and Japanese people. The church was named the “Sao Paulo Church” (Church on the Cape). The church was subsequently rebuilt many times, until the largest church in Nagasaki was completed in 1601. It came to be known as the “Hishoten no Seibo no Kyokai” (Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary). The headquarters for the Society of Jesus, the priests’ residences, and Collegio were established here. However, they were destroyed with the edict banning Christianity in 1614.

Along Nagasaki’s flat area, the grid plan in the Japanese manner extends where a church and the Misericórdia house once stood. The memory of it is recalled in another street panel that reads: Site of Misericordia Headquarters:

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Built in 1583 by Japanese Christian Justino (St. Justino), these headquarters included a hospital as well as a facility for orphans and the elderly that both operated in accordance with Christian principles. The facilities themselves survived the clampdown on Christianity in 1614 but disappeared in 1619. Referred to as Jihiya, or the place for benevolence, people continued to talk about this facility—a forerunner of modern-day social welfare institutions—into the following century.

In supporting the notion of up-slope, less-regularized development (in the Portuguese tradition), we encountered a panel that indicated the presence of a church and a hospital on the slope of the hill: Site of St. Lazaru’s Hospital and Church of St. John the Baptist: In 1580, Nagasaki became a Jesuit colony and, with the establishment of Jesuit Headquarters here, Nagasaki became a huge centre for Christianity in Japan. A great number of churches were built here to the extent that the city would later be referred to as “Little Rome.” Roque de Melo Pereira, who came to Japan in 1591, established a hospital here for the residents of this area (later known as Honrenji), next to which the Franciscan priest Pedro Bautista built the magnificent Church of St. John the Baptist (the priest of which was Japanese). However, the church was destroyed in 1614 under the Anti Christians edicts.

In the old maps of Nagasaki we find the presence of streams and the river, which were respected and maintained as the city expanded across the flat plain in a traditional Japanese grid pattern. We also identified one large empty space to the west of the Jesuit College. And if we compare available documentation with a sixteenth-­ century byobu that depicts Nagasaki from a bird’s-eye view perspective, we are able to locate that same open space on the western part of the promontory that calls to mind the Terreiro do Paço, the central plaza of Lisbon, adjacent to a harbour with commercial functions (see p. 27 in [55]). This open area was adjacent to the anchoring place, as detailed in another information panel: Former Anchoring Place for Portuguese Ships: In 1571, two ships—a Portuguese ship and a Portuguese-chartered Chinese ship— entered the Port of Nagasaki for the first time. Subsequently, Portuguese ships visited the port every year, and Nagasaki rapidly developed into an international trading city. At that time, the tip of this long cape was anchoring place for ships. The four-member Tensho Embassy (the first Japanese embassy to be sent to Europe) including Ito Mancio, Chijiwa Miguel, Nakaura Julian, and Hara Martinão, departed for Rome in 1582 from this point, as did Takayama Ukon, Naito Joan, and other Christians when they were exiled to Manila and Macau in 1614.

A painting from the eighteenth century also confirms the presence of a large harbour-­ side open space. Indeed, as depicted in the painting, the entire city of Nagasaki is covered by dark roofs but for a large empty space in a centralized location (i.e., a plaza-like composition) with two levels and stairways to link them. Nagasaki, then, can be considered as a city planned in the sixteenth century by two cultures, incorporating elements from both Renaissance Portugal and Sengoku-­ period Japan. Its development spurred by the arrival of large ships with deep-­portage needs, Nagasaki represents a unique and fruitful waterfront “fusion” of East and West, as well as the sixteenth-century’s first globalized city and a reference for the

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Fig. 2.10  View of Nagasaki city and bay where, unlike other Japanese cities, construction spreads on the slopes and roads access the hilltops. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

multicultural urbanized twenty-first-century world. The uniqueness of Nagasaki’s well-chosen foundation and long urban history—though much of it destroyed on August 9, 1945 with the nuclear strike—has made it today the country’s most active port and Japan’s third-largest city (Fig. 2.10). Today, with this information in mind, we find traces of both cultures, even in the post-bombed Nagasaki, on a panel on the main street explaining how the original city was organized to accommodate the city’s expansion. The Rise of Six Towns: In 1571 when Nagasaki port was first opened, Sumitada Omura, Japan’s first Christian feudal lord, founded Japan’s six towns on a long cape that is now Nagasaki city. The six towns were Hirado-machi, Omura-machi, Shimabara-machi, Yokouraze-machi, Stoura-machi and Bunchi-machi. Other towns in Nagasaki such as Kozen-machi and Sakura-machi, to name a few, were later built by merchants who came from other parts of Japan. In 1580 the head office of the Jesus society was founded on Nagasaki soil since the whole Nagasaki and Mogi areas had been donated to the Jesus society by Sumitada Omura. As a result, the city became one of the largest centres for Christianity in Asia and it is said that the city was like a mini Rome.

Though many of Nagasaki’s original elements are no longer visible due to the city’s four-plus centuries of growth (e.g., the harbour-side plaza with its Christian churches), these street panels (conceived by Diego Pacheco and placed by Nagasaki’s municipality) help to evoke images of a momentous period in history when a small island nation welcomed the arrival of the Portuguese black ships. Urban planning and the design of a new city is a fascinating undertaking—one that requires a full understanding of the site as well as a vision of the current and expected needs of the location. Along with the design, an urban plan must take into

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account the rules and regulations that determine how to use the city. For this task, Cosme de Torres was assisted by Alessandro Valignano, the Italian Jesuit missionary who visited Japan for the first time in 1579. The organization and laws, which under the direction of Cosme de Torres and Alessandro Valignano were given to Nagasaki by Omura Sumitada, imprinted on the city a unique character, distinguishing it from all other Japanese cities. Nagasaki was not a colony. It was an open city, a sanctuary, a centre of cultural interchange between East and West. The political and social history of Nagasaki during its first fifty years of existence presents aspects of great interest for the jurist and sociologist. The social organization of Nagasaki also includes one of the keys which can explain the mystery of the impotence of its first governors (bugyo) in their anti-Christian policy during the persecution years. (See p. 42 in [50])

The cession of Nagasaki by Omura Sumitada to the Jesuit Society was agreed; nevertheless, Valignano was principally concerned about some of the requirements in the new legal framework of Nagasaki—principally because the head of the town would have the right of life and death over its citizens, and this was a responsibility to which the Jesuits would not agree. Given that communication with Rome would take two years, Valignano, as both an ambitious cleric and a capable politician, was understandably cautious about the final phrasing of the regulations because he knew how fragile the Jesuits’ situation was in Japan. The history of Nagasaki, during the 34 years which followed the cession […] the banishment in 1614 by Tokugawa Ieyasu, shows that Valignano and his collaborators had been right both in their hopes an in their fears. Nagasaki passed into the hands of other owners, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who changed its laws and took over their revenues; but for a long time they allowed the presence of the missionaries for fear of losing the Portuguese trade. (See p. 42 in [50])

They enacted a symbiotic and mutually-supportive relationship that is a very rare experience in the history of mankind, which is why the historical origins of Nagasaki are so distinct. Far more common in the history of human global expansion is invasion, conquest, military control, domination, and even annihilation. Notably, this aggression did not occur when the Europeans first set foot on the island nation. From available documentation, maps, and the artistic byobu, we can imagine Nagasaki as a vibrant port city deeply impacted by a variety of cultural influences and supporting both sacred and secular interests. As Matsuda indicated, Nagasaki must have been pulsing with intensity: The Portuguese, the foreign clergy, interpreters, brokers, Chinese and Spanish merchants made Nagasaki the international town of Japan (see p. 37 in [26]). In a globalizing world where many cultures are being asked to live together, the remarkable cooperation that occurred in Nagasaki almost four-and-a-half centuries ago becomes an example and a reference point for a fusion of urban design, and, indeed, a way to live (Fig. 2.11). We would go as far as to say that the historical cooperation that transpired in Nagasaki in the late sixteenth century is likely unique for its time and represents, for both cultures, an example of the “listening to the Other” that Lévi-Strauss has so wisely studied.

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Fig. 2.11  Streetscape in Nagasaki where urbanized hillsides are seen from the flat area of the old sixteenth century city built by Japanese and Portuguese. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

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2 8. Pinto, A. F. (2010, July 10). Teppo Ki, a Espingarda. Expresso. 29. Costa, J. P. O. (1992). A introdução das armas de fogo no Japão pelos Portugueses, à luz da História do Japão de Luís Fróis. In Estudos Orientais III—actas do colóquio “O Ocidente no Oriente através dos Descobrimentos Portugueses” (pp. 113–129). Lisboa: Instituto Oriental. 30. Akihito. (1992). Early cultivators of science in Japan. Science, 258, 578–580. https://doi. org/10.1126/science.1411568. 31. Leitão, H. (2000). Notes on the contents and fate of the western scientific influence in Japan in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In History of mathematical sciences, Portugal and East Asia (pp. 275–304). Lisboa: Fundação Oriente. 32. Pacheco, D. (1969). Luís de Almeida, 1525–1583, Médico, Caminhante, Apóstolo. Studia 26. 33. Fróis, L. (1982). Historia de Japam: 3o v., 1578–1582 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. III. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 34. McCaffrey, O. (2017). The evolution of Japanese cartography. Kaleidoscope Journal, 7, 20–26. 35. Barata, J.  O., & Guerreiro, I. (1997). Representações no Japão: conferências (trans: Hino, H.). Lisboa: Comissão Territorial de Macau para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses. 36. Costa, J. P. O. (1999). Nagasaki, Um Porto Cristão no País de Sol Nascente. In Os Espaços de um Império. Estudos (pp. 213–223). Lisboa: Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses. 37. Yamashiro, J.  (1989). Choque luso no Japão dos séculos XVI e XVII. São Paulo: Ibrasa— Instituição Brasileira de Difusão Cultural LTDA. 38. Ōta, G. (2011). The chronicle of Lord Nobunaga (ed: Mostow, J., Rose, C., Nakai, K. W., & Elisonas, J. S. A.; trans: Elisonas, J. S. A., & Lamers, J. P., Brill’s Japanese studies library, Vol. 36). Leiden: Brill. 39. Fróis, L. (1942). La première ambassade du Japon en Europe, 1582–1592. Première partie: Le traité du Père Frois (texte portugais) (ed: Pinto, J.  A. A., Okamoto, Y., & Bernard, H., Monumenta Nipponica monographs nr. 6). Tokyo: Sophia University. 40. Massarella, D. (2013). The Japanese Embassy to Europe (1582–1590)—A lecture delivered on 13 December 2012 to launch the publication of Japanese travellers in sixteenth-century Europe: A dialogue concerning the mission of the Japanese ambassadors to the Roman Curia (1590). The Journal of the Hakluyt Society, 12. 41. Poche, M. (2017). Lá Découverte du Japon 1543–1552 (ed: de Castro, X.). Paris: Chandeigne. 42. Moura, C. F. (1993). O Descobrimento do Japão pelos Portugueses 1543. Rio de Janeiro: Real Gabinete Português de Leitura. 43. Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, & Fundação Oriente. (1990). Arte Namban, Os portugueses no Japão, Exhibition’s Catalogue. Lisbon: Museu do Oriente, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga. 44. Matsuda, K. (1960). Biombos Japoneses com temas Portugueses. Colóquio. Revista de Artes e Letras, 11, 1–5. 45. Curvelo, A. (2015). Nanban folding screen masterpieces, Japan-Portugal, XVII century. Paris: Éditions Chandeigne. 46. Fróis, L. (1984). Historia de Japam: 5o v., 1588–1593 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. V. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 47. Saito, T., & Rebelo Correia, M. (Eds.). (2007). Obras-Primas da cerâmica Japonesa, masterpieces of Japanese ceramics, exhibition catalogue, 19th September–December 2, 2007. Porto: Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis. 48. Treib, M., & Herman, R. (1980). A guide to the gardens of Kyoto. Tokyo: Shufunotomo Co. 49. Rodrigues, J. (1955). História da Igreja do Japão: 1620–1633 (BA-149-XV-12/13) (ed: Pinto, J. A. A., Vol. I). Macau: Notícias de Macau. 50. Pacheco, D. (1970). The founding of the port of Nagasaki and its cession to the Society of Jesus. Monumenta Nipponica, 25, 303–323. 51. Fróis, L. (1981). Historia de Japam: 2o v., 1565–1578 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. II. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional.

References

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52. Rodrigues, H.  M. B. (2006). Nagasáqui nanban: das origens à expulsão dos portugueses. Master thesis. Lisboa: Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. 53. França, J.-A. (2008). Lisboa—História Física e Moral. Lisboa: Livros Horizonte. 54. Hotei, A. (2009). Fukugen Edojidai no Nagasaki (in Japanese). Nagasaki: Nagasaki Bunken-sha. 55. Carita, H. (1999). Lisboa Manuelina e a formação de modelos urbanísticos da época moderna: 1495–1521. Lisboa: Livros Horizonte. 56. Castel-Branco, C., & Paes, M. (2009). Fusion urban planing in the 16th century. Japanese and Portuguese founding Nagasaki. In Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies (pp. 67–103). 57. Hioki, N. F. (2011). Visual bilingualism and mission art: A reconsideration of “Early WesternStyle Painting” in Japan. Japan Review, 23–44.

Chapter 3

Seventeen Kyoto Gardens Described by Frois and Vilela

The city of Kyoto is unquestionably one of the most beautiful cities in Asia and a place that for centuries has attracted people from around the world (Fig.  3.1). Millions come to enjoy the 1600 Buddhist temples, the 400 Shinto shrines, the gardens, the history—but also the changing seasons and the beauty of a very well-­ chosen urban location. Kyoto was settled in a large valley surrounded on three sides by mountains that open towards the south; the city sits at the confluence of two rivers (Katsura and Kamo) located within the city grounds and flowing to Osaka and Sakai Bay. Rodrigues gives an account of Kyoto in these terms: It is situated in the middle of spacious plains surrounded on three sides by three high mountains, which, however, are not close enough to cast their shadow on it. Mount Higashi lies to the east, Hie-no-yama [or Hieizan] to the north-east, Kitayama and Kurama to the north, Nishiyama and Atagosan to the west, while the whole of the Southern side remains open. All of these mountains are adorned with various monasteries and universities with magnificent temples and their delightful gardens. It is a very pleasant spot and its many abundant springs provide excellent water, and the streams which run down from the hills irrigate the region and make it cool in summer […]. [1]

When the Portuguese arrived in Japan in the mid-sixteenth century, Kyoto had already been the capital since 794. Even though the Shogunal seat had moved temporally to Kamakura between 1192 and 1333, Kyoto retained its significance as a university and aristocratic city; indeed, its culture and legacy is so rich that it is presently home to seventeen separate UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is very interesting to read the first words by a European, Francis Xavier, about Kyoto and to imagine the effort it must have taken to reach the city in December 1550. […] and we are told many wonders about that town, where there are more than ninety thousand houses: and a large university for students that includes five main colleges, plus two hundred dwelling for bonzos [bonzes] and for others akin to monks, called Iegnixu, and nuns, called Hamacata […]. (See p. 14 in [2])

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 C. Castel-Branco, G. Carvalho, Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0018-3_3

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Fig. 3.1  Map of contemporary Kyoto with the location of the 17 gardens/temples described by Frois and other Portuguese chroniclers. (©Guida Carvalho, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

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In 1550, Xavier walked his way from Kyushu Island to Kyoto accompanied by João Fernandes and two Japanese Christians, Bernardo and Matias [3], but despite their goal of meeting the Emperor or the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, the trio was unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the Jesuits were soon to construct the first European house in Kyoto, receiving permission to spread the Christian religion and creating a school in Kyoto for children to learn religion as well as other subjects (Fig. 3.2). An extraordinary aspect of this early school is that it was open for both girls and boys. This tradition of teaching still remains, and Buddhist families today often send their children to private Christian schools. Gaspar Vilela was one the first Portuguese Jesuits arriving and living in Kyoto for a lengthy period, making his reporting about the city so valuable to historians, architects, and others. Here, he describes the town of Miyako (other name for Kyoto): This town of Miyako is very large, though not as much as in old times, because according to what we were told it used to measure seven leagues long and three wide. It is completely surrounded by very imposing mountains […] This is a very cold region, both because it is located far to the North and frequently covered with snow and because the wood is sparse, since it was used for the wars. It lacks in nourishment; thus the most common food are turnips, radish, eggplant, lettuces and vegetables. (See p. 90 in [4])

In particular, Vilela provided vital documentation about the settlement of the Jesuits in Kyoto. Importantly, he was attended by Lourenço, a little-known Japanese convert to Christianity who would play a crucial role in the relationship between the Portuguese Jesuits and the local population. Luis Frois came to Kyoto to join Vilela, and thus also became quite close to Lourenço, who provided wise counsel about

Fig. 3.2  Sixteenth-century fan representing the Jesuits’ church and school for boys and girls. Painting of Nanbanji in Kyoto, Kano Soshu, Kobe City Museum. (©Kobe City Museum/ DNPartcom)

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accommodating to the unfamiliar Japanese culture. Frois lived and worked in Kyoto from 1565 to 1577 as a missionary (see p. 3 in [5]), and over the course of those dozen years became increasingly acquainted with the Japanese people and their culture. Like the contemporary visitor to Kyoto, Frois was enthralled with the physical surroundings of his new home. In his Historia de Japam we are given many details of daily life in Kyoto, as well as descriptions of the temples, gardens and landscapes around Kyoto as far as Lake Biwa and Azuchi Mountain where, in 1581, he travelled to serve as interpreter for the Italian chief priest Alessandro Valignano. He met Oda Nobunaga at Azuchi Castle (detailed in Sect. 5.2) and described and praised its architecture. He was particularly struck by the Japanese cultural tradition of cleanliness: […] and as for the cleanness inside the houses it is something that would rightly cause bewilderment in all of Europe (see p. 312 in [6]). During the sixteenth century, Kyoto [7] underwent enormous physical changes, many of which were started by Nobunaga and later carried forward by subsequent military leaders, Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu: Old quarters of court nobles followed the initial Plan (Nakamukashi kugemachi no ezu) [7]. While Nicolas Fievé presents in rigorous detail the story of the city and its palaces, Frois’ and Rodrigues’ reports only confirm his twenty-first-century archaeological and historic studies. Kyoto’s transformations have included the relocation and construction of several temples, the construction of bridges, efforts to stabilize the banks of the Kamo River to minimize flood damage, the creation of a city wall, the Odoi, which materialized in a series of wall-like earthen embankments ringing the capital’s perimeter, and the reorganization of neighbourhoods—notably the relocation of most of the old courtier houses to an area around the Imperial Palace, and the daimyo houses to the surroundings of the Jurakudai palace. Frois describes many of these urban transformations in detail, so useful for understanding the history of the city. And because the Miaco [Miyako, old name of Kyoto] was divided in two parts, looking like two towns – one was called Upper Miaco and the other Lower Miaco – he [Hideyoshi] built his fortress in Upper Miaco, where he decided to erect a new town, the most sumptuous in all of Japan. For this purpose, he demolished almost everything that existed there, […] in about twenty odd days, in order to enlarge what he was building he ordered that over two thousand existing houses be removed, to be replaced with better ones. […] Thus they built the walls in all the streets, enclosing their houses with walls; these are very clean and beautiful, topped with roofs displaying their rose-like golden tiles on the edge; every house has two very large and magnificent doors with frames and frontispieces displaying a very simple but curious architecture, all of them adorned and plated with several exquisite golden copper sheets, as common in Japan; one of these doors is used for common and normal access to the house, the other being always closed, made only to allow entrance by Quambacudono [Hideyoshi] when invited by them or when he decides to enter and visit their houses. […] Inside the enclosure walls they all built their houses, utterly clean and sumptuous. And because those houses are made of wood and the earth shakes often in Japan and also because their architecture is so different from the European one, they do not have many stories but rather accommodate [a single floor] to their uses. Thus they build several houses, either separate or contiguous, occupying far more ground space than we would in Europe […] Because they usually build the floors of the houses three or four spans [~ 66 to 88 cm] above the ground in order to avoid humidity. On top of the floor structure they use a kind of

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mat they call tatami, which are eight spans long and four spans wide [~ 176 cm long and 88 cm wide]1 and three fingers thick, all with the same dimensions and worth one cruzado2; these tatamis are used to cover the whole floor of the houses, whose dimensions are proportional to the tatamis dimensions and it is astounding that no house can be found in discrepancy with this architecture. And they are the most excellent craftsmen. […] And all the walls are decorated with a kind of ornaments they use instead of tapestries, called beobus [byobu], some of which have already been sent to Portugal and Rome and every year many are sent to India, and they are all golden with various paintings. […] And since they do not use chairs or tables, neither chests nor pellets, because they always sit and deploy their activities on the aforesaid tatamis, all the houses are so devoid of furniture that they seem to be made for recreational uses rather than to be lived in. (See pp. 311–313 in [6])

In his meticulous explanations of daily life architecture in sixteenth-century Japan, Frois describes for the first time to a European audience two iconic Japanese innovations still used in their daily life: tatami mats and byobu, folding screens, the latter a symbol of Japanese culture throughout Europe. The word was adapted in Portuguese as biombo, meaning screen, and has been used as such since the sixteenth century. Frois’ manner of recording in detail the cultural characteristics of Japan allows us to view him more as an anthropologist capable of considering another culture’s items as interesting, useful, and sometimes even superior than those of his own country. The construction details that Frois recorded are still visible in today’s Kyoto: Our houses are made of stone and mortar; theirs are made of wood, bamboo, straw and mud [8] (Fig. 3.3). Frois portends twentieth-century anthropologists such as Claude Lévi-Strauss in that he devotes a portion of his writings to praising some of the surprising elements of Japanese aesthetic frugality. He observes Japan without bias and with a respect for the “other”, as Lévi-Strauss has suggested: When the traveller convinces himself that the newly found uses, in total opposition with his own, that he would be tempted to reject and disdain, are in fact identical to his own uses when viewed from the opposite angle, he finds a way to absorb the strangeness and to make it become familiar.3

This observation seems to apply to Frois and his openness to experiencing and respecting his new Asian home. Indeed, his attitude certainly accounts for his success and productivity during a period of 34 years as an early European reporter of the Japanese culture. Later in 1593, Frois writes other passages describing the city’s growth along with recently restructured palaces such as the Jurakudai: In the year of 91 this town of Miaco was expanded with buildings, palaces and houses due to the affluence of people arriving from various kingdoms to live there. […] in the beginning it sheltered approximately eight or ten thousand inhabitants, but is now said to have over 30 thousand houses and is still growing, as its governor told one of ours. (See p. 525 in [6])  The real size of a tatami mat is 169 cm × 85.5 cm.  Old Portuguese currency. 3  Translation by Cristina Castel-Branco, [9]. 1 2

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Fig. 3.3  Kyoto, traditional wooden house façade in the Gion district. The construction details and materials are similar to those from late-sixteenth century. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

This description by Luis Frois (that continues describing the Jurakudai and its gardens)4 supports the known achievements of the Muromachi and Momoyama periods when art and gardens were used as symbols of power and prestige in the political world. The military rulers and their vassals were notorious for the lavish use of ornamentation in their residences and castles (see p. 76 in [10]). In fact, the Portuguese traders and Jesuits were witnesses (if not in part the cause) of this short but dynamic period of thirty years sandwiched between the Muromachi and the Edo periods, known as the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568–1603). It was during this era that three superb military leaders, one after the other, succeeded in unifying the nation under one rule and initiated two and a half centuries of relative peace (see p.  73  in [10]). Kyoto, the capital, served as the nucleus of this shift—and the Portuguese Vilela, Almeida, and Frois were there to experience and write about it. An early useful Portuguese account of Kyoto prior to Hideyoshi’s reconstruction is provided by João Rodrigues, whose accurate measurements provide a valuable historical reference point. The city was built on this site about the year of the Lord 800 when the King transferred it from the court of Nara, where it had been situated […] It was laid out in a square, each side being 2,764 geometric paces in length and as one of these paces is five feet long, the city was about a square league in area. It was divided into 38 main streets running north-south and the same number running east-west; each of these streets was 78 geometric paces ­distant from the next, and they crossed each other to form a total of 1,444 blocks […] Each  The full description is presented in Sect. 3.12—Jurakudai Palace.

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of these blocks was made up of the inhabitants’ houses, with their backs to each other east and west and their principal gateways on the north-south street. At the junction of any two of these streets there were four gates, each one closing the entrance of a street; this arrangement still holds good to this day. All these gates are closed every night for the sake of security; each has a small door with a guard always on duty at night with a fire burning and when a person on some business passes through he is identified. (See p. 112 in [1])

Rodrigues also mentions the defensive earthworks around Kyoto built at the time of Hideyoshi and known as the Odoi, which were begun in 1591 and completed in only five months: So the whole city with its wide and spacious streets was extremely beautiful. He ordered the construction of broad, high earthworks with their moats around the city in the place of walls and had them all planted with large thick bamboo transplanted from different places; they grew entangled together and thus formed a thick bamboo wall. [1]

Frois also refers to the building of Kyoto’s defensive moats and walls: He ordered that the whole town of Miaco be surrounded with strong and tall battlements with their ditches, upon which dense and thickset trees should be planted for decoration and embellishment of the town; the walls probably measures six of their leagues all around, which may correspond to four of ours. (See p. 525 in [6])

3.1  Kiyomizu-dera Temple The Kiyomizu-dera Temple was mentioned by Luis Frois in 1565 (see p. 25 in [5]) and described by Gaspar Vilela in 1571 (see p.  322  in [11]). This temple of the Hosso sect is located halfway up Mount Otowa, one of the peaks in Kyoto’s Higashiyama mountain range (Eastern Mountains). According to legend, the temple was founded in 778 by Kenshin, a monk who was inspired by a vision. He abandoned his ascetic life in Nara to protect the harmony of a sacred spring located in the holy grounds of Kannon the deity of mercy and compassion. The temple was later named Kiyomizu meaning “pure water”, inspired in the clarity of the holly waterfall. The principal image of the temple is a statue of Kannon Bodhisattva, with its eleven heads and thousand arms, enshrined in the innermost section of the hall, and the architecture of the Main Hall is a daring wooden structure that Treib refers as a huge ship stranded on a mountaintop. […] the massive roof of Kiyomizu-dera hovers above the mountain ridge, borne aloft by an elaborate superstructure of gigantic wooden columns and beans. The temple’s architecture is itself of considerable historical interest, and the Kiyomizu complex superbly represents the later stages of Japanese spatial planning termed “sophisticated order’’. (See p. 166 in [12])

Luis Frois made note of the temple, but did not provide much detail:

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3  Seventeen Kyoto Gardens Described by Frois and Vilela There are two other temples of great pilgrimage nearby Miaco. One named Guivon,5 and the other Quiominzzu [Kiyomizu-dera], where there is a continuous influx of faith walkers, and fountains of excellent waters; places of expansive views and of great importance in Japan. (See p. 25 in [5])

Gaspar Vilela, on the other hand, reports extensively about the temple: There is another monastery, named Quiomizú which can be considered one of the seven wonders of Miáco because it is very high, and built in the air, over a very deep valley. Between its various belongings, there are great gardens to be seen, and various types of roses, painted fabrics and pleasure houses. A source of water rises nearby the temple, it falls from a stone channel in such great abundance that it could move watermills easily. It is said to be the best water that exists all over Japan. It flows continuously in the same proportion without growing or diminishing, and remaining clear spring water during winter and summer. It is an often-visited temple, built some eight hundred years ago; its access path is surrounded by cedars, pines, and trees of many flowers [rose like]; and because it is a temple of great pilgrimage, it has many streets full with shops, where women sell all kinds of food that exist in the region to the ones that come and go continuously to this temple. (See p. 322 in [11])

Gaspar Vilela adds a story about a fallen bridge in the road to the temple to illustrate the vast number of visitors that frequented its ground. The story describes a nobleman, the brother of the emperor, who made a pact with a demon to receive help in the wars that were about to come. The demon gave him the task of killing one thousand people among those crossing that bridge. The number of visitors to the site was so large that in just a few months the treacherous nobleman was able to kill around 950 people, who, despite the threat of death, insisted on going to the temple. The great influx of pilgrims that both authors alluded to so long ago continues to reinforce the importance of the Kiyomizu-dera Temple and its spectacular Main Hall has, more than ever, hundreds of tourists and faith walkers continuously crowding the 130,000 square meters that make up the temple’s grounds. As described by Vilela centuries ago, long lines of visitors still await their turn to sip and touch the enchanted waters of one of the three springs (Fig. 3.4) where people used to shower, as can be seen in drawings. It is common belief that these waters have special proprieties; once the visitor pays reverence to Fudo, the deity of Fire enshrined deep in the waterfall, the act of ladling and drinking from these waters will grant the visitor’s wishes. According to Vilela, the temple was renowned for being very high, and built in the air, over a very deep valley (see p.  322  in [11]). This description refers to Kiyomizu-dera’s Main Hall that features a large veranda or wooden stage, supported by several pillars made from over 400-year-old zelkova trees, that juts out over the hillside and stands nearly 13 meters above the ground. From here, one can appreciate the magnificent seasonal views over the surrounding landscape: cherry blossoms (Prunus serrulata) in spring, lush green foliage in summer, the vibrant Japanese maples of autumn (Acer japonicum), and snow-capped hills in winter.

 Guivon, meaning Gion, referring to the Yasaka Shrine located in the Gion District.

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Fig. 3.4  Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Otowa Waterfall, Kyoto. Frois visited the temple and mentions fountains of excellent waters. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

Vilela also noted the presence of indigenous cedars—which are likely cryptomerias (Cryptomeria japonica) commonly known as the Japanese cedar—pine trees (Pinus densiflora, Pinus thunbergii or Pinus parviflora), and trees of many flowers [rose like] that probably refer to the native camellias that were unknown to the first European visitors to Japan. The pines and the cryptomerias have long been used in the grounds surrounding shrines and temples. The cryptomerias, in particular, are especially common around shrines and typically beautify the approach path to many old shrines in Japan. These vistas, the various floras, and the site’s features remain much as Vilela would have seen them—with the exception of the access path. According to Vilela, visitors would access Kiyomizu-dera through a path in the

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woods that no longer exists. Now, the colourful and busy streets of the Higashiyama commercial district have significantly expanded and have long since replaced that wooded access route. Descending to the temple compound, one can traverse the path to Okuno-in, another building supported by scaffolding that offers a view of the Main Hall and to Kyoto. At sunset seen from the West gate (sai-mon), the Kyoto city skyline is famous. One can then descend to the lower level via a path surrounded by dense vegetation to reach the three springs. Finally, evergreen edges of pruned camellia (Camellia japonica) flank the path where visitors now exit the site.

3.2  To-ji Temple We are able to corroborate that To-ji Temple was an important institution in the mid-­ sixteenth century because Gaspar Vilela described it in 1571 (see p. 322 in [11]), and Luis Frois twice singled it out for recognition in 1565 (see p. 33 in [5]) and 1593 (see p. 29 in [6]). To-ji is a Buddhist temple located in South Kyoto founded in the late 700s, just after the capital was transferred from Nara to present-day Kyoto in 794. To-ji literally means “East Temple” and was one of two guardian temples built to the east of the main south entrance to the city as an important landmark, indicating the way for those arriving in Kyoto. Indeed, Frois has described its geographic importance: And because it was such a large and magnificent piece of work, and especially, because it stood with those roofs projected at such great height, it was the first thing of great magnificence which appeared before the eyes of those who went to Kyoto (see p. 33 in [5]). In 823, the Emperor Saga honoured the monk Kukai6 and appointed him head priest of To-ji. Kukai then established To-ji as the central school of the Shingon sect of Buddhism and the most important Shingon site after the sect’s headquarters on Mount Koya, a place also described by Frois and Vilela (Sect. 5.6). The importance of the To-ji Temple is reflected in Frois’ description of its compound and, in particular, a detailed description of the pagoda’s architecture: The temple has some mud walls of a great thickness, shaped into a square, which is a symbol of great ostentation; inside, it has some very fresh and beautiful gardens that are called nivas [niwas] (see p. 33 in [5]). Frois emphasizes the daring architecture of To-ji pagoda, and mainly its high wooden tower with five stories and five porches projecting from the wall all the way around the building. In one corner of that monastery, for the honor and glory of that town of Miaco, stands a kind of very tall round7 tower called Tó. Access to the top is made from inside through a spiral staircase with five floors and five encircling protruding porches which is an architectural accomplishment of great art and ingenuity; and on top, on the outside, there were a few 6  Monk Kukai, also known as Kobo Daishi, 774–835, was a Japanese Buddhist monk and the founder of the Shingon (or Esoteric) school of Japanese Buddhism (see pp. 70–73 in [13]). 7  Though the tower is square, inside the access stair is laid out in a circle.

3.3  Kyoto Imperial Palace

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rounded copper poles with many bells and thick long chains used for decoration and also strengthening of the construction. (See p. 33 in [5])

Vilela was similarly struck by To-ji Temple, which was very large and beautiful, with rich rooms and gardens and lots of water. It also features a costly wooden tower of great height (see p.  322  in [11]). Both Vilela and Frois make note of Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s reconstruction of To-ji’s pagoda after a lightning strike, a political move intended to signal the leader’s goodwill to the citizens of Kyoto (see pp. 528–529 in [6]). [… the] very large monastery called Tóji that was burnt down by lightning a few days after Father Gaspar Vilela arrived in Miaco for the first time. And because it was very renowned in Japan, Quambaco [Hideyoshi] ordered its reconstruction on the original location. This round construction is so tall that it comprises five floors, thus standing as a vertical tower where all the levels are conceived in such a way that each has its own protruding roof. (See pp. 528–529 in [6])

When we read Frois’ description of To-ji’s lush and beautiful gardens known as niwas, and then compare that to what the visitor can see today, we can verify that a pond has existed within the garden enclosure since the medieval era—and that the five-story pagoda remains the fundamental feature cutting the sky with its silhouette and reflecting on the pond’s surface (Fig. 3.5). Since its origin, this temple has been celebrated for its 55 m tall tower (exactly as Frois described it 450 years), which means it remains the highest extant wooden pagoda in Japan. Entering the compound through the north-east gate, one sees it directly in front, surpassing the height of nearby trees, as impressive as in Frois’ time. A prominent peninsula almost divides the pond in two, shaping it into a long and sinuous channel as the backbone of the whole garden. The site and its towering pagoda are best appreciated by walking along the sinuous paths adjacent to the pond. Here and there one can discover foundation stones of long-vanished buildings and covered corridors. Many buildings in To-ji Temple grounds are registered as National Treasures, including the residence of Kukai (Mieido), the Lecture Hall (Kodo), the Main Hall (Kondo) and the To-ji pagoda—all reconstructed in 1390, 1491, 1603, and 1644, respectively—although all the buildings retain their original layout and architectural style.8 The worldwide importance and heritage value of the To-ji Temple was amplified when in 1994, as part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto, it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with other treasures in Kyoto Prefecture.

3.3  Kyoto Imperial Palace The first Portuguese reference of the Imperial Palace dates to 1565 (see p. 26 in [5]), when Luis Frois refers to it as he comes from the Palace of Ashikaga Yoshiteru.  Information collected locally from a pamphlet published and distributed by To-ji temple.

8

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3  Seventeen Kyoto Gardens Described by Frois and Vilela

Fig. 3.5  To-ji Temple described by Frois as a Kyoto landmark. In his letters Vilela refers To-ji gardens and lots of water. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved) This street abuts upon the palaces of the Dairí,9 who is the most revered lord in Japan and former ruler, though no longer obeyed. We only saw it from the outside, plus one of its gardens, since no one is allowed inside but the ones who attend to him. […] From there we proceeded through some straight, wide and plane streets, all of which are closed by gates at night like fortresses, the distance we traversed the equivalent to walking from the Lisbon cathedral to Nossa Senhora de Esperança da Boa Vista. All these streets pertain to tradesmen of  damask or other materials weavers and embroiderers, and to artisans who make golden fans or other things used in this country. (See p. 182 in [14])

 The current emperor, at that time Emperor Ogimachi.

9

3.3  Kyoto Imperial Palace

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Fig. 3.6  Courtyard, south of the ceremonial hall at the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. (Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kyoto-gosho_Shishinden_zenkei-3.jpg)

These streets were adjacent to the palaces of the Dairi, who was a highly revered lord in Japan. In a description of the same year from Historia de Japam, Frois adds that This [palace] was old and much damaged as the previous Cubos did not bother to rebuild it, neither cared about the Dairi (see p. 26 in [5]). In another reference from 1568, Frois quotes Takeda, a honourable man from Sakai, who affirms that […] because the Dairi was no longer obeyed or esteemed by his people who were gentiles, his courtyards and nivas [niwa] became full of wild shrubs and weeds (see pp. 191–192 in [5]). As it is clear from the description above, the derelict condition of the emperor’s nivas drew criticism. The wild growth of shrubs and weeds was seen as profane, and clearly condemned as an act of disrespect towards the emperor. The “nivas” refer to niwa (meaning garden), and although not directly described as such, this term may indicate the traditional cleared courtyard that still exists to the south of the ceremonial hall at the Imperial Palace, which derives from the ritual cleared area (yuniwa) of Shinto shrines. This space has always been of the upmost importance and traditionally has been used since ancient times to accommodate religious and official ceremonies. At present, it consists of a large and austere courtyard covered in raked gravel where only two trees stand: an orange tree and a cherry tree that flank the stairs of the ceremonial hall (Fig. 3.6). It is important to remember that Frois lived in Kyoto during a historical turning point. It was in the 1568 that Oda Nobunaga entered Kyoto to install Ashikaga Yoshiaki as the fifteenth Ashikaga shogun. That same year, Frois reports the rebuilding of the Imperial Palace and the construction of a new palace for the crown prince.

72

3  Seventeen Kyoto Gardens Described by Frois and Vilela He [Nobunaga] ordered new palaces to be rebuilt for the Vó [the Emperor], the emperor of all Japan, and built others more peculiar and rich for the prince, the heir son of Dairi’s, in which there was, among other things, a chamber all cooked in gold, one of the most beautiful and peculiar works in Tenca; these and other works he had brought from his fortress in Tamonyama.10 And considering the poverty the Dairi had been living for many years he assigned him a rent and presented him with many rich works; he rescued the cungues (who are the noblemen directly under the Dairi) from their misery and extreme need they were living, and not only did he assign him a new rent but also ordered that all rents due to him for the last one hundred years should be restituted. (See p. 246 in [5])

In 1585, it was Hideyoshi’s turn as Oda Nobunaga’s successor to construct a new retirement palace for the emperor. Faxiba Chicugendono [Toyotomi Hideyoshi], who above all things wants to enhance and exalt his honour, went to Miaco in order to receive from the Vô, Emperor of Japan, the most sublime dignity and highest rank he could bestow on him, thus making him Quambacodono,11 the very second in rank to the Vô. And neither Nobunanga’s many works and power nor the great favours he made to the Dairi, sufficed to gain him this title of such importance in Japan, to which he aspired above all things. And so that Faxiba’s name was even more glorified, he built very rich palaces, so that the old Vô12 would renounce of his royal dignity in favour of his first born.13 And since Faxiba has no sons or daughters, he adopted a nobleman’s daughter and as such had her married to one of the Vô’ grandsons, the first in the succession line to the royal house. (See p. 187 in [15])

In 1593, Luis Frois reinforced this information in a summary of Hideyoshi’s works and accomplishments as Japan’s ultimate ruler. And because the Miaco town is the capital city in all of Japan, the source of its sects and the main court where the Dairi, king and true lord of Japan, takes permanent residence, Quambacu very cleverly decreed, in order to exalt his name and enlarge his estate, to favour the Dairi’s affairs, offering him a rent and many works, having many new and noble palaces built for him to abide, bestowing many other favours on him, thus acquiring for himself the people’s goodwill in asserting how he cared for the Dairi’s affairs. (See p. 524 in [6])

The original Imperial Palace was built in 794 and was located southwest of its present site and northwest of what is today Nijo-jo Castle. In 1227 (see p. 6 in [16]) it was left in ruins after a fire. The current location was established in 1331 on the site of a temporary, rustic village palace (sato dairi) (see p. 6 in [16]). Today, the imperial palace encompasses a total area of approximately 11 hectares, nearly half of its former size during the Heian period, and significantly larger than its sixteenth-­ century version. Over the centuries, it was often destroyed by fire and rebuilt again, which slowly changed the scale and style of the original buildings, departing ­considerably from the original models (see p. 72 in [12]). Nonetheless, certain pri The castle of Mont Tamon—described in the Nara chapter (Sect. 4.6).  Kampaku, or prime minister of the empire, a title created and conferred on a Fujiwara nobleman in the Year 888. This was the first time the title was borne by someone who was not a noble figure of the Fujiwara clan, for whom it had been expressly reserved. 12  Emperor Ogimachi, the 106th Emperor of Japan. He ruled from the 27th of October 1557, to his abdication on the 17th of December 1586. 13  Emperor Go-Yozei, the 107th Emperor of Japan. He ruled from 1586 through to his abdication in 1611. 10 11

3.4  Tofuku-ji Temple

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mary elements endured largely unchanged through the centuries—principally the Ceremonial Hall (Shishinden) and the enclosed courtyard to its south (yuniwa), which Frois specifically mentions.14

3.4  Tofuku-ji Temple Tofuku-ji Temple was described by two Jesuits, Luis Frois in 1565 (see p. 22 in [5]) and Gaspar Vilela in 1571 (see p. 322 in [11]). According to Frois: Approximately one and a half league away [from Sanjusangen-do] stands a very noble monastery a sort of ancient university [called Tofuku-ji], from what I recall from walking around, it seems bigger than the enclosure of the monastery of Belem in Lisbon […] and is almost completely surrounded by very fresh streams that during summer have little water. There are many temples inside its enclosure […]. (See p. 180 in [17])

Tofuku-ji serves as the head temple of one of the schools of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, and lies at the very south-eastern part of Kyoto. It was built in 1236 on the instructions of the great statesman, Kujo Michiie, who wanted to build a major temple in Kyoto to augment his family’s prestige [18]. The Portuguese visitors were so impressed with the three main buildings’ remarkable architecture and size that they recorded detailed impressions of the temple’s various features—notably the Buddha Hall (butsuden), the Main Hall (hondo), and the Sanmon Gate. While Frois provides lengthy descriptions of the outdoor elements that struck him the most, Vilela focused mostly on the architecture and interior of the temple’s main buildings, as well as the Buddhist teaching features and graduation ceremonies. For example, Vilela recorded the now-extinct Buddha Hall (butsuden), which burnt in 1891 and was one of the most important halls of the temple. He also noted the existence of three golden statues of great size in the centre of a building, referring to the Buddha statue and his two attendants—now lost to time. The third temple is called Tofukuji; inside the aforesaid ground, due to its huge size, there are many surrounding monasteries, the main house sheltering around one hundred Bonzos, this being a very tall temple completely covered with buttresses and huge wooden beams: it probably dates to nine hundred years ago; such is the size of the buttresses that two men with fully outstretched arms can hardly encircle them; it is all painted inside and very tall, the pavement is tiled, and there are three idols in its center, one of them approximately 15 braças [~33m], the others beside it not so huge but big enough, all completely gilded from top to bottom; the floor was covered with something like thirty mats, where the Bonzos sit and say their prayers. (See p. 322 in [11])

Alluding to the importance of the Jesuit teaching role throughout the diaspora, Frois specifically makes note of areas of the Tofuku-ji buildings devoted to scholarship. There is still another temple, identical in size, akin to a university where students graduate. It has a lizard of many colours painted in the ceiling, like the ones that exist at the rivers of Ceilão [Sri Lanka] entangled in a very wide circle and adored by the Japanese […]. And 14

 Information collected locally in a brochure published by the Imperial Household Agency.

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Fig. 3.7  Tofuku-ji’s Sanmon Gate described by Vilela as a very beautiful wooden tower […] there I saw many books and antiques they keep there, and there were sixteen wooden statues of human size […]. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved) inside stands a very tall wooden tabernacle with three adjoining stairways, one in front and two on the sides, on top of which there is a chair facing a table, where the president sits; and instead of a canopy there are many hanging banners and flags, and close to the stairs there is another low table where the graduating student sits. (See pp. 23–24 in [5])

The building described above is most probably the Hondo or Main Hall where we can still see a black and white painting of a Dragon in the ceiling.15 Interestingly, Frois referred to it as a lizard, since dragons as mythological figures were not known in Portugal—thus, the word did not exist. Although he had travelled from India to Macau, visiting Sri Lanka along the way, he associates the two images in an interesting comparative analysis. Facing the lake, the Sanmon Gate (Fig. 3.7), the third large building of Tofuku-ji, is described by Vilela as being […] a very beautiful wooden tower of forty “braças” which I accessed from inside: there I saw many books and antiques they keep there, and there were sixteen wooden statues of human size, representing the disciples of an idol they worship: they stand there as an homage (see p.  322  in [11]). Fortunately for the twenty first-century visitor, these remarkable sixteenth-century antiquities, known as the sixteen Buddhist Monks made by the Buddhist Teicho [18], have endured the passage of time. Frois’ description of the Sanmon Gate specifies the order that the buildings appear to the visitor. First there is the butsuden, then the Hondo, and finally the Sanmon Gate, for which he provides these details: This third temple, the highest one, is void underneath, founded only on very thick wooden columns. Access to it is 15

 The painting dates back from the temples’ reconstruction in 1934.

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made through a very tall stairway (see p. 181 in [17]). Frois also says: Just in front of these three temples, there is a very long house with seats on both sides, surrounded by a garden of diverse trees, where once the students had their lessons, serving them as school (see p. 23 in [5]). This building is likely the Meditation Hall (Zen-do), behind which one can see today three beds of boxwoods with several pruned pine trees as a garden arrangement. Frois goes on to describe other features of this new environment. There are other separated buildings, but still inside the main precinct, where there are several chapels from the temple’s Main Abbots […] where the monks worship and venerate […] At the back of this chapels, where the hall is located, there is something like a garden, where the ashes of these superiors are buried. […] some stones are erected, a couple of them with their letters in gold, in which their names, ages and epoch they died are written. (See p. 24 in [5])

Behind these main halls we find, even today, a road that beckons one up to the sixteenth-­century described cemetery that still exists—although not open to visitors. Frois continues to add valuable references to the surrounding landscape and gardens, noting that the temple has a little river, very fresh in summer, surrounded by woods of very graceful trees (see p. 22 in [5]). The trees that so impressed Frois can be identified as Acer trees, located in the valley to the left of the Main Hall, where a stream still flows (Fig. 3.8). Today’s visitor can traverse the valley through a covered bridge and look down upon the tree canopies, which are particularly striking during autumn; it is also possible to diverge from the bridge corridor and go down the valley to experience the freshness of the shaded summer season.

Fig. 3.8  Tsutenkyo Bridge over the river at Tofuku-ji Temple, nowadays a special spot to enjoy the red autumn foliage. Frois refers [it] has a little river, very fresh in summer, surrounded by woods of very graceful trees. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

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Frois was the first European who described this valley, clearly responding to the same impressive beauty that we still enjoy today. The valley, studded with Acer palmatum along the creek, still endures 450 years after Frois first described it. His reaction is representative of an enduring aesthetic response that these woods trigger in visitors, inspiring generation after generation of visitors who continue to record its beauty. Nowadays, the Tsutenkyo Bridge gives the visitor a perspective of the valley from above, and the temple is particularly famous for its spectacular autumn colours. Indeed, official reports indicate that as many as 70,000 people visit the temple on a weekend when the vibrant autumnal colours have peaked. The vistas of the nearby Engetsu-kyo Bridge above a sea of scarlet leaves from the Tsutenkyo Bridge are among the favourite panoramas in the fall season. It is no exaggeration to state that the narrow valley covered by the canopy of slender Japanese maples is one of Kyoto’s, indeed Japan’s, most-photographed autumnal sights. Today, the Tofuku-ji temple compound, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a must-see in Kyoto for both Japanese and international sightseers. As with any historical site, it is interesting to read the sixteenth-century descriptions and compare them with what survives to the twenty-first century. The temple’s spatial composition has gone through changes over time, but was particularly impacted by an 1881 fire that destroyed some major buildings in the temple precinct. The Abbot’s Quarters (hojo) and the Main Hall (hondo) were both reconstructed in 1890 and 1934, respectively, but the Buddha Hall (butsuden) and its 15-meter-tall standing Buddha statue (daibutsu) have both been lost to the ravages of time [18]. The buildings that have survived since the medieval era are now designated as Important Cultural Properties. These include the 22-meter-tall Sanmon Gate or “enlightenment gate”—which is the oldest temple gate of its kind in Japan, dating back to 1425—as well as the Meditation Hall (zen-do), the bath (yokushitsu), the lavatory (tosu).16 Two other gardens at Tofuku-ji are worth mentioning: the one at the Founder’s Hall (Kaisando) and the gardens at the Abbot’s Quarters (Hojo Hasso garden). The latter has become a very famous modern design piece after its 1939 rebuilding by Mirei Shigemori (1895–1975), a twentieth-century Japanese landscape architect and historian of Japanese gardens, referred in Chap. 1. Through his decades of survey work he was able to record most of the important gardens of Japan, eventually publishing 24 volumes featuring meticulous detail, insightful text, and rigorous site plans. The garden at the Founder’s Hall is an older design, dating back from the late 1600s. It lies south from the main building where a statue of the temple’s first abbot, Enni Ben’en, stands. One can access the garden through a roofed gateway, then by following a formal stone walkway that leads straight to the main building. This walkway was added sometime around 1877 and drastically altered the original character of the garden by dividing the space almost in half (see p. 176 in [12]). To the

16

 Information collected locally in a brochure published by Tofuku-ji Temple.

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left side of the path, the garden is composed of a dry landscape garden of gravel raked into perfect squares. In marked contrast, to the right side there is an artificial hill garden (tsukiyama) that rises stiffly up, enclosing the space along its eastern side with a green wall of azaleas clipped in round shapes. The Tofuku-ji Hasso Temple and the garden of the Abbot’s Quarter are unique for their design elements. According to the temple’s pamphlet: [It is] the only temple in which gardens circumscribe all four sides of the Hōjō and it represents a fusion of traditional and abstractionism of modern art and regarded as a fine example of contemporary Zen garden. The four surrounding gardens that make up the Hassō Garden represent Hassō-jōdō, the 8 aspects of the Buddha’s life. The Southern Garden is composed of a cluster of four giant rocks symbolizing the 4 Elysian Islands: Hōrai, Hōjō, Eijû and Koryō, on a bed of raked-gravels that symbolize Hakkai, the 8 rough seas. To the west, five moss-covered mounts symbolize Gozan, the 5 sacred mountains. The Western Garden is a juxtaposition of squarely trimmed azalea shrubs planted against square fields of white gravels to reflect its name, Seiden’ichimatsu, an ancient way of land division in the manner of the Chinese character sei. The Northern Garden uses foundation rocks from the omote-mon (front gate) and moss to manifest an irregular checkered field of green. It ingeniously embodies the colourful autumn foliage of the Sengyokukan ravine for a scenic background. The Eastern Garden, also named Hokuto-no-niwa, distributes the temple’s foundation pillars.17

These gardens embody the remarkable capacity of the artist Mirei Shigemori to draw from centuries of tradition in creating a most avant-garde design.

3.5  Daitoku-ji Temple The now-walled Daitoku-ji Temple complex was founded in 1319 by the priest Shūhō Myōchō (1282–1337) as a small Buddhist temple of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen, which was then known as Daito Kokushi (see p. 57 in [12]). The site quickly expanded, capturing the attention of the Imperial Family. Indeed, in 1333 Myocho’s garden-temple complex was designated by the emperor as the finest in the nation (see p. 513 in [19]). In 1468, like most of Kyoto, it was heavily damaged as a consequence of the Onin Civil Wars (1467–1477). Its restoration began in 1474 with Imperial support and the help of rich merchants from the city of Sakai, via its head abbot, Ikkyu Sojun (1394–1491) (see p.  93  in [20]). Because Sakai’s merchants were particularly fond of the tea ceremony, Daitoku-ji quickly grew into one of Japan’s great cultural centres for this art. The useful and interesting report compiled by Father Luis Frois about this remarkable temple complex in Kyoto focuses on three gardens he visited in the Daitoku-ji complex in 1565, accompanied by his colleagues, Luis de Almeida and Gaspar Vilela. In this account, he provides sufficient detail to enable the reader to envision a group of three Portuguese Jesuits and 30 recently converted Christians from Japan who take a day trip to North Kyoto and see for the first time a trio of

17

 Information collected locally from a pamphlet published by the Tofuku-ji Temple.

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3  Seventeen Kyoto Gardens Described by Frois and Vilela

Buddhist temples so dear to Japanese culture. Frois reports enthusiastically about the three temples and the gardens he saw at Daitoku-ji, describing in detail for his European audience their pristine cleanliness and unexpected beauty, as well as detailing how the gardens served as an important setting for religious, family, and political purposes. He later includes an evocative description of the garden in the large publication he compiled, the Historia de Japam. According to Frois, the Daitoko-ji Temple complex was located in a very large woodland, the core location of the religion of genxus, which is called Murasaquino, the purple field (see p. 27 in [5]). Nowadays, the Murasakino region still retains that name, although the forest he witnessed in 1565 no longer exists due to Kyoto’s urban expansion to the north over the ensuing centuries. One can now visit the Daitoku-ji Temple on the outskirts of northern Kyoto. The peak of its popularity occurred during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries—exactly when the Portuguese described it. As such, their reports serve as an important historical complement to existing Japanese descriptions of this highly valued heritage. Many of Daitoku-ji sub-temples were built during the time of the Jesuits’ stay in Kyoto. In total, Frois noted the existence of about 50 temples, although in actuality there were between 19 and 46 sub-temples in existence: 19 added during the Muromachi period (~1336–1573), 27 during the Momoyama period (~1573–1615) and 14 later in the Edo period (1615–1868) (see p.  115  in [19]). Frois remarked that, comparable to the aristocratic system in Portugal, the construction of these sub-temples was sponsored by members of the military establishment to honour their deceased ancestors or in preparation for their own demise. On this matter, he comments that the majority of the temples’ benefactors were all nobles and descendants of the most illustrious families (see p.  27  in [5]). He describes the complex as follows: [… Daitoku-ji] which comprises fifty monasteries, each at least the size of the whole Goa college size, and others, twice or three times larger, all standing apart from each other. Where the most noble and respected Bonzos in Japan live, since each one’s head is either son of kings or a very qualified person, and nobility, and because they stand so close it seem they all try to excel the others, both in ingenuity and house politics and in their care. And since these monasteries are neither open nor visible to all, they allowed us in due to the people who accompanied us. However we did not visit more than three of these monasteries and even so only superficially, since each one would require many days to be seen. (See pp. 182–183 in [14])

Frois purposefully compares the site to buildings in Goa because he lived and knew the Indian Portuguese state serving as a stopping point for any person traveling from Europe to the Orient in the sixteenth century. He also notes that the three Portuguese visitors to Daitokuji were accompanied by well-respected people, although he does not identify them by name. However, the first temple they visited was intended to have the son of the Lord of Bungo as its Superior (see p. 183 in [14]). And as documented in Japanese historical records, this was Zuiho-in, the temple patronized by Otomo Sorin (1530–1589), the Christian daimyo (feudal lord) of Bungo.18 In  Though Frois does not record the presence of Otomo Sorin in Kyoto, we believe he was one of the 30 Christians accompanying Frois on this visit.

18

3.5  Daitoku-ji Temple

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describing the Zuiho-in Temple, Frois reports that it is as pleasant as it can be; nevertheless it is still far behind the second and the third (see p. 183 in [14]). Although we have little available information that would enable us to identify the other two sub-temples visited by these early European chroniclers, the dates of construction, some descriptive details about the temples themselves, and other historical clues do fill in some knowledge gaps. For example, another important Christian daimyo was Takayama Zucho (Hida-no-kami and Dario as his Christian name), father of Takayama Ukon, who was later named Justo as a baptized Christian and about 13 years of age at the time of this visit. Both may have been members of that 30-person group. Frois tells us that in 1568, Takayama Ukon, who was a friend of the Tea Master Sen no Rikyu, had invited him to a dinner that Frois also attended. Sen no Rikyu was accompanied by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. This report is highly significant as a documented proof that Sen no Rikyu met Luis Frois: Justo Ucondono coincided to invite both Quambacudono (Hideyoshi) and his chanoyu master, whose name was Sôyequi (Sen no Rikyu), to his house; and because the latter, though a gentile, was in very friendly terms with Justo, both endeavoured to find a propitious moment during the feast to mention the innocents (Christians), and such was their insistence that he told them to leave him alone and drop the matter. (See p. 261 in [15])

From this record we can confirm that Frois, Takayama Ukon, and Sen no Rikyu were mutually acquainted and, more so, were in direct contact with Hideyoshi since the three were in a position to ask him for tolerance with the Christians who had been badly treated. Additionally, the written report from Frois suggests that the temples related to Sen no Rikyu—such as Oubai-in, designed by Sen no Rikyu for Nobunaga, and Daisen-in, where the Father of the Tea Ceremony underwent strict Zen training in his early years—were included in the itinerary of the Christians delegation in Daitoku-ji. In the tea room of the Daisen-in Temple we find the oldest tokonoma, or alcove, designed by Sen no Rikyu, which later served as a model for all such alcoves in Japanese temples. Sen no Rikyu made tea for Hideyoshi in this tea room. This account also indicates that may be Sen no Rikyu could have received and accompanied the group of Frois, Vilela, and Almeida on their tour into the heart of the building complex of Buddhist temples and their gardens. Nowadays, although only 22 of Daitoku-ji’s sub-temples survive, it remains one of the largest and most-visited Zen temples in Kyoto. Its precincts comprise several religious structures including a mountain gate (Sanmon), a Buddha Hall (butsuden), a Dharma Hall (hatto), an Abbot’s quarters (hojo), a bath house (yokushitsu), the Sutra Library (Kyozo) and a bell tower (shoro). The temple’s main buildings, as with most Zen temples, are arranged on a north-south axis, with all halls facing south (see p. 81 in [21]). The sub-temples are constructed within an intricate system of streets and doors that grow outward in an organic way from the formal centre of the complex. As we move away from the main precinct, the walkways between the buildings become narrower and less linear and formal. This precinct is still used for religious purposes and remains an important destination for both locals and tourists. All remaining sub-­

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temples are enclosed, protected from the outside world by walls that also shelter their small gardens and heighten their intimacy. Indeed, some of these gardens are the oldest Karesansui (dry landscape gardens) in Kyoto. In referencing the second sub-temple that they visited, Frois provides a rich account of its features that coincides with what we see today at Daisen-in: In the second monastery we entered, there is a very beautiful wooden door, of excellent intricacy and different from ours. It opens into a hallway which is entirely paved with square black stones and flanked, on both sides, by walls that are smoother and whiter than posh paper from Venice. Alongside this corridor, there is a garden, which is only visible after entering the porch. It has nothing left [to see] but some little mountains made by hand. They are made of stone which is brought from afar, purposefully selected for this purpose. Over this collection of stones, [there were] countless small trees, paths and bridges, with a span and a half wide, through which the stones are reached. The ground was in part of extremely white coarse sand and in part of little black pebbles. From it raised some rough stones between one and a half and two côvados19 tall. Planted next to them and inserted into their cavities, there were many roses and flowers, adequate to the seasons so that all-year-­ round, one or the other, were blooming. (See p. 183 in [14])

His description goes on, reporting the interactions between the Jesuits and some monks at the third temple. Additional information, such as the general description of the interior of the buildings, the description of the Sutra Library, and some insights into the daily lives of the monks, is also included. Many features of Daitoku-ji’s sub-temples and gardens that Frois described four-­ and-­a-half centuries ago remain to this day. What is also striking is the European’s discerning praise for the aesthetic features of the complex: […] and since I cannot explain all there is to tell about each garden and the houses of these monasteries, it suffices to say, dear Brothers, that this is only due to its happiness and glory in this life, and from what Father Gaspar Vilela’s and Brother Luis Dalmeida’s and my own experience when suddenly being faced with those houses’ beauty, ingenuity and cleanliness, I reckon no one may look at them for the first time without being greatly enthralled. (See pp. 182–183 in [14])

Considering that Frois is reporting in 1565, we can assume that he was describing (1) Daisen-in (1509), (2) Korin-in (1520), (3) Oubai-in (1562) or (4) Ryogen-in (1502), as these gardens existed at that time. Oubai-in was designed by Sen no Rikyu and featured stone bridges in their designs. At Daisen-in, Frois’ description would appear to refer to its present-day dry waterfall—but principally the south garden with its two man-made mounds on the flat and empty surface of raked gravel, which could have inspired the surprised words of Frois: It has nothing left [to see] but some little mountains made by hand. Do these little mountains correspond to the two cones of gravel? Korin-in’s garden, with its central element consisting of a mountain-like feature with two singular upright rocks connected by a long, flat suspended “stone bridge” was also likely visited by Frois since the mountain-like scene in Korin-in is made up of stones on top of a small land elevation, as Frois had described. As for Oubai-in, it features all

19

 Referring to côvado, an old Portuguese unit of length equivalent to 66 cm (see p. 55 in [22]).

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the elements detailed by Frois, including a stone path with a stone bridge leading to a central stone scene. Now, 450 years later, the contemporary experience of visiting Daitoku-ji would appear to echo what those Portuguese priests might have encountered so long ago. Just like in Frois’ time, Daitoku-ji remains a privileged place of Zen culture—at his time due to its connection to those in power, but nowadays due to its rich history and enduring cultural legacy. Its various sub-temples and the uniqueness and integrity of their gardens clearly remain the site’s greatest attractions for the present-day foreign visitor. In Japanese garden design, the use of black pebbles typically refers to the round beach pebbles associated with Nara-period gardens (c. 710–794). In general, these black pebbles were not combined with the white sand used in Karesansui gardens. Nonetheless, rows of black pebbles are used as drainage along the verandas, and Frois may have referred to those as part of the composition. In Karensansui gardens, large, carefully selected dark stones serve as the main volume in this flat garden, arising from the pale gravel surface as an abstract representation of landscape features such as islands rising from the water. These stones are clearly identified by Frois as the core element of the garden’s design, especially the collection of stones brought from far over, among which were countless small trees, paths and bridges a span and a half wide. A curious element should be highlighted in Frois’ description of flowering plants around the stones and inserted into the stones cavities. The idea of having flowering shrubs planted around and within the stones of a karesansui garden is very surprising. According to what is known from a literature review of Japanese garden art history, the choice of vegetal embellishments was intended to be as sober and frugal as possible, with preference given to evergreen plants rather than flowering shrubs. According to Frois, however, plants were selected based on their ability to blossom all year round. Indeed, Frois’ attestation converges with Kuitert’s view that the evergreens that prevail today in the small dry gardens of Japan are a legacy of later times—that they follow the preferences of garden designers of the seventeenth and later centuries. In contrast, in earlier centuries the plant materials in use tended to be much more colourful (see p. 92 in [20]). Because Frois’ texts are precise and give such detailed descriptions, he represents a vital source of information for this garden history controversy, as well as supports the scholarly research of Kuitert on the use and variety of plants in sixteenth-century Japanese gardens. What follows is a description of the four Daitoku-ji gardens that Frois likely visited as they exist today.

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Fig. 3.9  Illustrated impression of the Daisen-in sub-temple garden at Daitoku-ji, not intended to be a faithful rendering but rather Cristina Castel-Branco’s artistic interpretation of the site. Pen and ink sketch. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

3.5.1  Daisen-in Sub-temple (the Great Hermit Temple)20 Among the principal gardens of the various sub-temples, Daisen-in (the Great Hermit Temple) contains one of the most photographed, celebrated, and studied karesansui gardens in Japan (see p.  61  in [12]). The sub-temple was founded in 1509 by the Zen priest Kogaku Soko (1464–1548) (see p. 61 in [12]), and is located in the north-east corner of Daitoku-ji. Its garden is thought to have been laid out by the temple’s founder himself, with contributions from unknown gardeners and the celebrated painter Soami (see p. 93 in [23]). The Daisen-in garden surrounds the main hall along all four sides and is famous for its colourless austerity. Taken at the simplest level, it is a dry mountain waterscape garden that employs a succession of small scenes, composed of a dry waterfall, some solitary evergreen shrubs and trees, various white-gravelled surfaces, and several strategically placed stones (Fig. 3.9). In short, it is a highly abstract landscape within a limited space (about 100 m2), and its design is intended to be an intellectual representation of the course of human life (see p. 93 in [23]).

3.5.2  Korin-in Sub-temple From a design standpoint, it is worth noting that next to Ryogen-in stands the Korin-in, founded in 1520 as a family temple for the Seamonno-suke Hatekeyama family. Its garden is a complex three-dimensional representation of an idealized landscape with several strategically placed stones, including two upright rocks connected by a long and flat “stone bridge” (Fig. 3.10), a white-gravelled surface, and 20

 Photography at Daisen-in is strictly forbidden.

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Fig. 3.10  Stone bridge at Korin-in sub-temple garden at Daitoku-ji. In Daitoku-ji, Frois describes a very similar scene: Over this collection of stones, [there were] countless small trees, paths and bridges a span and a half wide, through which the stones are reached. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

some neatly trimmed vegetation. Both gardens are celebrated as among the best of the karesansui gardens.21

3.5.3  Oubai-in Sub-temple Oubai-in is a secretive temple only open to the public in late November, which was established in 1562 by Oda Nobunaga in memory of his late father, Oda Nobuhide. Here, the visitor is conducted through a series of corridors leading to a number of courtyards, covered corridors, and buildings. The whole arrangement appears to be surrounded by an extensive garden. In reality, Oubai-in is made up of four gardens, but their design is so well integrated that they appear to be a single unit. The most famous of the four is a moss-covered garden located between the study room (Jikyu-­ ken) and the tea room (Fudo-ken) (Fig. 3.11), which is said to have been designed by Tea Master Sen no Rikyu in 1588. It features a stone arrangement in the form of a Buddhist triad, a small dry pond with a miniature stone bridge, a stone lantern, and some vegetation. A narrow

 Information collected locally from a pamphlet published and distributed by the Korin-in sub-temple

21

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3  Seventeen Kyoto Gardens Described by Frois and Vilela

Fig. 3.11  Illustrated impression of the Oubai-in sub-temple garden and teahouse at Daitoku-ji, not intended to be a faithful rendering, but rather Cristina Castel-Branco’s artistic interpretation of the site. Watercolour. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

stepping-­stone path physically connects all these elements. As we know, Frois was an admirer of the war Lord Oda Nobunaga and praised his work and authority.22

3.5.4  Ryogen-in Sub-temple The Portuguese visitors likely visited other temples and we refer those that could be associated to this first European visit. Ryogen-in sub-temple, which was founded in 1502 by the priest Tokei Sobuku (Fig. 3.12), may have been one of the three also visited and we add it to this analysis as it houses a reproduction of the first “modern” rifle introduced in Japan in the mid-sixteenth century. According to the Japanese text Teppo-ki, written in 1606, this happened on 23 September 1543 when the first Portuguese merchants were received by the Tanegashima Lord, Tokitaka, who was so impressed by their guns that he asked to purchase two, adding: I may not be able but I would like to learn how to use it. The Portuguese responded: If you want to learn how to use it we will volunteer to deliver all its secrets [24].  Information collected locally from a pamphlet published and distributed by the Oubai-in sub-temple.

22

3.5  Daitoku-ji Temple

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Fig. 3.12  Ryogen-in sub-temple garden at Daitoku-ji. According to Marc Treib the garden was refurbished in the 1980s with forms stronger in definition and profile than those executed in a more historical manner (p. 69 in [13]). (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

3.5.5  Zuiho-in Sub-temple Zuiho-in Temple was founded in 1546 by Otomo Sorin (1530–1587), who is known as the “Christian Daimyo” due to his conversion to Christianity in1578; he was also a friend of Frois’. The garden includes the famous Garden of the Cross (Fig. 3.13) in reference to its Christian founder. Though its present-day garden design is modern, conceived by Mirei Shigemori in 1961, the stone arrangement—when seen from a certain angle— does present a cross.23 Many other sub-temples are also respectful retainers of great gardens: the Juko-in founded in 1566 and acquired by Sen no Rikyu as his family temple in 1589 (see p. 515 in [19]); the Soken-in founded in 1582 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi as the mortuary temple of Oda Nobunaga; the Koto-in founded in 1603 by Hosokawa Tadaoki (see p. 63 in [12]); and the Kohoan founded in 1621 and moved to Daitoku-ji in 1643 (see p. 64 in [12]). Just like Frois, we are able to view only three or four of the temples in a single journey, but can easily imagine his astonishment and wonder, which he later recorded: In the third monastery there was much to be seen but since the temple was closed, equivalent in area to the Goa college and with many people meditating, we could only see the temple balconies and the garden, in itself a full load to see and write all I have said before,  Information collected locally from a pamphlet published and distributed by the Zuiho-in sub-temple.

23

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3  Seventeen Kyoto Gardens Described by Frois and Vilela

Fig. 3.13  Zuiho-in sub-temple garden at Daitoku-ji. Garden redesigned by Mirei Shigemori (twentieth century) celebrating the Christian founder Otomo Sorin. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved) and since we were foreigners and well accompanied by Christians, many Bonzos came out to see us and ask whether we were gods coming to preach the new Miaco sect and congregate disciples, this being what they call us and the Christians… On our way back home due to the late hour we passed a large temple containing a woodworked tower painted with many colours that revolves on axles and is divided into compartments full with pigeonholes where all the books written by Xaca are kept. (See p. 183 in [14])

3.6  Kinkaku-ji The Rokuon-ji Temple, commonly known as Kinkaku-ji because of its three-story pavilion covered in golden leaf (Kinkaku), was described just once by Luis Frois in 1565. The complex is nowadays a Zen Buddhist temple of the Rinzai sect located in the west-northwest of Kyoto on a site that originally housed a villa called Kitayama-­ dai, constructed in 1224 by a powerful statesman, Saionji Kintsune (1171–1244). In 1397, the villa was purchased by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358–1409), the most powerful man of his time, who was able to monopolize the growing trade with China and maintain control over the imperial and military classes, even after his retirement (see pp. 129–130 in [25]). During the fourteenth century, the influence of the Chinese Song Dynasty swept over the Japanese arts, with Yoshimitsu, the third Ashikaga shogun (1358–1409), as its most ­elevated exponent. Gathering together artists, poets and Zen priests returned from China, he built extravagantly, assuming the ideals of the Song period as well as those of the domestic Heian

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Fig. 3.14  Kinkaku-ji Temple Golden Pavilion, pond and cascade, referred by Frois in 1565. Detail of Uesugi screens (sixteenth century) from Kano Eitoku. (Courtesy Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum) era. Yoshimitsu began construction of the Golden Pavilion shortly before he officially retired in 1394. (See pp. 93–97 in [12])

Once retired, Yoshimitsu transformed the Kitayama-dai Villa into the centerpiece of his dream to introduce a new phase into the traditional culture that had been led by aristocrats since the Heian period. After Yoshimitsu’s death and according to his wishes, the villa was converted into a Zen temple. Muso Soseki, also known as Muso Kokushi, was its first abbot. Over time, most of its buildings were reconstructed and/or gradually disappeared due to consecutive fires and wars. In 1950 a deranged student monk burnt down the unpainted pavilion, but an exact replica was built shortly thereafter  – and it was decided that the structure should now literally match its name. Today the exterior of the pavilion glows with golden walls. (See pp. 96–97 in [12])

Entering the temple’s garden through the main gate, the scenario suddenly opens up to reveal what is considered the garden’s finest view: the Golden Pavilion sitting at the edge of the pond as if completely surrounded by water (Fig. 3.14). […] he positioned the structure on the edge of the pond to capture the most dramatic views. Some believe that the pavilion was once completely surrounded by water – like a fishing pavilion – with only an arched bridge connecting it to the main palace complex. The first story of the pavilion served as a reception room for guests and as a lakeside departure point for pleasure boating in ornate Chinese-style boats. (See pp. 96–97 in [12])

According to a 1565 document, Frois confirms that the pavilion was in the middle of the pond: After the monastery of Murasaqui, around half a league or more, there is a place once constructed by a Cubosama24 for his own recreation, and despite being very old, it is still a very pleasant place to look at while lounging. It has something like a small three-story tower in

24

 Kubo-sama was another term for the Shogun, in this case referring to Ashikaga Yoshimitsu

88

3  Seventeen Kyoto Gardens Described by Frois and Vilela the middle of a pond. The pond was made there on purpose with its small islands and many twisted pines of various shapes and other graceful and very pleasant trees, all placed over the islands; It is said that he used to have in the same pond, in former times, a large and diverse number of waterfowl, which were fetch by people he sent to remote and strange realms, just for ornament and splendour of the same pond. (See pp. 29–30 [5])

This interesting confirmation of the original design of Kinkaku-ji reinforces Treib’s claim that although few of Yoshimitsu’s original buildings remain, we can experience remnants of the great estate in its sizable pond, island pavilion, and extensive plantings. When Frois visited the compound in 1565 it had already been converted into a Buddhist Hall, which still houses the famous statue of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu that Frois pointed out in his recording of the site. Even then, Frois highlights the use of the building as a platform from which the garden should be enjoyed. Actually, this specific characteristic is a Chinese-inspired innovation, typically found in the gardens of the Muromachi Period in Japan—namely, the construction of a multi-­ storeyed building whose purpose was not religious (like the pagoda) but for everyday use and enjoyment of views over the garden. Frois, like contemporary visitors today, reacted to the reflected beauty of the Golden Pavilion and provided the very first Western description of its impressive aesthetic affect. Frois also provides details about three-story gilded building, a focal point in the landscape, which is famed for its exuberant, innovative mixed architecture: In the first level, there are some significant religious sculptures, including a statue of the same Cubó [Ashikaga Yoshimitsu] in real size with a monk,25 who was his master in religious matters. The upper floor, with its balconies around, was completely covered with gold leaf and was only used for his own recreation by serving as a platform to watch the entire garden and pond, and from the same house to be cane pole fishing when he wanted. The pavement or floor of that upper chamber, which in one hall, does not have more than three wooden boards of […] spans long and […] spans wide,26 very smooth and without any knot. A bit away from this building,27 inside a groove, falls a spring of excellent water and great freshness in summer, which flows into this pond.28 (See pp. 29–30 [5])

By means of his meticulous reporting, Frois provides a clear mental image of the Golden Pavilion and his garden as if he were writing the words today. More than four centuries ago, he too singled out the iconic feature of the Rokuon-ji Temple: the Golden Pavilion completely surrounded by water, confirming that the garden still retains most of its distinguishing characteristics, while adding a lively description of its use in both the sixteenth century and at the time of its construction. Then, as now, the Golden Pavilion has three floors, each of which is constructed in a different style of architecture and with a different purpose in mind. The first level is built in the shinden-zukuri style of the eleventh century imperial aristocracy and was used (according to Yoshimitsu) as a reception room for guests and as a lakeside  Muso Soseki, posthumous title of the priest Soseki, dead 1351.  The number is missing in both places. 27  Referring to the Golden Pavilion, Kinkaku. 28  Referring to the lower-level pond, Kyoko-chi pond. 25 26

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departure point for pleasure boating. The second level is in the buke style of the warrior aristocracy and served as a location for confidential discussions of art and the affairs of the day, while offering a stunning panorama from its balcony. The top level is in the Chinese zenshu-butsuden style and served as an intimate refuge for Yoshimitsu and his friends, who engaged in quiet contemplation and ceremonial tea drinking.29 With respect to the plant diversity of the Kyoko-chi pond, Frois mentions the existence of many twisted pines of various shapes. He is probably referring to the niwaki, highly sculpted trees that use a distinctive set of pruning techniques meant to bring out specific features that signify the essence of tree or, as Jake Hobson explains it, to coax out the same thing from them: the character of maturity (see pp. 45–46 [26]). Nowadays, the niwaki plantation of the pond is dominated by the presence of Japanese black pine (Pinus thunbergii). However, considering what Frois left us in terms of documentation, this may have not been its original composition since he clearly mentions the existence of other graceful and very pleasant trees planted on the islands, suggesting that a reduction of the pond’s plantation diversity might have occurred over the centuries. As for the animal diversity of the garden, Frois reports that It is said that he used to have in the same pond, in former times, a large and diverse number of waterfowls, which were fetched by people he sent to remote and strange realms, just for ornament and splendour of the same pond (see pp.  29–30 [5]). The intentional release of exotic waterfowl species on the pond, as reported by Frois, is something surprising in the whole concept of Japanese gardens and must be studied in light of the fashion for the exotic that was so strong in Japan at that time. Frois description of the use of the space shows that even after the compound was converted into a Buddhist temple, it remained a space for the enjoyment and recreation of Kyoto visitors, with picnics, probably hanami30 and other traditional events, taking part in its grounds—providing that guards were there to assure that no meat or fish were eaten within the garden walls. The men who stand watch over that garden, which is frequented by people from Miaco City who lounge there with their picnic food, do not allow anyone to eat meat or fish within its confines because they say that those are filthy things that contaminate that place. (See pp. 29–30 [5])

This rule accords with the Buddhist belief no one should eat the flesh of any sentient being [27], which Frois recorded in his detailed account. The garden itself is a good example of a pond garden of the Muromachi period— the classical age of Japanese garden design that is characterized by certain Chinese Zen cultural influences. However, its actual design follows the guidelines of an earlier Heian traditional garden with its stream running from north to south into the

29  Information collected locally from a pamphlet published and distributed by the Rokuon-ji Temple. 30  Excursions and picnics for enjoying flowers, particularly cherry blossoms, which remains one of the most popular events of Spring.

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pond, its several islands planted with trees, and the Golden Pavilion replacing the typical fishing pavilion in the precepts of the shinden-zukuri style (see p. 28 in [28]). When visiting the garden with Frois’ description as a guide, an unexpected feature stood out—namely, the waterfall (Ryumon Taki). Although it is to a certain extent overshadowed by the other many attractions of the garden, it remains of high importance as it is the source that supplies the pond. A range of other attractions are scattered throughout the garden, which can be reached via a meandering path that leads the visitor around the pond and up the hill behind the Golden Pavilion. Between those, one can count the An-min-taku pond, the upper pond, and the Sekka-tei Tea House, which is a small tea house added to the garden in the early 1600s in honour of a visit by Emperor Go-Mizuno-o.31 Given the cultural, historical, and architectural significance of the Golden Pavilion and its magnificent Japanese strolling garden, it is no wonder that the Rokuon-ji Temple is among the most-visited places in Kyoto and remains a notable addition to the list of World Cultural Heritage sites in the city.

3.7  Ryoan-ji Temple The Ryoan-ji, a Zen temple of the Myoshin-ji School of Buddhism, is situated on the lower western slope of Mount Kinugasa in western Kyoto in a broad valley surrounded by green mountains. It offers beautiful views and is supplied with sufficient water to maintain the large pond where, in the early centuries, migrating mandarin ducks gathered. In 1450 the warlord Hosokawa Katsumoto, the shogun’s deputy (kanrei), acquired the land and ordered the construction of Ryoan-ji on the site where once stood a villa of the Fujiwara family (see p. 94 in [12]). The temple was destroyed during the Onin Wars, but was rebuilt in 1488 by Katsumoto’s son, Matsumoto, who succeeded in physically relocating another building from Tofuku-ji (see p. 444 in [29]). In a letter dating from 1571 (see pp.  321–322  in [11]), Gaspar Vilela writes extensively about a temple known as Riouãji, which is the Portuguese pronunciation for the word Ryoan-ji; however, we must note that the meaning of the word indicated by Vilela is the temple where the two lives are contemplated, which does not accord with Ryoan-ji’s common translation, The Temple of the Dragon at Peace (see p. 321 in [11]). Like many other temple sites in Japan, Ryoan-ji was damaged by fire over the course of its long history. The year 1797 saw the last major fire at Ryoan-ji, at which point all main buildings were destroyed and had to be replaced. Few today would dispute that the garden at the abbot’s quarters (hojo) of the Ryoan-ji Temple is the most well-known Japanese garden in the world (Fig. 3.15). This famous rectangular garden might have been created around 1500, although

31  Information collected locally from a pamphlet published and distributed by the Rokuon-ji Temple.

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Fig. 3.15  The famous Karesansui (dry landscape garden) at Ryoan-ji Temple. (©Cristina Castel-­ Branco, 2007. All Rights Reserved)

scholars do not agree on this matter. Some assert that it was built earlier by Katsumoto, while others believe it to be of later construction, crediting its design to the Zen monk and garden designer Soami (see pp. 98–109 in [23] and pp. 89–92 in [23]). Regardless, by the end of the fifteenth century the temple was thriving— although one of its main attractions was the family tombs of the Hosokawa family (see p. 444 in [19]) and not its garden. Like Ryoan-ji, the garden of the abbot quarter (hojo) was damaged by fire in 1797 and had to be restored; it has endured in its present state since that time. According to Treib, the Ryoan-ji Temple garden remained relatively unknown until the 1930s when local and Western critics alike began to praise this distinctive site, and in short order it became widely celebrated (see p. 94 in [12]). Its extreme simplified design as a 15-stone karesansui (Japanese rock garden) and its 500 years of existence as a revered Zen site has given it an aura of eternity and high artistic value. Its simple design consists of a rectangular plot of raked sand surrounded by low earthen walls, with 15 rocks laid out in small groups on patches of moss. Around the wall, a frame of tree canopies affords the seasonal changes of colour so much loved and prized in Japanese gardens. Additionally, a large pond with water lilies remains an important feature (Fig. 3.16), although it is eclipsed by the stone garden and its distinctive 15 rectangular stones. In contrast, Vilela does not mention the existence of the famous karesansui garden. Instead, he focuses his attention on the temple’s main buildings and outside pond—nowadays the center of an extensive park-like garden where waterlilies are the main attraction. Unfamiliar with Japanese flowers, Vilela refers to them as roses floating on the tranquil waters of the Oshidoridera pond.

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Fig. 3.16  Oshidoridera pond at Ryoan-ji Temple, waterlilies described by Vilela in a letter dated 1571 as roses floating on the water. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved) This temple, built by the Emperor’s command, measured thirty paces [approximately 24.6 m] […] facing the altar stood a huge life-sized image covered with small jars: it represented the first Bonzo who founded this house; there were some old Emperors’ graves with their life-sized images: on one side of  this construction there was a small but richly adorned house, with a very beautiful window overlooking a large pond, which was full of water lilies with their roses floating on the water. Around it, there were many other enjoyable places as the temple was located in a broad and pleasant valley. This was the Emperor’s resting house when he went there for entertainment. The houses of the Bonzos were located a stone’s throw away from the temple and were unexpectedly ornate and clean, with many roses and greenery. (See p. 321 in [11])

When Vilela reports that the temple was built for the Emperor, he is referring to the Hosokawa’s clan whose family had been in control of the shogunate for half a century (see p. 7 in [16]), just prior to Vilela’s arrival in Japan. Accordingly, the graves of former emperors that he alludes to are the family tombs of the Hosokawa clan, which augmented the importance of Ryoan-ji as a place to visit—even at the end of the fifteenth century (see p. 444 in [19]). Fortunately for the modern reader, Vilela provides detailed reports describing the houses of the bonzes, featuring a singular kitchen with piped water from the mountain and a bath house with two floors, in which Vilela took a special interest. It comprised a bath that consisted of a very clean white house, whitewashed on the outside, the interior covered with wooden planks, where they bathed with hot water and then climbed unto a higher floor with windows looking onto the outdoor water tank for the entertainment of those who cleansed themselves after having done so before; this floor was used for eating and entertainment, thus adequately clean and very ornate on the outside: this temple used to yield high tithes in old times, not so much now. (See p. 322 in [11])

3.8  Enryaku-ji Temple: Mount Hiei

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This hot water bath house with extension to a garden hot pool, so curious for Vilela and so strange to his Western eye, seems to be the first European description of a Japanese bath house, so common in Japan. The pond is said to have been built by Fujiwara Saneyoshi at the beginning of the eleventh century (see p. 89 in [23]) during the Heian Period (794–1185) and features three islands in the north connected by bridges, and a pair of almost-­submerged rocks towards the southeast side. This lake as a garden feature may have started as a traditional pond associated with the pre-existing Fujiwara Villa, where musicians played their tunes on specially built stages on the islands and Chinese-like boats floated on its waters. In the sixteenth century, the temple’s complex still retained some of this leisure-like atmosphere since, according to Vilela, the temple was still used as a place for leisure as there was even a […] resting house (for the emperor) when he went there for entertainment. Nowadays, the extensive pond garden maintains its timeless beauty, but has relinquished some of its popularity to the world-­ renowned karesansui in the hojo.

3.8  Enryaku-ji Temple: Mount Hiei The “Mother Mountain” of Japanese Buddhism, Mount Hiei, can be found to the northeast of Kyoto, overlooking Japan’s largest freshwater lake, Biwa (Biwa-ko), with its total area of about 670 square kilometres. Situated on the boundary between Shiga and Kyoto Prefectures, Mount Hiei, which also offers extraordinary views of the beautiful Kyoto valley to the west and Lake Biwa (Fig. 3.17) to the East, was originally thought to be the spiritual home of Shinto deities and demons, but for 1200 years has been known as a sacred place for the various sects of Buddhism. Presently, Mount Hiei is roughly divided into three stupa areas32— To-do, Saito, and Yokawa—where an assemblage of temple buildings in each area is known collectively as the Hieizan Enryaku-ji Temple. Enryaku-ji now serves as the headquarters for the Tendai sect and is one of the most significant monasteries in Japanese history, earning its place on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Beginning in ancient times, touring the pilgrimage routes from Mount Hiei to Lake Biwa, and from Lake Biwa to the temples on Mount Hiei, was very popular. Accordingly, in 1559 Gaspar Vilela travelled up the mountain to visit the renowned school of Buddhism to ask permission to spread the Christian faith in Kyoto. His historical record indicates that this place was located four leagues west33 of Kyoto:   A stupa is a structure containing relics (typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation 33  Mount Hiei is located East of Kyoto, but a typographical error in the text in identifying east and west resulted in some difficulty in pinpointing the mountain described—that is until we realized that the mountain and lake described by Vilela could only be Mount Hiei and Lake Biwa, East of Kyoto. 32

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Fig. 3.17  View from the top of Mount Hiei, near Kyoto, looking east towards Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, old Omi Province. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved) [in] a very high and long mountain range, where a wide variety of towering trees grows. This peak is the headquarters of all the Buddhist sects of Japan. They say that in the old days there were more than 5000 monasteries. Nowadays, there are only about 800. […] To various sides of this mountain there are a few large streams that flow all year round: in summer, because of the snow that continuously melts at its top, and in winter, because of the rain. It is a high place of great views. Next to it there is a village of 1000 villagers, who are subjected to the temple, and a freshwater lake full with fish four leagues wide by forty leagues long34 across which there is the province subjected to the main temple […] named Vomi. A league away from this mountain there is a place called Midara. (See pp.  323– 324 in [11])

Although Vilela does not specifically name Lake Biwa as that freshwater lake, the size he records makes it clear that it could only be Biwa,35 which is next to Kyoto. Moreover, the Vomi province is the Portuguese way of writing the old Omi Province that today comprises the Shiga Prefecture. Another clue is that Midara, which is actually typed “Mii-dera”, is the ancient name of Onjo-ji Temple, a Buddhist temple located at the foot of Mount Hiei. Today, Mount Hiei is famed for the extensive temple complexes near its summit. Although Vilela estimated that 5000 temples and sub-temples may have once occupied the sprawling monastic complex of Enryaku-ji, it is more likely that the site featured 3000 buildings that served to train and house many illustrious monks (see pp. 84–85 in [21]). The locale’s main temple, Enryaku-ji, was founded in 788 by the  According to Miguel da Silva Marques one Portuguese league measures between 5.6 and 6.5 km (see p. 24 in [30]). 35  Lake Biwa is the largest freshwater lake in Japan, measuring 22.8 km wide and 63.49 km long. Gaspar Vilela’s text contains an error: instead of 40 leagues it should be 10 leagues. 34

3.8  Enryaku-ji Temple: Mount Hiei

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Fig. 3.18  Bell Tower (reconstruction) at Enryaku-ji Temple at Mount Hiei. The temple was visited by Gaspar Vilela in 1559, 12  years before Nobunaga ordered its entire destruction. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

priest Saicho (767–822), at the request of the Emperor Kammu, as a station to shield the newly-established capital of Heian-kyo (Kyoto) from the evil spirits that were believed to emanate from the northeast (see pp. 84–85 in [21]). Beyond its protective capacity, Enryaku-ji Temple grew to become the headquarters of the Tendai school of Buddhism and was strongly involved in the nation’s politics. By the sixteenth century its political power was so well established that in 1571 the warlord Oda Nobunaga felt the necessity to burn it to the ground and massacre its entire population, which he rationalized by claiming that the temple disapproved of his cause (see pp. 164–166 in [31]). Vilela’s visit to Enryaku-ji occurred just a dozen years prior to Oda Nobunaga’s destruction of the temple and the massacre of the monks. Interestingly, the Portuguese Jesuit alludes to the former political relevance of Enryaku-ji and the influence of the monks: It is not allowed to preach any sect without approval of these scholars and Bonzes who, in their own way, had the power to sanctify the dead (see p. 324 in [11]). Nonetheless, Vilela visited this mountain as part of his missionary work of spreading the Christian religion—although it is clear that his interests and curiosity strayed to more secular matters in that he wrote extensively, and with delight, about the temples’ architecture, ingenious smoke-free heating system, and gardens. During our systematic visit of the To-do area and its architectural and geographic features, we were able to observe the Dai Ko-do, the bell tower (Fig. 3.18), and the Kaidan-in temples. However, we were unable to access the Konpon Chu-do because it was under repair and not accessible to the public.

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Moreover, the gardens once described so admiringly by Vilela (below) no longer exist due to Nobunaga’s destructive actions. There was a small and very enjoyable tree garden in front of each one of these monasteries. The garden could be reached by opening one of the temple’s many doors, which, as already mentioned, could be opened and closed by sliding them sideways on top of each other. By opening one of these doors, one can sit in the house while looking at a tree garden. All gardens are different between each other, as each one of them has something new in relation to the others, in accordance to their own taste. These gardens have a big diversity of stones, some are white, some are black and some are greenish blue. They are not very big, but small and well-positioned between moss and greenery. There are some small and twisted cypresses inserted in these stones and also some small trees laden with flowers, which (the stones) are continuously dropping water from inside themselves. They have fountains and spouts, which are done with such artifice that the water seems to come out of the same stones, as if it was Nature’s work and not a human construction. There are also some green pines and other trees whose crown was shaped by hand, garden beds and ornaments, which no doubt gladden the eyes of those who see them. (See p. 324 in [11])

The gardens that Vilela described with such admiration, featuring sliding doors opening to a veranda from which the garden could be enjoyed, seem to belong to the shoin-zukuri style from the Muromachi Period (1333–1568). Marc Treib provides some additional details about this period’s aesthetics: In contrast to the political turbulence […] an aesthetic of elegance and simplicity suffused garden design, painting and architecture […] Some aspects of the building’s disposition […] the delicacy and elegance of its resolution and the perfection of its proportions in small elements as well as in overall structure are ultimately domestic. (See p. 17 in [12])

The Enryaku-ji gardens that Vilela witnessed were indeed simple, featuring three principal compositional elements: the use of stones of various colours; the use of small, twisted plants indicating regular cutting/shaping or topiary; and the presence of waterfalls so well built that they appeared to blend in with the natural surroundings. While Vilela’s descriptions match what we know about these Zen gardens with their skilful, strategic placement of rocks (notably, Ryoan-ji and its austere dry landscape garden), what is surprising about Vilela’s report of this centuries-old garden is the purported presence of greenish-blue stones. Regrettably, a present-day visit to this temple complex reveals a range of impressive buildings—but the conspicuous absence of any stylized gardens, let alone any stones of this hue. We must also rely on Vilela’s report that the inclusion of topiary shrubs and bonsai-inspired trees and vegetation seems to have had a special role as garden element—and principally the green pines, the trees whose crown was shaped by hand and the small and twisted cypresses. In addition to the presence of evergreen vegetation, the Portuguese v­ isitor noted the now-rare inclusion of small trees laden with flowers within these gardens, and that they seemed to be permanently irrigated via the humidity of the surroundings. Vilela noticed and admired the ingenious way of working with water in the gardens, and the subtlety of making the artificial composition appear as if the water had always been a natural element of the site. Water is a garden feature that requires much skill and knowledge and that we still admire in Japanese gardens nowadays.

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Of particular significance is Vilela’s sixteenth-century observation that the way to appreciate the Japanese aesthetic, where the model for beauty is Nature itself, is that we should contemplate a created garden as if it was Nature’s work and not a human construction. Finally, we must underscore that the descriptions Vilela took pains to document 450 years ago do not correspond to a specific garden of a specific temple, but rather to a typology. As such, they provide a priceless historical record of the temple gardens he visited during his sojourn at Mount Hiei, a mere decade before these gardens were lost forever to Nobunaga.

3.9  Honkoku-ji Temple Gaspar Vilela described the Honkoku-ji Temple in 1571, referring to it as the Roquijò temple, while Frois noted its name to be Rokujô. José Wicki, editor in charge of the full publication of Frois’ original account, Historia do Japam (1976–1984), identified both appellations as referring to a single structure: the Honkoku-ji Temple. According to Fiévé, this large temple from the Nichiren School was located at Rokujo, in the southern part of Kyoto: While the high town Kamigyô was the seat of the bakufu and the Court, the low town, Shimogyô concentrated the craftsmen and merchants houses [32] in a more working-class neighbourhood. Today in Kyoto, a stele marks the site of the extinct Honkoku-ji in Horikawa-Gojo, north of the current Nishi Hongan-ji Temple, to indicate its important role in the history of the city. In addition to the Portuguese visitor’s sixteenth-century written record of this site, one can look at paintings of Honkoku-ji—and principally in a picture detail of Uesugi-Bon Rakuchu-Rakugai-Zu Byobu, most commonly known as Uesugui screens found in Yonezawa City Uesugi museum that dates from the sixteenth century. Much earlier, however, Honkoku-ji served as a fortified Lotus sect temple (see p. 65 in [16]). Its main pavilion was built in Kamakura, over 400 kilometres to the east, as the Lotus Hall (Hokkedo) of a temple of the same name founded by Nichiren (1222–1282) (see p. 31 in [33]). For quite some time it served as one of the dissemination centres, but in 1345 it was moved to Kyoto where it prospered. According to Mckelway, Honkoku-ji Temple had quite a turbulent existence in the capital, as in 1527 the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiharu established a garrison there (see p. 65 in [16]). Indeed, Honkoku-ji became an important fortress-temple because the Nichiren School’s requirements were very strict, forbidding its followers from interacting with anyone who was not of the same sect. This provoked outrage from other Buddhists, such as Enryaku-ji’s Tendai monks, who attacked the Honkoku-ji Temple and destroyed it in 1536, although it was reconstructed in 1547 (see p. 65 in [16]). As a result of these attacks, Honkoku-ji’s defensive walls and moat were reinforced, eventually encircling the temple and converting it into an armed bastion for the protection of their adherents (see p. 31 in [33]). In fact, during the political instability of the sixteenth century, the site became somewhat commune-like for those who sought protection there.

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According to historical records and confirmed by Luis Frois’ accounts, when Nobunaga entered Kyoto to install Ashikaga Yoshiaki as the fifteenth Ashikaga Shogun in 1568, he himself took residence at Honkoku-ji, but eventually relocated its richer halls and golden folding screens to the Nijo-Gosho Palace where he had installed the Ashikaga family. The monks, however, were furious and begged him to reconsider. Some 1500 town foquexus [referring to Kempon Hokke-shū, a branch of Nichiren Buddhism] assembled and offered great gifts, imploring Nobunaga not to proceed with such a great offence towards that old famous monastery renowned in all of Japan, at the price of any gold, silver or anything else His Majesty would please, but he did not capitulate […] because what he once determined was irrevocable. (See pp. 185–186 in [5])

This act was viewed a one of humiliation to the temple, which, despite its size and former power in the capital, soon vanished. Vilela’s description of Honkoku-ji is quite extensive and interesting. He focuses mainly on detailing the temples’ architecture and interior design, but also provides some general comments. [Honkoku-ji] is located in a square yard or large field as wide as the distance a rifle can reach. It is surrounded by a moat of suitable width and depth with only one entrance. The temple is large, with three naves of cedar pillars, which are so wide and tall that are really worth seeing. (See p. 320 in [11])

Vilela tells us that the temple garden was located near a pleasure house decorated with golden folding screens, which are described in detail, but here we focus only on Vilela’s account of the garden: After a few words of courtesy, they opened a door to show me a garden. It was not very spacious, but delightful. It had a pond full with very clear water and some fish. The pond should be approximately a braça and a half [~3.3m] deep, fed by spring water, and a small handmade hill in its centre. The small hill was very green and pleasant, with many different sorts of grasses and small trees, all planted joyfully. It should be about half a spear in height [~2.5m]. On top of it, there was a beautifully finished raised deck36 of cedar planks, covered and surrounded by very subtly craft straw mats.37 This place was intended to enjoy the breeze. The pond was surrounded by several pines: some looked very old and were covered with moss; others were climbed by ivy and other similar creepers; and others were curved over the pond and intertwined with many roses. There were some waterfowl in the waters named Vòxu,38 which are comparable in size to the mallards (ducks) of this land, in which it seems that nature wanted to show off its beauty, in the way it painted them in various colours. Spread around this garden, planted in its own order, there were many cypress and cedars. Birds were singing around the porch, which was fully graced by their presence and from where the pond became visible. The porch was made of scented wooden planks and was clean and decorated with several paintings and ornaments to see […] I leave many things to tell to not cause boredom and to not seem like an exaggeration, but it was so lovely  The source word used is “bailéu”. Originally the word bailéu comes from the Malay word bailai, which means “high platform” [34]. 37  The source words are “esteira de verga”, literally meaning a mat made of wicker, probably referring to tatami mats. 38  Taking into account the description, probably referring to Mandarin ducks (Oshidori: Aix galericulata). 36

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and enjoyable that it seems unlikely that there are many gardens like this in other places which are superior to this one. (See p. 321 in [11])

Vilela’s comprehensive description of Honkoku-ji’s gardens invites comparison to Sambo-in and its well-preserved garden dating from 1589, which can be visited four miles southeast of Kyoto. Sambo-in serves as a perfect Japanese garden example of its time, The description of the […] garden contains several elements that presage the later strolling garden. These elements are not intended for contemplation, but exist as beautiful and interesting features in their own right (see pp.  185–186  in [12]). The Honkoku-ji island with its two-meter hill planted with pruned trees and grasses and the pine trees surrounding the pond, covered with moss, are elements that, similar to Sambo-in, invite the guest’s participation [as] each view revealed as a series of distinctly separate vistas (see pp. 185–186 in [12]). The garden and its natural features seem to have been purposefully designed to please the visitor. Vilela notes his enjoyment of seeing the ducks expressly named as Vòxu and fish, and praises the natural elements of the landscape: Nature wanted to show off its beauty, in the way it painted them in various colours. Just like Sambo-in, Honkoku-ji, as described by the Portuguese, is clearly a garden for pleasure, a garden to delight the senses. Vilela was struck by the loveliness of the place, where one could enjoy the views, as well as benefit from the veranda’s (engawa) comfortable tatami mats and summer breezes: There was a beautifully finished raised deck of cedar planks, covered and surrounded by very subtly crafted straw mats. He also provides clues about the accompanying décor of such a traditional veranda. Vilela who had built the first church in Nagasaki and in Kyoto seems to have a talent for architecture. His descriptions provide us with technical information on the way to build an to use the houses and the gardens, he describes the garden as appealing simultaneously to different senses: the sounds of birds and ducks, the views down to the pond, the presence of paintings, the almost palpable breezes, and the overall feeling of purity and freshness. Vilela also focuses on the surrounding scenery. He describes old pine trees (likely Pinus densiflora or Pinus thunbergii): Some looked very old and were covered with moss; others were climbed by ivy and other similar creepers; and others were curved over the pond and intertwined with many roses (Fig. 3.19). In so doing he seems to be expressing the Japanese concept of sabi—whereby an object or natural feature becomes more valuable or beautiful with age. In this case, sabi is expressed in the pines’ aged beauty through the presence of moss, climbing ivy, and their twisted shape (see p.  76  in [10]). Vilela’s description recalls a long history of intensive Japanese arboreal maintenance. Just like we see today in many temple gardens, every autumn zealous gardeners clear away the dry needles of the pine trees and prune the branches in order to achieve special configurations through continuous and thoughtful care. Additionally, Vilela describes the surrounding forest as spread around this garden, planted in its own order; there were many cypress and cedars, bringing to mind the distinctive and sacred forests that often encircle temples or small sanctuaries.

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Fig. 3.19  Honkoku-ji Temple (now lost). Vilela described this temple in a letter dated 1571. Detail of Uesugi screens (sixteenth century) from Kano Eitoku. (Courtesy Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum)

For this early European visitor, the garden of Honkoku-ji Temple seems to be among the finest that he visited. Indeed, he considers it so lovely and enjoyable that it seems unlikely that there are many gardens like this in other places which are superior to this one. The nuanced capacity of Vilela and Frois to appreciate the novelties they experienced in Japanese gardens tells us a lot about their openness and sensitivity, but also serves to provide an invaluable record of a now-lost garden and temple.

3.10  Palace of Hosokawa Harumoto Beginning with the ascendancy of Hosokawa Masamoto (1466–1507) and until the 1560s, the Hosokawa clan controlled the shogunate and were the primary arbiters of power in the capital (see p. 91 in [16]). Hosokawa Harumoto (1519–1563), the last Hosokawa to reside in the Hosokawa Palace during the sixteenth century, was a Japanese daimyo of the Muromachi period who ruled the whole area of Kinai—a major region that included the province of Yamashiro and the city of Kyoto. In his Historia de Japam, Frois refers to Harumoto, a most influential person in the bakufu (see pp. 157–159 in [7]) as Fosocavandono (Hosokawa dono in Japanese), roughly meaning Lord Hosokawa or Master Hosokawa. However, the relationship between Harumoto and the advisers of Shogun Ashikawa Yoshiharu had begun to sour, with internal disagreements leading to the weakening of family’s influence. In 1549,

3.10  Palace of Hosokawa Harumoto

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Hosokawa Harumoto was forced to flee Kyoto due to his loss at the Battle of Eguchi (see p. 148 in [16]) and the ensuing diminishment of his status. Frois refers to this fall from grace in his Historia de Japam: Thence they [we] were taken to the palaces of Fosocavandono, who is in fact the king of that Yamaxiro reign where the town of Miaco is located, but because for many years he and his ancestors had been unsuccessful in the wars and he lived in exile. (See p. 26 in [5])

Although the Hosokawa Palace and garden no longer exist according to both McKelway and Frois, the garden maintained a considerable reputation in its day, which is visible in the depiction of the covered bridge, ornamental rocks, pond, and assorted trees represented in the Sanjo and Uesugi Screens (see p. 92 in [16]). Just like all influential family houses, the Hosokawa Palace was located on the same horizontal axis as the Ashikaga house, between Kamitachiuri, Ogawa, Teranouchi and Shin-machi streets (see p. 8 in [16]). In 1565, Frois provided a description of the palace and garden: From this temple we were taken by the Christian noblemen who were going with us to visit some newly rebuilt palaces belonging to the governor of the whole reign, and besides the many things we could recount about them I will only tell you about its gardens, not referring the diversity of the trees we found there, similar to the ones in the Cubócama garden [Nijo Gosho garden], in the center of the garden there is a pond twenty paces long [~ 16.4m], with a most peculiar water brought here by him at great expense from two or three leagues afar, coming in through a hand-made tor that appears a work of nature proper. (See p. 186 in [14])

Frois’ reference to trees and the comparison to the Nijo Palace trees is particularly interesting because here and at the Nijo Gosho Palace the description of pruned trees as bells and cylinders prompts the question: Were Muromachi-era trees typically pruned? Kenkichi Ono (see p. 324 in [35]) addressed this very topic in 2005 through his analysis of Frois’ Historia de Japam garden descriptions, and it is discussed in detail in the Nijo-jo Castle subchapter. The water for the pond, which was about 16.4 m, was brought artificially from two or three leagues away (as many as 12–18  kilometres) and entered the pond through a high-rock tor, meaning a man-made waterfall, that looked like the work of nature itself. The astonishment and marvel felt by Frois while visiting the garden of Hosokawa Harumoto was explicitly registered as he is unable to find words for the beauty he witnessed: Undoubtedly, it is not possible to describe even a third of what it actually is (see p. 186 in [14]). This statement confirms that it was a place of great beauty, not just for Japanese, but also to European eyes. The following transcription was translated from Historia de Japam where Frois adds more details about the garden. […] the palace was damaged; nevertheless, the gardens, which were often mentioned in history and ancient scriptures of Japan, still exhibited a good part of what they used to be. In the middle of one of these gardens there was a singular pond of water. […] In the middle of this pond, there were many small artificial islands, where one is able to pass from one to another through some very small and pleasant bridges made of wood and stone, and all of this lies under some very lovely and shady trees. (See pp. 26–27 in [5])

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Fig. 3.20  Hosokawa Harumoto’s Palace and Garden (now lost) but referred by Frois. Detail of Uesugi screens (sixteenth century) from Kano Eitoku. (Courtesy Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum)

This garden would appear to be a traditional pond garden and a legacy from the Heian period. During the Muromachi period, having a traditional shinden-zukuri pond garden was still a symbol of status and facilitated the boating parties and poetry competitions inherited from the golden times. Even so, some departure from traditional Heian models are visible in the apparent lack of a gravelled courtyard between the Main Hall and the pond, a usual feature not mentioned by Frois in his description, as well as non-existent in the representations of the Hosokawa’s garden in the Sanjo and Uesugi Screens (Fig. 3.20). Moreover, the general design of the Hosokawa garden also seems to have strayed from the light and uncluttered design of its predecessors from the Heian period (see p. 37 in [10]), as vegetation seems to have acquired greater significance as a garden element. Frois reports that all of this lies under some very lovely and shady trees (see pp. 26–27 in [5]). Just like in the Nijo garden of Ashikaga Yoshiteru (1536–1565), key elements of the design included dense vegetation.

3.11  Nijo Gosho Palace In 1565, the final year that Ashikaga Yoshiteru (1536–1565) ruled Japan, Luis Frois visited his palace, referring to Yoshiteru as Cubosama. During the sixteenth century, the title Cubosama or Kubo-sama was another term for the Shogun, the head of military government in Japan (see p.  117  in [36]). Luis Frois, who accompanied other Christians to the Shogun’s palace, describes it as a beautiful palace overlook-

3.11  Nijo Gosho Palace

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ing a pleasant garden with exceptional vegetation (see p. 25 in [5]). At that time, however, there was no hint that Shogun Yoshiteru, the thirteenth Ashikaga Shogun, would soon be treacherously assassinated by Miyoshi Yoshitsugu in his own residence—the same palace described by Frois—which shortly thereafter would be consumed by the conflagration that Miyoshi Yoshitsugu ordered (see p. 97 in [5]). While the exact location of the Yoshiteru palace is not known, it is thought that it covered a total land area of two city blocks, bordered by Demizu Avenue (Konoe-­ koji) in the north, Sawaragi-cho (Nakamikado-oji) in the south, Higashi-no-toin in the east, and Muromachi in the west (about 300 meters north of the current location of Nijo-jo Castle) (see pp. 45–49 in [37]). Its construction began in 1559 and had just been completed when Frois visited in 1565 (see pp. 43–45 in [37]). In particular, Frois was captivated by a richly ornamented chamber that faced the garden, which was mostly likely a shoin room built for the Shogun to receive and impress guests. We also have a record of Frois’ description of the gardens he visited and the unusual vegetation he witnessed: And we saw chambers that are set apart for their recreation – the cleanest, most joyful and lustrous thing I have ever seen, I do not even remember having seen in Portugal or in all of India houses that equal such perfection, cleanness and enchantment. In front of its windows there was a garden of very fresh and strange trees, like cypresses, pine trees, orange trees, and others not known between us. These trees were created and cultivated with such artistry, that some looked like bells, others like towers among various shapes. There were plenty of lilies, roses, daisies and other flowers of many colours which they used for their pleasure and entertainment. They took us then to see another garden in the same palace, which seemed to us much larger than the first one. Its stables for horses are a house in cedar, where Dukes might well take shelter, the whole floor covered with thin mats, and all the horses kept in individual stalls with planked floor and walls. The whole matted space is intended for entertainment and shelter of those in charge of the aforesaid horses. Leaving through another door we came to a street that might be six or seven times longer than the Rua Nova de Lisboa, and twice as wide, completely bordered by many fresh trees on both sides, which we pray we might have after a resurrection. (See p. 25 in [5])

The garden described was not a shinden-zukuri garden, since it had no pond for boating; nor was it a karesansui dry garden since no standing stones and/or gravel are mentioned. Instead, Frois speaks of trees clipped into various shapes such as bells and towers. This strange detail was first identified by Ono in 2005 who, among other findings, presents his interpretation of what Frois viewed: Luis Frois (1532–1597), a Portuguese Catholic missionary, described some gardens of temples and mansions in Kyoto which he visited in 1565, in his work Historia de Japam. Through the examination of the description, I offer the following interpretation that could enrich the image of the late 16th century gardens and their social function in Kyoto: 1) Pruning technique, which Frois referred to as a kind of topiary in the article on the mansion garden of the Ashikaga shogun, might have been originally developed in Japan by this age. [35]

It is generally accepted in Japanese garden art that the art of pruning trees (Komi) and the use of clipped hedge or clipped plants (karikomi) was popular at a later date [38]. In Zen temples, in particular, the use of intensely pruned trees was considered

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an important element of dry landscape gardens from the mid-Muromachi period onward [38]. However, Ashikaga’s palace did not include a dry landscape garden with stones and gravel; instead, the garden’s diversity of vegetation was emphasized. Later, during the Azuchi-Momoyama (1573–1603) and Edo (1603–1868) periods, Komi evolved to indicate both the pruning of trees and garden trees that had been pruned. It is believed that the use of plants as topiary art reached its apotheosis in the seventeenth century at the hands of the famous tea master Kobori Enshu (1579–1647) [39]. According to the scholarly literature, he introduced the use of topiary art like karikomi as a dominant garden theme, while minimizing or even eliminating stone in traditional garden compositions. However, the Frois description suggests that the innovation of Komi attributed to Enshu was already a practice prior to the Azuchi Momoyama period and, thus, might not have been as ground-­ breaking as most authors believe. Additionally, Frois’ account of the garden suggests that densely planted gardens may have actually have existed during the Muromachi period (1333–1568), and that the word Komi refers to densely planted garden trees [38] and using vegetation as the main focus of the garden [39]. Frois also refers to a variety of trees and flowers that we attempted to identify—a task made more difficult because Japanese flora differs from native Portuguese plant life. Accordingly, Frois’ analysis represents a descriptive account rather than a rigorous botanical survey. Also, the global exchange of plants and the introduction of new species in different continents had just started with Portuguese voyages to India, Brazil, and China [40]. Specifically, some Japanese plants were introduced into Portugal in the early seventeenth century, namely from the Camelia species; while in Japan, we have documentation that the Portuguese introduced the grape vine, the quince, and the fig tree [48]. However, the species that Frois refers to were, of course, of Japanese or Chinese origin and excluded European species. In particular, Frois refers to lilies, daisies, and roses. The lilies may have been Lilium auratum, commonly used in flower gardens in Japan. With the term daisies (boninas), Frois may be referring to white asters (Aster sp) whose flowers resemble the Portuguese daisy in shape and size. In contrast, the Jesuit’s reference to roses is certainly a mis-identification since roses had not yet been introduced in Japan. Instead, it is probable that Frois was observing camellias flowers. Indeed, during the seventeenth century in Portugal, camellias imported from Japan were called “roses from Japan” and also “japonesas” or “japoneiras”; they are still referred to by this nomenclature in the north of Portugal where they are thrive in a climate that is similar to that of southern Japan. Frois also records a number of trees he saw, including cypresses, pine trees and orange trees. The cypresses are probably species of the Cupressaceae family, such as Chamaecyparis obtusa or Chamaecyparis pisifera, known respectively as japanese and sawara false cypresses (see pp. 37–38 in [41]). Another possibility is that they may be Cryptomeria japonica known as Japanese red-cedar, which was used extensively in Japanese gardens. The pine trees are probably endogenous species of pines such us Pinus densiflora, Pinus thunbergii or Pinus parviflora—all species commonly used in Japanese gardens. Regarding the orange trees, various types of citrus were cultivated in Japan, most of them native to China at this time. In Portugal,

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however, only the bitter orange was known, although the sweet orange from China would soon be introduced to Lisbon by Pedro Mascarenhas [42]. This precious documentation indicates an interest in vegetation, which can be confirmed by the fact that in November 1559, Ashikaga Yoshiteru issued a city-wide order requiring the donation of various garden trees to adorn his palace grounds (see p. 44 in [37]). Nonetheless, Frois’ meticulous descriptions add invaluable insights into the appearance of a garden of the military elite of the late Muromachi Period—a type of garden of which there are no surviving examples (see pp. 92–93 in [20]). In 1568, Oda Nobunaga had decided to serve Ashikaga Yoshiaki by invading Kyoto and restoring the bakufu (shogunate) of Muromachi with Yoshiaki as the fifteenth Shogun. As noted earlier, since Yoshiaki did not have a palace in Kyoto the Honkoku-ji Temple served as a temporary residence for the shogun, who was soon attacked by forces opposing Nobunaga. One month after this event it became clear to Nobunaga that a robust citadel was needed to host the official shogun palace. Accordingly, he selected the exact location where the Ashikaga Yoshiteru, the thirteenth Shogun, had lived and had been assassinated in 1565; thus, the new palace location was also a political statement of the Ashikaga shogunate succession. Here’s how Frois reports the matter: He [Nobunaga] was determined to return and settle this shogun [Ashikaga Yoshiaki] in the same place where his brother had been killed and constructed him a castle in 1569. For this, Nobunaga seized a square land of three streets and made Ashikaga Yoshiaki a new fortress and palace, a very ample and magnificent work. […] He made a very beautiful and large moat with drawbridges where he placed different kinds of birds in the water. He also ordered three very large portals of good quality, with its ramparts and bastions [tower] to be built. And there within, he had dug another very broad moat, narrower than the first, and inside it, a very clean and spacious yard, constructed with great excellence and correction. (See p. 243 in [5])

This palace is referred to as Nijo Gosho (Nijo Palace) or Nijo Shindai (New residence of Nijo) or Buke Gosho (Warriors Palace), and should not be confused with the actual Nijo-jo (Nijo-jo Castle) built by Ieyasu the first of the Tokugawa shoguns in 1603, and later expanded in 1624  in preparation for the visit by the Emperor Gomizuno (1596–1680). According to Yamada Kunikazu (see p.  157  in [7]), the palace that Frois witnessed being constructed under the command of Nobunaga was the first actual stronghold (chateau fort) built within Kyoto city. Crucially, the construction was purposefully designed to fortify the building against the new weaponry—the matchlock gun (tanegashima) recently introduced to Japan. Specifically, the palace featured enhanced fortification in the form of double-high stone walls and two fossée (trenches) with water, similar to the moats used in European medieval castles. We registered that the first such trench was introduced in 1549 in the Nakao Castle, east of the Ginkaku-ji Temple (see p. 159 in [7]). We also know that in 1560 Matsunaga Hisahide (1510–1577) had pioneered to build a tower keep in his Tamon-jo Castle in Nara, which improved the defensive capacities of the castle. According to Frois, Nobunaga had also built a keep in Gifu in 1567, then another in 1569 in Nijo Gosho. Nobunaga’s innovative combination is a result of the two defensive elements: moats

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and towers for the protection of the fortified residence inside the castles. We believe that such a defensive stronghold designed to protect against gunpowder attacks had not yet been witnessed in the history of the Japanese castle (see p. 159 in [7]), making Nobunaga a pioneer in this regard. The construction work was undertaken at a frenetic pace, with Nobunaga recruiting thousands of workers from the provinces to complete Nijo Gosho, the Shogun’s palace-fort in Kyoto [31]. Frois’ historical report from 1569 remains an invaluable account for the contemporary chronicler of Japanese history and architecture, but would also have been astounding for the sixteenth-century Western reader on the other side of the world as well. [Nobunaga was] determined to restore and rebuild this Cubo on the very site where his brother had been killed. And since there were no houses there he took them from the two monasteries [Honkoku-ji] and built them in order to accommodate himself meanwhile, and built a new fortress and palaces, the whole very ample and lustrous. He [Nobunaga] seized the quadrangular three-street field and for the construction many Japanese princes and noblemen were summoned, counting as many as 25 thousand men, 15 thousand at its lowest, and Nobunanga with a stick in his hand commanding the operations. And because he was short of stones for the work he ordered many stone idols to be broken down and dragged by ropes around their necks to the site, causing bewilderment and terror upon the Miaco people for the veneration they dedicated to their idols; thus all monastery lords and their people brought him a load of stones every day. And because they all ultimately desired to please him and not to enter in disagreement with his dispositions, they tore apart the stone altars smashing the idols into pieces that they carried in carts; some of them went about digging the foundations, others carried stones, and still others chopped wood from the mountains, the like of a portrait of Didos’s works in Carthage. […] Most of the time Nobunanga wore a tiger hide around the waist for sitting and rough vestures, and likewise all the lords and servants took to wearing hides while they worked, no one showing up in his presence wearing fancy or palatial vestures for as long as the works went on. […] And most amazing about those works was the incredible brevity of their duration, for what would normally take at least two or three years to complete was mostly finished in 70 days. (See pp. 242–244 in [5])

We can imagine men from all over Japan amassing in Kyoto to take part in the construction of the new Nijo Gosho, with the number of workers believed to have varied from between 15,000 to 25,000 men (see p. 243 in [5]). Nobunaga relentlessly supervised the construction work himself. He would walk around giving orders, dressed in rough fabrics, a tiger skin girthed around his waist and a cane in his hands. Following his style, all the masters and their servants dressed in leather, with no one daring to appear in front of him using elegant or courtesan dresses for the duration of the works. No bell was allowed to toll during the few months that ­construction took place—just the one assigned to call and dismiss the workers (see p. 244 in [5]). This description of the building of the Nijo Gosho Palace by Nobunaga is akin to a construction report, which, according to McKelway, may be seen as the beginning of a new phase in the construction of palatial dwellings in Kyoto because it marked the true introduction of fortress-like structures into the city (see p.  179  in [16]). Nijo’s entire design is truly innovative for the epoch and appears to have been

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intended to surpass in scale any of the rulers mansions built before it. Nobunaga built a marvellous garden as impressive as the new castle he was building for the Shogun. Gyūichi Ōta, the author of the Chronicle of Oda Nobunaga, reports its construction with special emphasis for the transportation of the famous stones39 used in its design: Nobunaga had the place embellished with gold and silver according to all the rules and conventions that apply to the decoration of a shogunal mansion. A spring, a narrow stream, and a miniature hill were laid out in the front part of the garden. Moreover, Nobunaga ordered that the large rock named Fujitoishi, which had of old been in the mansion of Lord Hosokawa, be emplaced in the shogun’s garden He went in person, had this famous rock covered with twill damask and brocade and decorated with all kinds of flowers, and had hawsers attached to it. Flutes, stick drums, and hand drums cheered on the men pulling it as Nobunaga directed the rock without delay into the garden of the shogun. Then there was the famous rock Kusen Hakkai, renowned in town and country, which had been placed in the garden of Lord Jishōin’s Higashiyama Villa one year ago. This, too, Nobunaga had brought over and emplaced in the shogun’s garden. As a finishing touch, Nobunaga assembled famous rocks and famous trees from the city and its vicinity, sparing no effort to create an exquisite landscape in the shogun’s palace. Around its riding grounds he planted cherry trees and named the place Sakura no Banba, the cherry blossom riding grounds. (See pp. 130–131 in [31])

Amazingly, however, Nijo Gosho lasted little more than a dozen years; it was completely destroyed in 1582 in one of the armed conflicts that followed Nobunaga’s death (see p. 179 in [16]). In terms of its historical location and according to Yasuo Takahashi, Nobunaga’s castle would have been bordered by Demizu Avenue (Konoe-koji) in the north, Higashinotoin Avenue in the east, Marutamachi Street (Kasuga-koji) in the south, and Muromachi Avenue in the west.40 Frois, however, positioned it in […] upper Kyoto, in a place called Nigiô, which means the second street […] (see pp. 25–26 in [5]), corresponding to Nijo-jo Castle’s current location—rather than a few blocks north as identified by Yasuo Takahashi (see p. 179 in [16]). Yamada Kunikazu recently reported that the historical account from Frois’ Historia de Japam has been corroborated by archeologic evidence that emerged when a subway extension was dug for Kyoto’s Karasuma Line in the suspected vicinity of the Nijo Gosho palace. Archaeologists identified the remnants of a fortress surrounded by a double “enceinte” of trenches with sizable stone walls. Importantly, these archaeological findings included a large number of sculpted stones that had been used for the building of walls, including statues of Buda, stele, five-level pagoda stones and other stones from graveyards (see p. 161 in [7]). Thanks to this archeologic verification it is possible to confirm that the size of the Nijo Gosho was approximately 390 m for the outside stave, and 160  m for the interior stave. As a comparison, Frois had recorded the size to be in the vicinity of 250 m.  One of stones used by Oda Nobunaga in the construction of the garden was taken from the garden of Hosokawa Harumoto described in Sect. 4.10. 40  See Yasuo Takahashi in p. 179 in [16]. 39

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Fig. 3.21  Nijo-jo Castle external moat and walls, built in 1603. These features are identical to Nobunaga’s Palace (Nijo Gosho) built in 1569 and later destroyed, which Frois described. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2007. All Rights Reserved)

The present Nijo-jo castle is the third palace constructed as a flatland castle-­ palace by the first Tokugawa Shogun, Ieyasu (1542–1616), in 1603, as a demonstration of the new Shogun’s power and prestige. Just like the earlier building that Frois described, it features two concentric rings of fortifications (Fig. 3.21), each consisting of a wall and a wide moat and three main gates in the outer wall of the fort. The design parallelism between both fortifications is undeniable, making clear that Ieyasu followed Oda Nobunaga’s palace defensive design when designing his own castle in Kyoto.

3.12  Jurakudai Palace Considered to be one of the most influential figures in Japanese history, Oda Nobunaga died in 1582 before achieving the full unification of Japan. His successor to power, the military general Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was named chancellor to the Emperor (kampaku) in 1585 and later became chief minister (dajo-daijin). It was Hideyoshi who ultimately completed Nobunaga’s dream through ruthless measures by subjugating or killing all who opposed him. According to Yamada Kunikazu (see p. 161 in [7]), not only did Hideyoshi crush all other feudal lords through armed battles, his military and administrative supremacy also earned him immense power and recognition—even the bestowal of a clan name in his honour. Finally, in 1590,

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the last of his foes, Hojo Ujinao (1562–1591), surrendered. That victory placed Hideyoshi as the head of an alliance of daimyo that effectively unified Japan. Although Frois referred to Hideyoshi as Quambacu, meaning kanpaku—the protector of and provider to the capital (see p. 173 in [16])—it is clear from his texts that Frois did not like the man. Indeed, his written record indicates that he was very sorry to have lost Nobunaga as an ally of the Portuguese and a leader who was tolerant of the new Christian religion. He essentially accuses the new ruler of being a member of the nouveau riche and not worthy of becoming a real old-family daimyo leader. […] this Chicugendono [Hideyoshi] is not a noble by bloodline, nor did his lineage breed endow him with the right to rule and be the king of Tenca [Unified Japan] and call himself a lord of Japan, coming upon his present state of eminence and fortune and being the successor to Nobunaga, who was reputed to be the most famous and notable prince and captain in all the previous Japanese towns. (See p. 170 in [15])

While establishing power in both Kyoto and Osaka by building monumental fortresses in each city, Hideyoshi considered Kyoto to be the headquarters of his new warrior state over which he was the supreme chief. In establishing his unified government in the Imperial City of Kyoto, Hideyoshi also enacted improvements to military defence, flood control, and the road system. Importantly, in establishing his lavish Jurakudai Palace, Toyotomi Hideyoshi initiated his grand scheme to obviate his power and influence and transform Kyoto into a fortified castle town. Frois may have disapproved of the new leader and his political tactics and dubious lineage, but he was clearly in awe of the new palace of Jurakudai (Juracu). Built between 1586 and 1587, the new palace became Hideyoshi’s official residence in Kyoto and was essentially a lavish fortified mansion. Frois describes in great detail the construction of the palace, recording the architectural magnificence that was to emerge during the Azuchi-Momoyama period—the years of political unification. It [Jurakudai Palace] has great buildings with many floors that, together with its surrounding fortress, stand out from all the other palaces. Its walls are entirely made of stone, and despite being of dry masonry, are so well executed that appear as if made of stone and lime. Its moat is of such width and depth that it has more than three braças [approximately 6.6m] of water. And in both, the walls and the moat, one sees nothing more but cleanliness and freshness. (See p. 314 in [6])

Luis Frois singled out Jurakudai for mention five separate times in his manuscript Historia de Japam: in 1586 (see p.  224  in [15]), in 1588 (see p.  68  in [6]), in 1591/1592 (see pp.  310–316  in [6]), and in 1593 (see pp.  224–225  in [6]). João Rodrigues also mentioned Jurakudai in the written record he compiled between 1620 and 1633. In the same town of Miaco, close to the Dairi, he [Hideyoshi] ordered that other palaces and fortresses be built for himself, far more glamorous and momentous than anything Nobunanga had built in Anzuchiyama or he himself had built some years before in Vozaca [Osaka], and he ordered that all works and buildings to be built in Miaco by kings and princes from the various reigns should surpass anything they had built in Ozaca [Osaka]; and they shortly complied, so as not to disobey his orders; and his paltriest order was

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3  Seventeen Kyoto Gardens Described by Frois and Vilela obeyed with so strange a promptitude that it seems all the nobles faculties and senses were thus lost. And because he was so extremely keen on creating great fame and reputation for himself, first of all with the construction of his palaces and fortress that he named Juracu – meaning a combination of pleasures and delights – that he built them with such luxury and ostentation, measuring approximately half a league all around, the surrounding bulwarks very high and the walls in stone, which though not being bound with mortar are so skilfully put together and so thick that seen from afar they appear to be the result of a masonry work. And many of these boulders are strangely huge, carried on men’s shoulders from afar, sometimes requiring three or four thousand men to carry only one of them. Inside the rooms and chambers and all the remaining constructions, made with the most excellent cedar scented wood, everything is gilded and decorated with various paintings, the whole so clean, neat and harmonious that it causes wonderment. (See pp. 524–525 in [6])

The palace was located directly to the west of the Imperial Palace, at the western edge of the urbanized area. According to Frois, it was outside Miaco [Kyoto], slightly deviated from the houses of Dairi [the Imperial Palace], in some flat fields of great views (see p. 224 in [15]). Mckelway noted the importance of this strategic position, as it was geographically close to the Imperial Palace and on lands where the Heian Palace (the original Imperial Palace) had once stood (see p. 170 in [16]). The Portuguese chronicler also provides two other useful pieces of information in his account: (a) the fact that all the nobles were forced to build their houses near Hideyoshi Palace in a new axial-designed neighbourhood, and (b) that each noble had to bring people from his home town to build his residence according to a grid plan. This sixteenth-century information corroborates Fiévé’s later findings: The building of the two castles Jurakudai of Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the Nijo-jo from Tokugawa Ieyasu had consequences on the urban evolution of Kyoto as they were generators of new residence neighbourhoods. They are also at the origin of a complete reorganization of the urban space into a town under a castle [7]. According to Nitschke, Jurakudai’s imposing scale, lavish comforts, and beautiful décor spoke of Hideyoshi’s aspirations to legitimise his rule within the court through sumptuous palace décor and his linkages to ancient, established symbols of authority (see p.  170  in [16]). Importantly, it was with the establishment of Hideyoshi’s rule and his Jurakudai Palace complex that the city’s rapid urbanization began to take root: […] the palaces belonging to the Dairi and the gungues [non-military nobles], who are noblemen of his house, and the aforesaid fortress and Quambaco’s palaces [Hideyoshi’s palaces], and all the other ones belonging to the princes and lords of various reigns whom he forces to live there (strongly against their will), numbering over four hundred, both nobles and commons; the beauty and ingenuity of the palaces, the interior and exterior portals, and the construction of the Japanese buildings are so novel that they look upon them with great wonder and awe. Because richly crafted silver and golden plated tiles decorate the outside edge of the roof, and on the roof ridge various images and figures of fish, birds and animals; the chambers inside the rooms are golden and decorated with various paintings on odorous wood. (See p. 525 in [6])

Later, in the fifth volume of his text (1591–1592), Frois adds: And both the roof ridges and tiles all around those houses are adorned with various golden bows and foliage; and since every house has many roofs this part of the town looks very noble

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and sumptuous. (see pp. 311–313 in [6]). The reliability of Frois’ description of the lavish decoration of the palace is later supported by Nicolas Fiévé: Among other data about Jurakudai is the result of archaeological findings in the neighbourhood of Kamigyo and that present large moats 40 m width and 8.40 m deep and these seems to be the East side of the inner enceinte of Jurakudai. From this zone more than 1000 tiles covered with gold have been unearthed (see p.  168  in [37]). According to Frois, the houses constructed for the nobleman in the Jurakudai neighbourhood featured golden tiles, which accounts for these extensive architectural findings. These richly crafted tiles were silver- and gold-plated and must have created a very impressive shining effect. Frois also provides important details about the foliage that graced these noble residences. Following Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s example and wishes, all Kyoto nobleman and daimyos had a niwa (garden) constructed at their residence. Frois writes a passage describing and praising these palace gardens: Customarily, all of them have their own patios and yards arranged with several kinds of stones, flowers and trees that they especially selected for this purpose. For example, trees must not produce any kind of fruit. Those elements are used to highlight some places and are intended to reproduce nature in a way that they do not seem artificial. Just like their ponds or their natural springs which are wonderfully pleasant, and more appreciated the less they seem artificial and the more they resemble nature. And in these gardens, that they call nivas, there is no grass or fruit tree since they are considered something vile and inadequate. (See pp. 313–314 in [6])

The presence of water in the form of springs and ponds is praised—as is the importance of creating as natural a landscape as possible. The concept of imitating nature in a created landscape through the incorporation of artificial ponds, cascades, and construction techniques will appear in Europe only in the eighteenth century. Indeed, this movement is credited to Jean-Denis Attiret (1707–1768), a Jesuit who first published [43] details about the Chinese naturalized garden. William Chambers (1723–1796) wrote his famous Dissertation on Oriental Gardening (1772) and replicated Chinese ideas about the naturalistic style of gardening into his own designs. Although not published for the modern reader for over 400 years, Frois’ description of a Jurakudai naturalistic garden can be considered as the first reporting of this concept in Europe—two hundred years prior to Attiret’s account. In the spring of 1588, Hideyoshi hosted in his Jurakudai palace and gardens a four-day imperial progress by Emperor GoYozei (1571–1617), which represents the re-introduction of an old tradition when the Emperor would go on an official procession to shrines, often coupled with visits to the Shogun and the homes of local noblemen. This event served to reinforce the return of prestige to the Imperial house, as well as restored a sense of order to the capital of Kyoto—long since lost with the onset of the Onin Wars in 1467 (see p. 173 in [16]). The Emperor GoYozei’s visit to Hideyoshi took years to plan and required the construction of a palace suitable to receive the sovereign, which Frois describes as follows: And inside the new Fortress and houses now rebuilt in Miaco, he had a palace built inside the same fence for the Dairi’s recreation, the columns in metal silver and the doors in iron.

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And among innumerable gilded chambers, he ordered one to be especially built [for the emperor] with his dais, ornamented with many gold and silver reliefs and their own gardens called nivas, which are very interesting and of great cleanliness and repair. (See p. 68 in [6])

Frois informs us that in addition to the construction of a separate structure for the Emperor, Hideyoshi also had a garden created for the Jurakudai Palace to receive the monarch. This palace and its garden were meant to recall the peak of the old Heian garden culture, as well as represent Hideyoshi’s goal of re-establishing the lost glory of Kyoto as the city’s rightful rescuer. Another official and magnificent event later took place at Jurakudai—this time recorded by Rodrigues, Hideyoshi’s official translator, which provides additional information about the remarkable Jurakudai Palace: The royal palace was situated in the eastern part of Kamigyõ, and in front of it to the west he [Hideyoshi] built a very large fortress with walls of stone and a broad moat; inside this he constructed such a beautiful palace that it was said that there had never been anything so splendid in Japan in the past, nor would there be in the future, as indeed so far there has not. He called it Juraku, meaning the assembly of delights, or paradise; he ordered all the lords of Japan to build their palaces next to Juraku and they did this to the best of their ability. It was in this castle and palace of Juraku that Taikõ received an embassy which the viceroy of India, Dom Duarte de Menezes, had sent with rich presents. The reception was one of the most solemn events of Japan at that time, for the principal kuge and grandees of the kingdom were present. He ordered that the whole city should line the route of the ambassador, who travelled in a litter while the Portuguese and the Japanese nobles rode fine horses, covered with sumptuous ornamental cloths. (See pp. 117–118 in [1])

This reception took place on the third of March in 1591, which was also recorded by Luis Frois. Later that same year, Hideyoshi bestowed Jurakudai on his adopted son, Hidetsugu, who was nominated Imperial Regent and replaced his father in domestic affairs. However, in 1593, Hideyoshi had a biological son and heir, Hideyori, which resulted in the deterioration of his relationship with Hidetsugu. Two years later, Hideyoshi was completely convinced that his adopted son had been disloyal and ordered him to commit suicide. Sadly for Japanese historians and scholars of architecture, due to his great distaste for the whole affair he also ordered the dismantling of Jurakudai, although some elements from its gardens were re-­ purposed elsewhere. Marc Treib makes note of some of them at the referred Sambo-in temple south of Kyoto: Much of the material for the garden, and many of the buildings, was derived from other locations. Hideyoshi’s short-lived Jurakudai palace provided many of the rocks and some of the plant material – a classic case of adaptive reuse. In fact, at Sambo-in one still senses the opulence of the place rather than the restraint of the temple. (See p. 186 in [12])

Additionally, a Jurakudai pavilion was relocated elsewhere; the Hiunkaku, the “Pavilion of the Flying Cloud”, was moved to the Shiro-shoiin Hall at Nishi Hongan-ji Temple in Kyoto, where we still can see the type of rich interior decoration that Rodrigues so carefully chronicled. Apart from these few remnants of what must have been an astonishing complex of buildings and gardens that compellingly conveyed the power and importance of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, little imagery remains available to us. We can, however, turn

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to two contemporaneous images of Jurakudai, painted on screens made with the Nyhongo technique of pigments, glue, and golden leaf. The first one can be found in the Mitsui Bunko collection and the second one is in the Sakai City Museum. (see p. 170 in [16]). Once Portugal began to relinquish its influence in Japan to Spain and King Philip II (1527–1598), the diplomatic dialogue began to change. Accordingly, Hideyoshi released a second edict of extradition and the Christians were either killed or expelled from the country, if they did not deny their religion. The persecution of Christians became so extreme that 26 Japanese Christians were martyred in Nagasaki in February 1597, which Frois witnessed and recorded [44], just as he had recorded the 1591 reception that reflected Hideyoshi’s respect and friendship with the Portuguese in Japan. Surprisingly, he abruptly decided to expel the Christians from Japan, fearing that a subsequent Spanish invasion and occupation of Japan was, in actuality, the final goal of this early commercial and religious relationship.

3.13  Kennin-ji Temple In 2002, Kennin-ji Temple commemorated its 800-year anniversary. Founded in 1202 by the priest Myoan Eisai/Yousai (1141–1215), it claims to be the oldest Buddhist temple of the Zen sect in Japan. Eisai is known for introducing Zen Buddhism from China upon his return to Kyoto. He also returned from China with the first tea seeds, thus initiating the tradition of drinking tea in Japan. In its early years the temple also served as a home for Tendai and Shingon Buddhist practices, but it became a purely Zen institution under Lan-ch’I Tao-lung (Rankei Doryu, 1213–1278), a Chinese monk who came to view Japan as a likely sphere for promulgating the spread of Zen (see p. 593 in [45]). From the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries the temple flourished under Shogunal patronage, eventually gaining fame as one of the Kyoto’s Five Great Temples (Kyoto gozan) (see p.  603  in [45]): Tenryu-ji, Shokoku-ji, Kennin-ji, Tofuku-ji, and Manju-ji. Kennin-ji eventually gained renown as one of the most important religious compounds of the time. Gaspar Vilela provides a recording of the already-ancient temple in a letter dated 1571. In ancient times Quemneji was very important and had four hundred Buddhist monks: it received many rents, and was located in a cool and very peaceful place: they do not preach, they only study and pray for the benefactors of the aforesaid monasteries, these temples being very clean and sparsely adorned with things made for the contentment of the body: there are roses and fruits; in the neighbourhood of some of them live many people in their clean alleys, and they are the retainers of these temples to serve and sweep them and do whatever is needed […]. (See p. 322 in [11])

We glean from Vilela’s text a portrait of a quiet and fresh garden, coupled with an interesting accounting of how the site was maintained by the people who lived nearby and served as caretakers for the temple. The political and social transformations of the sixteenth century led to the temple’s almost complete destruction in

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Fig. 3.22 Illustrated impression, not intended to be a faithful rendering of Kennin-ji Temple’s garden but rather Cristina Castel-Branco’s pen and ink sketch artistic interpretation. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2007. All Rights Reserved)

1556, but some of its structures were reconstructed in 1763. The present Hattou (Dharma Hall) built in 1765, one of the Kennin-ji’s most important buildings, dates from this reconstruction period. Today, Kennin-ji is still a very peaceful place featuring different sub-temples, a public entrance gate, the Main Gate, the Hattou, the hojo or main hall, and gardens of interest (Figs. 3.22 and 3.23). Kennin-ji’s layout is relatively formal, aligned on a central axis headed by the Hōjō, but typical of Zen precincts, this formality applies only to the main architectural core; within the grounds of the sub-temples, little such formal order is evident. […] Two gardens at the Kennin-ji interest the visitors: those at the Hōjō, or Superior’s Quarters; and at the sub temple of Ryosoku-in. The main, or south, garden of the Hōjō is of the Kare-sansui (dry) type, constructed in the Momoyama period. Enclosed by an earthen tile-capped wall, limited areas of planting play against an expanse of racked sand. […]. (See p. 165 in [12])

In the garden of Ryosoku-in one can still have an experience among the vegetation, walking on stepping stones and discovering the pond. The design allows for a sense of discovery with the use of a hillock that separates the two spaces. Another garden of some significance is the Cho-on-tei (the garden of the sound of the tide), which is a simple and refined Zen garden behind the main building of the Kennin-ji Temple. The garden’s San-zon-seki, a set of three stones that represent Buddha and two Bodhisattva, Zazen-seki, a stone for seated meditation, and maple trees are all placed to afford the visitor a beautiful view from each direction. Two teahouses are dispersed within the garden, becoming important focal points in the landscape, and from which one can enjoy the gardens looking south towards the temple buildings. One can also enjoy a cup of tea in one of these teahouses while

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Fig. 3.23  Kennin-ji Temple garden. Frois refers to Kennin-ji: these temples being very clean and sparsely adorned with things made for the contentment of the body. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

viewing the lovely south garden. The stroll of the site reminds us of Vilela’s words: These temples being very clean and sparsely adorned with things made for the contentment of the body: there are roses and fruits—likely mistaking roses for camellias and referring to fruits where presently there are none. Were fruits featured in sixteenth-century Japanese gardens or was Vilela mistaken?

3.14  Ginkaku-ji Temple By some reports, Kyoto is graced with approximately 1600 temples and 400 shrines, making it an exceptionally memorable sightseeing destination for the visitors. Included in any reputable guidebook’s top-ten list of must-see temples is Ginkaku-ji. This remarkable garden and temple complex displays the natural beauty of Kyoto and the essence of Japanese garden art across the different eras. It was constructed around 1482 by Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (1435–1490) as his retirement villa, and the site signifies an important segment of the history of medieval Kyoto art and garden-making. Ginkaku-ji is essentially a doorway to Japanese culture, which is discernible when explored and synthesized. On the one hand, one can visit a small tea room away from the main building and constructed of drab materials in keeping with the rustic and solitary life (see pp. 265–269 in [1]). On the other hand, the close dialogue between two different garden styles—a sand raked garden juxtaposed next to a Muromachi period pond garden—is both unexpected and delightful.

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Fig. 3.24  Ginkaku-ji Temple garden, white sand sculpted into the shape of a truncated cone. Both sand banks were a later Edo period addition to the garden. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2009. All Rights Reserved)

Upon reaching Ginkaku-ji Temple, the visitor enters the garden through a flat area where the most striking and novel feature is the white sand sculpted into the shape of a truncated cone and linked to a large thick platform of sand raked into a regularized wave form known as the “Sea of Silver Sand” (Fig. 3.24). This is the strongest image we retain when first seeing this garden. Nitschke adds to its value by clarifying the symbolism of its forms. For the first time in the history of the Japanese garden, the topographical elements of ocean and mountain are symbolized solely with sand. Thus the ocean is represented by ginshanada, literally “silver sand open sea”, an area of white sand raked to suggest the waves of the sea. The “mountain” rising from its centre is the kogetsudai, “platform facing the moon”, a cone of sand recalling the shape of Mount Fuji. These two features would have been highly unusual for a garden of Yoshimasa’s time and it is uncertain whether he actually planned them himself. No reference to them is found until a hundred years after his death, in a poem composed by a Zen monk at Tenryu-ji temple in 1578. (See p. 86 in [23])

Thus, the garden and pavilions that we see today consist of two very different areas. The first refers to the unique composition of sand art and the other is the garden’s intricately shaped pond featuring small bridges and islands that were designed to be enjoyed from many different angles along the surrounding path and the pavilion. The difficult but stimulating challenge is to understand the aesthetics of this garden and its two contrasting expressions: the pond garden and the white raked sand garden. Treib provides an informative description of this dual site. [...] in contrast to the vegetal inclusion that characterizes the pond garden stand two sculptures mounds of sand that counterpoise the pavilion standing nearby. The strong form of the truncated cone – The Moon-Viewing Height – suggests images such as Mount Fuji or the

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central mountain of Buddhism. The lower horizontal mound – The Sea of Silver Sand – is so named for its appearance by moonlight. (See pp. 127–129 in [12])

This distinctiveness of the Ginkaku-ji sand work as is seen first in the garden foreshadows the mature form of the Muromachi pond, which is also a special experience for the visitor. The view of the pond appears as a backdrop for the large sculpture of raked sand and can only be experienced after the path turns around the sand platform. According to sources, this pond and its islands were inspired by Saiho-ji or Kokedera (the moss garden) and Kinkaku-ji’s pond gardens and features. After crossing a bridge to the other side of the pond, one reaches the sengetsu-sen waterfall, the “spring in which the moon washes”. According to Nitschke, It was clearly intended to capture the reflection of the moon “washing” itself in the waters (see p. 86 in [23]). From this point, one can stroll along the perimeter of the pond to find the elegant Kannon-den, the so-called Silver Pavilion (Fig. 3.25), comprising two floors and topped with a bronze phoenix that protects the Ginkaku-ji Temple. Although never plated with silver—and instead remains unpainted brown in colour—it calls to mind its sister-temple, Kinkaku-ji (the Golden Pavilion), built by Yoshimasa’s grandfather. Another distinctive element of the garden composition is the Main Hall followed by the Togudo building, which is considered the oldest shoin-style building [46] with a roof thatched with Japanese cypress bark. From these two buildings one has an excellent view of the raked sand area. When observing the lines of raked sank and the conic mound symbol of the Mount Fuji at its end, one is presented with a very abstract land art object—which is somewhat of a contradiction to the sixteenth-­ century heritage garden that surrounds it. Between the Main Hall and the Togudo’s veranda there is an empty space where the focus is a water stone (tsukubai) created from a single granite cube with its faces carved with small cubic voids, one cannot help but think of a modernist sculpture when, in fact, it dates from the Edo Period. Another location of significance at Ginkaku-ji is the tea ceremony room. João Rodrigues, the Portuguese chronicler of the early seventeenth century, makes note of the seminal relationship between the tea ceremony and the Ginkaku-ji complex in his early and detailed account of The Origin of this Cha Meeting, and the Reason Why the Vessels Used Therein Have Reached Such a Price. Rodrigues provides a vivid description of Ginkaku-ji’s historic importance to the Japanese tea ritual, or the “tea invitation” as he called it, as well as other cultural traits and practices that characterized life at this time. Indeed, this text represents an invaluable historic record about sixteenth-century Japan and Yoshimasa’s role and rationale in creating Ginkaku-ji. Rodrigues starts by explaining the tendency of Japanese people to enjoy lonely and nostalgic places, such as woods with shady groves, […] [that] fills their souls with this inclination and melancholy, producing certain nostalgia.41 So he gives the mood that surrounds the tea ceremony and its ritual: 41

 The full quotation is given in Sect. 4.5—Unidentified temple in Nara.

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Fig. 3.25  Ginkaku-ji Silver Pavilion and pond. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2009. All Rights Reserved) Hence they are much inclined towards a solitary ceremonial life, far removed from all worldly affairs and tumult. Thus in olden days many solitary hermits devoted themselves to contempt of the world and it vanities. They gave themselves over to a solitary and contemplative life, believing that in this way they purified their souls and obtained salvation […] Thence arose their custom of inkyo; that is, they hand over during their life time house, estate and public affairs to their heirs and take a house for themselves where they lead a quiet and peaceful life, withdrawn from all worldly business and disturbance. They shave their head and beard, and exchange their secular clothes for religious and sober dress. They are all called nyudo or zenmon, which is a certain kind of religious state of bonzes and is the first rank of those who begin to devote themselves to the things of salvation and religious cult. The beginning and origin of this cha meeting and the various ceremonies performed therein are founded on this natural disposition.

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In connection with this, you must know that among the Kubō who governed in Miyako there was one flourished in the years of the Lord 1443 to 1474.42 In keeping with the custom of Japan, he performed inkyo; this meant renouncing his house and state in favour of his eldest son, withdrawing from public life and affairs, and devoting himself to a quiet and retired life. He [Yoshimasa Ashikaga] chose Higashiyama as is place for retirement; situated in the eastern vicinity of the city of Miyako, it contains many splendid monasteries of bonzes with their temples. He built his palace and houses there [Ginkaku-ji] in the shady woods and retired thither, adapting himself to a solitary and retired life. There he led a quiet life withdrawn from the affairs of court, and he is known as Higashiyama Dono, after the name of the place. This Kubō had a great natural linking for cha and always searched for the very best kind so that it could be prepared not only for his own use but also for him to entertain, as is the custom, the court grandees and gentleman and other lords who came to visit him […]. (See pp. 265–269 in [1])

Much later, Nicolas Fievé also described Yoshimasa’s retirement palace-home (Tsune no gosho) in some detail: […] two working pavilions, the “chapel” of the East Quest (Togudo) and the hermitage showing the West (Saishian) framed the palace of the daily life. The Spring pavilion and the Meetings pavilion faced the lake. All these buildings were linked by open galleries. The lake, smaller than the Kinkaku-ji one, started at the Source Pavilion and followed the site’s natural shape. Here too a path allowed going around it and passing from one island to the other and climbing up the hill. […] Since the early projects designed for the construction of this retirement Yoshimasa had wished to create and enjoy a Garden resembling the one that the monk Muso Soseki had designed for Saiho-ji (Kokedera, the Moss Garden).43

As noted earlier, Togudo in Fiévé’s text is the building adjacent to the Main Hall. Moreover, according to Cooper who translated a portion of the Rodrigues account, the Tea Room that Rodrigues makes note of is located within the Togudo: As his principal recreation and pastime he had built next to his palace a small house which was even more secluded, and this was used only for keeping the utensils necessary for preparing the drinking cha. […] This small house was constructed of drab materials in keeping with the rustic and solitary life which he was leading; nevertheless the workmanship was first-class and it was kept extremely clean. It was square in shape, its sides a dozen spans [approximately 2.64m] in length, and it was laid with four and a half mats, each mat being height spans [approximately 1.76m] in length and four wide [approximately 0.88m].44 The utensils and vessels that we mentioned were also fashioned to the same end; they did not present a beautiful appearance or any curious feature as regards their material, but all of them were made of earthenware, iron or bronze. (See pp. 265–269 in [1])

Today, we believe that Rodrigues is referring to Togudo’s back room, Dojinsai, which was used for drinking tea and from then on became an inspiration for the construction of tea pavilions during the sixteenth century and later: a small house which was even more secluded, as Rodrigues writes.

 Footnote by Cooper: A reference to Ashikaga Yoshimasa, 1435–1490, the eighth Ashikaga Shogun, whose rule was marked by continual civil strife and the ten-year Onin Wars. I have supplied the actual dates of his rule which are missing in the Portuguese text. 43  Translation by Cristina Castel-Branco [7]. 44  Footnote by Cooper: Ginkaku-ji has in its vicinity a small companion hall, the Togudo, in which the 4 and 1/2 mat tea-room, called Dojinsai, is situated (see p. 95 in [1]). 42

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Fig. 3.26  An overview of Ginkaku-ji Temple from the forest path looking onto the Silver Pavilion, the “silver sand open sea” area, the Main Hall, the Togudo and Kyoto. (©Guida Carvalho, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

Another essential component of the cha ritual is the pure water needed to make tea, which the Japanese would fetch from natural springs. Thus, it is no coincidence that Japanese temples are located nearby these natural sources of pure spring water. Since the Japanese tea ceremony, or chanoyu, represents such a seminal part of Ginkaku-ji’s history, one would expect to find a natural spring at this locale. And, in fact, there is an ocha noi or “tea water well”45 located on the steep slope of the upper part of the garden that the visitor can find further up the hill. Indeed, the intrepid visitor who chooses to climb the path up the hill will be afforded a new experience. From this high vantage point, one can view the garden from above and enjoy the sand patterns and the truncated sand cone at a different scale and view Kyoto at a distance (Fig. 3.26). Clearly, the site of the retirement palace of Ashikaga Yoshimasa and its gardens was well chosen. Upon his death, the complex was converted to a Zen Temple. Although the existing Portuguese descriptions of the locale focus on the cha pavilion and related cultural traditions—rather than providing details about the garden— what Rodrigues does leave us is a rigorous and historically meaningful description that confirms other Japanese documentation and supports ongoing scholarly interpretations of the site.

 Prof. Nakamura refers to the 1960s discovery following an archaeological excavation of the foundation stones a small house near this well that could have been another tea house?

45

3.15  Senbon Enma-do Temple

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3.15  Senbon Enma-do Temple Sembon Enma-do, also known as Injo-ji Temple, is a Shingon temple of Japanese Buddhism. Although a prominent pilgrimage site founded in 1017, it is now just a small building situated on a commercial street in northern-central Kyoto amidst shops and service-providers. Despite the encroachment of modern life, the temple has seen few changes since the fifteenth century. Ono no Takamura (802–853), a court officer believed to have mystical powers that enabled him to connect with the other side, was the first to identify the site. As such, Sembon Enma-do is associated with death—a linkage further reinforced by the fact that it is located near Mount Funaoka where funerals were held during the Heian Period and thereafter. It is believed that King Enma-do judges whether a person goes to heaven or hell, and that those who are truly repentant for their sins and wish to cleanse themselves will earn his compassion and be spared. Enma-do is usually represented with a fierce expression, wearing a Chinese judge’s cap and holding his mace of office. In this temple there is a small garden with a rectangular pool behind the main building. The site also features a large number of Jizo, which are small stone statues representing Jizo Bosatsu, the Bodhisattva divinity protector of children—and especially unborn children or those who have died at a young age, some of which are adorned with bright red bibs and little knit caps signifying those who mourn the loss of a child or are paying homage for a young one saved. Today, to reach the lines of many Jizos occupying the area behind the lake, one must pass by the renowned late-­ blooming (sakura) Japanese cherry trees, pass through the shrine gates, and walk past other tombstones. Luis Frois provides a sixteenth-century description of the paintings and statues of Sembon Enma-do Temple: They saw another temple dedicated to the judge of hell, whose statue was very large, ugly and horrendous. He holds a sceptre to judge in his hand, and another two demons beside the statue, each almost as high as three men, with their quills on their hands to write down the sinners’ penances, and another one with a paper wise board to read them from; and in the walls were depicted various torments to be suffered in hell, with many figures of men and women who suffer them, and demons who inflict them. This house of alms and prayer is much frequented. (Fig. 3.27) (See p. 29 in [5])

Today, its main attraction is a timeworn wooden statue of Enma-do, two-and-a-­ half meters tall, located within the main hall (honden). The original wooden figure of Enma-do was lost to fire during the Onin Wars (1467–1477); the present statue was made in 1488 by Jousei, a sculptor of Buddha statues and that is the one Frois described. When visiting this temple with Frois’ original text in hand, we were confronted with images strikingly similar to Frois’ description of painted wooden planks hanging on the walls. One can still gaze upon the “horrendous” image of Enma-do, the overlord of Jigoku (hell for Buddhists), still holding his sceptre and ready to decide the fate of the recently deceased. Although he threatens that liars will get their tongues pulled out and be sent to Jigoku, Enma-do actually seeks to help evil-doers be reborn either on earth or in a heavenly paradise. The paintings in the wall depict-

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Fig. 3.27  Enma-do Temple frequented by visitors as noted by Frois. Detail of Uesugi screens (sixteenth century) from Kano Eitoku. (Courtesy Yonezawa City Uesugi Museum)

ing hell and the variety of possible punishments are strikingly similar to what Frois witnessed and described during his visit. The Senbon Enma-do Temple also features a slim nine-level stone tower ordered by En’a Shonin in 1386 and dedicated to Murasaki Shikibu (c. 978–1031), the poet lady-in-waiting of the Imperial court, best known as the author of the Tales of Genji written between 1000 and 1012. This tower is now designated as a national cultural asset. Finally, the temple is also known for hosting one of the three greatest traditional comic-play performances (nenbutsu kyogen) in Kyoto. In keeping with the long cultural association of this site, Senbon Enma-do receives the most visitors during the Obon Vestival in August when the spirits of the dead are thought to return to earth.

3.16  Sanjusangen-do Temple The Sanjusangen-do Temple is a distinctive wooden Buddhist temple of the Tendai School, but originally belonged to Pure Land Buddhism, a tradition that is prevalent in East Asia and other areas (e.g., Tibet and Vietnam), but was also prominent in Japan beginning in the seventh century. This remarkable temple, built in 1164 by Taira Kiymori (1118–1181), is 120 meters long, making it one of the world’s longest wooden buildings. It was designed to display 1001 life-size statues of the 1000-­ armed, 11-headed Kannon, an East Asian spiritual figure of mercy (Fig. 3.28). The numerous heads help the deity in witnessing human suffering while the arms enable

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Fig. 3.28  The 1001 statues of Thousand-armed Kannon in Sanjusangen-do Temple. Frois describes All these figures are gilded from head to toe with very fine gold thickly applied; the faces are well-proportioned and beautiful […] such a large and astonishing quantity of figures represents something very noble. (Wikimedia Commons https://commons.Wikime dia.org/wiki/File:Sa njusangendo_1979.1.55P01B.jpg)

her to help them. Buddhists believe that when a person dies, the goddess will place them in the heart of a lotus where they are sent to the celestial realm or pure abode. The central wooden statue, which is considered a natural treasure in Japan, is flanked on each side by 500 statues of human-sized Kannon standing in ten rows. There are an additional 28 statues of guardian deities or “attendants” lined up in front with intense expressions and impressive detail. Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, this temple was home to a popular archery competition called the Toshiya. During the event, archers were required to shoot their arrow through a narrow corridor running the length of the hall at a target placed some 120 meters distant. Various other events were part of the competition, such as the “One Hundred Shots” (Hyaku-i) and the “One Thousand Shots” (Sen-i) challenges, with the archers making the most hits declared the winners. This competition was ended in 1861, though it survives in part in a ritual archery competition held in mid-January (see pp. 18–19 in [47]). The main building of the temple is already 700 years old and is designated as a National Treasure. Other objects of note are the roofed earthen fence and South Gate, which are registered as Important Cultural Properties. They are both associated with Toyotomi Hideyoshi and were constructed on his behalf as a side effort of the reconstruction of the Todai-ji Temple, the great Buddha Hall, in Nara. Luis Frois

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makes note of this structure, which is presented in the Todai-ji subchapter of the Chap. 4 devoted to Nara. The garden of the Sanjusangen-do Temple is a modest place with a small pond and a well; people flock here in the spring to appreciate the blooming iris. Unlike other gardens in Kyoto that Frois took pains to record in detail, the one ad-jacent to Sanjusangen-do was clearly secondary in his mind to this ancient temple and its resident statues. In fact, his lengthy descriptions of the place focus on the statues within the temple and are so accurate that we do not need to read any other guide to have a complete picture of the Sanjusangen-do Temple. In the outskirts of the Miaco city, approximately a quarter of a league distant, on a flat field, close to the mountains called Fingaxiyama, meaning the East Mountains,46 there is a temple called Sanjusanguen,47 which was built in ancient times by a very famous prince, Daijonhiundo48 was his name, and constantly renovated by his successors, which is approximately 130 meters long; there is only one door in the main façade, in front of which stands a figure of Amida, to whom the temple is dedicated, very large, sitting in a Brahman fashion, with large pierced earlobes, clean shaven and frizzled hair, very tall, completely gilded and in no way inferior to what may be perfectly gilded in Europe. It also has a kind of canopy with many bells hanging from thick chains, the whole cooked in gold – as it is usually described. Around this huge idol, at the height of its flanks, rows of a huge number of small golden deities. Also in front of this deity there are thirty medium sized kamis, all standing in a kind of alter where they fit, as if representing a scene or a play, all these figures extremely well proportioned, soldiers holding their weapons, demons, the god of the winds, who is a man with a big bag on his shoulders, and some very ugly demons handing it to him and fitting the ends in his hands; the god of lightning who is fulminating them in a wheel he carries on his back; and above all these figures the most artful, inventive and coherent one is the beggar statue (Fig. 3.29), which should really be seen, for the accurate representation of his extreme misery and poverty.49 All this, as herein described, is located at the very entrance, in front of the huge kami. This continues with seven or eight steps on both sides, stretching to the very end of the temple, upon which stand one thousand huge kami all standing in order along those steps, all extremely similar and as high as a very tall man, and they all represent Quannon, goddess of mercy,50 the daughter of Amida. Each figure has 30 arms and 30 hands, both in proportion to the body, the hands lifted in front of the chests, and the other small ones paired with them, and two hold them by the waist, and in the hands each holds a spear; and it is said that the high number of arms and legs means the multitude of benedictions that Quannon in her mercy bestows on mankind. Also each has a crown on the head, with seven small kami figures above the chests and in the back a diadem from which many rays emanate. And all these figures are gilded from head to toe, with very fine and thick gold, the faces beautiful and well proportioned: and looking at such a large and astonishing quantity of figures it represents something very noble. This place is visited by many pilgrims more for the sight of it than for prayer. (See pp. 20–22 in [5])  Footnote by José Wicki: Higashi-yama the East mountain surrounding Kyoto.  Footnote by José Wicki: Sanjû-sangen also called Renge-ô-in, meaning Hall of the 33 bays. 48  Footnote by José Wicki: The temple was built by emperor Go-Shirakawa in 1164; it burnt out 85 years later and was rebuilt by the Emperor Kameyama (ruled 1260–1274). The existing hall dates from 1266. 49  The statue Frois describes is in fact a Basu Sennin, a Buddhist deity (Fig. 3.29). 50  “Kannon (prior to modern reformation of Japanese orthography Kwannon), deity of mercy who sees and listens to all misery”, commented by José Wicki. 46 47

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Fig. 3.29  Basu Sennin, a Buddhist deity at Sanjusangen-do Temple. It looked as a beggar statue to Frois, but he praises it as the most artful, inventive and coherent one. (Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia. org/wikipedia/ commons/1/17/TwentyEight_ Attendants_%28Basu_ Sennin%29_ Sanjusangendo.jpg)

This detailed text from Frois was confirmed on site, and most of his descriptions are accurate for today’s visitor to Sanjusangen-do Temple.

3.17  Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine (Near Kyoto) Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine, one of the three great Hachiman shrines of Japan, is located in Yawata, on top of Mount Otoko, about 20 km south of Kyoto. According to tradition, it was founded in 859 by Gyokyo, a Shingon chief Buddhist priest, in obeisance to an oracle from the deity Hachiman, the Shinto kami or spirit guardian of Imperial legitimacy. Legend states that Hachiman expressed his desire to be near Kyoto so he could pacify the city and the Imperial House of Japan. Later, Hachiman reappeared to Gyokyo and declared that the mountain called Otoko should be the chosen location for the shrine. This revelation was subsequently confirmed via an auspicious dream of the Emperor Tenno, who saw purple clouds emanating from the

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Fig. 3.30  View from Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine level towards Kyoto. Three rivers meet at a junction referred by Vilela, which crossing must be made in a boat because there are no bridges. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

mountain. Vilela describes the shrine, its temples and the trees, making it possible to envision it through his words: Four leagues south of Miàco there is a sumptuous Faquimá monastery, who is the Japanese patron of wars in the same way we have Santiago or St. Jorge: it is a very cool place, with many trees, cedars, pines and cypresses and other trees unknown to Europe. Around this temple there are thirty monasteries with many Bozos who pay obedience to the main monastery […]. (See p. 323. in [11])

To reach Iwashimizu Hachimangu, which is located up in the mountain and still covered with dense vegetation of native trees and bamboos, one must travel south From National Historic Site. Vilela provided a sixteenth-century description of the arduous nature of the journey—as well as an indication of the reward for the visitor who took it on: There is a river flowing near this place and the temple (Fig. 3.30), very beautiful and large, which crossing must be made in a boat because there are no bridges, and because of the wars they could not be found since the enemies destroyed them, the main monastery in this place is shining, clean, large but already old because it was built more than one thousand years ago […]. (See p. 323 in [11])

Vilela’s simple recollection presents the long history of the Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine, which can be confirmed in Japanese sources. During the Heian Period (794–1185), the Hachiman deity came to be considered the guardian of the nation and of Imperial heritage. Thus, his worship at Iwashimizu was naturally state- and court-centered. Despite its popularity among the upper classes, the cult lacked deep roots in the Kyoto and did not have significant popular following.

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Fig. 3.31  Entrance road of Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine flanked by hundreds of stone lanterns. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

It was only during the Kamakura period (1185–1333) that samurai warriors began to frequent the shrine, viewing Hachiman as a guardian deity. Subsequently, the Hachiman deity became connected with the heroes of the Minamoto warrior clan. During the Muromachi Period (1333–1568), the shrine was often visited by Shoguns, and so it continued during the Azuchi-Momoyama (1574–1603) and early Edo periods. In 1580, Oda Nobunaga restored the main shrine, coinciding with the period that Vilela was in Kyoto and visited the Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine and environs. Although the shrine was dedicated to battle and warfare, it became an important destination for faith walkers who enter the site through a large road flanked by hundreds of stone lanterns. Each of these lanterns belongs to a family who supported the shrine and paid for the protection of their family. Over time more lanterns were added, which now number up to 500 of different shapes, thereby creating an outdoor exhibition of distinctive sculptures leading into the sacred grounds. The oldest stone lantern dates to 1295 (Fig. 3.31). One of the outstanding aspects of Iwashimizu is undoubtedly the view towards the north, overlooking Yawata City, where three of Kyoto’s major rivers (the Kizu, Uji, and Katsura) meet and become the Yodo river, flowing south to Osaka; Kyoto can also be seen in the distance (Fig. 3.30). Vilela made note of the importance of this area as a transportation junction during a time when boats were the principal means of transportation and shipping between Kyoto and the ocean ports of Sakai and Osaka.

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Fig. 3.32  Orange tree (tachibana) in Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine courtyard. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved) In this land there are many melons, peaches, pears and other fruits because it is a passageway to Miàco and also visited by many pilgrims and thus very well attended to: the dwellers of this region are wealthy, the houses are clean, large and soundly built. (See p. 323 in [11])

In 1634, Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third Shogun of the Edo Period, built ten additional shrine buildings—all of which are now designated as Important Cultural Properties. Most of the buildings are painted in shiny orange and within the main building a yard still displays one single orange tree (probably the Tachibana orange specie that is considered a sacred tree) (Fig. 3.32). There is also a decorated fresco featuring many flowers and fruits that brings to mind Vilela’s sixteenth-century reference to the unusual flora he witnessed. Some of

References

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the plants pictured are Tsubaki (camellia), Ume (plum), Momo (peach), Kuri (chestnut), Botan (peony), Matsu (pine), Kiku (chrysanthemum), Mikan (orange), Kaki (perssicon), Zakuro (pomegranate) and Yuri (Iris). Another distinctive feature of this sacred shrine are the very old trees, such as camphor tree dedicated in 1334 by Masashige Kusunoki, who was a significant warlord, and a kaya tree (Torreya nucifera) standing in the entrance yard of the shrine. A new dry landscape garden, attributed to Mirei Shigemori, the twentieth-century scholar and designer was added behind the shoin/sekitei in 1952, next to the VIP room. The Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine remains a popular destination for visitors— especially during the Iwashimizu Festival held on November 15. To enforce the importance of this site as a guardian of the Imperial and Minamoto families, every year during the month of October families come to introduce their young children to this shrine. They wear traditional outfits to reinforce the spiritual link to the past. Nowadays, it is considered the main shrine for the nation’s protection and is worshiped to bring good luck, avoid misfortune, and protect visitors from evil.

References 1. Rodrigues, J. (1973). This island of Japon: Joao Rodrigues’ account of 16th-century Japan (ed and trans: Cooper, M.). Tokyo: Kodansha International. 2. Xavier, F. (1598). Outra do padre mestre Frãcisco de, Iapam, escrita em Cangóxima escrita aos irmãos do Collegio se S. Paulo de Goa, no anno de 1549. a 5. de Novébro. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (Vol. I, pp. 8–15). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 3. Nagaoka, H. (1905). Histoire des relations du Japon avec l’Europe aux XVIe et XVIIe siècles. Paris: Henri Jouve. 4. Vilela, G. (1598). Carta do padre Gaſpar Vilela, de Iapão da cidade do Sacáy, pera os irmãos da Companhia de IESV da India, a 17.de Agoſto, de 1561. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (Vol. I, pp. 89–94). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 5. Fróis, L. (1981). Historia de Japam: 2o v., 1565–1578 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. II. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 6. Fróis, L. (1984). Historia de Japam: 5o v., 1588–1593 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. V. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 7. Yamada, K. (2008). Les châteaux forts et les bastions médievaux autour de Kyoto. In N. Fiévé (Ed.), Atlas historique de Kyoto: Analyse spatiale des systèmes de mémoire d’une ville, de son architecture et de son paysage urbain. Paris: Editions de l’Amateur. 8. Fróis, L. (1993). Europa Japão—Um diálogo civilizacional do século XVI (ed: D’Intino, R.). Lisboa: Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses. 9. Levi-Strauss, C. (2009). Preface. In Européens et Japonais—Traité sur les contradictions et différences de mœurs, Luís Fróis (trans: de Castro, X.). Paris: Chandeigne. 10. Keane, M. P., & Ohashi, H. (1996). Japanese garden design. Tokyo/Rutland: Tuttle Publishing. 11. Vilela, G. (1598). Carta do padre Gaſpar Vilela de couſas de Iapaõ, pera os padres do conuéto de Auis em Portugal, de Goa aos 6.de Outubro de 1571. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 319–330). Evora: Manoel de Lyra.

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1 2. Treib, M., & Herman, R. (1980). A guide to the gardens of Kyoto. Tokyo: Shufunotomo Co. 13. Goto, S. (2003). The Japanese garden: Gateway to the human spirit. New York: Peter Lang International Academic Publishers. 14. Fróis, L. (1598). Doutra do padre Luis Fróes do Miáco, pera os irmãos da India a.27.de Abril, de. 1565. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 181–184). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 15. Fróis, L. (1983). Historia de Japam: 4o v., 1583–1587 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. IV. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 16. McKelway, M.  P. (2006). Capitalscapes: Folding screens and political imagination in late medieval Kyoto. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 17. Fróis, L. (1598). Carta do padre Luis Fróes pera o padre Franciſco Perez, & mais irmãos da Cópanhia de Ieſu, na China, eſcrita em Miàco, a.6.de Março, de 1565. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 177–181). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 18. Lambe, M. (2019). Tofukuji temple. https://www.kyotostation.com/tofukuji-temple/. Accessed 5 May 2019. 19. Kidder, J. E., Jr., & Sato, T. (1964). Japanese temples: Sculpture, paintings, gardens and architecture. London: Thames and Hudson. 20. Kuitert, W. (2002). Themes in the history of Japanese garden art. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 21. Clancy, J., & Simmons, B. (2013). Kyoto City of Zen: Visiting the heritage sites of Japan’s ancient capital. New York: Tuttle Publishing. 22. Barroca, M.  J. (1992). Medidas-Padrão Medievais Portuguesas. Revista da Faculdade de letras, 9, 53–85. 23. Nitschke, G. (2007). Japanese gardens: Right angle and natural form. Kõln: Taschen. 24. Nampo, B. (2016). Teppo-ki (Crónica del arcabuz) (trans: Martín Merino, M.). Madrid: Mario Martín Merino. 25. Murakami, H., & Harper, T. J. (1978). Great historical figures of Japan. Tokyo: Japan Culture Institute. 26. Hobson, J. (2007). Niwaki: Pruning, training and shaping trees the Japanese way. Portland: Timber Press. 27. Imaeda, A. (1983). Japanese Zen. Tokyo: The International Society for Educational Information. 28. Wayembergh, J., & Bring, M. (1981). Japanese gardens: Design and meaning. New  York: McGraw-Hill. 29. Kidder, J.  E., Jr., & Sato, T. (1964). Japanese temples—Sculpture paintings, gardens and architecture. London: Thames and Hudson. 30. Marques, M. d. S. (2001). Cartografia antiga: tabela de equivalências de medidas: cálculo de escalas e conversão de valores de coordenadas geográficas. Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional Portugal. 31. Ōta, G. (2011). The chronicle of Lord Nobunaga (ed: Mostow, J., Rose, C., Nakai, K. W., & Elisonas, J. S. A.; trans: Elisonas, J. S. A., & Lamers, J. P., Brill’s Japanese studies library, Vol. 36). Leiden: Brill. 32. Kôzai, K. (2008). Le renouveau du Boudhisme aux XIV et XV siècles. In N. Fiévé (Ed.), Atlas historique de Kyoto: Analyse spatiale des systèmes de mémoire d’une ville, de son architecture et de son paysage urbain. Paris: Editions de l’Amateur. 33. Hall, J. W., & Mass, J. P. (1988). Medieval Japan: Essays in institutional history. Stanford: Stanford University Press. 34. Infopédia—Dicionários Porto Editora. 2017. https://www.infopedia.pt/. Accessed 16 May 2019.

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35. Ono, K. (2005). The form and function of some gardens in Kyoto in 1565 that can be read from the description of history of Japan by Luis Frois. Journal of The Japanese Institute of Landscape Architecture, 68, 369–372. 36. Berry, M. E. (1994). The culture of civil war in Kyoto. Berkeley: University of California Press. 37. Fieve, N., & Waley, P. (Eds.). (2003). Japanese capitals in historical perspective: Place, power and memory in Kyoto, Edo and Tokyo. Oxon: Routledge Curzon. 38. Ono, K., & Walter, E. (2010). Japanese garden dictionary—A glossary for Japanese gardens and their history. https://www.nabunken.go.jp/org/bunka/jgd/index.html. Accessed May 17 2019. 39. Parent, M. N. (2011). JAANUS—Terminology of Japanese architecture & art history. http:// www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/. Accessed 22 Dec 2018. 40. Ferrão, J. E. M. (2005). A Aventura das Plantas e os Descobrimentos Portugueses. Lisboa: Chaves Ferreira Publicações. 41. Kitamura, F., & Ishizu, Y. (1963). Garden plants in Japan. Tokyo: Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai. 42. Castel-Branco, C., & José, T. R. (2009). The epoch of Philip II: Botanical and horticultural impact. Chronica Hotticulturae, 49, 8–10. 43. Attiret, J.-D., de Tilly, J.-B. M., Fauque, E., Chanseaume, G. J., Coeurdoux, G.-L., & Lozano, P. (1749). Lettres édifiantes et curieuses, écrites des missions etrangeres, par quelques missionnaires de la Compagnie de Jesus. XXVII. recueil. Paris: Chez Nicolas le Clerc. 44. Frois, L. (1599). Relatione della gloriosa morte di XXVI. posti in croce per co-mandamento del re di Giappone alli 5 di febraio 1597 […] mandata dal P.L. Frois […] al R.P. Claudio Acquaviva […] et fatta in italiano dal P. Gasparo Spitilli […]. Roma: Francesco Zanetti. 45. Nakai, N. (2006). Commercial change and urban growth in early modern Japan. In The Cambridge history of Japan—Medieval Japan (Vol. IV). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 46. Young, D., & Young, M. (2019). The art of Japanese architecture: History, culture, design. Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing. 47. Onuma, H., DeProspero, D., & DeProspero, J. (1993). Kyudo: The essence and practice of Japanese archery. Tokyo/New York/London: Kodansha International. 48. Correia, P. (2003). Father Diogo de Mesquita (1551–1614) and the cultivation of Western plants in Japan. Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies, 7, 73–91.

Chapter 4

Six Gardens in Nara Described by Frois and Others

Nara, the old imperial capital located south of Kyoto, has for centuries been a place of pilgrimage gatherings and a center for Japanese heritage, culture, and religion. Today, tourists flock to the historic sites and temples in Nara, including the remains of a palace, a primeval forest, and temple buildings dating back to the period 1300 years ago when the city flourished as the capital of Japan. Nara was founded in 710 by Emperor Shomu and was named the Heijo Capital. During that time the Emperor became a faithful supporter of Buddhism, recently introduced from China, and thus established a new governmental system that used Buddhism as the state religion. Shomu ordered the construction of the Todai-ji Temple to pray for the peace of the country. This temple and its colossal Buddha became a symbol of the nation, drawing visitors and pilgrims alike to this celebrated Japanese epicenter of the Buddhist philosophy. And it continues to be one of the most visited cities in Japan. Eight of its buildings have been named National Treasures, including the Kondo, a main hall also called Daibutsuden Hall (Great Buddha Hall), and Nandai-­ mon Gate (Great South Gate). Another 18 buildings are considered to be Important Cultural Properties. At its peak, the Heijo capital is believed to have had a population of around 200,000 people. Like the Heian capital, its site was chosen on the basis of Chinese feng shui and was modelled on the Chinese city of Ch’ang-an. It had a rectangular format (4.8 km × 5.3 km) with a 120 m × 120 m grid pattern, and a boulevard 100 meters wide running through its centre (see pp. 30–31 in [1]). Gaspar Vilela was the first European to describe Nara. One of the letters he recorded in 1571 indicates that 14 leagues south of Miaco there is a town called Nára, which ascribing from its ruins was once a noble one in Japan, still very large and beautiful (see p. 325 in [2]). A lesser-known sixteenth-century Portuguese visitor, Lourenço Mexia, writes about Nara with considerably more detail: In the town of Nara one finds mostly small chapels and Teras, which resemble monasteries, and churches: to this place concur all Japanese in pilgrimage, the same as ourselves to Rome, bringing their possessions, some in search of schooling, some barefoot: there are © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 C. Castel-Branco, G. Carvalho, Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0018-3_4

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monasteries with twenty, thirty, forty or more Bonzos [monks], which receive their tithes, and contributions […] All the temples own their nivas, a kind of very clean and beautiful garden, much appealing to the eye, with plenty of fish in the tanks, shadowy vegetation and fountains, and their main occupation consists in reading, studying the Xaca [Shaka nyorai, the historical Buddha in the origins of Buddhism] and Amida books, and their commanders’ […]. There is a large boulder in Nara which they revere and visit in pilgrimage, walking around it as many times as their devotion dictates, where there is a box for donations. (See pp. 124–125 in [3])

Mexia also praises the gardens in a spontaneous response to the Japanese aesthetic composition of water in fountains and tanks, fish, light, shade and vegetation. However, his description of the large and clearly significant bolder will require further research, as we were unable to locate it. Vilela reports from memory his visit to Nara, and in particular, the Great Buddha Hall: In this kingdom of Miaco there is a densely populated town called Nára where I spent some days and where there are many large and sumptuous temples, and mainly three notable features. One of them is a huge metal idol, as large as the tower in Évora1 where I happen to be now, thus the comparison. I say this because if a pigeon (of which there are plenty inside) alights on that Buddha’s head, seen from below the pigeon looks like a very small sparrow; the palm of the hand measures a man’s wide pace, the face something like four hands wide [~92 cm]. This pagoda Buddha is flanked by another two standing statues, almost identical in height; there are another two made of wood, as high as the lower door leading to Recio [also in Évora], and so huge that when I arrived there I was greatly awed by these two demons. This temple is visited by many pilgrims. (See p. 197 in [4])

Frois adds to our understanding of the early Japanese capital, describing Nara and the novelties it presented to Europeans, such as the animals that were esteemed and respected by all as sacred: [Nara] is a vast land with many inhabitants and many monasteries […] There are three remarkable traits about this land of Nara. The first one is a lagoon one shotgun throw long and wide, where the fish are so abundant that they are beyond counting, swimming ones on top of the others, and since it is dedicated to the temple no one dares to catch one from there, believing that in so doing they will become lepers. The Bonzos [monks] do not eat fish, which under their law constitutes a serious offence. The second is a mountain belonging to the same temple where a multitude of hens abide, which nobody kills because in doing so they would incur in a serious sin, though killing or robbing a man is no sin at all. The third one is the large amount of deer in the town, which belong to the temple and stroll around the streets the way dogs do in Spain. No one dares to touch or handle them, the beating of a deer leading to imprisonment and payment of heavy penalties, the killing of one to death and loss of all properties, and if by any chance a deer happens to die in the streets and the cause of its death cannot be definitely ascertained to illness, the same street is destroyed and all property lost […]. (See p. 174 in [5])

Frois described the three sacred creatures that in the sixteenth century were revered in Nara. While fish and chickens no longer enjoy quite the sacred status they once held, the deer of Nara still wander freely through the city, photographed by the

1  Évora is an important Renaissance town in Portugal where the court often settled. It is now also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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crowds of tourists who enjoy them in much the same way that Frois did. Nonetheless, some fish still swim in the large lake belonging to Kofuku-ji Temple where they are fully protected. As for the hens, when visiting Nara we had to do a search on this subject because it is not commonly known that there were once sacred chickens in Nara. Eventually, our research identified a shrine, the Isonokami Jingu Shrine, referred in Waka poems as a refreshing place surrounded by trees, where chickens and roosters roamed freely like the deer. They were considered to be messengers for the gods, announcing the beginning and ending of the day. These sacred hens were also admired for their appearance; different breeds, each beautiful in its own way, were developed from an early variety brought back from China by envoys sent there on official business in the ninth century. Nowadays, four-and-a-half centuries after this Portuguese Jesuits described the ancient capital, Nara is a modern touristic city with a noteworthy number of historic temples, landmarks and national monuments. A sightseer in Nara today will inevitably visit four of the existing temples that the Portuguese Jesuits described: Kofuku-ji Temple, Tamukeyama Hachimangu Shrine, Kasuga Taisha Shrine, and finally Todai-ji. One of those early Portuguese descriptions refers to an as-yet unnamed temple that we tried to identify, and the last one describes the Tamon Castle that, sadly, no longer exists. This chapter provides a historical account of these national treasures, comparing the present state of the temples and/or surrounding landscapes with their 450-year-old descriptions.

4.1  Kofuku-ji Temple Luís de Almeida was invited to Nara in 1565, and he reports with enthusiasm and wonder about the temples he visited and the people he met in the former capital city. Principally, his long letter written in Portuguese from 1565, which Luís de Frois later adapted and expanded upon for his large manuscript, Historia de Japam, provides invaluable historical information about Japan’s first permanent capital. The first Nara temple Almeida visited was Kofuku-ji Temple (referred to as Cobuquigi), the family temple of the Fujiwara clan. It is one of the great centres of temples of the Hosso School and its Head Temple from the Meiji restoration onward (1868). At the height of the family’s power, the temple complex consisted of over 150 buildings. At that time and during the subsequent Heian period (794–1185), the Fujiwara clan was one of the most powerful families in the whole of Japan. Bolstered by both Fujiwara support and Imperial patronage, Kofuku-ji temple grew rapidly in size and became one of the most influential temples in Nara [6]. During the Heian period, Kofuku-ji Temple and its people also assumed complete control over Kasuga-taisha, the tutelary Shinto shrine of the Fujiwara family located in the eastern part of Nara, and gradually became the dominant political power in Yamato Province with the blessing of both the Kamakura (1185–1333) and Muromachi shogunate (1336–1573) [6]. However, over the course of the sixteenth century, both the financial resources and the political influence of the Fujiwara fam-

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ily dwindled—so much so that in 1595 Toyotomi Hideyoshi stripped the temple of the last vestiges of its secular power [6]. Nevertheless Frois’ report, based on Almeida’s 1565 letter, portrays a temple still thriving in a time of glory prior to Hideyoshi’s decision to decimate the temple’s influence. Later, in 1717, a catastrophic fire destroyed most of its main buildings. Kofuku-ji was also negatively impacted by the anti-Buddhist policies of the early years of the Meiji period (1868–1912)—the result of which was a government-­ mandated separation of Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples (see p. 14 in [7]), with a consequent separation of Kasuga Taisha from Kofuku-ji and the further destruction of many buildings. Fortunately, Frois’ accounts bring to life the now centuries-old temple complex. He first describes the temple’s enclosure: [which] appears to be similar [in size] to the one of Belém.2 It is surrounded by a very strong mud wall, plastered with lime and anchored with thick beams, every 8 hands distance [~1.76m] on both sides of the wall. The beams are laid on stones, and support a 14 feet [~4.62m] wide roof. It has a door about 40 feet high [~13.2m] and 5 feet wide [~1.65m]; with columns two braças [~4.4m] thick. At the entrance, there is a beautifully built stone staircase, and on each side of the door, two giants of astonishing height with maces in their hands. Each one of them appears to be the size of three elephants, and is very well proportioned. After entering, there is a 120-foot square yard [~39.6 sqm] [with galleries] covered with tiles […]. In front of the main door and its cloister, there is another similar door and cloister, and in front of these two, another similar one, with two lions of the same height instead of the two giants. In front of these three doors there is another beautiful courtyard similar to the first two. In front of these doors, courtyards and cloisters, there is the main door of the temple with some beautiful stone railings. (See p. 47 in [8])

While Frois provides detailed accounts of the temple’s main hall and its surrounding buildings—with special emphasis on the temple columns, refectory, dormitory, library, bath and kitchen—we focus on certain particular outdoor features: Outside the main entrance there is a pond fifty braças long and fifty braças wide [~110x110m],3 which is brimming with fish that no one dares to fish, as they look upon this activity with great regret. And whenever pilgrims and visitors go there to see these vast amounts of fish, the only thing they have to do is to throw some food in the water, and instantly a crowd of them will show up. (See p. 48 in [8])

The Kofuku-ji Temple buildings we can visit today, situated in the upper part of the complex, still exhibits the large spacious plateau Almeida witnessed in the sixteenth century. Nevertheless, the temple complex that Almeida visited is no longer there. The succession of gates, cloisters, and courtyards he described have long since disappeared, leaving behind only the foundation stones that once supported the hundreds of wooden pillars. Neither the statues of giants nor lions now stand guard, and the Central Golden Hall—universally agreed to be Kofuku-ji’s most important building—is a restoration of the one destroyed by fire in 1717; in fact, the long-­ awaited reconstruction was only recently inaugurated in October 2018.  A large convent and enclosure in Lisbon built in 1500.  In reality its size is 98 m × 78 m.

2 3

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Among the buildings Frois described, six still survive intact: the five-story pagoda, Japan’s second tallest pagoda (50 m); the three-story pagoda; the Eastern Golden Hall; the Northern Round Hall; and the Great Bath House.4 Additionally, the 749-era Sarusawa-ike pond (Fig. 4.1) that Frois portrayed in detail is still much the same as it was almost 1300 years ago: full of protected koi carp that come to eat with the approach of a visitor. Every year in September during the full moon, the Uneme Festival brings colour and music to the pond. During this event, two ­dragon-­headed boats with musicians playing traditional court music float upon the lake. This yearly event is a memorial ceremony to comfort the soul of a court lady (Uneme) who, according to legend, drowned herself in the pond after being spurned by the Emperor [9]. To a great extent, this festival resembles the traditional boating parties of the Heian period, although it now has a religious purpose as part of the Uneme Shrine’s festival of Kasuga Taisha. From the lake, one can go up the large stairway to access the extensive grounds and other significant structures that once made up a powerful temple complex. Although today’s visitor is still able to find some old and authentic details that created the atmosphere of the past, this large space has the character of a contemporary gathering space.

Fig. 4.1  Sarusawa-ike pond south of Kofuku-ji Temple compound. Just like in Frois time Koi carp are still protected here: there is a pond […] which is brimming with fish that no one dares to fish. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

 Information collected locally from a pamphlet published by the Kofuku-ji Temple.

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4.2  Kasuga Taisha Shrine Three mid-sixteenth-century Portuguese authors described the shrine complex known as Kasuga Taisha. The first account was written by Luis de Almeida on October 25, 1565 (see p. 166 in [10]), followed by Luis Frois (see p. 51 in [8]), who adapted Almeida’s text into his manuscript, Historia de Japam. Finally, another extensive description was written by Gaspar Vilela in 1571 that reflects the important role Kasuga Taisha played as an Imperial shrine during this period, with the ancient and sacred Kasuga-Yama forest and Mount Mikasa as its backdrop. The forest served as a haven for worship even before the shrine was built and it continues to maintain its natural beauty in a very privileged location at the foot of the mountain. Today’s pilgrims and visitors can reach the Kasuga Taisha Shrine via a 1.3 km ascending path up a mild slope. In recognition of its value as a sacred landscape and shrine, it has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for more than two decades as part of the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara. Kasuga Taisha, which is dedicated to a Japanese deity and the god of war Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto, was built by Fujiwara Nagate in 768  in the capital of Nara, responding to Empress Shotoku’s order. In total, four altars were built—one for Takemikazuchi-no-mikoto and three more for other deities who were invited to dwell at Kasuga Taisha later.5 These altars still exist today and, following Shinto practices, they are periodically renovated together with the other buildings every 20 years during the Shikinen Zotai ceremony [11]. The shrine’s entrance is marked by a Torii gate and is known for the many votive lanterns donated by worshipers and their families beginning in the Heian period. Nowadays, there are nearly three thousand lanterns within the shrine’s grounds— either bronze lanterns hanging from buildings, or stone lanterns lining the entranceway to Kasuga Taisha. Typically, they are lit only twice a year during two Lantern Festivals: one in early February and the other in mid-August. Approximately 1300 meters after entering the site, a visitor will encounter a second Torii gate flanked by a basin for purification, whose fountain is fashioned in the shape of a deer. From this point on, the number of stone lanterns lining both sides of the path gradually increases (Fig. 4.2), the vegetation becomes denser, and the trees become older and more impressive. Finally, one reaches the shrine complex at the end of this distinctive path, surrounded by a set of colonades and cloisters made of white walls, green lattice and the rest painted in bright vermillion that contrast beautifully with the green of the surrounding landscape. We have a detailed account from Luis de Almeida that emphasizes the beauty and size of the trees along the shrine’s access and the surrounding area: The entrance to this temple is a beautiful flat field, covered with a type of grass that does not grow more than a half hand [~11 cm] and is followed by a very thick grove. At first sight, its entrance is as wide as Rua Nova de Lisboa and thus it continues until reaching the temple, about half league away. The path is completely flat until halfway where it becomes a set

 Information collected locally from a pamphlet published by the Kasuga-Taisha Temple.

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Fig. 4.2  Stone lanterns and sacred deer at Kasuga-taisha Shrine. Vilela refers in a letter dated 1571 that In the middle of each pillar, there are carved, with golden letters, the names of the ones who ordered the lanterns to be made. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved) of steps going up the hill, made in such a way that the distance from one step to the other is approximately two braças [~4.4 m]. There are many cedars and a few pines on both sides of the street until reaching the temple, which are so high that despite being noon, almost the whole street was in the shade. And because they are the most beautiful trees I have ever seen in my days, both in thickness and height, they could well had served as masts of caravels twice the size of those from India, if such large caravels would have ever existed. The perimeter of many of these cedars is as large as five braças [~11 m], so wide that they seemed to have been enlarged in a potter’s wheel. To one side of this street there is a small stream with fresh water that makes the path more enjoyable. Fifty braças [~110 m] before arriving at the temple, there is a row of very well finished pillars on each side of the street. All of them are very well executed and made with similar square stones. On top of each one, there is a wooden lantern painted with black varnish and recessed with golden brass embossed strips, and on top of each one of them, there is a stone cover, shaped in a similar way as the column but finishing in a spire. The spires seem as if covered with tiles as a consequence of the stone work and they are meant to assure that neither water nor wind can extinguish the flame of the lanterns. There are other lanterns, entirely made of beautifully crafted gold-plated metal. In the middle of each pillar, there are carved, with golden letters, the names of the ones who ordered the lanterns to be made. There are between fifty and sixty of them on each side of the street, and every night they are lit, because when a lantern is put in this place it is implicit that, every year, its owner will make a donation generous enough to keep it lit all night long. At the end of this street there is a great house of female-­ bonzes, all of whom are noble women forty years of age or older. […] From this house forward there is a very pleasant hall that goes to the temple, and from that hall onwards no one can pass except certain men who serve at the pagoda […] and who collect the alms that are thrown in from the porch at the end of the path. (See p. 166 in [10])

Almeida’s historical account and the wonder he experienced when wandering past the stately trees and thousands of stone lanterns still hold true for the present-day

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visitor to Kasuga Taisha. These endless rows of moss-covered stone lanterns—stunning when they are illuminated twice a year—symbolize countless generations of Shinto families paying homage to the Great Deities of Kasuga and memorializing a family member. Luis Frois also described the lanterns, adding further detail about religious life at the Shrine and explaining the roles of the resident shrine maiden (miko) and Shinto priest (shinkan), the significance of nature in Shinto worship, and the specific ceremonies and rituals they performed to please the resident deity (kami), which included ritual dances (kagura) and food offerings (shinsen). According to Frois, It was with great veneration and external observance that they offer[ed] these to the oratory or chapel, where there is [was] neither images nor figures to be worshiped besides the wind (see p. 51 in [8]). Entering the main sanctuary, one finds the Ringo-no-niwa or Apple Garden, a gravelled courtyard containing one simple apple tree at its southeast side, flanked in the northwest corner by a giant Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) (Fig. 4.3), which may be one of the trees that inspired Vilela to pay tribute to its size as large as 9 m, so wide that they seemed to have been enlarged in a potter’s wheel. In fact, this tree, featuring a rope around its huge trunk and hanging white papers, Shimenawa belongs to a space used for traditional performing arts, featuring dance and music as religious festivities. Other cherished plants can be found around the shrine’s precinct, such an ancient wisteria tree (Sunazuri-no-Fuji) whose flower clusters can hang down for more than Fig. 4.3 Kasuga-taisha Shrine. The sacred giant Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) impresses by its age and size. In a letter dated 1571 Vilela wrote that The perimeter of many of these cedars is as large as five braças [~11 m], so wide that they seemed to have been enlarged in a potter’s wheel. This illustrated impression is not intended to be a faithful rendering, but rather Cristina Castel-Branco’s pen and ink interpretation. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2007. All Rights Reserved)

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one meter when blooming in April/May [12]. Adorning the southwest gate (Keiga Gate) of Kasuga Taisha’s main precinct, this particular wisteria was planted by a prominent family of historical importance more than 700 years ago [12]. Another striking element is the covered walkway painted with bright vermillion pillars where the green vegetation contrasts in a splendid effect of colours, light, and shade. Around the shrine’s main complex there are other worship elements such as altars, sacred stones, a cascade of water, and ancient trees set against the background of the sacred forest gracing the mountain slope.6 However, the principal features for which the shrine is known are the pathway toward the main shrines, the tall cedars, the 2000-plus stone lanterns that line the pathway, and the 1000 bronze lanterns that infuse the built landscape. For those who are more acquainted with Shinto philosophy, the other two elements of this site—the sacred forest and its deer—also serve as unforgettable images as they did for Vilela, who references the sacred forest, its then-ancient trees protected as sacred beings, and the countless deer that live peacefully around the whole of Nara. [at the end of the path] there was the pagoda richly painted in gold. It has a very large enclosure […] and one more hill, with many high trees of diverse species. In fact, they are not cut for more than six hundred years as a result of being dedicated to the pagoda. There are also more than five thousand deer, dedicated to the same pagoda, which walk in the streets just like dogs in Spain. (See p. 325 in [2])

As one moves from the periphery towards Mount Mikasa, the landscape changes, acquiring a sense of antiquity and sacredness more in accordance to what Almeida has described. Indeed, the shrines are surrounded by a cypress forest in which both hunting and the cutting down of trees have been banned since the year 841. The information gathered by these Portuguese visitors in the sixteenth century confirms that this Shinto shrine has been maintained in much the same way that they saw it for the last four hundred years, thanks to careful Japanese preservation and conservation habits.

4.3  Tamukeyama Hachimangu Shrine A ten-minute walk through the woods from Kasuga Taisha is Tamukeyama, a small temple within a forested area. Just like today’s visitor to Nara, Luís Almeida followed his visit to the Kasuga Taisha Shrine in 1565 (see p. 166 in [10]) by traversing a path to a shrine he names as Fachiman—the shrine we know today as Tamukeyama Hachimangu. Based on the Almeida report, Frois writes about Hachimangu, which he identifies as the God of battles, probably referring to the God of archery and war, Hachimangu (see pp. 51–52 in [8]). This deity was not well known in Japan until the

 Information collected locally from a pamphlet published by the Kasuga-Taisha Temple.

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medieval period when he rose to new heights through his association with the heroes of the Minamoto warrior clan—the founders of the Kamakura Shogunate (see p. 42 in [7]). During the Kamakura period (1185–1333), the network of Hachimangu shrines and temples spread across the country, just like the one Frois visited much earlier and we saw in Kyoto, which concurrently led to an expansion of the influence of the Shogunate. Nara’s Tamukeyama Hachimangu Shrine was established in 748 to protect the Todai-ji Temple. The current buildings were constructed in 1250 by Hojo Tokiyori,7 the fifth regent (shikken) of the Kamakura Shogunate. Up to the Meiji period it was known as the Todaiji Temple Hachimangu Shrine, but due to the separation of Buddhism and Shintoism it was named the Tamukeyama Hachimangu Shrine after the site where it now stands. Following his visit to the location, Luis de Almeida provides a rich description of the craftsmanship of the brass lanterns, the unique orange yard, and other distinctive landscaping features. What I noticed about it was it had the richest lanterns I have seen so far [in Japan], made of brass, and with many details and bas-reliefs, and all of them gilded. There is a courtyard in here, where many orange trees of similar size were lined, and between them there were rocks of three hands length [~66 cm] around and two hands high [~44 cm]. And on each one of them there were many things planted that were worth seeing, such as small trees, herbs and many singular flowers. And among these trees and everything else on the rocks, the tallest of them was just two hand lengths high. The floor of this courtyard is covered with many small black and white stones. (See pp. 51–52 in [8])

Today, one enters the compound through an old wooden torii gate, after which a path in the forest leads to the main sanctuary. To the right and left of the shrine one can find scattered among the vegetation several stone lanterns and a few stone pillars (Fig.  4.4). Although quite old, Tamukeyama does not attract the large numbers of tourists in comparison to the larger temples and shrines in Nara that Frois and Almeida described. Upon our visit, we purposefully looked for the sixteenth-­century features they noted, but were only able to locate a single, very old orange tree—nor were we able to find the rows of planted orange trees with stones marking the void between them, or the black-and-white stones covering the shrine’s grounds. Indeed, it is somewhat surprising for Japanese naturalistic planting design that these trees would have been planted with such unusual orderliness and alignment. Additionally, Almeida’s description of a sort of miniature garden with small shrubs and stones was similarly not in evidence. However, his description may be the first Western description of bonsai trees, quite popular in Japan at the time. In contrast, neither Almeida nor Frois mention the existing stone chair to the right of the entrance path on which the poem by Sugawara Michizane, the deity of learning, was written. Those who sit on this stone are believed to be granted academic achievement.

 Information collected locally from a pamphlet published by Tamukeyama Hachimangu Shrine.

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Fig. 4.4  Tamukeyama Hachimangu Shrine. Luis de Almeida wrote There is a courtyard in here, where many orange trees of similar size were lined, and between them there were rocks of [~66 cm] around and [~44  cm] high. In 2015 only one orange tree remained in the grounds. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

4.4  Todai-ji Temple Luís de Almeida’s visits to the temples of Nara in 1565 eventually took him to Todai-ji, one of the city’s most celebrated landmarks. This “Great Eastern Temple” was constructed in 752 and is one of Japan’s most famous and historically significant Buddhist temples. Frois’ revised version of the original Luís de Almeida description of Todai-ji is so detailed and complete that we could not fail to include this remarkable historical account in its entirety: Besides this forest stand another monastery and temple, whose grandiosity is highly esteemed in Japan and a source of great pride, since their magnificence exalts its name even in foreign kingdoms. The monastery is called Todaiji and the temple Daibut, meaning the great kami. The latter had three doors and a main entrance, and on each side of the yard another door wonderful for its height and greatness. This yard with its square cloister measured 60 braças [132 m] because buildings, temples and houses in Japan are built in such a way that just by looking at them one may appraise their size, even though their m ­ easurement units are not the same as ours, rather they are based on the quantity of tatamis covering the floors, those measuring 8 hands long [1.84 m] and 4 hands wide [0.92 m]. This yard and cloister are one of the beautiful things I saw in as much as a well finished construction, strong and agreeable to behold. In its center stands the temple, 40 braças long [88 m] and 30 braças wide [66 m]8: the stairs, entrance and floor of the entire temple are paved with large square flagstones. Inside, on both sides of the door, stand two enormous giants, larger than the ones previously described, acting as guards of that main entrance; and inside the  The present building is approximately 76 meters long and 70 meters wide.

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temple on either side of the entrance stands a giant, one named Tamonden and the other Bixamonden, each said to be the lord and governor of a heaven. These 10 braças [22 m] high giants are very well proportioned and look terribly ferocious and horrendous. They both stand with a foot on a demon’s throat, a beautiful sight to behold; thus looking at each one of them is like looking at a tower. In the center of the temple sits the statue of Xaca (Daibutsu) with his two sons. The inside of the Xaca figure is in clay, the outside in copper, the whole deeply gilded and extremely well proportioned; the sons are made of wood but all covered in gold, with long rays emanating from the figures, conceived in such a way and the gold so well laid that they appear to blind whoever looks at them, the statues and the brightness they emanate being so strong. The statue of Xaca, the largest one, is approximately 14 braças high [30.8 m] in its sitting position on a beautiful lotus flower, the base measuring six braças [13.2 m]; the sons, also in a sitting position, are nine braças high [19.8 m]. Behind them stand two guards who watch over two other heavens, the four soldiers being known as Xiten, in all similar to the aforesaid ones. On one side of the temple there is a kind of pulpit that is square and open on all sides, 2.5 braças high [5.5 m], and inside it there is a majestic chair exquisitely carved from the most precious wood, and around the pulpit a tiny and exquisite balcony. This temple counts 98 cedar columns incredibly high and thick, measuring approximately three braças [6.6 m] in circumference, which probably meant 4 braças [8.8 m] before carving, all of them appearing to have been shaped on a lathe. That wood was brought by sea from very far away and then from Sacai by land, a distance of 15 or 20 leagues [72 to 97 km]; and in order to put them in place and work on them, a hole was pierced in the bottom of each, in which a man easily fits, such is its width. This monastery was built some 700 years ago and it took 20 years to build it; and it burnt down some four hundred years ago and was rebuilt in 15 years, but apparently less sumptuous and with wood inferior in quality to the initial one, this being easily ascertained from the size of the slabs where the columns used to sit, much wider than the present columns. (See pp. 53–56 in [8])

Although the current Buddha Hall is not the one Frois and Almeida described in 1565 (the current building is a reconstruction from the late seventeenth century), their long description corresponds to much of what can be seen today within Todai-ji. Indeed, apart from the reduced size of the present-day structure, which is two-thirds the size of the original Great Buddha Hall, it serves as a faithful representation of the current structure and provides further evidence of the enduring Japanese tradition of periodically reconstructing their temples. According to Frois, a hole at the base of the column was a manifestation of the building process of the original sixteenth century: In order to put them in place and work on them, a hole was pierced in the bottom of each, in which a man easily fits, such is its width (see pp. 53–56 in [8]). Today, one pillar that is pierced in such a way serves as an example of the Japanese commitment to historic preservation. In fact, this particular pillar with its hole at the base has become quite popular with tourists (at least the slimmer ones!). Popular legends hold that if one manages to pass through the hole, he or she will be granted enlightenment in the next life. Todai-ji remains a very important Buddhist temple and, indeed, a symbol of Japan. According to a locally produced booklet, the temple serves both as a place of prayer for the peace and affluence on Earth as well as a center of Buddhist doctrinal research. Its main object of worship is the Vairocana Buddha in the Great Buddha Hall (Daibutsuden). As the world’s largest bronze statue of the Buddha (at 15  m high), it is known in Japanese as Daibutsu—the enormous

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Buddha statue described by Frois. The other gigantic statues that Frois documented still stand guard at the temple’s entrance and at its four corners to serve and defend the seated Buddha. The above-mentioned booklet also confirms what sixteenth-century Portuguese visitors would have seen, but that no longer remains: the entire statue was once plated in gold, rather than in the bronze color we see today. The curious Jesuits asked the Japanese how they had achieved such a huge work of art and were rewarded with the following description: The inside of the Xaca figure is in clay, the outside in copper, the whole deeply gilded and extremely well proportioned (see p. 54 in [8]). Thus, the original Buddha was gilded, but was later reconstructed as the booklet informs us: The statue of Vairocana Buddha is made from cast bronze which was then plated with gold. The statue was consecrated in 752 but was damaged and repaired several times in the following centuries. With respect to the damage inflicted on the Daibutsu statue and the impetus for the reconstruction of Todai-ji, Frois also gives us information about who had set fire to the sacred statues and buildings: Something like 20 years ago, Daijodono was under siege in the rich fortress previously referred by Brother Luis de Almeida [Tamon Castle fort in Nara], a few years after he returned to Ximo, the soldiers who were mounting the siege to the Tamonyama fortress – a large part of the army was sheltered inside this Daibut temple and all around this monastery – and there was a valiant soldier well known to ours who, being in charge of the honor of the cult and the veneration due to the universe Creator [Christian God] alone, without any persuasion from any man, during his watch secretly put fire to it during the night, so that everything existing there was consumed by the flames, with the exception of a gate that stood very far from the first yard, and the aforesaid bell. And that night, in the kingdoms of Tamba and Cavachi, the clarity and the fire flames lurching above the mountains in between could be seen. (See p. 56 in [8])

This information was later substantiated by another Portuguese, Mexia, who visited Japan between 1579 and 1582 and made note of the remarkable Buddha statue and its loss: […] of an incredible height […] so high as a tree, and one finger is equal to a man’s height, and all in the same proportion. It is made of clay covered by gilded bronze and so well-­ crafted that it looks like a unique metal piece […] And some 10 or 12 years ago the Christians set it afire, the most of it turning into ashes and the statue’s head burnt out, but a new one was made, along with two very well proportioned giants, almost 9 meter high. (See p. 38 in [3])

Thus, Mexia and Frois both believed that a Japanese Christian set Todai-ji Temple alight. In contrast, Gaspar Vilela in his letter about Japan and its temples also refers to this conflagration, but is dubious as to its origins: […] It must have been built over five hundred years ago, but now during the war it is rumoured that a Christian set fire to it and most of it was burnt out (see p. 325 in [2]). Historical information confirms the date of the statue’s destruction to be 1567, the year when the Daibutsu burned again during a clash between the Miyoshi and Matsunaga clans. Matsunaga Hisahide was then the ruler of Yamato province and the owner of Tamon Castle, and Miyoshi his former master. The only structures that

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survived the fire were the Nigatsu-do, Hokke-do, Great South Gate, Tegai-mon Gate, Shoso-in, and the Bell Tower. Lost were the Great Buddha Hall—but no Japanese source attributes the fire to a pyromaniac Christian soldier. Moreover, the local information booklet indicates that: The current hands of the statue were made in the Momoyama period (1568–1615) and the head was made in the Edo period (1615–1867). The great Buddha Hall was burned in the fires of the war in 1180 and in 1567 and the current building is actually the third generation structure which was built in the Edo period. Frois refers to the sixteenth-century Great Buddha Hall (Fig. 4.5) as apparently less sumptuous and with wood inferior to the initial one, this being easily ascertained from the size of the slabs where the columns used to sit, which are much wider than the present columns (see p. 55 in [8]). Official documentation for the temple indicates that the width of the current building is approximately 33% smaller than that of the original structure, owing to two later reconstructions, each of which reduced the original size of the building. About the outdoor structures, Gaspar Vilela, the first European to visit and write about the Todai-ji in 1563, offers a detailed description of the site: In this very city there is another temple, though with no Bonzos and called in their language Daibút, meaning the great pagoda/Buddha: it is a large temple, completely surrounded by a fence the length of a crossbow’s shot [35 m], with many corridors for people to walk along and stroll around in a porch-like fashion, so as not to get wet with the rain or to be sheltered from the sun in good weather, the supporting buttresses of the porches being over one thousand and five hundred, all very tall and made of very thick beams, in the center

Fig. 4.5  Todai-ji Temple, burnt down in 1567 and rebuilt in the seventeenth century. Frois writes that This yard and cloister are one of the beautiful things I saw in as much as a well finished construction, strong and agreeable to behold. In its centre stands the temple. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

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there is a wide yard where a large iron pulpit stands for preaching to the many incoming visitors, as a special feat there are the cauldrons where the visitors’ food was prepared when this pagoda was built, at least 2 braças high and very wide, the whole in cast iron. (See p. 325 in [2])

This Todai-ji courtyard well described even for today’s visitors is an unforgettable welcoming space for any tourist stepping into the main gate. While Todai-ji does not feature any formal gardens, the grounds of the temple make for an interesting visit nonetheless. For example, Frois mentioned a bell, which became the object of a search within the grounds; we located it on a higher terrace east of the courtyard. Outside the temple’s enclosure there is a very strong wooden tower, sitting on 30 very wide columns, where the main bell is located. A Christian who accompanied me said that this bell, being so extraordinary, measured 2 braças in circumference [4.4 m] in the mouth and six all around, and three and a half in length and something like one and a half hands [34.5 cm] in thickness. Its sound is very smooth and travels a great distance. (See pp. 55–56 in [8])

The huge bronze bell has resisted the consequences of time and mischief, still hanging from a wooden structure (Fig. 4.6), exactly as Frois described it. At 8:00 o’clock every morning, its sound crosses time and space to remove the sins of worldly passions in a peaceful and subtle manner. Finally, a description of Todai-ji’s grounds would be incomplete without mentioning the still-sacred deer who wander the grounds, begging for shika senbei—a special cracker that visitors can purchase to feed them.

Fig. 4.6  Bell tower described by Frois at Todai-ji Temple. According to Frois, Outside the temple’s enclosure there is a very strong wooden tower […] where the main bell is located […] this bell, being so extraordinary, measured [4.4 m] […] Its sound is very smooth and travels a great distance. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

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All around the lands of this temple and the whole town of Nara, distant half a league, there are plenty of deer and doves, and sometimes he saw them entering the houses with no encumbrance from anyone, because that was once a purpose of this temple, and their slaughter was subject to a death penalty […]. (See p. 167 in [10])

The four Portuguese who wrote about Nara in the sixteenth century have left us valuable and meticulous information about the places they visited. And while they may not have fully appreciated the religious importance of Nara for Japanese culture and the pilgrims arriving from the four corners of the country to be fed and given spiritual assistance, they clearly were in awe of Todai-ji and its resident Big Buddha, housed in what was once the largest wooden structure on earth.

4.5  Unidentified Temple in Nara In his letter dated 1571, Gaspar Vilela described an unnamed, but clearly remarkable temple in Nara. Vilela focused largely on the gardens, providing few details about the site’s architecture and history. Thus, we are left with insufficient evidence to unequivocally identify the temple he visited. The most promising clue is the fact that, according to Vilela, the emperor’s brother was the abbot of the temple at that time. However, when Vilela mentioned the emperor, he could have been referring to the Shogun. And if this were the case, it is known that Ashikaga Yoshiaki, the shoguns’ brother, was the abbot of a temple in Nara, the Ichijoin—one of the most powerful sub-temples of Kofuku-ji. Therefore, Vilela’s mystery temple may be the now-vanished Ichijoin in Nara.9 About the temple itself, Vilela reported: […] it had a high fence surrounded by many pines and cypresses trees. It had a pleasure house the size of a large room, [which was] entirely covered with a type of wood already mentioned before, named Maça, which is very white. The panels of the house were all covered with a diversity of paintings, the mats were opulent and new, and everything was remarkable in its magnificence. There was a door that when opened revealed a large garden with a handmade island and a large pond of water in its center, which was a stone’s throw long. Around the island there were some trees half dead, half alive, resembling something painted rather than planted. The water of the pond was brought through underground pipes and was very clear and fresh, with many fish, and on the water, mallards and colorful waterfowl, ornaments, and stones of various colors. The monastery would have had about fifty monks. I did not see anything else in this house, nonetheless, because it was of such an important person it would be expected it had more than it seemed to have. (See p. 325 in [2])

The garden described seems to be a typical Japanese pond garden—its main feature being a central non-natural pond with an island surrounded by what sounds like sparse vegetation of cypresses and pine species. Note the reference what must have been in its day sophisticated hydraulic system delivering water to the pond—significant here because such a piping system is not usually referenced in Japanese garden 9  It should be noted that this information was only recently discovered, and thus additional research should be conducted to corroborate this possible identification.

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descriptions. This is a subject of much interest that could be further researched to better understand the technical evolution of the pond, streams, and cascading water in the history of garden building. Focusing on the garden itself, a latent scenic quality of design is implicit in the description of the trees, which were half dead, half alive, and looked more like something painted than planted. This reference to a garden that appears as a painting brings to mind the garden movement of the Muromachi period, which was strongly influenced by Chinese painting (see pp. 75–76 in [13]). During this period, garden design used  methods of perspective employed in Chinese ink landscape paintings. Similar to those paintings, the Japanese garden tried to achieve a convincing perspective of depth and distance within a small area. Vilela may be ­unknowingly confirms that aesthetic goal when comparing this temple garden to a painting. Furthermore, the specific use of trees that were half-dead, half-alive as art objects—a design feature often prevalent in old Japanese gardens—clearly evokes a sense of respect for old, well-tended objects and creatures. Simultaneously, there is a sense of gloom and subtle nostalgia in a beauty that lives side-by-side with imperfection and the harsh reality derived from the passage of time. It is appropriate to use Keane’s definition of the Japanese appreciation of old and well-worn things that results in the unobtrusive quality of a garden that is created out of years of tidying more than initial design. One way to use the terms wabi and sabi […] is to say that sabi is the patina or aura that honest materials acquire with age if well cared for (see p. 76 in [14]). This sense of the old when applied to garden trees (niwaki) is usually expressed by the creation of an atmosphere of melancholy, typically evidenced through the exposure of trees and shrubs to rough natural conditions, resulting in gnarled trunks bent and buckled by the wind and wide-reaching, aging branches. In considering Vilela’s sensitivity to this natural element, it is relevant to note that Portuguese culture also holds an important place for nostalgia and gives it special attention in poetry and music. A specific Portuguese word is related to this mood, saudade, which refers to nostalgia for a place or the sense of missing someone; this term is similar to the Japanese words Akogare10 and Koishī11 that express analogous feelings. Thus, this likeminded esteem for nostalgia no doubt fostered the Portuguese visitors’ appreciation for Japanese sensitiveness, which is quite evident when Rodrigues talks about chanoyu: The Japanese are in general of a melancholy disposition and nature. Moved by this natural inclination they take great delight and pleasure in lonely and nostalgic places, such as woods with shady groves, cliffs and rocky places, solitary birds, torrents of fresh water flowing down from rocks, and every kind of solitary thing imbued with a natural artlessness and quality. All this fills their souls with this inclination and melancholy, producing certain nostalgia. (See pp. 265–269 in [15])

This description is akin to the sense of the natural sublime beauty, clearly defined for the first time in Europe by Burke in 1757 [16] when he compared and distinguished the beautiful from the sublime in his treatise on aesthetics, A Philosophical 10 11

 longing.  Miss you/someone.

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Enquiry Into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. Although the true identity of this unknown temple will perhaps never be revealed, the historical descriptions captured by the Portuguese in their early writings suggest that the Muromachi elements of a sublime, picturesque, and sometimes nostalgic landscape were already highly valued in Japan.

4.6  Tamon-jo Castle Although no longer in existence—indeed, no traces of it are left to us—Tamon Castle was most certainly a remarkable fortress-castle in Nara. Now a site for the Wakakusa municipal junior high school in the northern part of Nara, Tamon Castle was located a few hundred meters from Todai-ji Temple. The castle was special because its overlord was an exceptional man. Matsunaga Hisahide (1510–1577), referred in Sect. 3.11 as the introducer of the first tower keep, was a strategic statesman, a tea master, and a powerful samurai warrior. As a warrior he was a subordinate of Miyoshi Nagayoshi, who directed the conquest of the province of Yamato in 1560. Soon thereafter, Matsunaga Hisahide constructed his Tamon Castle and amassed a sufficient power base to be successfully independent from Miyoshi. According to Turnbull: As a Samurai warrior he [Matsunaga Hisahide] made an important contribution to Japanese military architecture with the erection of Tamon castle. Father Almeida visited it in April 1565 and it is from his description that the conclusion has been drawn that Tamon possessed Japan’s first tower keep (see p. 94 in [17]). Although not a daimyo, Matsunaga Hisahide was one of the most powerful warriors in the Kinai region, with strong relations and influence in the port city of Sakai, near Osaka. Sakai was soon to become the primary producer and merchant city for the firearms introduced by the Portuguese in 1543, adding to its reputation as the center of craftsmanship for swords, blades, and knives. It is no surprise then that Nobunaga, who was soon to become the leader of the nation (in 1568) thanks to his military capacities and access to the new form of weaponry, considered Matsunaga Hisahide an intelligent and dangerous opponent to be kept under control. Indeed, it was due to Matsunaga Hisahide’s intricate plotting with Miyoshi Yoshitsugu that Nobunaga considered himself justified to conquer Kyoto. In their hunger for power, Matsunaga Hisahide and Yoshitsugu went as far as to suggest that the current Ashikaga Shogun (Ashikaga Yoshiteru) should commit suicide (seppuku), to be replaced by another Ashikaga they could control (Ashikaga Yoshihide, a two-year-old child). Sparked by this traitorous activity, Oda Nobunaga smartly sided with the late shogun’s brother (Ashikaga Yoshiaki) to expel the traitors and restore justice by putting Ashikaga Yoshiaki in power. When in 1568 Nobunaga successfully captured Kyoto to install the latter as a puppet shogun, Matsunaga Hisahide was forced to submit. This episode is usually referred to as an example of the tea-article mania of the Azuchi-Momoyama epoch (see p.  498  in [18]). In order to appease Nobunaga in accepted diplomatic fashion, Matsunaga

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Hisahide bestowed on him his prized tea caddy, and as a peace token was given control of the Yamato province, serving Nobunaga in his subsequent campaigns. This episode is notable in that it epitomizes the warrior’s link to tea-drinking and the deeply ingrained ceremonial practices associated with it—which for a Westerner is a strange mixture of polite military confrontation and tea mastership. The warrior tea culture is well explained in Turnbull’s book, The Samurai and the Sacred: The Path of the Warrior. Tea-drinking, coupled with the significance of the garden through which one had to proceed to reach the tea house, became an important aspect of the hard life of the medieval Japanese warrior. The practice of chanoyu represented a place and time for peace, dialogue, quietness, and art appreciation— contrasting starkly with the cruel harshness of war. Matsunaga Hisahide and Imai Sokyu, one of the two famous Tea Masters who served Hideyoshi, often met in the tea house and are believed to have been friends. And in this intertwined realm of tea and war, it is no surprise that Imai Sokyu was also a rich merchant of gunpowder and firearms in Sakai [19]. In fact, the two men were the first to present Nobunaga with tea ceremony utensils and likely triggered his passion for collecting them. Matsunaga Hisahide’s castle, the Tamon Castle, was built in the early 1560s and is considered an important contribution to military architecture because it responded to the new technology recently introduced in Japan: the teppo (firearms) that revolutionized war techniques and enabled Nobunaga to win so many territories from warlords who had retained them for centuries. Matsunaga Hisahide, too, understood the importance of this radical change in warfare and arranged for a tower keep to be built within the castle. This first such structure was soon replicated by others—notably by Nobunaga in his Gifu (1567), Nijo Gosho (1569) and Azuchi (1576) castles. The story of Tamon Castle also features a unique event that Almeida described and Frois later synthesized: the theological confrontation that occurred in Nara in 1563 between Buddhism and Christianity organized by Matsunaga Hisahide, a fervent adherent of the Nichiren sect. Hence he [Takayama Zusho] was inclined to be sympathetic to the pleas of the Buddhist priesthood […] [who] repeatedly petitioned Hisahide to have the padre [Vilela in Kyoto] expelled […] Takayama Zusho (d. 1596), the castellan of Sawa in Yamato, advised his master to determine whether the new doctrine preached by Vilela and his Japanese translator Lourenco indeed countered the Japanese religions, and to “have their heads cut off” if it proved so. Matsunaga Hisahide decided on an official investigation. The inquisition, which took place in Nara in the early summer of 1563, had startling results. […] On the basis of the evidence they heard, both judges accepted the truth of Christianity and requested to be baptized. The delator of the missionaries, Takayama Zusho, also embraced their new religion. (See pp. 319–321 in [20])

This episode, also documented in Japanese sources, had an important impact on Christianity in Japan all the way to the twenty-first century. Takayama Zusho’s son, Takayama Ukon, became a fervent Christian and held on to his beliefs throughout his life. Unlike other Christian daimyos, he resisted all efforts to relinquish his faith—even under Ieyasu’s persecutions when he lost all his land and his cherished daimyo status, eventually having to hide. Once discovered, he was ultimately exiled

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to Manila where he died in 1615. Four centuries after his death, Pope Francis approved Ukon’s beatification, which was officially celebrated in Osaka in 2017. Although the official investigation Matsunaga Hisahide ordered did not take the successful course he expected, the fortress complex of Tamon Castle almost certainly reflected its master’s brilliance and architectural vision, as Almeida indicates in this 1565 report. […] The most important told me that if I was agreeable he would be most happy to show me around the fortress, which was called Tamon because it was one of the strongest and most beautiful in Japan and belongs to their ruling prince, whose name was Daijodono [Matsunaga Hisahide] […] Whereupon he chose a hill and cut through it, the earth being rather soft, and built many towers and bulwarks in aforesaid hill, leaving in its center a field equivalent to one third of Goa city, where he had many wells opened, coming upon water at a three “braças” [~6.6 m] depth. He summoned the most important wealthy lords and their liegemen, the one he most trusted, and had them all build dwellings within this enclosure, allotting them tracts of land. This started around five years ago [1560]. And each one, in jealousy of the others, built the most rich and expensive houses you may find, with many ups and downs and exquisite storing spaces built our way, the fortress fence and bulwarks magnificent, the walls the most white and smooth I have ever seen in the Christian lands, because they did not mix the lime with any mortar but only mixed it with very white paper prepared just for this purpose. All dwellings and bulwarks are covered in the most beautiful and delicate tiles I have ever seen, black, two fingers thick, which once laid last for four or five hundred years. Entering this village (for it may be thus called) and strolling around its streets feels like entering an earthly paradise, so clean and white as it is, and the streets and houses looked as if they had been finished on that very day. Anyone would feel enchanted just by looking at this fortress from afar. I came inside to look at its palaces and the truth is that in order to write but a little about them there was a mastery in excellence and perfection of the works, besides being all built with cedar, whose fragrance is a solace only for those who enter them. The corridors are 7 feet wide [~2.31 m] built with but one board, the walls depict old stories from Japan and China and everything but the figures is in gold. The columns with their capitals and pedestals from top to bottom, one hand high, are in gilded brass and interwoven in such a way that they surely looked made in gold; among the columns, similarly built huge roses. The lining of the chambers seemed made of only one board because no junctions were discernible even from very close, with many other inventions which I will not describe for lack of knowledge to do it. Among many things I saw in these palaces, there was a square chamber measuring four and a half braças [~9.9 m], built with a yellow wood, with the most pleasurable and enchanting waves I can describe, so polished and well carved so as to look like very clean mirrors. The gardens and tree inventions within these palaces appeared as the most refreshing one could find, since I saw in Miaco very beautiful and curious agreeable things but none comparable to these. Therefore in Japan many lords came to see it, along with the works and monastery building, which are indeed something to behold. [8]

Almeida makes evident the remarkable architecture and forward-thinking design of the Tamon Castle complex, featuring a fortress-city, a tower keep, a very large plaza within (the one he compares to Goa city in India), the access streets throughout, and the wisdom of keeping his loyal warrior friends close by in their own quarters. In the creation of Tamon Castle, Matsunaga Hisahide sets the tone and a precedent for similar material demonstrations of power later enacted by Nobunaga. When Nobunaga created Azuchi, Nijo Gosho and Gifu castles—he was surely inspired by his friend-opponent’s canny defense architectural and power demonstration. Moreover, leaders who came after him also incorporated these principles, as we can see in Hideyoshi’s fortified castle in Osaka and Jurakudai in Kyoto, Ieyasu’s Nijo-jo castle in Kyoto, and what followed in Edo.

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Fig. 4.7  Map of contemporary Nara with the location of the 5 identified gardens/temples described by Frois and other Portuguese chroniclers. (© Guida Carvalho, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

Ultimately, however, this avant-garde military structure became a corollary victim of Matsunaga Hisahide’s political instability. While the castle’s tower represented an architectural innovation and the site became symbol of power and status, Tamon Castle was attacked by the forces of the Miyoshi clan in 1567.12 Just six years later, Matsunaga Hisahide temporarily allied himself with Miyoshi against Nobunaga, but when it was clear that the fight was futile, he swapped sides yet again. This periodic vacillation between sides within this era of ongoing feudal wars caused Frois to write in his Treaty on Contradictions [21]: Among us, treason is rare and is considered highly reprehensible; in Japan, it is so common that it is almost never considered reprehensible [22]. In fact, four years later, Matsunaga Hisahide joined another plot against Nobunaga and ended up under siege at Shigisan Castle. When he was about to die, […] he made a dramatic contribution to the mythology of tea rituals as before committing the act of seppuku (suicide) […] he took his most precious tea kettle and smashed it into a thousand pieces so no other connoisseur would ever own it […] (see p. 94 in [17]). And yet again, tea and war are bound together in Japanese history. After Matsunaga Hisahide’s death, Nobunaga entrusted the Tamon Castle to Tsutsui Junkei, who ruled Yamato under Oda Nobunaga. Junkei completely razed the castle—even relocating the stone walls of the fortress to the Koriyama castle, leaving behind no trace of it so as to completely erase the memory of his wily opponent, Matsunaga Hisahide. To help locate these gardens and temples described in the sixteenth century a map of Nara is hereby displayed. The grid pan of Nara and the streams that cross it confirm the old lay out of the seventh-century capital (Fig. 4.7).  This siege led to the burning of the neighboring Todai-ji, when an opposing soldier who was camping in Todai-ji’s courtyard, and presumably a converted Christian, set fire to the Todai-ji temple; Frois refers to this episode in the Todai-ji description in Sect. 4.4.

12

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References 1. Goto, S. (2003). The Japanese garden gateway to the human Spirit (Asian thought and culture, Vol. 56). New York: Peter Lang Publishing. 2. Vilela, G. (1598). Carta do padre Gaſpar Vilela de couſas de Iapaõ, pera os padres do conuéto de Auis em Portugal, de Goa aos 6.de Outubro de 1571. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 319–330). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 3. Mexia, L. (1598). Carta d padre Loourenço Mexia, eſcreueo de Amacao a 6.de Ianeiro de 84 ao padre Miguel de Souſa Rietor do Colegio de Coimbra. In Segunda parte das cartas de Iapão que escreverão os padres, & ir mãos da companhia de IESVS (pp. 123–126). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 4. Vilela, G. (1598). Carta que o padre Gaſpar Vilela eſcreueo do Sacày aos padres do Conuento de Auis em portugal, a 15.de Setébro,de,1565. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 193–197). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 5. Fróis, L. (1598). De húa que o padre Luis Fróes eſcreveo da cidade do Miáco aos padres, & irmão da Companhia de Iesu, da China, & da India 20.de Feuereiro de 1565. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 172–177). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 6. Saile, G. (2017). The Kohfukuji temple complex. http://www.kohfukuji.com/english.html. Accessed 29 Mar 2019. 7. Breen, J., & Teeuwen, M. (2010). A new history of Shinto. Chichester/Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. 8. Fróis, L. (1981). Historia de Japam: 2o v., 1565–1578 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. II. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 9. Uneme Festival. (2019). Official Nara Travel Guide. https://www.visitnara.jp/venues/E02074/. Accessed 17 May 2019. 10. de Almeida, L. (1598). Carta do Irmão Luis Dalmeida, pera os irmãos da companhia, do caminho que fez com o padre Luis Frões ao Miáco, eſcrita em Facundá, a.25.de Outubro. de 1565. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (Vol. I, pp. 159–172). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 11. Grapard, A. G. (1993). The protocol of the gods: A study of the Kasuga cult in Japanese history. Berkeley: University of California Press. 12. Kasuga Taisha Shrine. 2015. About the shrine history. Kasuga Taisha shrine official web page. http://www.kasugataisha.or.jp/about/index_en.html. Accessed 12 May 2019. 13. Kuitert, W. (1988). Themes in the history of Japanese garden art. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 14. Keane, M. P., & Ohashi, H. (1996). Japanese garden design. Tokyo/Rutland: Tuttle Publishing. 15. Rodrigues, J. (1973). This island of Japon: Joao Rodrigues’ account of 16th-century Japan (ed and trans: Cooper, M.). Tokyo: Kodansha International. 16. Burke, E. (1767). A philosophical enquiry into the origin of our ideas of the sublime and beautiful. London: J. Dodsley. 17. Turnbull, S. (2011). The samurai and the sacred: The path of the warrior. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. 18. V’Arley, H. P. (2006). Cultural life in medieval Japan. In The Cambridge history of Japan (Vol. III, pp. 447–499). New York: Cambridge University Press. 19. Pitelka, M. (2003). Japanese tea culture: Art, history, and practice. London: Routledge. 20. Elisonas, J. (2008). Christianity and the daimyo. In The Cambridge history of Japan (Vol. IV). New York: Cambridge University Press.

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21. Frois, L. (1993). Europa Japão: um diálogo civilizacional no século XVI (ed: García, J. M., & D’Intino, R.). Lisboa: Comissão nacional para as comemorações dos descobrimentos portugueses. 22. Frois, L. (2014). The first European description of Japan, 1585: A critical English-language edition of striking contrasts in the customs of Europe and Japan by Luis Frois, S.J. (ed and trans: Danford, R., Reff, D. T., & Gill, R.). London/New York: Routledge.

Chapter 5

Nine Cities and Landscapes Described by Frois and Others

The places visited and described by the Jesuits are many. In deciding which locations to include in this book, we focus on those often referred by Frois and that we were able to reach during research visits to Japan. These include places as far as Gifu, located in the western zone of Chubu, (Fig. 5.1) to Hirado in the northeast end of Kyushu (Fig. 5.2), one of the places where the Portuguese boats first traded. We selected nine cities to describe herein. Six can be found in the Kansai region (Fig. 5.1) where the Jesuits lived and reported—from famous metropolises such as Osaka, to almost vanished cities such as Oda Nobunaga’s Azuchi Castle and town, to more mysterious and remote locations such as the Buddhist mountain, Koyasan. This chapter also includes our engagement with three cities in Kyushu that were important to the history of Portugal and Japan: Hirado, Yokoseura and Unzen.

5.1  Gifu Gifu is the northernmost town in Japan that Frois visited. At the time of his trip, it was extremely remote from all the places the Portuguese Jesuits had settled. He went there upon the recommendation of Vatadono,1 the benefactor of the Jesuits in Kyoto. His goal was to ask Nobunaga’s protection from the enemies of the Christian religion in Kyoto who wanted to expel the Christians after their return in 1569. Gifu, the new name of Mount Inaba after it was conquered by Nobunaga in 1567, presents natural features that were well used by Nobunaga to obviate his power and dominance over the country. A high steep mountain (329 m) overlooks a vast plane 1  Wada Koremasa also known in Frois texts as Vatadono was an important retainer of the Naito and Ashikaga clans and later of Oda Nobunaga. In 1569, he was vital in securing Luis Frois an audience with Nobunaga which made it possible for the Jesuits to return to Kyoto and keep their missionary activities in the capital city.

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 C. Castel-Branco, G. Carvalho, Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0018-3_5

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Fig. 5.1  Map with the location of the six cities/landscapes between Osaka and Gifu described by Luis Frois and other Portuguese chroniclers. (© Guida Carvalho, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

through which different rivers meander, all of which provided easy communication and trading ways for those who settled along their banks. According to Frois, the commerce in Gifu was a busy and very noisy activity, perhaps because of all the extra people summoned for the building of Nobunaga’s new castle on top of the hill, and palace and gardens at its base. We arrived to Guifu, a town of approximately ten thousand inhabitants, and took shelter in a house recommended by Vatadono, where complete chaos reigned. Upon there converged merchants from the various kingdoms with many horses loaded with salt, cloths and other merchandise, making it impossible to hear anything inside the house. All night and day long they would not stop playing, eating, buying, selling, stuffing and unstuffing food; and they all crammed into one story, since the house did not offer any quieter accommodation […]. (See p. 271 in [1])

Gifu belonged to the Saito clan of Mino and was taken by Nobunaga in 1567. The place offered natural defensive advantages (Fig. 5.3) and Oda left his Komaki Castle and built a new settlement in Gifu. Frois’ report only confirms the city’s intense

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Fig. 5.2  Map of contemporary Kyushu with the location of the three cities/landscapes described by Frois and other Portuguese chroniclers. (© Guida Carvalho, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

activity that was Nobunaga’s intention: In fact, Nobunaga intended to encourage economic activity in castle towns such as Gifu, by granting special privileges to its merchants and by requiring merchants and artisans to live together in specified areas according to their occupation (see p. 112 in [2]). About his visit to the castle Frois reports: The following morning, since our inn was far away and the rain was pouring, he [Oda Nobunaga] sent two messages to the house of Nacàngana Tachirozajemon, who was waiting for us with a banquet. Two messages arrived down from the fortress, where the king summoned us to be brought up by Xibatadono after the meal: the mountain is very high and steep, in the fortress entrance there is a kind of bulwark where fifteen or twenty highborn youths keep watch all day and night long: going up to the fortress there are two or three large Yaxequis [rooms] where something like one hundred highborn youths, the sons of the most important lords in Nobunaga’s kingdom, stroll around […] from there [the castle] he showed me a great part of the Mînno and Voári Kingdoms, those being flatlands within the fortress sight. In front of the aforesaid balcony, stretching inside, there was a very rich Yaxiquî, all made of gold screens (byobu), surrounded by approximately two thousand

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Fig. 5.3  Gifu Castle rebuilt in the twentieth century at the top of Mount Kinka and the Nagara River at its base. The original castle described by Luis Frois was rebuilt by Oda Nobunaga after the 1567 conquest. Frois refers from there he [Oda Nobunaga] showed me a great part of the Mînno and Voári Kingdoms, those being flatlands within the fortress sight. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved) openings. He inquired whether similar fortresses could be found in an Indian mountain, and went on speaking for two hours and a half. (See pp. 273–274 in [1])

From among the castle features we highlight the panoramic views, which provide an overwhelmingly beautiful landscape around a 360° watch point that can be enjoyed today with the assistance of a funicular that ferries tourists to the top of the mountain where restaurants serve food at the highest point. From the castle we can see the extension of Nobunaga’s reign of Mino and Owari and the Nagara River winding at the foot of the mountain. The castle is run by the city of Gifu, and an adjacent evergreen forest of rare beauty (Mount Kinka also known as Mount Inaba) became a national park. The existing concrete replica of Nobunaga’s castle (built in 1956) also hosts a museum celebrating Oda and his relationship with the European culture. Included therein is a telescope, glasses, a globe representing the Earth, Oda’s statue (a replica of the original at Daitoku-ji Temple) surrounded by his samurai armour, weapons and suits. Luis Frois features prominently in the exhibits, as one of his full letters is displayed under glass, both in Japanese and Portuguese as a memory of the original Gifu builder, his castle and his friends.2 In all the interactions that Frois enjoyed with Nobunaga, we are surprised with the familiarity and ease that their relationship evidences: the warrior and war lord seemed to break established rules and treated Luis Frois like a close friend to whom 2  There are extensive literatures mostly in Japanese as study of gardens of Nobonaga’s palace and castle and we do not enter in this book. See [3, 4] for example.

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a banquet is set for a welcome. Nobunaga also granted Frois private access to his most intimate chambers and finally presented gifts during the farewell moment. From these descriptions we believe that Frois essential served as a diplomat in the trustful relations established during Nobunaga’s time; indeed, details of his writings bring us that confirmation. From this trip to Gifu, Frois left with the letters issued by Nobunaga reaffirming his permission for Christianity to be preached in Kyoto— which is no small victory! A third part of the description gives us details of the Gifu palace and gardens, which the recent archeologic searches confirmed at the foot of the mountain as Frois mentions: a cascade is still there and according to Frois was a main feature in the garden. These palaces were built close to a very high mountain, and on its top stands the Minno kingdom’s main fortress, which Nobunaga conquered by strength two years ago, the Palaces being enclosed by a very wide stone fence, not so well put together, the stones being so awkwardly large that they do not require any mortar to keep them together. Then a yard twice as big as the Sabayo one in Goa, and at its entrance a large house fashioned as a theatre and public festivities stage; and on both sides of the yard two large trees providing for shadow. Climbing a long stone stairway one enters a room at least as large as the Sabayo one in Goa, where a beam running its entire widespan is made from an only shaft, cut from the aforesaid mountain. In this first floor room there are viewpoints and balconies looking upon the town park: there he lingered with us for a while and said he would like to show us his houses, but on the other hand he felt shy, because they might compare poorly to others I could have seen in Europe or India, but considering I had come from so far away he wanted to take us around himself. One should take into account that not even those closest to him, or anyone, were given entrance to these palaces unless requested by him and only spoke to him from the first outer room, because all these lords who then came in did so for the first time: And only the carpenters and three or four servants in charge of the construction materials who then closed the doors were permitted entrance. The houses and chambers inside are a Crete labyrinth, the whole purposefully built with subtle ingenuity, because where nothing seems to exist an exquisite chamber they call Iaxiquî [room] is disclosed, and then another, and still another, all designed for specific purposes. In this first floor where the room is located there are something like 15 or 20 Iaxiquîs with all the screens (made of gold boiled panels) and all bolts and rivets in solid gold; these Iaxiquîs are surrounded by plane balconies with an exquisite wooden floor, the boards so shiny they might be used as mirrors, the balconies walls lavish panels depicting the history of Japan and China. Outside these balconies there are 5 or 6 gardens with water tanks bottomed with pebbles and sand as white as snow, and many fishes of various types, and all kind of flowers, and scented grass growing in the water from living stones. From the same mountain sprouts a cascade (Fig. 5.4) of excellent water, which is dammed and distributed into channels, in some chambers used as fountains, in others to wash the hands, in other places for the palace service. In the second floor of the palace, much larger than the first floor, are the lavatories and the Queen’s chambers, and the ladies’ rooms, all the Iaxiquîs surrounded by brocades, with balconies and viewpoints looking upon both the town and the mountain, as rich in bird sounds and beauty as one can come upon in Japan. In the third floor, which also meets the mountain level, he has his tea Iaxiquîs, in places of great peacefulness and quiet, their delicacy, perfection and harmony exceeding my expression; I do not even find words to praise it because I never saw anything similar. From the viewpoint floor and third and fourth floor balconies one may look upon the town, and all the knights and important people have rebuilt their houses right outside the palaces in very long streets, with no other people entering there but those employed in their service.

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Fig. 5.4  Water channel and cascade in the garden of the recently excavated Gifu Palace at the foot of Mount Kinka. Frois reports: From the same mountain sprouts a cascade of excellent water, which is dammed and distributed into channels, in some chambers used as fountains, in others to wash the hands, in other places for the palace service. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved) Afterwards he took only me and Lourenço, and two or three among his most intimates, to show us the Iaxiquîs in the first floor and sent for a very tiny dwarf, endowed with a grand face and voice, richly attired, who was immediately brought in a basket: and he had him dance and sing, which was a great entertainment. From there he went to other balconies in the first room where large baskets were already arranged, many golden boxes with which he invited us all, and thus he parted from us on that afternoon. (See p. 272 in [5])

The whole of Frois’ description was used to create a 3D model that is shown in a very effective simulation at the Visitors’ Centre where one enters to visit the ruins and archaeological excavation of Nobunaga’s palace (Fig. 5.5).

5.2  Mount Azuchi Presently, Mount Azuchi is a small town overlooking the superb landscape of Lake Biwa, the largest freshwater lake in Japan. Although mountains surround the lake and its diversified waterfront with peninsulas and inlets, the region is still known for its agricultural production. In the sixteenth century, Oda Nobunaga selected the top of one of the nearby mountains for the site of his new Azuchi Castle. Its construction started in 1576 when Nobunaga took his official residence there (see p. 248 in [6]). To reach the castle site one has to cross rice fields and flat lands where large water surfaces reflect the mountains and the sky (Fig. 5.6). The remains of what used to be

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Fig. 5.5  The archaeological excavations of Nobunaga’s palace described by Frois in Gifu. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

Fig. 5.6  View over Lake Sainoko, from Mount Azuchi, where Oda Nobunaga’s castle once stood. Frois reports: In the Vomi reign, 14 leagues from Miaco town, he [Nobunaga] built a new city, fortress and palaces, in Anzuchiyama with seven levels, the most superb and resplendent thing so far built in Japan, the whole founded on very tall and thick stone walls. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

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Nobunaga’s stately castle and adjoining town can be visited in an isolated area. The pamphlet announces: Visit at your own risk. Beware of falling rocks, and allow 45 to 90 minutes [to reach the site]. It is a steep ascent. Upon reaching the castle, the resolute visitor will encounter splendid views, but little evidence of the castle town, save for some stones. Visitor information also indicates that the previous castle keep was a 7 level tower […]Now that it has burned down, only some of the foundation stones remain. According to Luis Frois, this used to be one of the most beautiful buildings in the entire world. With some gratification, we report that this touristic information is well supported by Frois’ Historia de Japam. Nobunaga’s selection of this site for his military city and castle is perplexing since sixteenth-century Japanese cities tended to be built on flat areas; moreover, given the lack of access roads or rivers leading to Azuchi Castle, it is clear that he would have had to construct those transportation conduits. And while it is not far from either Kyoto or Nara, it was then (as it is now) quite difficult to access. Oliveira e Costa, with whom we visited the castle, informed us that this was one of the first castles built after firearms were introduced. This historical titbit represents a critical piece of information since the onset of matchlock warfare also gave rise to the need for huge defensive walls made of stone and the emergence of a keep similar to the ones constructed by Matsunaga Hisahide at Tamon-jo Castle in Nara. Our two Portuguese chroniclers, Luis Frois and Lourenço Mexia, described Azuchi Castle. While a letter Frois penned in early November 1582 makes note of Nobunaga’s masterwork, his Historia de Japam provides a much more extensive description. Lourenço Mexia also visited Azuchi in 1581, but gives us few details about the site in his letter of 1584. Thus, we turn to Frois for our understanding of the region, the city, the castle, and how it was constructed: In the Vomi reign, 14 leagues from Miaco town, he [Nobunaga] built a new city, fortress and palaces, in the so called Anzuchiyama Mountains, with seven levels, the most superb and resplendent thing so far built in Japan, the whole founded on very tall and thick stone walls built without the use of mortar, some of these boulders requiring 4 and 5 thousand men to put them in place, one of them even 6 or 7 thousand, and it is said that one of them having rolled down the slope, with over 150 men immediately smashed to a pulp. The walls and ramparts, high as they were, were so accurately built up that though they were made of stone without the use of mortar, the result was such a solid and resplendent appearance that seen from the outside they very much resembled our stone and lime constructions. The richness of the palaces and chambers, the beauty of the windows, the gold glittering perceived through them, the quantity of wooden columns, some lacquered in red and the others coated in gold, the size of the granaries, the ingenuity and coolness of the gardens with a great diversity of small trees, rough stones highly valued by the locals, tanks, some for fish and the others for birds, the iron-coated doors lacquered in black, the golden brimmed tiles of the whole construction and the dwellings, the quantity of bulwarks all around it with their bells for the look-outs, the invention of the new and sumptuous palaces (built for the Dairi as recreation chambers) and the large quantity of golden paintings in the chambers, the coolness and very ample spaces to behold, on one side on the great nearby lagoon permanently navigated by various ships, on the other endless fields and planes, dotted with many fortresses and many places and villages, and above all the peculiar cleanness all around the place. And then the town which was rebuilt in less than three years and continuously enlarged, spreading for over a league length. Almost all the princes’ and lords’ houses had gates made

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of a precious wood with watch towers on top, and all the inside walls whitened instead of displaying tapestries that do not exist over here, and upstanding glittered screens; the stables well furnished with costly horses, and so clean that they surely could be used as reception chambers. The very spacious and wide streets were swept twice or three times a day; the people’s thunder and noise, the concourse of noblemen who arrived from different kingdoms to this court, the frequency of disguised men and women who came from afar to witness the fame and majesty of the building, the quantity of gifts that arrived every day and sometimes during the night, the falcons and hawks sent from the southern Saicocu reigns, and the excellent horses brought there from Bandou, the loaded people who arrived to that town daily, the pages’ and servants’ demeanor and cleanness, the noise and sounds from the factories scattered around that hill, all that constituted a cause of admiration for all who beheld it in Japan. From this Anzuchi town to Miaco, 14 leagues by land, he had the roads so well attended to that one road could accommodate from five to six tatamis wide wise, plane, clean and straight, planting trees on either sides so as to provide shadow during summer, and at regular distances brooms hanging from them, and people who lived in the neighborhoods who tended to the cleanness of the ways; and on both sides, next to the trees, he ordered that clean sand and pebbles should be scattered, so as to make the whole road look like a garden; and at regular distances there were houses that provided the travelers with recreation and repose, where plenty of food could be bought. (See pp. 255–256 in [7])

The site selection on top of a mountain in a sublime landscape made the castle not only more defensible, but also more imposing and remarkable. Nobunaga’s passion for architecture, landscaping, the decorative arts, and city-building is evident in the historical record that Frois left us. Indeed, his account is so marvellously detailed that historians rely on it for information about sixteen-century life in Japan, and historical model-makers used it as a blueprint for fashioning the model of the town and castle now on permanent display in the Nobunaga no Yakata Museum in Azuchi. We can also surmise from the Historia de Japam that the powerful daimyo must have been shrewd politician who understood the value of material displays of wealth and power. Upon completion of his enterprise and for greater ostentation and arrogance of his name, Nobunanga wanted to show the sumptuousness of his palaces and had it announced across all those reigns that anyone, either man or woman, could freely visit the palaces and fortress for a couple of days, the entrance being allowed to all. The enormous amount of people arriving from the various reigns was cause of general admiration, and among them were also Father Organtino with the Fathers and Brothers [of the mission], who did not intended so much to see the palace, but wanted to show they held him [Oda Nobunaga] in high esteem and, if possible, use this occasion to ask for a place in Azuchiyama where they could build houses and a church, which, as we said before, was successfully negotiated. (See pp. 255–256 in [7])

Nobunaga, as the first of the three unifiers of Japan, was determined to show every person in Japan the final result of his architectural and city-build efforts as a signal of his power and supremacy. Frois’ account also communicates Nobunaga’s self-­ confidence and vanity; he immediately extended an invitation to the important Christian priest, the Visitor Alessandro Valignano, once he got wind that the priest had come to Azuchi to supervise the Jesuit mission: As soon as Father Valignano arrived in Mount Azuchi, Nobunaga called him also to show him his fortress (see pp. 256–260 in [8]). Lourenço Mexia accompanied the Visitor on his first official

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visit to Japan, as he reported in 1584 in a letter detailing the opulence of Nobunaga’s symbol of self-importance: In a few days we left to Anzuchyama, which is a large ten-year old town where he [Oda Nobunaga] with his lords and Tonos usually take residence. The site of this town is full of wonders because it is located in the extremity of a lake some twenty four leagues long, and the Nobunanga palaces stand on a very high hill covered with very cool trees, and is green all year long, looking like a basil stalk interspersed with the mansions belonging to the Tonos and the lords, all of them very large and founded on tall stone walls (Fig. 5.7), which is rare in Japan since all the houses are made of wood and as portable as a pallet; the houses of Nobunànga are extremely rich and very sumptuous, with so much gold that even the roof tiles in the frontispiece reflect this man’s extreme haughtiness, because he deems himself almost a deity and stationed above everyone else in the world, and he is addressed with so much reverence and magnificence that even his elder son only addresses him through a third party and an interpreter. (See p. 16 in [9])

Frois also described Valignamo’s visit to Azuchi: And using that visit to Anzuchiyama to definitely part from Nobunanga and return to the Ximo lands, he bestowed other favors upon him, one of which was that one year before Nobunanga had made a couple of cloths to be framed in screens such as they use in Japan and are called beobus, which are golden and painted and highly appreciated by them, and had them made by the most renowned official living in Japan, and thereupon he had him paint this town with its fortress so real that he did not want it to divert from the truth in any detail, depicting the site and the lagoon, the houses, the fortress, the streets, the bridges and anything else, which took a long time to be completed […] Knowing that the Father Visitor was leaving, Nobunanga sent him a message saying that since the Priest had come from so far to see him and had stayed for so long in that town and now he had to leave, he wished to

Fig. 5.7  Stone path and steps leading up to Azuchi Castle ruins. Both sides of the path are flanked by terraces sustained by stone walls where palaces once stood, described by Frois in 1569. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2015. All Rights Reserved)

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give him something that he could take to remember him; and since he could not think of anything he liked better, he wanted to offer him his beobus, which he should see and in case he liked them he should keep them, thus showing the love and familiarity he had toward the Priests. The Father Visitor showed his great appreciation of the offer and said that he liked it the more because of its significance and meaning, especially because it would enable him to describe with a painting in China, India and Europe what could not easily be described in words about Anzichiyama. (See pp. 256–260 in [8])

This reference to the screen depicting Azuchi’s city and castle that Nobunaga impulsively bestowed on Valignano sparked the curiosity of all who read and studied the Historia de Japam, which was only translated and published in the twentieth century. Japanese researchers soon travelled to Rome in search of this precious vestige of a unique historical record, but to date it has yet to be discovered. […] the finished screen accurately depicted the castle, palaces, the lake, houses, streets and bridges. The Emperor Ógimachi asked to be shown the screen and let it be known that he would not be averse to receiving it as an outright gift. But Nobunaga had other plans for the byôbu and presented it to Alessandro Valignano when the Jesuit Visitor, with Frois as interpreter, returned to the palace in July/August 1581 to bid farewell to the ruler. Of all the omiyage given to a Westerner on his departure from Japan, Nobunaga’s impulsive and lavish gift must surely take first place. The screen was then taken by the four boy ambassadors to Europe and presented to Gregory XII in Rome on 3 April 1585, only a week before the pope’s death. The present whereabouts of the byôbu, so intensely valuable for both artistic and historical reasons, is not known. (See p. 138 in [10])

Hope of discovering this priceless artefact was reignited when scholars learned that a pair of damaged screens had been found in the library of Évora in Portugal. Given that the Portuguese were involved in the transport of the screen, it is plausible that the Azuchi screen could eventually have reached Portugal. Although the Japanese scholar-detectives who went in search of the screen were ultimately disappointed in not finding Nobunaga’s byobu, they did discover something else. In 1902 Doctor Murakami Naojiro would discover, under the surface of a damaged screen (or more accurately what was left of it), some manuscripts written in Japanese. From then on […] Évora was included in the route of Sino academics, such as Professor Y. Okamoto and Doctor S. Koda. In the spring of 1960 Doctor Matsuda Kiichi, Professor in Seisen Joshi Daigaku, would visit Évora and obtain a photographic reproduction of the manuscripts found under the screen surface […] The resulting findings were published in a book written in Japanese, with a short 10-page outline in English, named A Study of the Manuscripts used as Lining for a Japanese Byobu (folding screen) found in Evora, Portugal. (See pp. 124–125 in [10])

The documents found within that damaged screen include… […] copies of courses ministered at the Azuchi seminary (founded in 1580 and transferred firstly to Tokyo and then to Takatsuki in 1582); […] It is also the most ancient example of a discussion in Japanese about Japanese religions and the comments on traditional Japanese ideas are held to be obligatory in the history of modern Japanese concepts’ formation; […] The calendar found among the documents, though incomplete and inaccurate, is considered to be the most ancient table of holidays discovered so far and also the most ancient perpetual calendar existing in Japan, with reference to the days of the week. (See p. 126 in [10])

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The referenced Japanese and Portuguese manuscripts were restored and are now conserved at the Évora library,3 thanks to Prof. Gengiro Ito who started work in the 1990s to ensure that they were identified and published (see pp.  7–19  in [11]). Although Prof. Ito was able to link the damaged screen to Azuchi and Kyoto through the documentation found therein, it is most certainly not Nobunaga’s prized Azuchi screen. Like so many other autocratic regimes throughout history, very soon Nobunaga’s reign and power vanished—as did his glorious castle in Azuchi. Indeed, nothing remained after a fire that consumed the whole town and castle of Azuchi after Nogunaga’s death. Therefore, the disappearance of the screens depicting the short-­ lived Azuchi fortress […] is a frustrating situation as the Azuchiyama-zu byôbu, probably executed in the finest Kano style, would give an excellent idea of what the palace and the surrounding town really looked like (see pp. 516–518 in [12]). In the complete absence of a reliable pictorial record of the site, Frois’ literary records represent a source of information, giving a portrait of this so praised and yet so ephemeral city. Here is Frois’ 1582 descriptions of Azuchi that historians have relied on: […] And also that Nobunanga was the lord of Miaco and Tenca, that is the way the Japanese refer to their monarchy in Japan, but his usual residence was in Anzichiyama in the Omi kingdom, distant fourteen leagues from Miaco, which after he conquered he chose to live in and from where he ruled all those reigns during twelve or thirteen years. There he built a new town with a fortress which was at the time the noblest and most important complex all over Japan, because it largely exceeded all the other Japanese towns for the richness of the constructions and the nobility of its inhabitants. The town was located in a plane bordered on one side by a large and rich lagoon, more than twenty leagues long and two or three leagues wide, which in some places looks like a wide sea that enters a part of the town, and on the other side plenty of very rich rice planting lands. On one end of this town rises a huge hill which is somehow divided in three hills, all very cool due to the existing trees and water, permanently covered by greenery, and around these hills lays the aforesaid lagoon, resulting in a most beautiful and strong location; the hill in the center is higher than the others. In this place Nobunaga decided to display all his glory, building a new town, with an inexpugnable fortress. And so it was that in the plane below the hill a town was built for the commoners and mechanical officers who would provide to it, with very wide and straight streets that because they were so long and well-­ built resulted very beautiful and delightful to behold. Such was their cleanness that though heavily trodden upon and used by people, they were swept twice a day, once in the morning and again in the afternoon; it already stretched for one league and it is said that six thousand neighbors lived along it. On the other side, separated from the town by one branch of the lagoon, starting in the base of the hill, he ordered the lords and nobles to build their houses. And since they all wanted to obey, the lords of all kingdom subject to him built very rich and noble houses around and up the hill, all with very well done and high stone walls, usually fifteen or more hands wide, with gates and lookouts on top, in such a way that every house was a good and

 In the old Public Library and District Archives of Évora, Portugal, was conserved a set of documents called Biombo Japonês (Japanese folding screens), composed of long oriental paper folios folded over themselves and glued in juxtaposing layers, covered with Japanese characters, among which there was a sheet with four very schematic small sketches [10]. 3

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significant fortress. And in this fashion the houses were built ones atop the others all around de hill, thus making it still cooler, more pleasurable and precious, a very costly enterprise because the stone had to be brought from afar. On top of the center hill he had his palaces and fortress built, whose architecture, strength, richness and demeanor is comparable with many a grand construction in Europe, because besides the very strong and well-built stone fence over sixty hands high [~13,20m] and sometimes even higher, it contains many beautiful and rich houses inside, all cooked in gold, so clean and well-built that human cleanness seems to have been overreached. And in the center there is a kind of tower which they call tenxu, much nobler and more magnificent than our towers, with seven levels with the most stupendous and wonderful architectures, both inside and outside, because on the inside the whole is richly painted with figures in gold and in different colors; and on the outside each of these levels is painted in various colors, some in white with black lacquered windows as is the habit in Japan, appearing extremely beautiful, others in red or in blue, the top one completely golden. Thus both this tenxu and all the houses are covered in tiles, the strongest and most beautiful we know in Europe, which appears to be blue, the ones in front with golden round heads, and the roofs flaunt extraordinary figureheads with very noble and ingenious figures. This results in a most proud, perfect and shining construction, which on account of being built on such a high location and being in itself so tall, appears to reach the clouds and is perceived from many leagues afar; and though it is completely built in wood, this is not detectable neither from the inside nor from the outside, appearing to be built in stone and lime, very strong and secure. On one side of the fortress Nobunaga had other palaces built, apart from his own but all connected through corridors, much more elaborated and imposing than his own, with many frescoes and lavish gardens different from ours in most everything. The richness of the chambers, the accuracy and perfection or the works and exquisite wood, the cleanness and ingenuity of the construction, the unique and very wide view of all these things, was cause for his special wonderment. The whole fortress is surrounded by towers built on those thick stone walls, sheltering their watch bells and guardsmen night and day. All the main walls are completely covered in iron from top to bottom, the whole built with great perfection and cleanness. On top there was a livery stable of his own invention where there were no more than five or six horses, and it was such just in name because it was so clean and well-built that it resembled a rich chamber destined to noblemen’s recreation rather than a place to shelter horses […] Such is the skill of the Japanese carpenters that the very noble and large houses they build may be disassembled in pieces whenever they want and carried to a different site, which happens frequently. For this purpose they usually start by hewing out all the wood and then in three or four days they put it together and assemble the whole, thus improvising a house in a plane place, which seems impossible to build in a year. In fact they spend the necessary time to hew out and carve the wood but because they then put it together and assemble it in a certain fashion it seems it was built in a very short time. (See pp. 256– 260 in [8])

Precious little remains of what Frois believed was one of the most beautiful buildings he encountered during his long sojourn in Japan. Nonetheless, the more imaginative visitor might view the sunset over the rice fields, the mountains’ grey silhouette, and the nostalgic foundations of a once-magnificent castle and envision the powerful feudal lord who, while fighting to unite a nation, also initiated a rich period in Japanese art history and became a friend to the Jesuits in Japan.

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5.3  Takatsuki Takatsuki lies midway between Osaka and Kyoto and is considered today as a desirable suburban location within easy commuting distance to either of the two urban poles. Tourists do not typically visit Takatsuki. What brought us here was Frois’ account of the area and the surprising Christian heritage that was maintained under cover for 350 years, but is now a thematic touristic attraction. This growing renown may be due to the fact that Kyushu’s Christian Heritage was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, turning the spotlight on the Christian resistance in Japan during the Tokugawa Shogunate. Within Takatsuki, Frois makes note of the buildings and gardens that the Japanese people constructed specifically for their practice of Christianity. The open spread of the new religion in this region was spurred on by the Takayama family, the samurais of Takatsuki, in an incident that we narrate in the section on Nara (Sect.  4.6). Responding to the Buddhists’ repeated petition to expel the Christian priests from Kyoto and the surrounding provinces, the powerful Matsunaga Hisahide, the feudal lord of Yamato, decided to organize a face-to-face debate that would challenge Christians and Buddhists to clarify the advantages of each religion and persuade a judge as to the relative merits of each. During the historic event, Takayama Zusho was convinced by the Christian arguments and not only embraced the new religion, but also led his entire family to baptism in 1564. Here is the description of Takatsuki Church and the nearby Christian complex as it was built by the samurai Takayama Zusho, who took the Christian name of Dario. Once he [Takayama Zusho] realized the goodwill of his people toward the Christian faith (to which he always urged them to convert to), he sought out the best and most suitable terrain in his lands (a place where once stood a small temple) and built there a very large wooden church. The building cost him over three hundred cruzados. Although his friends offered him sundry planks and beams of very good quality he did not accept them as they were once used in another monastery, as for no reason he wanted to use any kind of wood which was something rather than new. Next to the church, he ordered the construction of an independent chamber to provide shelter to the priests and brothers who would come to his lands to visit the Christians or preach the Christian faith. The chamber was then constructed and although it was already good enough, he did not approve of it and ordered its dismantlement and the construction of a better one. It resulted in such a clean and well-made chamber that any Prince or Lord of Japan could shamelessly take shelter in it. In front of this chamber he ordered the construction of something that looks like a garden, which is called niva here, which is an ornamental feature of the Japanese monasteries, planted with many small trees stuck into rough stones with such art, order and cleanness that those who have never seen this in Europe find it most pleasing and agreeable. Around the church he built a very large and spacious yard along which he planted fresh trees and graceful flowers so that everything would be green and well-tended for the Resurrection procession. On one side of the land he raised a large cross with three steps, located under some larges trees as in a copse, surrounded by various flowers, daisies, roses and lilies he had brought from many leagues away for the effect, and those willing to please him offered him similar things that might be used there.

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Behind the cross he had a water pipe brought from afar and ordered a tank he populated with fishes for the recreation of the Christians who came to pray; and such was his affection towards these works that most of these features he built himself. He sent for three old-Christian men whom he sustained along with their wives and children, whose only occupation was to sweep and clean the church, garden, chambers, cross and yard; and when he came to his residence, every day he would personally fix and clean anything he found faulty in their work. […] Dario had a large cemetery built outside the fortress for the burials, and he ordered that a wooden cross should be immediately placed at the head of each deceased, and in the same cemetery he ordered a large and very beautiful cross to be erected. (See pp. 416–417 in [7])

Some of these elements can still be found at the location of the castle, which is now a park, but the entire church complex was destroyed once the Christian persecutions spread and the practice of Christianity went underground. Takayama Zusho was the father of Takayama Ukon (Fig. 5.8), who was raised in a Jesuit school and given the Christian name of Justo when he was quite young. According to Father Graham McDonnell, a Christian priest now in Kyoto:

Fig. 5.8  Statue of the Takayama Ukon in Takatsuki, in a public garden where once Takatsuki Castle and a church stood. According to Frois [Takayama Zusho] built there a very large wooden church, […] Next to the church, he ordered the construction of an independent chamber to provide shelter to the priests […] In front of this chamber he ordered the construction of something that looks like a garden. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2009. All Rights Reserved)

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Ukon was also a consummate calligrapher who wielded a brush as skillfully as a sword. Ukon, the daimyo, was one of the elite body of samurai warriors who fought each other to ultimately rule Japan […] He was one of the beloved pupils of Sen no Rikyu as a Tea Master and as a Christian, Ukon, found the practice of the tea ceremony conducive to contemplative prayer which he learned from his Jesuit mentors and for a few years he was a favorite warrior of Hideyoshi. (See p. 7 in [13])

Ukon’s familiarity with the supreme military rulers makes him the samurai who, as noted in Chap. 2 and Sect. 3.5, was sufficiently important to invite to his home and sit at the same table Sen no Rikyu, Frois and Hideyoshi. Later, while Ukon was engaged in battle near Kyushu, a messenger from Hideyoshi arrived with the ultimatum that Ukon should choose as his Master either the imperial regent of Japan or Jesus. Ukon resigned as a daimyo but remained steady in his allegiance to Jesus Christ. Nor did he commit suicide as custom would have demanded in his rejection of Hideyoshi. Instead he fled and hid. Overnight he went from a vaunted ruler to a humble samurai without castle, money, prestige or followers. When informed by the Jesuits in 1589 about what had happened to Ukon, Pope Sixtus V wrote a letter that is a hymn of praise for Ukon, who still had 25 years remaining in his “dry martyrdom” before he died in exile in Manila. Almost 400 years later, Takayama Ukon was beatified by Pope Francis in Osaka on February 7, 2017, with a large ceremony in Osaka celebrating Christianity in Japan. As Justo grew up, the town of Takatsuki became a refuge for Christianity in the Gokinai provinces (part of the present-day Kansai region), as we are told in letter written by Lourenço Mexia, who accompanied the Visitor Valignano on his first visit to the Japanese mission (1579–1582). We spent Shrovetide in Takatsuqui, home of Justo, where most residents are Christians and the liturgy was recited with organ chants. On Resurrection Day there were many fires and countless multicolored lanterns, and figures […] they played the organ he [Justo] brought to Miaco, which put great awe into the Christians who had never seen anything alike. On Easter Day’s evening we arrived to Miáco, and seven days later took place the Nobunanga feast, called Sangnixo, which we deemed gracious to attend and ascertain that the Europeans were present in such a party, which was much to behold because it gathered people from afar who scattered along the fields, I did not recollect seeing so many people together. (See p. 16 in [9])

Times changed and the condemnation of Christianity in Japan grew over time, with those practicing the religion putting themselves at greater and greater peril. Indeed, the faithful faced death if they did not apostate. Finally, in 1614 all priests, including Rodrigues, were banished, most ending up in Macau. Though priests continued to serve their Japanese Christian communities in secret—the so-called kakure kiristan (hidden Christians)—their persecution became more brutal until many apostatized. Following the Meiji Restoration in 1868, freedom of religion was reinstated, and French priests such as Father Petit Jean were instrumental in bringing back to light the life and struggles of the hidden Christians. The number of Japanese Christians has been slowly increasing; today, about one and a half million Japanese are Christians (about one percent of Japan’s total population), and churches and parishes can be found across the country with active communities.

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5.4  Osaka In early October of 1571, Gaspar Vilela writes a letter from Goa, India, with the title “Things from Japan”. In it, Vilela indicates the location of Osaka in relation to the Ishiyama Hongan-ji Temple, as if the temple was more important than the town itself. In fact, this impressive temple complex dating from 1496 and built by Rennyo had become the powerful headquarters of the Ikko-ikki, a militant force made up of Shinto priests, Buddhists monks, peasants, and merchants who pushed back against the power of samurai rule. In Vilela’s words, which we only partly quote, the focus is on the temple population and activities. One and a half leagues from this temple there is a town called Ozáca, which belongs to a Bonzo highly revered throughout Japan, who preaches one of the many religions existing in Japan […] It has a huge church accommodating four thousand people and once every year a very holy feast takes place in that temple […]. (See p. 326 in [14])

The temple was a fortified complex located near the mouth of the Yodo River in a very strategic higher position surrounded by a complex delta system. Indeed, the temple’s nearby labyrinthine marshland and river mouths served it well in checking the hostile advanced of adversaries. Nonetheless, in 1580 Oda Nobunaga culminated a four-year siege of the temple designed to quell the activities of the Ikko-ikki forces (see p. 52 in [15]), which ended with the surrender of Abbot Kennyo Kosa (1543–1592) [16]. In September of 1580, the temple fortress was completely burned to the ground (see p. 331 in [6]). Nobunaga’s reign was not to endure, however, and in 1582 he vanished and his successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, took control of the strategic site of the Ishiyama Hongan-ji fortress and erected a large, formidable castle that mirrored Oda’s castle in Mount Azuchi. As Frois indicates in his Historia de Japam, Hideyoshi tried to surpass his predecessor’s efforts in every way: Seeing that this was one of the best locations in all Miaco bordering kingdoms, he [Hideyoshi] chose to erect there another new town, palaces and fortresses that would exceed all the Anzuchiyama constructions, where Nobunanga so wanted to display his magnificence and greatness. There Chicugendono [Hideyoshi] started by building a very huge and spacious fortress, the size of five tenxus [keeps]. (See pp. 168–171 in [17])

Luis Frois, as we know, enjoyed a close relationship with Nobunaga and clearly admired the war lord on many levels. Nobunaga was reputed to be the most famous and notable prince and captain in all the previous Japanese towns […] both as a person and as a ruler (see p. 170 in [17]). Recall, for instance, that Nobunaga sanctioned the Jesuits’ continuing efforts to bring Christianity to Japan. In contrast, Frois did not appear to hold Hideyoshi, who came from a peasant background, in the same high regard. Frois reports that Hideyoshi wanted to surpass Nobunaga in all things and, thus, his castle at Osaka with its easier access routes had to be bigger than Azushi. And this is why the constructions and the fortress chambers and the increasing size of the aforesaid town of Vazaca [Osaka] and the princes’ and Japanese lords’ palaces built in the vicinity are commonly said to exceed the beautiful Anzuchi town and fortress […] Sacay being a universal town and market in Japan, the ships arrived close to the houses in Ozaca

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5  Nine Cities and Landscapes Described by Frois and Others because such was the route to the Miaco. And all this was missing in Anzuchi, because it was built in the Vomi kingdom, in a place so recondite that it became very difficult for the court to bring in the necessary supplies from so distant a place. (See pp. 170–171 in [17])

A description of the castle building reveals the power Hideyoshi had amassed and wielded to his benefit; he compelled all the nobles to build a part of the castle walls—even demanding that they provide their own labour force and building materials! Around the castle one would find stables, the rice stores, and other structures that composed a large precinct surrounded by very high ramparts overlooking the outer moat. Each of these feudal lords, trying to surpass the other, supplied the immense stones for building the fortress ramparts (Fig.  5.9). Moreover, the creation of the enormous moats must have been a monumental undertaking, involving draining the marshland, removing soil and debris and hauling it away, and transporting the stone to the site. And despite Frois’ detailed description of the construction process and how the fortress came to exist, it borders on the unfathomable as to how Japanese labourers were able to build the castle walls and moats completely by hand. Hideyoshi’s building was located within the inner moat of the actual castle, which has a palace and a keep surrounded by an inner moat. Four barbicans now are part of the outer wall, an inexpungible stone structure that reflects over the outer moat (Fig. 5.10) on the water surface.

Fig. 5.9  Osaka castle grounds. Stones carved with the symbols of the families involved in the construction of Hideyoshi’s new castle. Frois in 1586 reported: most surprising […] was the enormous quantity of collected stones, […] some so large that they required […] thousand men to carry them, as was the case with one brought by Justo Ucondono [Takayama Ukon], one league by land and three by sea, which amazed everyone in Vozaca […]. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

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Fig. 5.10  The imposing stone walls and adjoining moat of Osaka Castle, rebuilt in the 1620s by Tokugawa Hidetada. Quoting Frois […] And just the town of Sacay, obeying very precise orders, was due to send two hundred ships with stones every day. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved) […] already two months into their visit, they went around mainly through the ditches dug around the Vozaca [Osaka] fortress, trodden by forty thousand men, considering that it was commonly said and confirmed by Quambaco [Toyotomi Hideyoshi] that they amounted to 60 thousand  – them being neither diggers nor masons, but the princes and noblemen of Japan. And these cellars measure forty tatamis wide in some locations, less in others, and 15 to 16 high. And since all this is made with stones, from the foundations up, one could say that these people worked continuously, all night and day long; because in order for each one of them to lay the stones in his allotted plot, they had to count on many hands working in the same site during the night, just to drain the water that sprouted violently from underneath.

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5  Nine Cities and Landscapes Described by Frois and Others What was must surprising in the whole enterprise was the enormous quantity of collected stones, some of them small, others medium and some so large that they required 223 thousand men to carry them, as was the case with one brought by Justo Ucondono [Takayama Ukon], one league by land and three by sea, which amazed everyone in Vozaca […] And just the town of Sacay, obeying very precise orders, was due to send two hundred ships with stones every day. And from our dwellings in Vozaca, which are located on a hill looking down at the river, the Brothers could count many ships loaded with stones arriving every day, so that in the afternoons, only the aforesaid ships could be seen, sailing up-river. Often we asked from credible people how many ships could possibly enter that Vozaca River every day. And other than the ramparts built all around the fortress and visible from far away, all of them with golden topped roof tiles, the front counts (as previously referred) seven styles of constructions and very large palaces, different from one another, in the same fortress circuit. (See pp. 223–224 in [17])

Based on Frois’ detailed accounts, it would seem that Nobunaga and Hideyoshi were building fortresses, cities, palaces, and gardens at a very rapid pace, thus changing the existing landscape and securing their mark for posterity. Among the many sites he visited and described, it is clear that Frois was particularly intrigued by gardens and natural settings he witnessed, including those in the Osaka fortress. In one of this fortress yards there is a niva, corresponding among us to an exquisite garden that with its rough stones, trees, grass and coolness gathers the variety of the year’s four seasons with plenty of natural things. Right beside it, in a decent and cosy site, some houses called kitchens, but which may serve as princes’ chambers, and a chanoyu house. Alongside this place there are other nivas that embellish that spot with longing feelings and coolness. And on a platform on the other side stand very rich and enchanting chambers that we would describe as gilt in gold, looking upon many green fields and graceful streams. These chambers, of which there are plenty, are embellished with great variety of paintings on gold, depicting birds and fowl and other natural things, a great Japanese art, like old stories of Japan and China, which for their curiosity greatly appeal and retain the gaze of whoever beholds them. (See pp. 168–171 in [17])

Frois has shown us throughout his Historia de Japam a deep interest and sensitivity toward Japanese aesthetic effects, which in some cases were austere, and in other instances were quite unrestrained in terms of decorative embellishments. While describing the Osaka fortress, he provides construction details, decoration and furniture information, a praise of open spaces, and a near-tangible appreciation for Japan’s way of life in these kingly palaces. And though all these buildings are made of wood, the struts inside the walls are woven with thick reeds and then clay, and topped with white wash, all this in the inside; and the outside in such a fashion that the outer surface appeared to us similar to European constructions […] And the most astonishing thing is the cleanness of these palaces and large houses. They do not contain chairs, stools, tables nor cases or trunks, but all the chambers that may be visited display only the results of the same architecture and the beauty of the paintings. The pavement is covered with tatamis, which are a kind of mattresses stuffed with straw, very hard and stiff and similar to a plank […] measuring 1.76 meters long for 0.88 meters wide, the borders embroidered with damask or paintings, approximately three fingers wide: and these are used as carpets in all the houses.

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In all the roofs both the frontispiece and the end of the golden tiles with their figureheads on top and in the corners, also golden, endow the building with an extra lustre. (See pp. 222–224 in [17])

The historical record does not indicate how Frois came to be in Osaka or that he interacted with Hideyoshi in any meaningful way. Instead, Frois refers to the second “great unifier of Japan” as he guided the Portuguese visitors, pointing the way toward a good vantage point: In this last floor there is a circular protruding balcony where he told us to go and look at the works going on in the fortress diggings and those kingdoms of Goquinai,4 which could be partly seen because it was a level land (see p. 231 in [17]). When we visited Osaka castle with Frois’ text in hand, we located the grounds where once stood Hideyoshi’s castle but many layers have been added to this sixteenth century defensive settlement. Most strikingly, the formidable construction of the Osaka fortress,5 its castle, its huge stone walls and its moats, remain as a symbol of power and a testament to Hideyoshi’s force of will.

5.5  Sakai Having heard of the importance of Sakai from Vilela, Mexia and Frois, we visited the city that is today a suburb of the large Osaka metropolitan area, located on its bay’s oceanfront around 60 km from Kyoto. Sakai is an ancient city, proud of its many variably sized tumulus (ancient mounded tombs) within the urban sprawl of the modern-day city. When seen from the air, the largest of them has the appearance of a keyhole with a lake framing it as a verdant green area. The enormous “keyhole” cannot be identified at street level, but nonetheless serves to maintain some of natural landscape within an otherwise bustling urban area. We were shown the tumulus where Emperor Nintoku (believed to have reigned in the fourth century) was buried; his tomb best represents the Kofun6 culture in Japan. These remarkable tombs embody the rich vitality of ancient Sakai, which during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was an important production centre for ironwork and a vital commercial connection between Kyoto and trade with other regions of Japan and China. Sakai sits at the mouth Osaka Bay, affording it easy access to the Yodo River through which transport to Kyoto was assured.

4  Meaning Gokinai, name for the ancient province established during the Asuka period (538–710) that consisted of the current Yamashiro, Yamato, Settsu, Kawachi, and Izumi provinces. 5  In 1620, the shogun Tokugawa Hidetada began to reconstruct and re-arm Osaka Castle. The walls built in the 1620s still stand today. 6  The Kofun Period (250–538) is a historical period marked by the use of burial mounds erected for the elite, varying in size and shape from round or square mounds several meters long to a few hundred meter-long keyhole-shaped ones. This period was named Kufon after the style of burial mounds used during this time

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To reach Kyoto, the Portuguese Jesuits traveling from Kyushu by boat had to pass through Sakai. Their portrayal of this densely populated waterfront town (Fig.  5.11), its lively trade, and the perils they risked in making the journey, is described in several letters. Consider, for example, the report dated 1584 from Lourenço Mexia about his trip from Kyushu to Kyoto via Sakai: We arrived at the harbour of Sacay, a town where traffic and commerce are most intense in Japan, where pirates chased us in great haste, and had we delayed for fifteen minutes they would no doubt have caught us, and even so we got rid of them only after paying over one hundred and thirty crusados. (See pp. 9–27 in [9])

The threat of pirates, while no doubt daunting, was viewed as an expected facet of traveling to wealthy towns that emerged with the rise of the bourgeois class. Also, the autonomous political system allowed prosperous trade to flourish (see pp. 9–27 in [18]). As Vilela describes in a letter dated 17 August 1561, Sakai is a large city and there are many powerful merchants. It is governed by the consuls like Venice (see p. 90 in [19]). Vilela’s comparison with the wealthy city-state of Venice is excellent and reinforces the fact that during the sixteenth century, self-governing bodies appeared in Sakai who promoted a robust administration capable of resisting the threat of war that other prosperous Japanese regions faced. The independent consuls in Venice to which Vilela refers had their parallel in Sakai—namely, the rich citizens who included moneylenders, saké brewers, and shipping agents who transported rice and other commodities from the countryside into Japan’s urban centres [… and who] constituted themselves as councils of elders to oversee

Fig. 5.11  Sakai’s waterfront. Hand-coloured photograph, late-nineteenth century. Vilela reports: Sacay is a wealthy and populated town and a good sea harbour where I spent a couple of years. [It] is governed by the consuls like Venice

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local affairs (see p.  331  in [20]). This autonomous political system protected two essential sources of richness and social advancement: trade and the production of metal tools. These cities kept growing with the reopening of trade with China back in the Muromachi period and later, when the traditional trading system failed, with its replacement by a new convenient scheme that used the recently arrived Portuguese as intermediate dealers between China and Japan. (See pp. 379–381 in [21])

As trade intensified, the metal tool shops became essential to producing copies of the guns recently introduced. Rising warlords such as Nobunaga were eager for a supply of new arms that would amplify their military superiority over their regional rivals. As a consequence […] many merchants amassed great wealth and the new self-administering towns like Sakai and Hakata became the seat of a new class of nouveau rich (see p. 71 in [22]). Portuguese traders certainly played a role in the city’s economic growth, as did the Jesuits who settled in Sakai to preach, but who also served as communication conduits between the Portuguese merchants and the Japanese. Vilela also makes note of the large number of impressive temples in the area: In Sacay, a wealthy and populated town and a good sea harbour where I spent a couple of years, there are hundreds of very large and beautiful monasteries (see p. 32 in [14]. In other hand, Luis de Almeida describes with respect and interest a new event developed around hot water with herbs: the tea ceremony. Sakai was a key location in terms of the development of this new way of drinking tea, chanoyu, and Luis de Almeida describes it the way he witnessed it in Sakai in a letter dated 1565. Almeida’s text, which Frois edited for his Historia de Japam, gives a detailed report of the tea ritual in Sakai and the aesthetics of a completely new way of valuing objects related to tea drinking, which were prized by city merchants who had amassed wealth and became collectors and connoisseurs of these functional art objects. The Portuguese were clearly astonished by the lavishness of the trappings of the tea ceremony, and for Luis de Almeida it is a complete change of values that he tries to understand as the text he wrote presents to us: Because I deemed it was time to go and meet Father Gaspar Vilela, who was staying at a fortress with many Christians by the name of Ymori, in the Cayachi kingdom, six leagues from Sacai, I told Sancho I wanted to leave the following day. He answered that such being the case he first wished to show me some of his artefacts. It is usual among Japanese noble and wealthy men, upon parting with a host they wished to make feel comfortable, to show him his rich artefacts as a token of his esteem, these objects consisting mainly of vases and exquisite instruments used to drink a specific ground herb much appreciated by those who drink it, called tea. And all the artefacts used for that purpose are the jewelry of Japan, the same as rings, jewels, rich collars, pearls, rubies and diamonds are among us; and there are very skilled craftsmen in this art, who know these artefacts and their value and act as brokers both in buying and selling them, either they are valued for the materials, the shape or their age. Thus it is that for entertaining with this herb, which is very tasty and worth nine to ten crusades a pound, in order to show the aforesaid 135 pieces, they first offer a banquet according to each one’s possessions. It takes place in some specific houses, where entrance is allowed only in order to attend that party and solemn occasions, their cleanness, order and preservation being a wonder to behold. (See p. 39 in [7])

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This is perhaps the first Western description of what we now know as the Japanese tea ceremony: a complex and highly ritualized practice that is full of meaning. When Luis de Almeida writes that all the artefacts used for that purpose are the jewelry of Japan, the same as rings, jewels, rich collars, pearls, rubies and diamonds are among us (see p. 39 in [7]), he indicates the wealth that was evidenced during the ceremony. Reading this text, we are thankful for the meticulous Frois who understood the value of Almeida’s text, which he cites in his own work. We are only sorry that these precious texts remained unpublished for so long. Almeida continues to detail the different moments of the tea ceremony in Sakai around 1565, which included a meal that seems like a relatively unimportant element of the gathering. The following day at nine o’clock he sent me and a Japanese Brother a message […] We went out into a yard and through a corridor entered the chamber where food would be served, the same size or a little larger than the yard and which appeared magnificent to me. On one side of the chamber stood a cupboard similar to the ones we use, and close by a black clay oven measuring one rod all around, a strange device because though made of jet-black clay, it shone the same as the cleanest mirror, and on top of it a cleverly designed iron pot, gently sitting on a tripod; and the ash under the timbers resembled finely sieved ground egg shells, laid out with such order and neatness that words fail me to describe it; and they lavish all their care onto this purpose only. The coal is not of a common type but is brought from afar and cut out with a saw in such a way that after being swiftly kindled it lasts long without expiring or causing any smoke; a man who accompanied me said that Sancho had made a good bargain, purchasing the pot for six hundred crusades though it was worth a lot more. After we sat on those extremely clean thin mats they started to bring in the food. I will not praise the delicacies, the land of Japan being very barren, but the service, order and cleanness, and the artefacts, all of them deserving high praise; and I hereby convey my steadfast conviction that no banquet may be organized with more cleanness and propriety than the ones held in Japan, because even if there are many attendants no word is heard from the servants, and everything arrives in due time, and this is a wonder. After eating everybody knelt to give grace to Our Lord, since such is the use among the Japanese Christians. Sancho himself prepared and poured the tea, which is the powder I mentioned immersed in hot water, in an earthenware jar. Afterwards he showed me one the many priceless artefacts he had there, a tripod measuring a little over a rod in diameter, on top of which they place the pot lid when they uncover it, which I held in my hand and was made of iron and already so worn out due to its old age that it was broken in two parts, welded together. He told me that was a rich and renowned specimen of a tripod in Japan and had cost him one thousand and thirty crusades but was worth a lot more. All these artefacts are kept in very costly damask and silk bags and then in their boxes. He told me he owned other costly items that he could not show me then because they were kept in places difficult to access but that he would show them after we had eaten. Do not wonder at the cost of these artefacts, because in Miaco there is a lord named Sotai who owns a clay pot the size of a pomegranate used as a container for the tea powders, which is said to be worth 25 or 30 thousand crusades and is called çucumungami. And I do not believe it costs that amount, but whenever he so wants he will find princes willing to buy it from him for ten thousand crusades. And this type of pots worth 3, 4 and five, and eight and ten thousand crusades are abundant and they are commonly bought and sold; but they are not displayed in public places to be sold, because they would then be valueless, it is necessary to request and appraise them from the owners willing to sell, all this with great ceremonies; and some swords they own are equally valuable. (See pp. 39–40 in [7])

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So we are told that trade and metal-forging for arms created a wealth surplus that soon fed the flourishing ceramic arts and collectors, spurred on by brokers who made certain that their assets would be valued. Simultaneously, there was a need to display these art objects as symbols of wealth and power, and the tea ceremony became the ideal setting for that purpose. Gathering friends and acquaintances in a special, yet unexpectedly simple structure made exclusively for that purpose, was the offshoot of this sequence of economic, political, social and technological developments in Japan. And as we have stated before, the meticulously crafted gardens that prefaced the entrance to these tea houses became a symbol of a much-desired harmony with nature during this era. Those who took part in the chanoyu ritual would have first walked through gardens, waited while appreciating the beauty of the surroundings, and then entered the chashitu (tea house in the garden) to enjoy the aesthetic appeal of the beautiful ceramic tea caddies, finally drinking the cha while talking together in peace. It should come as no surprise, then, that the tea masters who developed the chanoyu from the simple sharing of tea into a consequential social and political event in Japan were from Sakai: Sen no Rikyu, Tsuda Sogyu and Imai Sokyu [23]. It was the tea master Imai Sōkyū (1520–1593), for example, who finally arranged the peaceful submission of the city of Sakai to Nobunaga during the latter’s march to power in 1568 (see pp. 498–499 in [24]). Japanese society was changing in myriad ways as a result of the impact of European influences during the last half of the sixteenth century and the arts, in consequence, changed—and along with it garden art and the tea ceremony. In his role of preparing cha for the nobility, warlords, and honoured guests, Sen no Rikyu’s position was very close to power. He was also present in important meetings during which he listened to the problems and concerns of the renowned military rulers, Oda Nobunaga and his successor Toyotomi Hideyoshi [23]. Thus, chanoyu provided a setting and an occasion to both advance Sen no Rikyu’s social standing among the new political class, as well as play a role in the degree to which new European cultural, political, and social influences were to impact his country. As a clever and influential man, he used chanoyu to elevate and inject new purposes in what Rodrigues calls The Modern and Current Way of Cha- no-yu Called Suki, and its General Origin and Purpose. As detailed in his book, Historia da Igreja do Japão: There were many people throughout the kingdom, but especially in Miyako and Sakai, who devoted themselves to this pastime and took great pains therein so that they won the acclaim of the world in this art, and as such they were regarded and esteemed by all. They continued to improve this way of cha-no-yu more and more, and partly changed the ancient method of [Ashika Yoshimasa] Higashiyama Dono by reducing some less essential things and then adding some others which they thought were opportune and in keeping with the purpose of the exercise. In this way they established another way which is called suki and is now in current use; its teachers are known as sukisha, the house where they entertain with cha as sukiya, and the items used therein as sukidōgu. (See p. 272 in [25])

Haga Koshiro defines suki: From early times much has been made in chanoyu of the word suki, meaning taste or refinement but with a hint of eccentricity thrown in (see p.  198  in [26]). Though his ideas sometimes bordered on the eccentric, Sen no

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Rikyu was successful in promulgating the new chanoyu practice that Rodrigues referred to as suki. The author of the Zen-cha Roku praises suki as the very essence of chanoyu and provides an original understanding of the term: […] a form in which the parts are eccentric and do not match […] lacking essential parity, being asymmetrical and unbalanced. The true man of taste sukisha is one who does not march in step with the world, who does not bend to worldly concerns, who does not cherish conformity; an eccentric who takes pleasure when things do not go as he might expect them to. (See p. 198 in [26])

Tea Master Sen no Rikyu successfully changed a century-old tradition by introducing new practices that his contemporaries embraced. Nonetheless—and for reasons we may never come to know—this man from Sakai was ordered to commit suicide by Hideyoshi. Thankfully, his name and contributions to the development of suki chanoyu live on to this day. A modern museum in Sakai celebrates the life and legacy of Tea Master Sen no Rikyu. Due to its success as a free and autonomous city, Sakai’s relationship with the new centralized power became unstable after being forced to submit to Nobunaga in 1568. Nobunaga later visited Sakai in 1577 for an “inspection”, and in 1586 Toyotomi Hideyoshi filled in its moats after forcing local merchants to relocate to the vicinity of his newly built fortress in Osaka—the goal of which, of course, was to weaken the independent power of the merchant class. The sixteenth-century city that the Portuguese knew would ultimately come to ruin in 1615 due to the Osaka Summer Campaign (a series of battles undertaken by the Tokugawa shogunate against the Toyotomi clan), when it burned to the ground. Nowadays, little of this important city remains, save for the huge tumults from the Kofun period, a flourishing cutlery industry that produces some of the best knives in the world, a modern-­ day remnant of the ancient metal arms industry.

5.6  Koyasan The natural beauty of Japan and the country’s reverence for nature has had deep emotional and socio-cultural impacts on the island nation—both in Frois’ epoch as well as our own. Henceforth, it is no wonder that temple aesthetics and architecture are based on the cult of Nature and its implications to gardens! We immersed ourselves into a deeper, more recondite Japan during our visit to Koyasan, the centre of the Shingon School of Buddhism. Frois introduces us to Kukai,7 whom he refers to as the “great master”, a prophet of the ninth century who founded this Shingon Buddhist centre on top of the 900 m high mountain. As Frois himself might have done while inquiring about Kukai, while there we sought a more profound understanding of the Buddhist religion.

7  Kukai also known as Kobo Daishi, was a Japanese Buddhist monk, bureaucrat, scholar and artist who founded the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism.

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For over 1200 years Koyasan has flourished as one of Japan’s most sacred sites. Its complex once hosted more than 2000 temples. Nowadays, it remains one of the nation’s premier temple complexes in Japan and home to more than 100 temples and monasteries scattered throughout the area, thus forming a great religious city that Frois describes in these terms: One of these religions, or republics, is called Coya [Koyasan], where there are four, or five thousand Bonzos and no entrance is allowed to anything of the female gender […] Some seven hundred years ago a man was buried there alive, claiming upon his burial that he was going to slumber in order to restore the world with another Fotoquè [Buddha] called Mirocubosar, some thousand years later, and the aforesaid named Conbodaxî [Kobo Daishi] further said that no one should dare to wake him up or touch his tomb, subject to eternal torments, this sect is called Xingojú [Shingon]; over that tomb a magnificent and sumptuous square temple was erected, similar to those built for the deceased Kings, with many very high steps, on which five hundred golden brass lanterns keep burning day and night, the noblemen who die paying something like an interest rent in oil for these lamps […] (See p. 162 in [27])

Our primary goal was to visit the Danjo Garan (Fig. 5.12), one of the first complexes built by Kukai (also known as Kobo Daishi), the Kongobu-ji, the head temple of Koyasan, built by Hideyoshi for the spirit of his mother and also Kobo Daishi’s mausoleum, close to the huge Torodo Hall of lanterns described by Frois. First we entered the Daimon, the great gate, and went around the hexagon scripture storehouse, the Western Stupa, the Miedo and many other Japanese-style buildings all situated in a fresh cryptomeria forest where a long and wide path that leads to the Gobyo, the small Kobo Daishi Mausoleum, and just in front of it, the much larger Torodo, the Hall of Lamps. The notion that Frois made reference to—that Kukai was buried alive—has quite a different interpretation among Buddhists. Instead, they believe that the Great Master decided to go on an eternal meditation and he did so within a flat area surrounded on three sides by the mountains with the Tamagawa, a pure water stream, in front. In terms of religious beliefs, Kobo Daishi is still alive today in his mausoleum. They serve him every day, feeding him twice in the morning, at 6 o’clock and 10 o’clock, during a special ceremony that we witnessed when two monks carried a sedan in which food was placed and brought to Kobo Daishi’s mausoleum (Fig. 5.13). To reach this holy precinct we had to cross the Mumyo-no-hashi bridge, stopping to reflect upon the pure waters of the Tamagawa, which is said to purify the hearts of the faithful as they cross the bridge. The Torodo situated in front of the mausoleum is surely what Frois refers to as magnificent and sumptuous square temple was erected, similar to those built for the deceased Kings, with many very high steps, on which five hundred golden brass lanterns keep burning day and night (see p. 162 in [27]). As we have come to know and appreciate through reading the Historia de Japam, Frois’ description is exact. The high steps remain, but those 500 lanterns that Frois witnessed have increased to many thousands over the four centuries since his visit. All the sacred grounds with the many wooden buildings, the cemetery, and Kobo Daishi mausoleum may be visited in sequence, along a wide path descending

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Fig. 5.12  A two-story pagoda (saito) at the sacred Danjo Garan site founded by Kobo Daishi. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

through the forest where we made a fascinating walk through Okunoin Cemetery, considered the holiest of places along the Kii Mountains Pilgrimage routes. There, we found a multitude of tombs along a trail with very old stones that prove the age of this sacred place and confirm Frois’ account: And it is a custom in all Japan kingdoms that upon the death of a noble man or woman who can afford to send their bodies to Coya, after the cremation, a small amount of ash, the teeth and a couple of small lingering bones is collected in a tiny wooden box glued with paper from the outside, and offered to another very large temple prepared to accommodate these offers, and according to the Bonzos all those who sent their ashes there, plus the bones and their donations are countless, and a triumphant army the Combodaxi will lead to restore and save the world […] This Coya religion is located in some high mountains topped with vast

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Fig. 5.13  Okunoin Cemetery in Koyasan. Buddhist monks carrying a sedan to Kobo Daishi’s mausoleum in which food is placed for him as a special ceremony repeated twice a day. He is believed to be in eternal meditation which Frois interpreted in the following way: Some seven hundred years ago a man was buried there alive, claiming upon his burial that he was going to slumber […] Conbodaxî [Kobo Daishi] further said that no one should dare to wake him up or touch his tomb. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

forests, from many places of their recreations those monasteries are visited all year round by many wanderers and pilgrims. (See p. 162 in [27])

The Okunoin Cemetery is, in a word, haunting (Fig. 5.14). When walking down a narrow path of about 2 km under the very tall cryptomerias, there are seemingly infinite numbers of tombstones (the pamphlets mention 200,000) carved with the names of people or the symbols of the old families interred there. In fact, and just like Frois details, tombstones mark the places where the ashes of the deceased are placed—so chosen because this is the most restful place for all spirits. Thus, the pagoda-styled tombstones typically comprise the five shapes representing the basic elements: earth, water, fire, wind and air. The feeling of serenity and beauty is almost palpable. A remarkable stone garden can also be visited within this sacred complex. Built in 1984, the Banryutei, the largest rock garden in Japan, is approximately 2350  m2 in size, where 140 granite stones symbolise a pair of dragons emerging from a sea of clouds. Koyasan is also an important destination for pilgrims who choose to undertake the Pilgrimage to the 88 Temples of Shikoku. This network of trails is truly a hiker’s dream, with many visitors embarking on the routes simply to appreciate the stunning landscape. In 2004 the trails that connect the many temples at Koyasan were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.

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Fig. 5.14  Pagoda-shaped tombstones representing the basic elements: earth (chirin), water (suirin), fire (karin), wind (fuurin) and space (kuurin) in Okunoin Cemetery, Koyasan. Frois refers that it is a custom in all Japan kingdoms that upon the death of a noble man or woman who can afford it, to send their bodies to Coya, after the cremation. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

5.7  Hirado Hirado is both an island and a small ocean town where a natural deep and narrow bay offers protection to boats and where human settlement has long been established. Although quite remote from the Kyushu archipelago’s larger towns, Hirado is a very beautiful island where the natural landscape is composed of steep slopes that fold and unfold creating inlets and a dramatic shoreline—all fronted by beaches and stunning transparent waters that reflect the dense green vegetation. The air is fresh and the mountains around the island’s many bays serve as natural protection for Hirado’s little villages. As one travels along the winding roads, the landscape often changes, offering distant perspectives of dark green mountain chains that abruptly contrast with the fresh green colour of the rice fields planted throughout Hirado’s narrow valleys, no matter how small the area. The road bends to reveal the infinite blue ocean interspersed with distant dark islands and rocks. Hirado Island and town were historically a place of fishermen and pirates and the domain of the Matsura clan (see p. 243 in [28]). Hirado much resembles the Azores Islands and its coastal fishing towns, as well as the northern coastal towns of Portugal, such as Vila Praia de Âncora. The primary catch for Hirado’s fishermen in the sixteenth century was whale, just as in Porto Pin in the Portuguese island of Faial in the Atlantic Ocean. As highlighted in the second chapter of this book, the similarity of the Portuguese and Japanese landscapes takes on full meaning here, as

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we can imagine how easy it would have been for Portuguese merchants to adapt to Hirado’s easily recognizable terrain. We just need to imagine the towns and the coast in the sixteenth century without tall buildings and artificial piers and the comparison between the archipelagos becomes evident. Hirado is a very special place for the history of Portugal and Japan as it was the first port where trade flourished during the first decade following the arrival of the Portuguese in their black ships, the kurofune (see pp. 43–45 in [29]). In addition to mutual commercial interests that brought in goods from China, India and distant European locales, another import captured the attention of some of the Japanese samurai, and principally the Koteda family: the new religion of Christianity. St. Francis Xavier visited Hirado in 1550, the same year the first Portuguese vessel captained by Duarte da Gama entered the port of Hirado (see p. 43 in [29]). The Jesuits’ mission grew and in 1558, Koteda Yasutsune, baptized as Antonio, became the Christian’s protector. The first Portuguese to write extensively about Hirado was Luis de Almeida, who was clearly excited to describe to his Portuguese brothers this new site where a Christian village had established a foothold. Dear brothers, I wish to tell you about the site and fashion of this harbor, which pleased our Lord to assign to the Christians, so that you may heighten your praises. It is located approximately 6 leagues from Firando. When arriving from the sea the entrance cannot be seen, only from very close, and inside it is probably two leagues wide, and less, in some parts very narrow, and on both banks there are many villages, and harbors, very good for ships, and the one where we are now sits half a league from the mouth, measured in a straight line, and in its entrance there is a tall and rounded islet with a beautiful cross on top, visible from far away, there placed on account of a vision in the neighborhood, three afternoons a cross hanging in the air could be seen, and the next day the ship captain Pedro Barreto, who also saw it, had the aforesaid cross put up. Inside this islet are the ships because it is such a good harbor, and in a small cove in the same harbor sits the Christian village, on the right side, and ahead stands our house on a hummock and to give access from the other bank there is a very wide stone bridge stretching from on bank to the other, and in the center where the tide ebbs it is built with beams sitting on rocks on both banks, and in the end of this bridge there is a stone cove with walls on both sides, which may have some 7 steps, and which in the beginning is as wide as the bridge and then widens up three times, and above it stands a shelter with very beautiful trees. From this shelter there may be 4 steps up to a large door, inside which there is a square yard 16 meters long and wide, and in front stands the church, 20 meters long and 12 meters wide: this church was built with the locals’ contributions, who soon became Christians, praise the God. This field where the church stands is surrounded by very tall trees and comprises other houses accessory to the church, there is also a vegetable garden near the church, approximately 35 meters distant. We also have two thickets of precious woods near the church: most of the more beautiful wood in this house comes from there. There are many fishermen in this cove, who live near the sea with their wives and children and they spend the night in this little cove, abundant in fish. I will skip many other details, in fear of boring you with such a lengthy description. (See p. 111 in [30])

From Hirado’s castle that stands opposite the village on the other side of the inlet, we took pictures of the “tall and rounded islet” described by Almeida (Fig. 5.15) that has long since lost it cross. It is also possible to visit the house that once was the Matsuda residence. It stands at mid-slope and now hosts the Hirado Museum, where

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Fig. 5.15  View from Hirado Castle over the bay and inlet. Luis de Almeida describes in 1562 that on both banks there are many villages, and harbours, very good for ships […] and in its entrance there is a tall and rounded islet with a beautiful cross on top, visible from far away. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

the history of the people and the town includes a few Portuguese references. At the same level of the museum, a garden leads to a teahouse with all the rustic elements desired by the tea masters. One can enjoy matcha tea served with a small sweet cake known as kasudosu that clearly has its culinary roots in the Portuguese treat known as Caço doce (sweet cup). Interestingly, local stores sell small biscuits or cookies that have imprinted upon them symbols of the early Portuguese Christians in Hirado. In considering the history of the Portuguese presence in Japan, what occurred in Hirado from 1550 to 1558 in many ways represents a concentrated timeline of what would later transpire on the Japanese mainland during the Christian century.8 While the relationship was initially founded on mutual economic interests, the influx of a small band of Jesuits who, in addition to serving as translators, was able to convert a number of local Japanese families (notably, the Koteda clan) to the new Christian religion (see pp. 47–63 in [31]). Conversely, other samurais and the main daimyo, Matsura Takanobu, remained suspicious of the new religion. With the rapid Christianization of Hirado’s residents—indeed, Gaspar Vilela baptized 1300 of Koteda’s retainers in just a few months (see pp. 47–63 in [31])—tensions between the Portuguese and the opposing samurais and local Buddhists grew. Then, an expulsion of Hirado’s Christian priests led the Portuguese to sail to Yokoseura on Kyushu, where the local daimyo, Omura Sumitada, was willing to accommodate the foreigners. 8  João Paulo Oliveira e Costa presented this idea during the Conference “Christian Century and World Cultural Heritage” at the General Development Center of Ikitsuki, Hirado, organized by the Hirado city, Nagasaki Province, Ikitsuki Museum Shima no Yakata.

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Still committed to those on Hirado who had converted, Christian priests (some of whom were Japanese) returned in secret between 1558 and 1564 to serve the fledgling congregation. Once again, however, it was trade that re-opened the door to the Jesuits. New commercial interests led Matsura Takanobu to welcome Portuguese ships back to Hirado in 1564, which also brought Luis Frois to the mission there where Matsura received him (see pp. 373–374 in [32]). In fact, we were told that the present-day Temon-ji Temple had once been the church of Nossa Senhora Imaculada, inaugurated in November 1564 (see p. 44 in [29]). The uneasy peace between the Christians and local Buddhists was not to last, neither in Hirado nor throughout Japan. A major incident in Shikoku in October 1596 with the Spanish boat, the St. Filipe, and its captain led to a complete ban of the new religion, accompanied by much harsher punishments and persecutions for those who would not apostate. Nonetheless, the Christian resistance of the kakure kirishitan, the hidden Christians, persisted in Hirado, Ikitsuki and the Goto islands where there are still active congregations. The decades of Hirado’s historic up-and-­ down relationship with the newcomers encapsulates the story of Christianity and the Portuguese’ trade and influence in Japan.

5.8  Yokoseura Yokoseura is such a small port, so hidden within Omura Bay in Kyushu Island that it is difficult to imagine the large Portuguese Black Ship, Nau do Trato, coming into its waters. Nevertheless, for about a year beginning in 1562 it did so with much success. Once attacked by Hirado forces, however, it moved elsewhere to unload its cargo. Yokoseura sits on a natural inlet of the bay, opening toward the east and closing toward the west. This narrow inlet was perfect for the construction of the fishermen houses facing south towards the sunny water surface. It is a lovely spot with bridges that link the two sides and, just like Hirado, the inlet features a round-­ shaped island near its entrance that was named by the Portuguese as St. Paulo Island. Here, too, a cross was erected at the top of the island, as Janeira reports: A church was built in Yokoseura and a cross raised facing it on the small Yanoko Island (Fig. 5.16), which was later destroyed but nowadays stands erect again (see p. 121 in [33]). We can imagine the Jesuits viewing the lower village near the bay from atop a promontory, while considering the possibilities for both exchange and evangelizing. Thus, for a short while Yokoseura replaced Hirado, the port of the Chinese pirates and the Matsuda daimyo, who though eager for a profitable trade relationship with the Portuguese ships, was suspicious of the new religion that came with it. For that reason and not long after the onset of tensions in Hirado, the Jesuits began to look for an alternative location ruled by a more tolerant daimyo who would be open to Christianity. This covert process, as we learn from Frois, required some delicacy and diplomacy:

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Fig. 5.16  Yanoko Island, also known as St. Paulo Island, at Yokoseura. Frois refers that A church was built in Yokoseura and a cross raised facing it on the small Yanoko Island, which was later destroyed but nowadays stands erect again. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved) Already on the previous year of 61, when Fernão de Souza’s ship had arrived, Brother Luiz de Almeida had gone secretly to Firando, and it was arranged with the ship’s pilot whose name was Domingos Ribeiro and with a Christian from the town of Miaco, named Genove Bartholomeo, one of the first to arrive there, that they should go in total secrecy, unknown to the Firando people, in order to inspect and see one harbor belonging to Vomuradono [Omura daimyo, Christian name D. Bartolomeu], by the name of Yocoxiura so that in case it were large enough for the ship to come in, Bartholomeo, who was a Japanese from Miaco, should star to convince Vomuradono to become a Christian and authorize the preaching of God’s laws in his lands, thus being rewarded with both spiritual and material graces. To this effect the pilot Bartholomeu took to a fisherman’s covered fune [generic name of Japanese boat], which resembles a house where they travel with their wives and children. They

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checked the harbor and found it adequate and deep enough for the ship to sail in. They left to Vomura right away, Bartholomeo in charge of dealing with Yxenocamidono. (See pp. 270–271 in [32])

All chroniclers and historians have confirmed the success of this diplomatic initiative. As we discover in the accounts of Luis Almeida, Omura Sumitada was to become an ally who would prove very helpful to both the expansion of commerce and to the Jesuits’ settlement in Kyushu. In time, Yokoseura served as a precedent for what was to take place in Nagasaki in terms of negotiating a contract that would give permission to use the port for both trade and establishing a religious centre. It can be said that all the negotiations and resulting contracts that later cemented Nagasaki as the premier location for the Portuguese (and later wider European) incursion were first rehearsed in Yokoseura with the Jesuits and Sumitada, who became the first Christian daimyo there. Frois describes these negotiations: […] and he [Omura Sumitada] intended to build churches and assign them the rents, and he would offer the aforesaid Yocoxiura [Yokoseura] harbour to the Church, to raise a large Christian settlement in which houses the Portuguese merchants could be safely sheltered with their fabrics; and if the Portuguese wanted to go to the that harbor, he would suspend its rights for a ten years’ period, with many other offerings. (See p. 271 in [32])

The Yokoseura development project then unfolded quite rapidly, as in 1561 Almeida informs the Jesuits in Goa and Portugal that they had built a large church and their own house in the best spot overlooking the bay (Fig. 5.17), as well as supplied it with water. Frois, who disembarked for the first time in Japan in 1563 at the port of Yokoseura, later wrote about these events using documentation from Almeida. In those days the Brother [Luis Almeida] had the location of the church and our houses fenced in, with boulders from a pagoda, and they built a staircase with 24 steps. The church had a most beautiful entrance, in a field surrounded by very tall and beautiful trees, located in the best and coolest place of the village. And since the water was scarce in that field and had to be carried from afar, it pleased the Lord to enhance the quietness of the house with the discovery of a spring close to the church, and it was piped into the place, and the Brother had a tank built, where it fell in a place above the church, so as to enable watering of the vegetable garden necessary to the house. (See p. 291 in [32])

Not long thereafter, however, the success of the Jesuit mission was considered a threat by Matsuda, the daimyo of Hirado, who wreaked havoc in Yokoseura. Helena Rodrigues resumes the history of this site. In 1562 a merchant ship commanded by Pedro Barreto Rolim anchored for the first time in Yokoseura […] and a church [was] built on top of a promontory, where Ômura Sumitada was baptised in June 1563, receiving the Christian name of Bartolomeu. The local evangelization was assigned to Luis de Almeida e João Fernandes, assisted by Japanese Belchior and Paulo, […] but the progression of his success was brought to a halt by an uprising aiming at both Ômura’s and Christianity’s eradication. In November 1563 Yokoseura was again attacked by the Christian daimyo’s enemies and was completely ravaged. [34]

Matsuda and his allied forces were responsible for this destruction for one key reason—and that reason was largely economic—they wanted the profitable trade with the Portuguese to return to Hirado.

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Fig. 5.17  Yokoseura Village sitting on a natural inlet facing south, where the Portuguese ships once anchored. Frois reports that He [Omura Sumitada] would offer the aforesaid Yocoxiura [Yokoseura] harbour to the Church, to raise a large Christian settlement in which the houses of Portuguese merchants could be safely sheltered. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

Today, what a visitor will see in Yokoseura is a small picturesque village with bridges and a promontory overlooking the bay. Frois is celebrated here as a hero, to whom a statue was erected (Fig. 5.18) at the lower level of the town. His statue is positioned in front of a steep slope planted with a special plant in memory of the Jesuits: the Cycas revolute that is known to have been found near many of Jesuit houses as a symbol of their presence. One can then ascend a staircase leading to a flat area where a large precinct with an altar announces the possibility of a camp mass, which was likely the location of the Jesuit church. A nearby museum about the Portuguese presence in Japan displays the Historia de Japam books. Finally, from the watch tower, one can enjoy a panorama of the entire bay and its landscape, bringing to mind the watchtowers and miradors from which to view the ships coming and going from the Azores and the coastal towns in Portugal.

5.9  Unzen While at Unzen, a thermal village near the city of Shimabara, we should not forget that Mount Unzen remains an active volcano whose 1792 eruption led to a destructive landslide and an enormous tsunami that killed 14,500 people. Belying this devastating history, the sublime landscape of the mountains surrounding Unzen and its adjacent coastline continues to attract ecotourists. Moreover, Mount Unzen was

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Fig. 5.18  Luis Frois statue at Yokoseura. Frois is celebrated here as a hero and his statue faces a steep slope planted with Cycas revoluta, common near many Jesuit houses. (©Madalena Machado, 2009. All Rights Reserved)

singled out for its natural beauty and made part of the Unzen Amakusa National Park, designated as one the first national parks in 1934. Luis Frois described the area in his Historia de Japam: Furthermore that land of Tacacu is surmounted with mountains, distant three leagues from the fortress, where there are some concavities that continuously emanate strong streams of hot sulfuric water or many other varieties, and in the vicinity some very large monasteries had been erected on top of those mountains, containing good copies of Bonzos and very substantial tithes from the whole kingdom of Figen. And this was one of the most important and universal pilgrimage sites in Japan, receiving many visitors, these temples being ­dedicated to an idol called Ungen, and due to this reverence was that land of Tacau greatly renowned and famous in Japan. (See pp. 450–451 in [7])

The more landscapes are associated with history, the more they gain meaning, which is why it can be interesting to interpret them and to read from them as we see them. Frois’ descriptions of gardens, landscapes, cities, and many other themes serve this purpose. As our van climbed the slopes of Mount Unzen, we could not help but contrast the sublime beauty of the area with its history—not only the

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devastation and loss of life due to the volcanic eruption, but much earlier when the story of Japanese Christians, in its closing chapters, became a gaping wound for both cultures. In his masterly style, Shusaku Endo (1923–1976) wrote a small tale titled “Unzen” in which he portrays the typical touristic pleasures to be found there that clash so stridently with the seventeenth-century struggles of Japan’s Christian community. Endo depicts bathers returning from their hot-springs bath, possibly stopping for souvenirs to commemorate the experience, and with little warning goes on to Unzen’s darker history of Christians who were tortured and suffered there. We quote it here as the best way to describe the landscape and the layers of history on them. According to the records, after 1629, when the Nagasaki Magistrate Takenaka Shigetsugu hit upon the idea of abusing the Christians in this hot springs inferno, sixty or seventy prisoners a day were roped together and herded from Obama to the top of this mountain. Now tourists strolled the streets of the village, and popular songs blared out from loudspeakers. Nothing reminds one of that sanguinary history […]. (See p. 96 in [35])

The reader then is confronted with historically accurate information about the misery and fear that so many Christians confronted when they refused to give up their faith. He (Suguro, the main character) had brought a number of books with him from Tokyo, but he now regretted not including a collection of letters from Jesuits of the day who had reported on the Unzen martyrdoms to their superiors in Rome. […] He listened half-­ heartedly to the singsong travelogue provided by the conductor. […] Before long, he caught sight of a column of white milky white crags and sand came into clear focus. ‘Is that the Valley of Hell? […] (Fig. 5.19). (See pp. 96–97 in [35])

Endo continues to challenge the reader with a trip to the tortured past of a location now favored by tourists. ‘The execution ground? I know where that is.’ The owner of the tobacco shop directed Suguro to a pond just down the road. […] (see p. 105 in [35]). And almost as if the execution grounds were devoid of their former associations, he adds a light description of a nearby playground. He heard the sounds of children at play. […] The setting sun shone feebly on the swings and sandbox in the yard. He walked around behind a drooping hedge of rose bushes and located the remains of the execution ground, now the only barren patch within a grove of trees. (See pp. 96–97 in [35])

Through Shusaku Endo and his characters, we see and feel the footsteps of history in a very same place. With no transition, Endo continues: The following morning the seven prisoners were hoisted onto the unsaddled horses and dragged through the streets of Shimabara to this execution ground. One of the witnesses to the scene has recorded the events of the day. […] The seven victims sang a hymn until the flames enveloped their stakes. Their voices were exuberant, totally out of keeping with the cruel punishment they were even then enduring. When those voices suddenly ceased, the only sound was the dull crackling of wood. (See p. 106 in [35])

Shusaku Endo unearthed the problem that obviously relates to the heart of the Historia de Japan where Frois reports about the first trial of that integration on Japanese land.

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Fig. 5.19  Unzen Hot Springs and Unzen Hell. Frois wrote in c.1582 there are some concavities that continuously emanate strong streams of hot sulfuric water … [the] temples being dedicated to an idol called Ungen, and due to this reverence was that land of Tacau greatly renowned and famous in Japan. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

Endo himself drew from Jesuit sources, although the Historia de Japam was not published when he wrote Unzen in 1959. Mostly, Endo must have been inspired by the many meaningful seacoast landscapes of Kyushu and the known history of the region. At Sotome, a museum that is a monument to his writings was built as a legacy of his sensitiveness to the landscape—his sentence Although the human being is so sorrowful, oh Lord, the sea remains so blue (Fig. 5.20) may be seen engraved in a stone. This is why we borrowed his text to reflect upon this most dramatic Japanese landscape: Unzen. Frois’ accounts from his days in Japan ended with the Nagasaki martyrdoms because he died four months later. Thus, he was never to know how dramatically the European/Japanese relationship was to end. We purposely distanced this book from the aftermath of the Nagasaki martyrdoms and instead chose to focus on the initial, more peaceful, encounters that created such wonder in the Jesuit missionaries.

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Fig. 5.20  View from Literary Sotome Museum celebrating renowned writer Shusaku Endo. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

References 1. Fróis, L. (1598). Carta do padre Luis Froes, de Miáco pera o padre Belchior de Figueiredo em Búngo aos doze de Iulho de 1569. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 269v–276v). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 2. Osamu, W. (2008). The social and economic consequences of unification. In The Cambridge history of Japan (Vol. IV, pp. 96–127). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 3. Gifu City Board of Education. (2019). Oda Nobunaga-ko Kyokan-ato Hakkutsu Chosa Home Page “Shiseki Gifu-jo-ato” (in Japanese). https://www.nobunaga-kyokan.jp/. Accessed 9 July 2019. 4. Gifu Women’s University. (2010). Gifu-jo-ato Nobunaga-ko Kyokan Hakkutsu Chosa Digital Archive (in Japanese). https://www.gijodai.ac.jp/nobukyokan/. Accessed 9 July 2019. 5. Fróis, L. (1598). Carta do padre Luis Frõis, do Miáco pera o padre Belchior de Figueiredo, ao primeiro de Iunho de 1569. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 269v–276v). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 6. Ōta, G. (2011). The chronicle of Lord Nobunaga (ed: Mostow, J., Rose, C., Nakai, K. W., & Elisonas, J. S. A.; trans: Elisonas, J. S. A., & Lamers, J. P.). Leiden: Brill. 7. Fróis, L. (1981). Historia de Japam: 2o v., 1565–1578 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. II. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 8. Fróis, L. (1982). Historia de Japam: 3o v., 1578–1582 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. III. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 9. Mexia, L. (1598). Carta d padre Loourenço Mexia, eſcreueo de Amacao a 6.de Ianeiro de 84 ao padre Miguel de Souſa Rietor do Colegio de Coimbra. In Segunda parte das cartas de Iapão que escreverão os padres, & ir mãos da companhia de IESVS (pp. 123–126). Evora: Manoel de Lyra.

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10. Cid, I. (2000). O “Biombo Japonês de Évora” Suas características e relações com alguns outros documentos sobre o Japão existentes em Portugal. In Mundo do Biombo de Évora (trans: Toko, H.). Tokyo: Genjiro Ito & Kamakura Shunju-sha. 11. Ito, G. (2000). Biombos de Évora. In Mundo do Biombo de Évora (trans: Kono, A., pp. 7–19). Tokyo: Genjiro Ito & Kamakura Shunju-sha. 12. Akira, N. (1977). The glory that was Azuchi. Review by Shun’ichi Takayanagi. Monumenta Nipponica, 32, 515–524. 13. McDonnell, G. (2017). Beloved Ukon—Beatification in Osaka. Japan. 14. Vilela, G. (1598). Carta do padre Gaſpar Vilela de couſas de Iapaõ, pera os padres do conuéto de Auis em Portugal, de Goa aos 6.de Outubro de 1571. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 319–330). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 15. Turnbull, S. (2005). Japanese fortified temples and monasteries AD 710–1062. Oxford: Osprey. 16. Elisonas, J. (2008). Christianity and the daimyo. In The Cambridge history of Japan (Vol. IV). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 17. Fróis, L. (1983). Historia de Japam: 4o v., 1583–1587 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. IV. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 18. Ribeiro, M. (2007). Gaspar Vilela: Between Kyūshū and the Kinai. Bulletin of Portuguese/ Japanese studies, 15, 9–27. 19. Vilela, G. (1598). Carta do padre Gaſpar Vilela, de Iapão da cidade do Sacáy, pera os irmãos da Companhia de IESV da India, a 17.de Agoſto, de 1561. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (Vol. I, pp. 89–94). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 20. Mcclain, J. (2013). Japan’s pre-modern urbanism. In The Oxford handbook of cities in world history. Oxford: OUP. 21. Yamamura, K. (2008). The growth of commerce in medieval Japan. In The Cambridge history of Japan (Vol. III, pp. 344–395). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 22. Keane, M. P., & Ohashi, H. (1996). Japanese garden design. Tokyo/Rutland: Tuttle Publishing. 23. Kyoto National Museum. (1990). Special exhibition, Sen-no Rikyu, the 400th memorial, a guide to the exhibition. Kyoto: Kyoto National Museum. 24. Varley, H. P. (2006). Cultural life in medieval Japan. In The Cambridge history of Japan (Vol. 3, pp. 447–499). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 25. Rodrigues, J. (1973). This island of Japon: Joao Rodrigues’ account of 16th-century Japan (ed and trans: Cooper, M.). Tokyo: Kodansha International. 26. Haga, K. (1994). The wabi aesthetic through the ages. In Tea in Japan: Essays on the history of Chanoyu (trans: Collcutt, M., pp. 195–230). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 27. Frois, L. (1598). Carta do padre Luis Froes, de Nangaçàqui, a vinta Iete de Agoſto de 85. pera o padre geral da Companhia de IESVS. In Segunda parte das cartas de Iapão que escreverão os padres, & ir mãos da companhia de IESVS (pp. 152–166). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 28. Elisonas, J. (2008). The inseparable trinity: Japan’s relations with China and Korea. In The Cambridge history of Japan (Vol. IV). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 29. Gunn, G. (2017). World trade systems of the east and west: Nagasaki and the Asian bullion trade networks. Leiden: Brill. 30. de Almeida, L. (1598). Carta do Irmão Luis Dalmeida, de Iapaõ, pera os Irmãos da companhia de IESV, a 25. de Outubro, de 1562. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (Vol. I, pp. 103–112). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 31. Ribeiro, M. (2009). Samurais Cristãos—Os Jesuítas e a Nobreza cristã do Sul do Japão no Século XVI. Lisboa: Centro de História de Além-Mar. 32. Fróis, L. (1976). Historia de Japam: 1o v., 1549–1564 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. I. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional.

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33. Janeira, A.  M. (1988). O Impacto Português sobre a Civilização Japonesa. Lisboa: Dom Quixote. 34. Rodrigues, H. (2005). Cidade de Yokoseura. Enciclopédia Virtual da Expansão Portuguesa. http://www.fcsh.unl.pt/cham/eve/content.php?printconceito=154. Accessed 9 June 2019. 35. Endō, S. (1986). Stained glass elegies (trans: Gessel, V. C.). New York: Tuttle.

Chapter 6

The Forgotten Treaty on Contradictions and the Unpublished Historia de Japam

A perplexing question emerges based upon the revelatory information we obtained in the Jesuit archives1 and Pontifical Gregorian University Library in Rome about the sixteenth-century Japanese-Portuguese relationship: Why did the Historia de Japam remain unpublished for 400 years? The author Luis Frois, as we have seen, provided a consistent and veridical account of his experiences in Japan. Some of his letters, once they reached Rome, were immediately translated in Italian and published in small books that can be found in the Vatican Library, mostly edited by Luigi Zannetti. One such account features a vivid report describing the death of Oda Nobunaga, another presents “prodigies occurred in the year 1596”.2 Moreover, the institution that had requested the work, the Jesuit Society, was becoming an increasingly powerful entity and was keen to publish every bit of information about their apostolic mission and their achievements. Thus, there would appear to be no reason for the burying of such a unique work. Most of those who have explored the five volumes of Historia de Japam to retrieve its mesmerising information on sixteenth-century Japan—like ourselves— have questioned the somewhat unhappy ending for the unique man who penned it. Frois was a Renaissance man, a gifted writer, and an anthropologist avant la lettre— amply brave to have remained in the unstable Japan of the Momoyama period and amply smart to have remained alive in an increasingly dangerous realm. Why were his immense and invaluable writings buried for 400 years? While investigating the possible causes that led to the Historia de Japam being neglected for so long, we located a second text by Frois, The Treaty on Contradictions—a much shorter and amusing text that provides striking contrasts between the European and Japanese cultures. We suggest that the origin for this text 1  The Jesuit archives: ARSI (Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu) where some of the original letters of Luis Frois and Alexandre Valignano are kept. 2  Frois’ 10 books at the Vatican Library in Rome were published right after their arrival, between 1586 and 1599.

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 C. Castel-Branco, G. Carvalho, Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0018-3_6

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had much to do with an editing effort by Frois when he was confronted with a critique offered by a Jesuit Superior, Alexandro Valignano, who said this of his writing: too long, too detailed in a chronology and a geography that the reader cannot follow and in need of a thematic approach (see p. 52 in [1]). Though independent from the Historia de Japam, the Treaty on Contradictions shares the same fate with the other work: a 400-year delay in publication; both texts were written to respond to the Jesuit demand for information about daily life in Japan: one as a regular report of 34  years spent in thick of the Japanese vortex movement to unification, and the other a very sharp presentation of the differences and striking contrasts (many still accurate today) of two geographically extreme and distant cultures. The Treaty on Contradictions is quite a peculiar complement to the Historia de Japam, and both would have astonished those who knew nothing about this recently discovered country. Father Alessandro Valignano seems to be complicit in this sad story of Portuguese incompleteness: he came to Japan in 1579 to supervise the Jesuits’ work and left in 1582, only to return again in 1590. Two years later he travelled to Macau, taking Frois with him with the aim of “editing and finishing” the Historia de Japam. The twentieth-century Jesuit priest, Jacques Bésineau published Valignano’s 1582 text about Japan in French (the Sumario) [2] with notes and an introduction featuring Valignano’s biography. Bésineau wrote his account prior to his knowledge of Frois’ five-volume Historia de Japam, since it had only been published six years prior (in 1984) in the original Portuguese. Thus, well into the late-twentieth century, Valignano was the renowned chronicler of sixteenth-century Japan, praised by the Jesuits’ General in Rome who, after reading the Sumario in 1585, stated: It seems to me I had been there and present to my eyes the state of those things (see p. 49 in [2]). With that, Frois was effectively silenced for 400 years. In order to answer why this happened let us suggest how Frois’ Treaty on Contradictions, which also adds to our understanding of Japanese gardens of the period, appeared in 1585 only to disappear. In association, we present Valignano’s profile and try to explain why the Historia de Japam remained unpublished. Examining Frois’ two irreplaceable life works about sixteenth-century Japan may help us understand how they interact with the Sumario, as well as how their authors’ objectives collided—with one leading to the renowned success of its author, and the other being silenced for over four centuries.

6.1  F  rois’ Character and How the Treaty on Contradictions Appeared and Disappeared Luis Frois was known as a highly capable writer from a very young age as we introduced him in Chap. 1 and was educated in the Court of King John III where Bartolomeu Frois (likely his uncle) served as secretary. Once his talents were recognised, he was registered at the Jesuits College of St. Antão in Lisbon and soon after at age 16 was sent to India, where he arrived in October 1548. The months-long

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Fig. 6.1  Frois’ signature as it evolved over time, 1559–1596

journey proved to be difficult due to storms and disease. Nonetheless, Frois showed a high capacity to adapt to the hard life at sea, as well as humbly served meals to his less fortunate fellow travellers (see p. 22 in [3]). Once in India he continued his privileged education at the S. Paulo College in Goa, meeting S. Francisco Xavier just before the latter was preparing to travel to Japan in 1549. In 1557 Frois studied under the renowned humanist Marcus Nunes, completing his degree in 1559 in Goa. Due to his talent for writing, Frois became the secretary to both the rector and the provincial priest in Goa and we find his signature along the decades in many autographed documents (Fig. 6.1). In 1563, at the age of 27, Frois travelled to Japan, where he lived almost uninterruptedly until his death in 1597. Valignano and Frois met in Japan in 1579; soon thereafter, Gaspar Coelho, transmitting a mandate from the Jesuit General in Rome Acquaviva, asked Frois to begin work on a Historia de Japam (see pp. 1–49 in [4]). We have evidence that Valignano and Frois talked about the format of the Historia and the many letters Frois had compiled over the years since his arrival in Japan. The Historia de Japam written by Father Luís Fróis, the father of Japanology was not to the liking of the Visitor Father A. Valignano who deemed it too diffuse. Valignano wanted only a synthesis, similar to his own História da India. (See p. 1 in [4])

Being a pragmatic politician, Valignano wanted a shorter text. He wrote about Frois’ writings: […] because he writes as the things occurred […] and no one could read such a stodgy text, written with so little order causing great confusion and boredom […].3 Valignano argued for a synthesis—a structured presentation by themes rather  A. Valignano, visitador, ao P. Geral Cláudio Acquaviva [Macau] 30 de Outubro de 1588 Jap. Sin. 10 II, 335r, original, primeira via in [5]. 3

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than a chronology—a text that could be of immediate use for any European arriving in Japan. He may have told Frois that he was displeased with his long descriptions and offered to serve as his sixteenth-century editor. Accordingly, Frois relinquished his draft of the much-longer Historia de Japam to Valignano for correction. Instead of feeling inhibited or offended by Valignano’s criticisms, Frois responded to the challenge by preparing a useful presentation of Japan in comparison with Europe— and so we believe was born the Treaty on Contradictions. We know that the first chapters of the Historia were lost, though its table of contents survived. With slight differences, the table of contents of the Treaty (see p. 28 in [6]) coincides with the sequence of the lost first chapters of the Historia (see p. 24 in [6]). Juxtaposed against these plausible events are the facts: namely, a manuscript that Frois completed and signed in 1585, which remained forgotten for 400 years but later discovered by the Jesuit Josef Franz Schütte in the library of the Real Academia de la História de Madrid with the following title: Tratado em que se contêm muito sucinta e abreviadamente algumas contradições e diferenças de costumes antre a gente de Europa e esta província do Japão (A succinct and brief treaty on some contrasts and custom differences between Europe and this Japanese province). We must note that the Treaty on Contradictions was found in Madrid, not in Lisbon or Macau, because during the time of its composition Portugal had lost its independence and become a Spanish territory in 1581 under Philip II. Due to threats to the safety of the Jesuits in Japan as a result of Hideyoshi’s persecutions around the year 1596, Frois left his Historia de Japam and the Treaty on Contradictions in Macau when he returned to Japan, where they were stored at the Jesuit College until after Frois’ death in 1597. Somehow, the Historia de Japam remained in Macau until it was copied in 1742 by two Portuguese Jesuits sent by King Dom João V (note that Portugal’s sovereignty was restored in 1640). That copy was finally sent to Lisbon—but by that time the 40 pages that comprised the Treaty paper had made its way to Spain and remained there. We can see from the Treaty on Contradictions that Frois understood Valignano’s suggestions about the benefits of a more concise text based on thematic topics rather than on lengthy descriptions. Indeed, it is clear that Frois reviewed all the information he had gathered in order to re-organize it for publication with a thematic structure. The rethinking of his own culture during the course of this challenging exercise of synthesizing led Frois to establish a symmetric parallelism between the two cultures. We must note, however, that Frois compares European culture, not Portuguese culture, to its Japanese counterpart—a sign that the two men more strongly identified with a European institution, the Jesuit Society, and likely viewed the comparative exercise as being useful for Europe as a whole. So the Treaty on Contradictions emerged from a comparative analysis between daily life in Japan and in Europe. Frois’ handwritten Treaty was found in 1946 (see p. 27 in [7]), and later published in German by Schütte in 1955. Ten years later it appeared in a Japanese ­academic journal, and was published in French in 1993 and in Portuguese that same year [6]. It finally appeared in English in 20144 and in Italian in 2018. The Treaty  The present book was already in process in 2012 when this English translation appeared, see [8].

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comprises 14 chapters and more closely represents an anthropological study than a report written by a religious man for his congregation. Indeed, it deals with diverse aspects of life in Japan, including garden building and the inspired use of the landscape, as indicated by the Portuguese editor of the 1993 edition of the Treaty, Garcia: Thus, we ascertain that the origin of the Treaty is the same as Historia and its genesis is Maffei’s5 1579 request for Frois to write a systematic commentary that would enlighten Europe about Japanese customs and other specificities. [6]

A particularly interesting aspect of the Treaty is that it is composed of 611 small sentences, whereby the European way is presented as “We do it this way”, and in Japan “They do it that way”. From an analysis of its text and his teacher’s references, we know that the period Frois grew in Lisbon was spent around the King’s court. Though Frois spent only sixteen years in Europe, it becomes evident that is attendance of the Lisbon court left a deep imprint, as some Jesuits in India have commented. The European environment of Goa, where he lived until 1562 (though less sophisticated than in Lisbon), allowed him to continue with the observation of his fellow-citizens. The many years he spent in Japan provided him, on the other hand, with vast information that allowed him to thoroughly understand the reality of the life in this country. [6]

Frois wrote the Treaty, which he completed in June 1585 at age 53, while he was in Kazusa near the port of Kuchinotsu in the Arima region. He was then working with Gaspar Coelho, the Vice Provincial of the Jesuits. After compiling the first comparative anthropological Treaty analysing Japan and Europe, no one sent it to Rome; instead, it remained unknown and unpublished. Who can be held responsible for its unfortunate destiny? Both Valignano and Frois understood from their education and training the importance of preserving historical records. Recall that when Valignano was in Goa in 1584, he maintained the provincial archive—as he did later in Macau: Always concerned to assure a conservation of the historical sources of the mission following the example of the general archive of the Jesuits’ Company in Rome [9]. Thus, both men clearly appreciated the unique opportunity presented to them to become Japan’s first European historian during the closing decades of the sixteenth century.

6.2  The Treaty on Contradictions; Europe and Japan: So Different in Their Customs! The Treaty continues to be used today to illustrate the “upside-down” customs of sixteenth-century Japan, still evoking much surprise and interest. Here, we rely on the 2014 English-language translation compiled by Daniel T.  Reff, Richard 5  Maffei was an Italian Jesuit who went to Lisbon to study the reports from India and was impressed by Frois’ talents as a chronicler. He was the one who recommended his name to the Jesuit’s General for the writing of the Historia de Japam.

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K. Danford, and Robin D. Gill, who listed all 611 of the contradictions along with insightful commentary. Presented now are a selection of some of the fascinating comparisons that Frois recorded, which serve to shed light on the interchanges and influences that occurred between West and East. With us, it is normal to whip and punish a child; in Japan this is very rare and they only reprimand them. Our instructors teach our children the catechism, [the lives of] the saints, and virtuous habits; the bonzes teach the children to play music, sing, play games, fence and carry out their abominations with them. We dress the same throughout the four seasons of the year; the Japanese change their dress three times a year: natsu katabira, aki-awase, fuyu kimono. Among us a new look in clothing is created nearly every year; in Japan styles are always the same, without ever changing. Noblemen in Europe sleep at night and have their entertainments during the day; Japanese noblemen sleep by day and have their parties and amusements at night.6

Hunting customs and the importance of human life were also very different between Japan and Portugal. To kill animals raised by men was tantamount to a crime in Japan, reflecting their cultural preference for plant-based cuisine. On the other hand, killing a man was not so serious—providing the victim had dishonoured him in some way. Europeans kill wild boars with spears, guns, and hounds; the Japanese often beat the woods to drive them out so that they can kill them with swords. We are terrified to kill a man, but think nothing of killing cows, chickens and dogs; the Japanese are terrified to see animals killed but killing men is commonplace.

To the extent that theatre and art can be considered a reflection of real life, it is often viewed as an epoch’s trademark, revealing nuances and insights often not directly recorded by historians. The differences between Japanese and European theatre and cultural customs are significant to Frois, who took pains to record those contrasts— many of which are still valid today. Our autos [theatrical genre] are in verse; theirs are all in prose. Ours autos often vary and others are reworked; theirs are predetermined in all aspects from the outset and do not vary. Our autos are performed through speaking; theirs are nearly always sung—or danced. In Europe, it is not customary to eat and drink during [theatrical] soirées, plays and tragedies; in Japan they never have such events without wine and appetizers. We consider it disruptive and insulting to make noise during an auto; in Japan a performance is honoured and praised if there are some people on the outside giving loud hoots and hollers.

The differences in musical art are also intriguing: Among us, music played on the clavichord, viola, flute, organ, dulzaina, etc. is considered extremely gentle; the Japanese find all our instruments harsh and unpleasant.

6  The next seven quotations were extracted from the English version of Tratado in e-book format (2014) with no page reference, see [8].

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And, of course, Frois made note of the importance of the Japanese tea ceremony in comparison to European customs—and especially the essential role of ritual purification: We wash our hands before touching something precious; the Japanese wash them to examine the implements of their tea ceremony.

Comparisons between Japanese and European related to greeting one-another, dealing with disagreements, fashion, and speech behaviours are still valid nowadays. The Japanese continue to greet one another in the same way—kneeling, curtseying, giggling, and often bowing—which Westerners often find surprising and unexpected. In contrast, the Western way of shaking hands and hugging represent strange behaviours to a Japanese person. In Europe clarity is sought in words, and ambiguity is avoided; in Japan ambiguous words are considered the best language and are the most highly esteemed. Among us, when men are speaking, they stand up straight with one foot in front of the other; in Japan, when two men talk, the inferior must have his feet together, his arms crossed at the waist, his body bent forward and, depending on what the other is saying, he must curtsy, like women do in Europe. We carry out formal courtesies with a calm and serious face; the Japanese always, and without fail, do so with their little artificial smiles. We embrace when we take our leave or come back from somewhere; the Japanese do not embrace at all, and they laugh when they see it done. Among us, those who make up [after a disagreement] ask forgiveness of each other or embrace; in Japan, the guilty one rubs his hands in front of the other and drinks from his sake cup.

Frois also recorded physical differences—for example, the size and length of European noses, which so impressed the Japanese that it became an expected feature of most reproductions of the European “Southern Barbarians” in the Nanban screens. Europeans have long and occasionally aquiline noses; the Japanese have short noses with small nares. We clear our noses with the thumb or index finger; because they have small nostrils, they use their little finger.

Frois observed behavioural differences as well in terms of the general demeanour of the Japanese as being more quiet and serene—except, it would seem, in the case of blind men! Among us blind men are very peaceful; in Japan they like to fight and they go about with canes and daggers and are very amorous. We are very free with our anger and have little control over our impatience; they are singularly in control of themselves and are very restrained and discreet.

While we can assume that today’s men and women in Japan who cannot see are no longer as aggressive and amorous as they were in the sixteenth-century, this observation is quite extraordinary for the modern reader. In this context of contradictions, Frois indicated that the classical arts in Japan were quite distinctive from European practices—most notably the importance of

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calligraphy, and the art of creating gardens, which from the sixteenth century onwards became entwined with the art of preparing, drinking, and sharing tea in a small isolated house built in the centre of an often stylized garden. Accordingly, the Treaty was very useful in compiling the descriptions and contrasts between gardens in the creation of this book. We are indeed fortunate that the contrasts in tending to gardens, trees, and plants are clearly enumerated in Luis Frois’ Treaty on Contradictions, forming a significant register for the history of garden art, both in Europe and in Japan. His account is useful for Portugal too; since he had not seen European gardens we can assume that Frois compares Japanese gardens only to the ones he knew in Portugal, and we know little about Portuguese midsixteenth-­century gardens in Lisbon. Indeed, there are very few documents reporting on Portuguese gardens prior to the time during which gardens such as the Indian viceroy’s Quinta da Bacalhoa (c. 1550) or Quinta da Penha Verde (c. 1530–1540) appeared. Thus, Frois’ observations and comparisons in the art of creating gardens provide an invaluable record of both Japanese and Portuguese gardens during the Renaissance. Consider, for example, how Frois described the culturally distinctive Japanese art of pruning of trees, which is still valid today: We work to get our trees to grow straight upward; in Japan, they purposefully hang stones from the branches so that they will grow crooked.7

He contrasted other aspect of garden-making as well: We purposefully plant trees in our gardens that will bear fruit; the Japanese place greater esteem on planting trees in their gardens that bear only flowers. The lawns in our courtyards are valued as a place for sitting; in Japan they purposefully remove all grass from the grounds. Our pine trees generally bear fruit; in Japan, even though there is an infinite number of pine trees and they bear nuts the size of walnuts, they are worthless. Our cherry trees bear very tasty and beautiful cherries; those in Japan bear cherries that are very small and bitter, but also very beautiful flowers that the Japanese value.

The differences in the use of water features also catch Frois’ attention, from which we can infer the greater aesthetic importance of water courses, fountains, and ponds in Japanese gardens in comparison to the more utilitarian appearance of European gardens of the time. In Europe, we build fountains coming out of a wall that are squared and clean; in Japan, they dig small ponds or basins in the ground, with nooks and small inlets and with rocks and little islands in the middle.

While the fragrance of flowers in the medieval Portuguese garden, and later on during the Renaissance period, is praised by poets as being highly valued, in the sixteenth-­century Japanese garden that aspect appears to be far less relevant: Among us, when one picks a fragrant rose or carnation, we first smell it and then examine it visually; the Japanese pay no attention to the smell and take pleasure only in the visual experience.  The next 8 quotations were translated by the Maria José Sá da Bandeira and extracted from [7].

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We have many roses, flowers, carnations and herbs that are fragrant and quite aromatic; in Japan, very few of these things have a fragrance.

The varied use of bamboo epitomizes another surprise for the Portuguese world— both in the sixteenth century and nowadays—since the Japanese continue to make the most of reeds in their multiple varieties as a flexible, enduring, and beautiful material that is useful for a multitude of purposes: Our cane is of little use, except for making distaffs for spinning; in Japan it [bamboo] is a delicacy added to their soup and is used for bows, arrow shafts, flooring, roofing, ladders, containers for oil, vessels for wine, woven mats, tea whisks, and many other things.

Frois also provided some contrasts about agricultural production in the two realms: We have windmills, watermills, and beast-driven mills; in Japan all grinding is done with a hand-mill, using manual force.

When visiting Shuntoku-ji Temple in Nagasaki, we observed a well that was presented to us as a remnant of the Portuguese presence on that very site. Additionally, a small cylindrical stone mill (Fig. 6.2) was displayed and may have also been a tool for grinding in the sixteenth century at the All Saints Church. We must also note some differences in the appreciation of the variety of plants and fruits introduced into Japan from the European world, which were sampled during Frois’ time and were recorded by the Jesuit Domingos Mesquita in a letter sent on 28 October 1599 to Juan de Ribera, Headmaster of the Jesuit College in Manila (see pp. 73–91 in [10]). In that document Mesquita describes the success of growing European varieties of vine, quince, pear, fig, olive and peach trees in Japan—not all of which were highly valued by the Japanese, as Frois indicated: We find the grapes and figs of Portugal to be pleasing and very delicious; the Japanese abhor figs and do not particularly enjoy grapes.

In contrast, a number of Japanese exports became quite common and highly prized in Portuguese gardens soon after their sixteenth-century introduction from the East. In particular, the Wisteria sinensis, the Camellia sinensis, and the Cycas revoluta are some of the ornamental plants that have acclimatized well in Portugal and thrive with no irrigation or winter protection, especially in the northern part of the country. Similarly, Eriobotrya japonica, Citrus sinensis, Diospyros kaki are fruits that can also be commonly found in Portuguese gardens—although we cannot document with any certainty the date they were first planted in Portuguese soil. The task of adapting to new foods and plants represents a comparatively minor challenge for the Jesuits in Japan when we imagine the range of unfamiliar cultural habits and behaviours that would have confronted this small band of Europeans in Asia for the first time. Much debate must have surely ensued as to what the Christians considered essential in their practices and what could be set aside in an effort to adapt to their new surroundings and promote harmony. Jesuit houses and buildings followed Japanese wood craftsmanship; mass was conducted on tatami mats, sitting on the floor. Thus, to a certain degree, Jesuits chose to refashion their rituals, habits, and traditions to a Japanese model in order to be accepted, while still

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Fig. 6.2  Mill stone in Shuntoku-ji Temple garden, site of the former Todos os Santos Church. Mill stones were different in Europe and in Japan as referred by Frois: We have windmills, watermills, and beast-driven mills; in Japan all grinding is done with a hand-mill, using manual force. (©Cristina Castel-Branco, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

conveying the essential spiritual components of Christianity that they were charged to propagate. These and many other compromises were instituted, which became equated with “accommodating” to the Japanese culture. When Frois introduces in the Treaty his notion of symmetry as a way to demonstrate acceptance of the “other” culture, it is part of this principle of “accommodation”. Among historians, however, it is Valignano who is generally credited with this notion. In actuality, by the time the Visitor Priest arrived in Japan, Vilela and Frois had long understood the importance of compromise and the merit of dialogue in being respected and accepted as the other. Christianity finally failed in Japan for reasons too well known and too well reflected in the whole work of a colossal modern Japanese Christian novelist like Endo Shusaku. But if it succeeded in progressing for some years at the beginning, it was thanks to the silent dedication of missionaries like Fróis and many other anonymous others […]. (See p. 5 in [11])

As indicated, the origin of Frois’ Treaty on Contradictions is related to Valignano, who made three visits to Japan in order to monitor the development of the Christian community. Although he was Frois’ superior in rank and title, Valignano was

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seven years younger. Born in Italy in 1539, at the age of 19 he entered the University of Padova, one of the most prestigious universities of his day. One of his law school classmates was Acquaviva, who eventually became the General of the Jesuits’ Society in Rome. It was Acquaviva who recommended that Valignano represent the Society in the Eastern Province that included India, China, and Japan—all under Portuguese jurisdiction at that time. Thus, in 1574 Valignano was sent to Japan by way of India, which was the common stopping place for those traveling to the Far East. During the sixteenth and well into the seventeenth century, any person wishing to reach India had to pass through Lisbon—as did Valignano, now in charge of the Jesuits’ Eastern Province. He came to meet the young King of Portugal, King Sebastião, who was soon to die without heir, thereby leaving the throne open to his cousin Philip II of Spain. He met the King at the royal palace of Almeirim some 50 km away from Lisbon (see pp. 18–51 in [12]). To prepare for this arduous trip and religious mission, Valignamo requested 60 men, as well as the support and protection of the young king. In response, the generous Sebastião offered him assistance for the trip, coupled with financial support to house the priests in Malaca and Japan [12]. Eventually, Valignano assembled a team of 41 Jesuits, mostly Spanish, to make the trip to India. Unwisely, he disparaged the Portuguese way of conducting their affairs in the East. Mostly wanting to free the Indies from Portuguese control, Valignano indicated his desire to submit the Portuguese superiors to his own authority [12]. He did not leave a good impression in Lisbon and was criticized for his ambition and arrogance. Valignano and his team left Lisbon in September of 1574, travelled to Goa, and he remained there as the Jesuit Society’s emissary for almost five years. Finally, in July 1579, he arrived in Japan, meeting Frois for the first time in Kyoto. At the request (c. 1582) of the General Acquaviva who had enjoyed Frois’ annual letters sent to Rome, Frois was to write a document systematically informing Europeans about the customs, uses, and peculiarities of Japan, which eventually became the Historia de Japam (see p. 28 in [6]). Frois was apparently initially taken aback by the request, as he states: Although I felt this command was beyond my ability and talent, as he documented in the prologue (see p. 411 in [13]). Nonetheless he accepted the challenge as a stimulus to organize and compile his experiences and observations. While at times using other sources—in particular, the letters of Almeida, and Vilela—his Historia de Japam is principally a life account of all he had witnessed in Japan for more than 30 years. In 1586, Frois informed his superiors in Rome that he had completed the first part of the Historia de Japam. Meanwhile, Valignano informed General Acquaviva in Rome that Frois’ style of writing was not only too extensive and tedious, but also unsavoury and unorderly. Thus, the autocratic Valignano began to undermine the good reputation of Luis Frois with his superiors in Rome by undercutting his capabilities and censoring his work: […]since the said Father (Frois) is much inclined to describe things fully at length, and to be careless about checking whether or not everything he says is true, and in choosing what

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to put down and what not, it did not seem to me that I could simply forward the said letters without an alteration report. [4]

However, we know from reading Frois’ work and comparing his accounts with verifiable Japanese sources that he is authentic. Consider, for instance, his detailed description of the golden tiles in Jurakudai and the archaeological findings of the twenty-first century that uphold his account. We argue that Frois is as true in his writings as Valignano is spiteful and mendacious in his accusations. And there is a good reason for Valignano to have started a false testimony, given his personal goal of writing the history of Japan himself. Frois, not knowing about his superior’s critique, continued to work on his account enthusiastically. In 1589 he sent a letter to Rome informing them that after four years of dedication he was close to completing his Historia de Japam, adding that the upcoming return of Valignano to Japan the following year and his editorial assistance would serve to advance the project. He closed his letter to General Acquaviva about his intention to forward the final manuscript to Rome, […] which he hoped would please everyone (see p. 404 in [14]). Wicki, the Jesuit who saved Frois’ Historia de Japam from being forever lost to us, goes on analysing the chronology of events, indicating that then there is a long silence from Frois coinciding with Valignano’s second stay in Japan [4]. Frois does not refer to his Historia de Japam again. Meanwhile, Valignano departed Japan in 1582 and returned to Cochim, India, where he began writing his own text about Japan. Relying on both his own experiences and some of Frois’ accounts, he completed a well-articulated synthesis in 1583, known as the Sumario, which is a compilation of information and opinions about sixteenth-century Japan. While he refrains from quoting Frois directly, he does use much of his written information.8 The Sumario contains 33 chapters—some praising the qualities of Japan and its inhabitants, and others criticizing the Japanese people and the manner in which they live, as evidenced in the following statement: Japan is an upside-down world; everything is different and contrary and so different from our customs that we cannot write it or understand it. And I admire that after all they govern themselves as a prudent nation with much policy… they have tastes so opposite to ours that the things we consider good they, in general, abhor and consider bad. (See p. 75 in [12])

Similar to Frois’ Treaty on Contradictions and its 611 contrasting statements between Europe and Japan, Valignano also takes such an approach, which the reader can find in the second chapter of his Sumario. But Frois was unaware of Valignano’s competitive efforts and continued to compile his own knowledgeable account of Japan, finishing it two years later in 1885. Bésineau’s biography of Valignano credits The Visitor Priest for these striking contrasts: Until now [the mid second chapter] he is largely tributary of the information gathered by the other Jesuit missionaries. Now he presents his own observa8  Jacques Bésineau refers in his Sumario’s notes that “Valignano and his closest collaborators Frois and Mexia have with no doubt exchange observations, and notes about their own experiences” [2].

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tions in a light mood with humour that he comments with an evident sympathy [12]. But because Valignano was able to deliver his Sumario to Rome before Frois could convey his own account, the former has always been credited as the “inventor” of these comparisons, never acknowledging what Frois had shown him after his 16 years in Japan. The difference, though, is that Valignano presents 10 contradictions while Frois applies the method of symmetry to 611 comparisons. While both writers take a similar approach in comparing and contrasting the two civilizations—even using the same sentence: so opposite and contradictory in such a polite people—Frois never outwardly criticizes the Japanese culture in his Treaty. Conversely, in the third chapter of the Sumario the reader can sense Valignano’s indignation toward Japanese religious practices and beliefs. To his credit, he does give a very good account of Japan and its political system, presented in Chapter 16, and suggests how the missionaries should adapt to Japanese customs and relate with the Japanese Jesuits. And despite its sometimes biased accounting, the Sumario does evidence Valignano’s shrewd political sense and accurate perception of Japan as a very strong and different culture. Indeed, in comparing the two tomes, the Sumario and the Treaty, we can appreciate Frois as an early anthropologist of Japan, and Valignano as an early political analyst. And while both derive their parallel accounts from similar experiences in Japan, we must point out what we consider to be Valignano’s transgression: as Schütte points out, Valignano never credits Frois as his main source (see pp. 29–34 in [4]). Valignano’s second and far more egregious offense, in our view, occurred during his second stay in Japan (1590–1592) when he did not deliver on what he had promised to do: to assist Frois in editing his Historia de Japam and ensure that it reached Rome for publication. Instead, he kept Frois so busy on other things that he could not write. Worse, he forced Frois to return to Macau with him as his assistant, where Frois was held for almost three years transcribing the letters Valignano dictated. Clearly, Valignano’s intent was to become the sole author of the first History of Japan in Europe. Moreover, although he badmouths Frois in Rome, he does not hesitate to usurp Frois’ good work as an essential source of data for his future work. While one can propose another, less nefarious, purpose behind Valignano’s plan to keep Frois in Macau and the subsequent confiscation of his years-in-the-making account of Japan, this is what Frois wrote in his letter to Rome: With the Lord’s grace we finished the Historia de Japam, the task having consumed five or six years. Now the Visitor Priest orders that I should give it to him so that he may review it and make some adjustments during the scarce time he can spare from his recurrent tasks and occupations. I pray the Lord that this meets His designs and that it is agreeable to Your Excellency’s eye […]. [15]

Mercifully, when publishing the Historia de Japam, Father Wicki made sure to include the accompanying manuscript letters from Valignano, as well as those from Frois written to Acquaviva in 1593, which we have also consulted in the Jesuit archive in Rome. In these letters we can sense Frois’ despair. He begs for help from the General, informing his superior he was being abused by Valignano with his excessive demands for dictation (three-to-four hours in the morning and the same in

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the afternoon). He added that his Historia de Japam, though finished, was not being sent to Rome as Acquaviva had initially requested. Indeed, beginning in 1593 Frois wrote several letters to his superiors in Rome asking for help and imploring that Valignano send his Historia de Japam for publication in Rome. Critically, the recipient of those letters is none other than Acquaviva, Valignano’s college friend. We know, of course, from the centuries-long disappearance of the Historia that nothing happened in response to Frois’ entreaty. Thus, Frois begs to be allowed to return to Japan, which he did in 1594, leaving his manuscripts behind in Macau. He died three years later in 1597, with his two significant manuscripts unpublished, never sent to Rome, and almost lost to time. Since, according to Valignano, Frois’ work was mainly descriptive, he decided to write the History himself, always with the same targets in mind: to pass into history as the first author of a faithful profile of Japan and curry favour with the Jesuit elite. Valignano’s first volume of the History of Japan appeared in 1601—again, with no reference to Frois. Though it is known that Valignano criticized the lengthy and detailed descriptions of Frois’ Historia de Japam (see p.  29  in [6]), he blatantly sourced Frois’ compiled work in order to produce his own book,9 and in so doing became the most well-known life reporter of sixteenth-century Japan for literally centuries. As a sad and cruel contrast, both Frois’ Historia de Japam and the Treaty on Contradictions remained unpublished and forgotten until the twentieth century. Can Valignano be held directly responsible for preventing the publication of these two life works? We argue in the affirmative: that he was largely to blame for this literary hijacking. When, after Frois’ death, João Alvares inquired about the História de Japam, Francisco Pasio S.J. responded in this way: The history of Japan written by the Priest Luis Frois (may he rest in peace), which Your Reverence inquiries about, was not sent to you because it needed many corrections. This year, the Father Visitor [Valignano] undertook the task of writing a new one.10 The Historia de Japam would have been forgotten forever were it not for the Jesuit priest Montanha, who transcribed it and sent a copy of the then 150-year-old manuscript to Lisbon around the year 1742. The full manuscript was then scattered across different locations: a part of it is now at the Biblioteca da Ajuda (Fig. 6.3), [9] with other sections at the Biblioteca Nacional. We credit the efforts of the Jesuit priest, Wicki, who succeeded in getting it published in 1976, a full 200 years after the copies were made. Unfortunately, the first chapters on Buddhism, Shintoism and other religious subjects were lost. Copies of several of Luis Frois’ letters are kept at Academia das Ciências (Fig. 6.4), which are well-preserved documents that can be easily accessed and read. During their lives, the Portuguese Frois and Italian Valignano both represented a then-powerful European institution. With their shared Jesuit association they could have easily put aside any regional competitiveness and worked together on this 9  Bésineau commenting on the coincidence of the dual analysis both of Frois’ Historia and Valignamo’s Sumario asserts: Valignamo and his closest collaborators Frois and Mexia, have surely exchanged observations and remarks on their respective experiences. 10  Manuscript from Biblioteca da Ajuda, 49-IV-53.

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Fig. 6.3  The reading room at Ajuda Nacional Library in Lisbon. Some copies of the Frois and Rodrigues manuscripts on Japan are conserved here, BNA, Lisbon. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

immense challenge of portraying Japan for the first time to a European audience. Frois’ comparisons of Japan and Europe was penned at a time when intellectualism was somewhat new to Europe—and to which the Jesuits were contributing with their pragmatic, intelligent, and disciplined network of priests and missionaries. Frois’ considerable addition to the literature about a mysterious realm halfway around the world was undermined by Valignano’s arrogance and voracious appetite for recognition. The Father Visitor effectively boycotted the publication of a major co-authored anthropological compilation of Japan, caring more about his own reputation in Rome and sending Frois’ Historia de Japam and The Treaty on Contradictions into obscurity for centuries.

6.3  F  rois the Anthropologist and the Initial Globalisation Efforts Frois lived in Japan for more than 30  years, during which time he observed and recorded many incongruities between the two countries. Unlike Alexander Valignano, Frois hardly ever judges his Japanese hosts; he did not define what was right and what was wrong about the people whose lives he then shared. He simply listed the differences. This approach may account for the fact that the manuscript Schütte found in Madrid contains blank or unfinished pages to which Frois might have intended to add findings as he happened upon them. From this long list of

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Fig. 6.4  Noble Hall, Academia das Ciências in Lisbon, Portugal. Some copies of the Frois and Rodrigues manuscripts on Japan are conserved here. (Courtesy of ACAD, Lisbon, 2018)

contradictions, some are useful for imparting knowledge of appropriate behaviour and would thus be helpful to those who may later be required to follow Japanese etiquette. Others are relevant for describing customs and daily behaviour, while some are useful for artistic creation. Regardless of the category under which they fall, each contradiction promotes cultural growth in describing customs that may disturb, trigger reflexion, and ultimately inform. In the original prologue to the Treaty on Contradictions, Luis Frois summarised just how striking were the differences between European and Japanese customs,

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while also hinting that ongoing Portuguese trade was beginning to influence the Japanese people to a certain extent: And though in these lands of Ximo we may find some customs upon which the Japanese seem to concur with us, that does not mean those are common and universal to them, rather they result from the trade they make with the Portuguese who arrive in their ships to deal with them – and many of their customs are so remote, innovative and different from ours that it almost seems unbelievable that such striking contrasts may occur with people as educated, ingenious and endowed with natural knowledge as they are. (See p. 54 in [16])

Thus, Frois bequeaths to coming generations a vivid account of the first well-­ documented encounter between East and West—corresponding to the initial 50 and some years (1543–1597) of The Christian Century. We agree with Garcia, the historian who is credited with the 1993 publication of the Treaty in Portuguese: The notoriety of the Treaty does not result from being a work of reflection and perceptive literary accuracy, but rather from the depth and rigour in the analysis of registered information and from being the most extensive and systematic work in the scope of compared cultural anthropology among those written in the sixteenth century, focusing on the European vision of a different civilization. (See p. 36 in [16])

Frois’ observations of the cultural and anthropological differences between European and Japanese women are particularly interesting. Note that even though Frois was a Jesuit—and presumably of high moral standing—he did not criticize the marked differences in sexual behaviour; moreover, he noticed feminine details such as perfumes and hair ribbons that many contemporary men would pay no mind to: In Europe a young woman’s supreme honour and treasure is her chastity and the inviolate cloister of her purity; women in Japan pay no mind to virginal purity nor does a loss of virginity deprive them of honour or matrimony. Women in Europe perfume their hair with fragrant aromas; Japanese women always walk about reeking of the oil they use to anoint their hair. Women in Europe tie their hair by braiding ribbons into it all the way to the ends; Japanese women tie their hair using either a small paper ribbon at a single place in the back or they roll it on top of the head using a paper string. The hair of women in Europe turns white in a few short years; Japanese women who are sixty years old have no grey hair because they treat it with oil. European women pierce their ears and wear earrings; Japanese women neither pierce their ears nor do they use earrings. [8]

In the first Portuguese edition of the Treaty, Garcia noted that Frois routinely paid special attention to the appearance and behaviour of Japanese men, women, and children. Mainly, he focused on matters relating to the human figure (height, eyes, noses, beards, hair, colour, nails and scars) and clothing (garments, materials, colours, shapes). However, among his 611 contradictions are fascinating accounts that provide significant knowledge for students of anthropology and sociology (see pp. 31–32 in [16]). We include selected contrasts that reinforce Frois’ nuanced eye and his understanding of the differences between Europeans and the Japanese: Europeans for the most part are tall and well built; the Japanese for the most part are not as tall or robust as we are. Europeans consider large eyes beautiful; the Japanese think they are horrendous and consider beautiful eyes those that are narrow in the inner corner of the eye

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6  The Forgotten Treaty on Contradictions and the Unpublished Historia de Japam Europeans take pride and honour in their beards; the Japanese take pride in a little tuft of hair that is bound at the back of their heads. Among us it is considered unclean and uncivilized to have long fingernails; Japanese men, as well as noblewomen, wear some [of their] nails like talons. Among us, no item of men’s clothing is suited for use by women; the Japanese kimono and thin robe are suited for men and women alike. Our clothing is fitted, narrow, and tight on the body; Japanese clothing is so loose-fitting that people rapidly and without embarrassment disrobe from the waist up. We wear our best clothing on the outside and our lesser clothing underneath; the Japanese wear their best underneath and their lesser clothing on top. [8]

Included in his collection of contrasts are reports that point to the introduction of new foodstuffs in Japan, which most certainly included sugar and sweets: As fond as Europeans are of sweets; the Japanese are equally fond of salty foods. We eat thin noodles with sugar, eggs, and cinnamon; they eat them with mustard and pepper. (See p. 35 in [16])

This information is important for the anthropological history of nutrition in Japan, which today still includes some sixteenth-century Portuguese recipes. From his (Frois’) remarks one may assume that sweets were not appreciated and consumed by the Japanese, in striking contrast to what was occurring in Europe. That explains why the Japanese vocabulary includes many words from Portuguese confectionary sources. Frois’ account also leads us to reconsider how the Portuguese impacted Japanese diet—and most notably in connection with sweets. What we now consider to be a dubious culinary contribution in terms of health and wellness, sugary recipes began to take hold in Japan during the sixteenth century, many combining sugar and eggs. Indeed, among his many contributions to our understanding of the late-Medieval period in Japan, Frois as cultural anthropologist describes in his Treaty on Contradictions, in very short sentences, the sparse use of sugar in Japan. Instead, he stresses the importance of the main food commodity in the sixteenth century: boiled rice with no salt is their current nourishment, as bread is among us. Today, we can still identify six traditional recipes in Japan, four of which are derived from earlier Portuguese sugar-intense recipes: Kasudosu, Kasutera, Keiran Somen, and Kompeito. The Portuguese also emphasized the practice of using oil to fry fish and vegetables, which persists in Japan today in the form of Nanbanzuke (fried fish marinated in vinegar and onion) and the well-known Tempura. The following listing provides further details about the culinary connections between the two countries: • Mostly made with egg yolks, it was then called Caço doce, (nowadays queijinhos de ovos), later adapted into Kasudosu or Casdoce, caço meaning a small ball in Portuguese and doce meaning sweet. This small and rich sweet is now a traditional treat from Hirado, where the Portuguese first established their trading posts during the 1550s. This sweet is now used before drinking matcha tea. • The well-known Kasutera or Kastera is a traditional sweet cake that has long been associated with Nagasaki. The Portuguese association with this treat makes sense because Nagasaki is a city designed and built by the Portuguese and

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Japanese around 1570 (see Chap. 2). Kastera uses a recipe of pão de ló, a very old and famous Portuguese cake made with flour, whipped egg whites, and many egg yolks beaten with sugar. Whipped egg whites are called ovos em castelo in Portuguese, and the word may have been adapted to the Japanese word Kastera. • In Fukuoka we also found a traditional sweet recipe from Portugal transformed into an ancient delicacy of Japan: Keiran Somen (Fig. 6.5) (in Portuguese, Fios de Ovos). Dating back some centuries, this Portuguese recipe involves a mixture of eggs and sugar where beaten egg yolks are slowly dropped into boiling sugar with a special small punctured tool. The making of Fios de Ovos requires precision and patience, but the treat is always available at important social functions such as weddings and baptisms (Fig.  6.6). Keiran somen is now a local delicacy of Fukuoka. • Another word associated with sugar refers to the tiny coloured sugar balls that may be found everywhere in Japan. Known as Konpeito (Fig. 6.7) in Japan, they derive from the Portuguese word confeitos, also referring to the same small sugar

Fig. 6.5  Keiran somen, a local delicacy of Fukuoka, which is similar to Palha de Abrantes. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

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Fig. 6.6  Palha de Abrantes, a Portuguese delicacy that may have inspired Keiran somen. It is made from fios de ovos which are made with egg yolks and sugar. (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

Fig. 6.7  An old Portuguese sugary candy, Confeito was introduced in Japan in the sixteenth century (left). Today, Kompeito is Japan’s interpretation of this Portuguese treat (right). (©António Sacchetti, 2010. All Rights Reserved)

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balls, a candy still traditional in northern Portugal. In general terms, confeitos refers to products made of sugar. • At the Imperial table in Japan, a special sauce is used—the Nanbanzuke—which is very similar to the Portuguese escabeche: a vinegar sauce made from oil and onions, which is used to preserve fried fish. It is also helpful as a preservative to keep other types of proteins from deteriorating, and thus able to be eaten for several days without the need for refrigeration. • Tempura is the well-known recipe where vegetables are soaked in light dough and fried. Tempera means in Portuguese the white of the egg which is how the dough is made, mixed with little flour. On the other hand, the term may also have its origins in the word têmpora, meaning the fasting period observed by the Christians during Lent, when this treat was mostly consumed (see p. 163 in [17]) It is called in Portuguese Peixinhos da Horta and is a very traditional recipe. In Michel Chandeigne’s foreword to the French 1993 translation of the Treaty, the French anthropologist and philosopher Claude Lévi-Strauss analysed Luis Frois’ many observations about the Japanese culture and summarizes what he achieved: The recognizable symmetry between two cultures consolidates them, while bringing up the contrasts. They appear simultaneously similar and different, the same as our symmetrical image reflected in a mirror.11 Lévi-Strauss further elaborates and explains how two so clearly distinct, even opposing, cultures achieved such a peaceful and amicable interaction, which yielded results in many different fields—notably in artistic pieces such as the Nanban screens or in Christian objects that use traditional Japanese lacquered techniques (uruxi) (Fig. 6.8). Lévi-Strauss also argues that the West discovered Japan twice; mid sixteenth century when the Jesuits came behind the Portuguese merchants, […] and three centuries later with naval actions led by the United States that forced open the Rising Sun Empire to international trade.12 Luis Frois was a main actor during the first encounter. Three centuries later, Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850–1935),13 a British Japanologist, played a similar role during the second discovery of Japan. […] If he [Chamberlain] had known about the Treaty on Contradictions, found 11 years after his death, he would have found it fascinating […]. Moreover, Chamberlain would have undoubtedly corroborated much of what he would have discovered in Frois’ much earlier work. We must also note that Levy Strauss also suggests the following: Neither Chamberlain nor Frois were aware that they were expressing their views about Japan in much the terms that Herodotus, in the 5th century BC, had referred to Egypt […]  Translation by Cristina Castel-Branco [18].  Translation by Cristina Castel-Branco [18]. 13  Basil Hall Chamberlain (1850–1935) is one of the foremost British Japanologists active in Japan during the late nineteenth century. His many works include the first translation of the Kojiki into English (1906), A Handbook of Colloquial Japanese (1888), his famous Things Japanese (1890), A Practical Guide to the Study of Japanese Writing (1905) and A Handbook for Travellers in Japan (1891—in collaboration with W.B. Mason). 11 12

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Fig. 6.8  Nanban lectern, brought from Japan, conserved at the Jesuits church of St. Roque in Lisbon. It uses traditional Japanese lacquered techniques (uruxi). (©António Sacchetti, 2010. All Rights Reserved)

Herodotus, Frois, and Chamberlain shared the same ambition. Despite the mutual unintelligibility [of the foreign culture of each], they endeavoured to make visible the transparent symmetrical relationship [with their own culture]. Was this a way to acknowledge that Egypt for [the Greek] Herodotus, and Japan for Frois and Chamberlain, possessed a civilization not inferior to their own?14

Lévi-Strauss concludes that This is a way to imprison the strangeness and make it familiar.15 As clearly documented in the Treaty on Contradictions, the many novelties in customs, culture, art, architecture, food, agriculture, and garden-making must have surely amazed the Portuguese who visited Japan during the late-Medieval period. But Frois was not the only European to record his experiences. Later, João Rodrigues constitutes a fertile source of information for our perception of the peaceful and curious encounters between the peoples from the Far East and Europe [19]. The 14 15

 Translation by Cristina Castel-Branco [18].  Translation by Cristina Castel-Branco [18].

References

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contrasts notwithstanding, an intense cultural exchange occurred between Japan and the visiting Portuguese—the documentation of which has reached us in its richest form in Frois’ Treaty on Contradictions16 and the Historia de Japam. As a faithful observer and chronicler of Japan over the course of his 34 years there, Frois adds immeasurably to the historical record of the first globalisation by Portuguese merchants and Jesuit missionaries. As Eduardo Lourenço recalls, If the Jesuits were not the only ones to understand the “others”, they were at least the first ones to remove themselves from the European matrix and make themselves “into the other” (see p. 77 in [20]).

References 1. Batista, A. R. (1997). Luís Froís in Macau. In E. K. de Carvalho (Ed.), Luis Frois: Proceedings of the international conference, United Nations University, Tokyo, September 24–26, 1997 (pp. 40–59). Tokyo: Embassy of Portugal in Japan. 2. Valignano, A. (1990). Les jésuites au Japon—Relation missionnaire (ed and trans: Bésineau, J.). Paris: Desclée de Brouwer. 3. de Matos, A. T. (1997). The voyage made by Luis Frois and his companions from Lisbon to India in 1548. In E. K. de Carvalho (Ed.), Luis Frois: Proceedings of the international conference, United Nations University, Tokyo, September 24–26, 1997 (pp. 40–59). Tokyo: Embassy of Portugal in Japan. 4. Wicki, J.  (1976). Introdução. In Historia de Japam: 1o v., 1549–1564 (Vol. I, pp.  1–49). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 5. Wicki, J. (1976). Anexo. In Historia de Japam: 1o v., 1549–1564 (Vol. I, pp. 397–413). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 6. García, J. M. (1993). Apresentação. In Europa Japão: um diálogo civilizacional no século XVI (pp.  7–45). Lisboa: Comissão nacional para as comemorações dos descobrimentos portugueses. 7. Frois, L. (1993). Europa Japão: um diálogo civilizacional no século XVI (ed: García, J. M., & D’Intino, R.). Lisboa: Comissão nacional para as comemorações dos descobrimentos portugueses. 8. Frois, L. (2014). The first European description of Japan, 1585: A critical English-language edition of striking contrasts in the customs of Europe and Japan by Luis Frois, S.J. (ed and trans: Danford, R., Reff, D. T., & Gill, R.). London, New York: Routledge. 9. Leão, F. G. C. (Ed.). Jesuítas na Ásia—Catálogo e Guia (Vol. I). Lisboa: Tipografia Welfare Limitada. 10. Correia, P. (2003). Father Diogo de Mesquita (1551–1614) and the cultivation of Western plants in Japan. Bulletin of Portuguese—Japanese Studies, 7, 73–91. 11. Sioris, G. A. (1997). Chronicler and interpreter of Japan, a Jesuit between two countries. In Luis Frois: Proceedings of the international conference, United Nations University, Tokyo, September 24–26, 1997. Tokyo: Embassy of Portugal in Japan. 12. Bésineau, J. (1990). Introduction. In Les jésuites au Japon—Relation missionnaire (pp. 18–51). Paris: Desclée de Brouwer. 13. Schurhammer, G. (1929). O P.  Luís Frois S.J. e a sua “História do Japão”. Brotéria—Fé— Ciências—letras, IX, 95–107.

16

 Now fully translated with commentary in English in the recent Daniel Rieff publication in [8].

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14. Fróis, L. (1976). Historia de Japam: 1o v., 1549–1564 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. I. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 15. Frois, L. (1593). P. Luís Fróis ao P. Geral Cláudio Acquaviva Macau, 18 de Janeiro de 1593. Jap. Sin. 12 I, 96r-97v. ARSI (Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu). 16. Fróis, L. (1993). Europa Japão—Um diálogo civilizacional do século XVI (ed: D’Intino, R.). Lisboa: Comissão Nacional para as Comemorações dos Descobrimentos Portugueses. 17. de Carvalho, E. K. (2005). Sushi Bar, nós e os Japoneses. Dafundo: Editorial Tágide. 18. Lévi-strauss, C. (1998). Préface. In Européens et Japonais—traité sur les contradictions et différences de mœurs. Paris: Chandeigne. 19. Rodrigues, J. (1955). História da Igreja do Japão: 1620–1633 (BA-149-XV-12/13) (ed: Pinto, J. A. A., Vol. I). Macau: Notícias de Macau. 20. Dias, A. C. (1997). Historia do Japão: The representation of the other in the work of Luís Fróis. In E. K. de Carvalho (Ed.), Luis Frois: Proceedings of the international conference, United Nations University, Tokyo, September 24–26, 1997 (pp. 70–77). Tokyo: Embassy of Portugal in Japan.

Chapter 7

Chronologies of Luis Frois, João Rodrigues, Gaspar Vilela and Luis de Almeida

7.1  Luis Frois (1532–1597) • 1532—Born in Lisbon, educated in King João III’s court where Bartolomeu Frois (probably his mother’s brother) served as a scribe (see pp. 95–97 [1]). • 1548—Joined the Society of Jesus at Santo Antão College in Lisbon [1]. Left to Goa with the superior Gaspar Barzeo on March 17, arriving in October (see p.  207 [2]) after a two-month stopover in Mozambique. Arrived in Goa on September 4 (see p. 22 [3]) where he meets Father Francis Xavier who is then preparing for his departure to Japan (April 1549). • 1550—Sent to Bassein in northern India, where Father Belchior Gonçalves acted as superior and missionary [2]. • 1551—Returns to Goa in November (see p. 766 in [4]). • 1552—In November, Father Barzeo, the rector of St. Paul’s college in Goa and vice-provincial, puts him in charge of writing the “news” on Goa [5]. • 1554—In March he witnesses the arrival of St. Francis Xavier’s incorrupt corpse to Goa, arriving from Shangchuan Island (from the Portuguese São João, St. John) and Malaca. Departs to Japan via Malaca as secretary to Vice-Provincial Priest Belchior Nunes Barreto. He is retained in Malaca alone after Belchior Nunes Barreto’s departure to Japan [2]. • 1557—Returns to Goa with Vice-Provincial Belchior Nunes Barreto who came back from Japan [2]. • 1557—Until 1558, he studies under the humanist Marcos Nunes, professor of high studies in Latin language [5]. Marcos Nunes lived in Goa between 1555 and 1560. • 1558—On October 24, Frois starts a two-year course on scholastic philosophy with Father Manuel Teixeira, future first biographer of St. Francis Xavier, Father António de Quadros, Provincial and Father Francisco Cabral, future general superior of the Japan mission (1570–1581). © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 C. Castel-Branco, G. Carvalho, Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0018-3_7

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• 1561—Ordained a priest in Goa. Continues his studies in Theology [2]. • 1562—Left definitely to Japan, via Macau (see p. 766 in [4]). • 1563—In Macau he reveals his oratory qualities during the Palm Sunday sermon, which caused great impact on the audience. He also carried the Holy Sacrament during the procession [3]. • 1563—On the night of July 6, Frois  enters Japan through Yokoseura harbour, Omura Sumitada’s domain, in D.  Pedro Guerra’s ship where De Monte and Miguel Vaz also travelled (Fig. 7.1). They were received by the Jesuit Cosme de Torres and accompanied to the new church by over 200 people [6]. • 1563—Starts learning Japanese. The political situation in Oita (Bungo on the Kyushu Island) was unstable so he was sent with Brother João Fernandez to the small Takushima island, whose Lord was a Christian [7]. • 1564—In September he is in Hirado and writes to Brother Tomé Correia (Jap Sin 5 135). He mediates the harbouring of the Big Carrack in Hirado and convinced the Hirado daimyo to reaccept evangelization in his lands, which had become forbidden since Gaspar Vilela’s banning [2]. • 1564—Cosme de Torres assigned Luis Frois to Kyoto, to become Superior of the mission. He leaves Hirado on November 10 in the company of Brother Luis de Almeida [8].

Fig. 7.1  Luis Frois statue at Yokoseura park (detail). (©António Sacchetti, 2018. All Rights Reserved)

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• 1565—On January 31 he arrives in Kyoto during the Japanese New Year festivities. The Superior Vilela introduces him to Lourenço, the blind and lame Japanese brother who will become an essential support to Frois. Following Japanese tradition, Vilela takes advantage of the festivities to visit Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, the Christians’ protector in the capital, and to introduce Luis Frois, offering him some presents [9]. During this year he visits many gardens and temples that he later describes. • 1565—On June 17 dies the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, who had granted the Priests residence permit through Gaspar Vilela [10]. After his death Frois and the Christian are persecuted and forced to leave Kyoto [11]. • 1565—Until 1569, Frois takes shelter in Sakai during 5 years with Lourenço, the Japanese brother, and with no contact with any European. There he preached and supported the Kyoto Christians who travelled to Sakai in order to confess and celebrate the main festivities (Easter, Christmas) [12]. • 1569—Through Vatadono (Wada Koremasa, also known as wada iga-no-kami), he asks Oda Nobunaga, the new politician in charge, permission to come back to Kyoto. He is received by Nobunaga and invited to visit the Nijo Gosho construction that Oda Nobunaga had built for the new Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki. Upon this occasion Frois offers Oda Nobunaga a jar of sweets and some wax candles and he asks for permission to live in Kyoto, which he is granted [13]. • 1569—In June/July he travels to Gifu with Vatadono’s assistance, in order to converse with Oda Nobunaga and seek his protection, because although he had been granted permission to live in Kyoto some Buddhist monks were putting his stay in the capital in risk. Oda Nobunaga receives him very amiably and invites him to visit the castle, an honour bestowed upon few so far. Afterwards, letters confirming the priest’s right to live and freely preach in Kyoto were written [14]. • 1569–1576—His permanence in Kyoto made legal, Frois stays there during seven years this being the most productive letter-writing period testifying the accommodation method initiated by Vilela. He goes on leading the approach of the mission to Oda Nobunaga, while writing long letters that were translated and published in Rome by his European brothers. He is a first-hand witness to Kyoto’s political instability and Oda Nobunaga’s ascension to power and had to leave and hide frequently. He continued to make sporadic visits to Sakai, from where several letters were written. Served as an interpreter to Father Cabral [5] in 1572 and in 1574, when the latter visited Kyoto. • 1577—Father Francisco Cabral sent Frois to Bungo (Oita) as Superior, because he was one of the oldest Christians; he was replaced in Kyoto by Father João Francisco Italiano and Father Organtino, who had joined him in 1570. From 1577 to 1581 he acts as Superior in Bungo (see pp. 166–167 in [4]). • 1579—While looking for documents and materials in Portugal for his history on East India, Father J.P. Maffei comes upon Luis Frois’ letters and in view of their quality he suggests to General Priest Mercuriano that he should write a systematic commentary that would enlighten Europe about Japanese customs and other specificities [5]. Arrival of Father Alexandre Valignano as Visitor to control the mission’s activity.

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• 1580—Father Merccuriano dies and is succeeded by Cláudio Aquaviva, without having requested Father Luis Frois to write the aforesaid History of Japan, but Aquaviva will follow Maffei recommendation [5]. • 1581—He professed three votes in Usuki, on October 18 (see p. 167 in [4]). • 1581—Frois returns to Kyoto in order to accompany Father Alexandre Valignano and both are affectionately received by Oda Nobunaga. Obeying the Visitor’s order Luis Frois departed to the Echizen (Yechigen) kingdom in Fukui, 150 km Norwest of Kyoto. He was the first to come to these lands, where he converted many pagans and built a church (see p. 248 in [2]). • 1581—Writes a letter from Azuchi, where he was received by Oda Nobunaga. He described in great detail Azuchi castle and palace, in a letter from Kuchinotsu dated November 5 1582, Jap. Sin. 96–105. Portugal becomes a province of Spain with Phillip II of Spain and I of Portugal as King. • 1582—On June 21 Frois was in Kyoto when Oda Nobunaga was caught and forced to commit suicide in the presence of a mob commanded by Akechi Mitsushide. He describes Nobunaga’s death in detail, which is readily translated into Italian and published in Rome [15]. Cláudio Aquaviva, the Society General in Rome, follows Maffei’s idea and writes to Father Valignano instructing him to convince Father Frois to write the History of Japan [5]. Valignano departs from Japan to India, where he will write the Sumario de la cosas de Jápon to be sent to Rome, where it is published in 1583 [16]. • 1582—Frois moves to Kuchinotsu where he writes several letters to the Society General Priest [5]. • 1584—Japan’s Vice-Provincial, Gaspar Coelho, following the General Priest Cláudio Aquaviva’s instructions, puts Luis Frois in charge of writing the real and true History of the Japanese mission from Xavier’s time up to the present. Frois accepts to write the Historia de Japam, stating that he would succeed with God’s help [5]. • 1584—He moves to Katsusa in Arima, from where he writes several letters [5]. • 1585—Returns to Nagasaki where amid several letters dated from August to November he terminates the Treaty on Contradictions [5]. • 1586—Accompanies the Vice-Provincial Gaspar Coelho, acting as the India Vice-Roy’s ambassador, to visit Toyotomi Hideyoshi in Kyoto and Osaka. Hideyoshi receives them with great honours. In Osaka he shows them the new fortress he was building on the site of an old Buddhist monastery. Due to his fluency in Japanese, Frois acted as interpreter in this significant encounter [17]. • 1587—On January 1 he writes to the General Father reporting that he has been working on the History of Japan (Historia de Japam) for two years and that he will carry on, in spite of his health problems [5]. Following Hideyoshi’s edit against the Church, in July 1587, Father Frois removed himself to the Takushima Island [2]. Hideyoshi issues decrees restricting the practice of Christianity (July 23) and expelling the missionaries from Japan (July 24) (see pp.  227– 235 in [18]). • 1588—Stays in Katsusa, Arima, until 1589.

7.2  João Rodrigues (1561–1633)

227

• 1590—Moves to Nagasaki and remains there writing the Historia de Japam until the return of Visitor Priest Alexandre Valignano, who will stay in Japan until 1592 [4]. • 1591—On March 3 he attended the audience in Kyoto where Alexandre Valignano introduced to Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his court the four young samurai who “as Japanese ambassadors” had just returned from an eight-year sojourn in Europe [19]. João Rodrigues acted as interpreter [20]. • 1591—Frois took four votes in Katsusa, in July [4]. Finishes the History of Japan and gives it to Valignano, who receives it with many criticisms and promises to edit and summarize it [5]. • 1592—On October 9 he is forced to accompany Valignano to Macau, since the latter had not edited the History of Japan yet. The intention was to review the Historia de Japam document in Macau and send it to the General Aquaviva in Rome [5]. • 1592—Lives and works in Macau as a secretary to Valignano, who keeps him busy writing letters and retains the Historia de Japam but does not proceed with its edition [5]. • 1593—Writes a letter to General Acquaviva, informing that his Historia de Japam, though finished, was not being sent and implores him to ask Valignano to send it to Rome so it could be published [5]. • 1594—Valignano leaves to India [16]. • 1595—Frois is sick and asks to be allowed to return to Japan in July, leaving behind his extensive finished manuscript that was never sent to Rome for publishing [5]. He lives in Nagasaki, the new town built around 1571 by Portuguese and Japanese to receive the big carrack [21]. • 1596—Frois is ill (seriously swollen leg) [2]. Incident aboard the Spanish ship S.  Felipe, the Spanish ship’s captain threatens the Japanese government with invasion and occupation by Philip II [22]. • 1597—Three dozen Christians are arrested in Kyoto and walked to Nagasaki to be there crucified. On February 5 Frois witnesses the crucifixion of the 26 martyrs in Nagasaki [23]. • 1597—Died in Nagasaki on July 8.

7.2  João Rodrigues (1561–1633)1 • 1561—João Rodrigues was born in Sernancelhe, Lamego, Portugal. • 1577—Rodrigues arrived in Japan two years after leaving Portugal. • 1580—In December, entered the Jesuit novitiate in Bungo, where he began studying the humanities (Latin, theology and rhetoric). 1  The life and work of João Rodrigues was profoundly studied by Michael Cooper in his biographical book Rodrigues the interpreter: an early Jesuit in Japan and China, which is the main source for this chronology. For addition information refer to [20].

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• 1583—In October, he began studying scholastic philosophy, while also teaching Latin to the Japanese boys attending the Jesuit College in Bungo. • 1590—Fluent in Japanese, he becomes Alessandro Valignano interpreter during his second tour of inspection of the Japanese mission. • 1591—March 3, he served as an interpreter during the audience with Toyotomi Hideyoshi where the Tensho Embassy, composed of four young samurai returning from an eight-year trip to Europe, presented themselves before Toyotomi Hideyoshi. After that, Toyotomi Hideyoshi summoned João Rodrigues to court several times. • 1596—Although Rodrigues’ theological studies were often interrupted—as he often had to undertake delicate negotiations with leading nobles on behalf of the mission—he graduated successfully and sailed to Macau to receive ordination from Bishop Pedro Martins. He accompanied the bishop back to Nagasaki and acted as his interpreter during an audience with Hideyoshi at Fushimi in November. • 1597—On February 5, he was present during the Nagasaki martyrdoms when twenty-six Christians were killed. • 1598—Rodrigues worked as an interpreter, representative and treasurer of the mission. Often summoned to the court, he was received twice in audience by Hideyoshi two weeks before the ruler’s death. Rodrigues paid further visits to court every year after Tokugawa Ieyasu took over political control of the country. • 1603—Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam (Vocabulary of the Language of Japan), the first dictionary of Japanese to a European language (Portuguese), was published in Nagasaki. João Rodrigues might have had a hand in the compiling of this dictionary published by Jesuit missionaries. • 1604—May 25, Arte da Lingoa de Iapam (Art of the Japanese Language) by João Rodrigues was published in Nagasaki, the oldest fully extant Japanese grammar and a valuable reference for the late-sixteenth century Japanese language. • 1606—Rodrigues arranged an audience with Tokugawa Ieyasu for Bishop Luis Cerqueira. • 1607—Rodrigues arranged an audience with Tokugawa Ieyasu  for the Jesuit Provincial, Francisco Pasio. Rodrigues then travelled to Tokyo to confer with Ieyasu’s son. • 1608—Rodrigues travelled to Suruga to pay his annual visit to the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu. Second edition of Arte da Lingoa de Iapam. • 1609—Rodrigues paid his last annual visit to the court. • 1610—Rodrigues was expulsed from Japan after the Portuguese carrack Madre de Deus was attacked and sunk at Nagasaki in January 1610. He arrived in Macau in early 1610 after living in Japan for 33 years. • 1613—Travelled to the interior of China, visiting the Jesuit residences and studying Chinese Buddhism. He continued to travel until July 1615. • 1614—Ieyasu issued a decree expelling all the Christians from Japan. • 1620—The Arte da breve da Lingoa de Japoa (The Short Art of the Japanese Language) by João Rodrigues was published in Macau. This heavily revised edition of his Arte da Lingoa de Iapam reformulated and shortened the text,

7.3  Gaspar Vilela (1526–1572)

• • • •

229

establishing clear and concise rules regarding the principal features of the Japanese language. He began to collect material for his Historia da Igreja de Japão (History of the Church in Japan). 1628—Sent by the Macao senate to Peking with an embassy transporting ten cannons in response to a Ming plea for military aid against invading Manchu forces. 1630—Rodrigues returned to Macao with orders to recruit more troops. On October 31 he left Macao once again leading 360 soldiers. 1631—He barely escaped death as Tengchow’s fortress in Shatung province was captured. He returned to Peking where he received an imperial commendation for his services to the Ming government. 1633—João Rodrigues reached Macao in February, but died six months later on August 1 at the age of 72.

7.3  Gaspar Vilela (1526–1572) • 1526—Born in Aviz, Portugal (see p. 802 [24]). • 152?—Educated and raised by Benedictine monks in their convent (see p. 802 [24]). • 1551—Left Lisbon for India with Father Belchior Nunes Barreto. Date of ingress in the Society of Jesus unknown (either in Lisbon or later in India) [2]. • 1554—Ordained a priest in Goa and in May 1554 left with Father Belchior Nunes Barreto to Japan (see p. 802 [24]), though they were forced to spend winter in Macau due to adverse climatic conditions [2]. • 1555—On April 1, they departed from Malaca for Japan. Facing some adversity, they were advised to leave the ship and proceed to China, where locating a boat to take them to Japan would be easier [25]. • 1556—Departed from China for Japan in June, arriving in the same year. Stayed with Cosme de Torres in Bungo to acquire basic knowledge of the country [2]. • 1556—Worked in Bungo until 1557, where he established a hospital (see p. 802 [24]). • 1557—Sent to Hirado in September (see p. 802 [24]). There he had a serious altercation with a powerful bonzo. This row was ultimately to be responsible for Vilela’s expulsion from Hirado to Bungo [26, 27]. • 1559—In September, departed from Funai for Miaco with brother Lourenço as an interpreter with the goal of visiting the Mount Hiei temples in response to a letter from a monk (bonzo) who expressed curiosity about the new religion. After many setbacks, he reached Sakai in October and then went on to Mount Hiei. His mission in Mount Hiei was fruitless since he was unable to reach the main monastery superior [2, 28, 29]. • 1559—From Mount Hiei he proceeded to Kyoto, arriving in November. He was the first priest to come to Kyoto after St. Francis Xavier. First he tried to preach in the streets; achieving no results, he followed a monk’s advice and went to meet the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru, who received him amiably. He started to preach

230

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•

•

• • • • • •

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there but had to battle misconceptions about the new religious (he was said to eat human flesh and other sacrileges). Despite such hurdles, he began to convert several monks, which increased his credibility. Accordingly, he received Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru’s permission to preach in Kyoto [30]. 1560—On September 8, the first Catholic mass was held in the first Miaco church, built under his supervision and dedicated to the Lady’s birth. From then on, however, the monks of Mount Hiei influenced the central power to ban Vilela from Kyoto. Before that could happen, the priest fled Kyoto and hid in a neighbouring temple, where he stayed for three days. Eventually, Vilela returned to Kyoto thanks to Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru’s intervention [2]. 1661—In June, Vilela announces he is leaving for Sakai with brother Lourenço, to meet a nobleman who wanted to learn about the Christian faith. Sakai being a free town, Vilela saw potential in the undertaking. He preached there for a while and even converted a great lord, who was baptized and received the name of Sancho [31]. This is the D. Sancho who showed Luis Almeida the tea utensils upon his visit to Sakai, and should not be confused with the other D. Sancho, the lord of Iimorie fortress. 1563—Together with Lourenço, Vilela participated in an official investigation organized by Matsunaga Hisahide in Nara to determine the veracity of the Christian religion, and hence its future in the region. On the basis of the evidence they heard, both judges, together with the delegate of the missionaries, Takayama Zusho, accepted the truth of Christianity and requested to be baptized (see pp. 319–321 in [32]). 1564—Two Japanese brothers, Damião and Agostinho, arrive in Kyoto in January to assist Gaspar Vilela [2]. 1565—Arrival of Father Luis Frois in Kyoto to assist Vilela. Death of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshitero, who protected the priests [9]. 1566—On April 30, Vilela departs from Sakai for Bungo. He organized a mission to Korea but the journey did not happen. Instead, he probably spent some time in Bungo (see p. 802 [24]). 1569—Stayed in Nagasaki until 1570, where he built the first church dedicated to All Saints, using a temple he had been offered. Nowadays, the building is once again used as a temple, the location of the Shuntoku-ji temple (see p. 802 [24]). 1570—Already ill, he departed for India towards the end of that year (see p. 802 [24]). 1572—Died in India (see p. 802 [24]).

7.4  Luís de Almeida (1525–1583) • 1525—Born in Lisbon to an affluent Christian family (see p. 26 in [33]). • 1546—Medically trained in Lisbon, which terminated 30 March 1546 [34]. • 1548—Travelled to India on 17 March, took up to commerce with Duarte da Gama (see pp. 72–73 in [35]).

7.4  Luís de Almeida (1525–1583)

231

• 1552—Visited Japan for the first time; the following year he made the acquaintance of Cosme de Torres in Hirado and was introduced to the Japanese mission. • 1556—Joined the Society of Jesus on 15 April 1556  in Funai (Oita) (see pp. 10–12 in [36]), committed himself to setting up a hospital [37] and introduced Western medicine to Japan. (Fig. 7.2) • 1561—From 1561 onwards, Luís de Almeida worked in several regions of Japan, including Hakata, Hirado and Kagoshima [36]. • 1562—Worked in Yokoseura until 1563 in association with the founding of the harbour there (see pp. 15–18 in [36]). • 1565—Left to the Arima region and accompanied Father Luis Frois to Kyoto, visiting Sakai, Nara and several other towns in mid-Japan [8]. • 1566—Visited the Goto islands (see pp. 118–123 and 140–147 in [38]. • 1567—Remained in the then-small village of Nagasaki for about a year (see p. 116 in [34]). • 1569—Dedicated to Amakusa’s evangelization, Luis de Almeida carried out several apostolic missions (see pp. 117–118 in [34]). • 1575—He moved to Arima where he administered many baptisms.

Fig. 7.2  Luis de Almeida Statue in Oita, where he built the first hospital. (Wikimedia Commons, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/LuisdeAlmeida.jpg)

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• 1579—Left for Macau on 11 October and was ordained there on May 6 of the following year (see pp. 28–29 in [36]). • 1580—Returned to Japan on 25 August (see pp. 28–29 in [36]). • 1581—Served as the Amakusa Superior until 1583. As the Superior, Luis de Almeida assisted at the Nagasaki consultation in December 1581. His work in Japan is still remembered nowadays and there are memorials dedicated to him in Nagasaki and Hondo, as well as a hospital named after him in Oita. • 1583—Died in Japan in October (see pp. 89–90 in [39]).

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e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (Vol. I, pp. 68–69). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 29. de Almeida, L. (1598). Carta que Lourenço Iapaõ eſcreveo de Miáco aos padres & irmãos da Cõpanhia de Ieſu de Búngo, no meſmo Iapam, a 2.de Iunho de 1560. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (Vol. I, pp. 69v–71v). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 30. Vilela, G. (1598). Carta do padre Gaſpar Vilela, de Iapaõ da cidade do Sacáy, pera os irmaõs da Companhia de IESV da India, a 17.deAgoſto, de 1561. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 89v–94v). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 31. Vilela, G. (1598). Carta que o padre Gaſpar Vilela de Iapaõ, da cidade do Sakáy, pera os padres & irmaõs da Companhia de IESV, eſcrita no Anno de 1562. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (pp. 112v–115v). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 32. Elisonas, J. (2008). Christianity and the daimyo. In The Cambridge history of Japan (Vol. IV). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 33. Fróis, L. (1926). Die Geschichte Japans (1549–1578), von P. Luis Frois (ed: Schurhammer, G., & Voretzsch, E. A.). Leipzig: Verlag der Asia major. 34. de Carvalho, J. V. (1994). Luís de Almeida, médico, mercador e missionário no Japão, 1525– 1583. In R. Carneiro & A. T. de Matos (Eds.). O Século cristão do Japão: actas do Colóquio internacional comemorativo dos 450 anos de amizade Portugal-Japão (1543–1993) (pp. 105– 122). Lisboa: Centro de História d’Aquém e d’Além-mar. 35. Bourdon, L. (1949). Luis de Almeida, chirurgien et marchand avant son entrée dans la Compagnie de Jésus au Japon, 1525?–1556. Mélanges d’études portugaises offerts à M. Georges Le Gentil, 51, 69–85. 36. Yūki, R. (1989). Luís de Almeida (1525–1583): médico, caminhante, apóstolo. Macao: Instituto Cultural de Macau. 37. de Almeida, L. (1598). De hua do irmaõ Luis Dalmeida de Iapam, pera o padre Meſtre Belchior, Reitor do Collegio da Companhia de IESV de Cochim, eſcrita no anno de 1559. In Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Iesus escreuerão dos Reynos de Iapão & China aos da mesma Companhia da India, & Europa des do anno de 1549 atè o de 1580 (Vol. I, p. 62). Evora: Manoel de Lyra. 38. Fróis, L. (1981). Historia de Japam: 2o v., 1565–1578 (ed: Wicki, J., Vol. II. V Vols.). Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. 39. Frois, L. (1598). Carta annua do Iapão do anno de 1583. perao Reuereudo padre geral da companhia de Ieſus eſcrita polo padre Luis Frões aos 2. de Ianeiro de 1584. In Segunda parte das cartas de Iapão que escreverão os padres, & ir mãos da companhia de IESVS (pp. 89v–94v). Evora: Manoel de Lyra.

Chapter 8

Closing Thoughts

We now present the major observations that emerged from this research and finish with four conclusions yielded from the project. The 2500 pages of the Historia de Japam, the 1500 pages from the Cartas, and the 60-page Treaty on Contradictions embody an enormously rich database about sixteenth-century Japanese culture and their way of life. Written by an insightful and broadminded Portuguese man whose opus captures his experiences of the place during the years 1563–1597, the five volumes also include the impressions of his religious companions who travelled the landscape while serving the newly converted Christians. The first two referenced manuscripts remained almost unknown and unpublished for about 400 years. Thus, its discovery and translation to English eventually made it available to a much larger community. Clearly, we could not possibly capture in this book the entirety of what Luis Frois sought to convey to a European audience thirsty for information about an unknown island. Instead, the texts presented in the book represent a thematic selection focused on gardens, cities and landscapes. The story of the early Portuguese-Japanese relationship is taught in schools— often beginning with the introduction of the gun in Tanegashima. Beyond that, however, fewer know about the many other cultural, scientific, and social exchanges that took place during the sixteenth century in Japan. Frois’ account confirms that before the extradition edicts were implemented and the hard times that followed, the commercial, cultural, and some religious exchanges were fruitful. And we acknowledge that this book largely focuses on this unique and progressive period during the Age of Discovery. From the research gleaned from these manuscripts, we can state with confidence that during the nearly half-century between 1550 and 1597—the year of the Nagasaki Martyrdom when 26 Japanese Christians were crucified—the two cultures enjoyed fertile entente during which both cultural and artistic interchanges occurred. Thus, when in 2015 we heard about director Martin Scorcese’s movie based on Shusaku Endo’s book, Silence, we were sorry that the film’s release would precede the publication of this research. As it turned out, this magnificent and very © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 C. Castel-Branco, G. Carvalho, Luis Frois: First Western Accounts of Japan’s Gardens, Cities and Landscapes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0018-3_8

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truthful movie reinforced the need to present the facts confirming that for quite some time a collaborative relationship did exist between Europeans and Japanese in the late-sixteenth century. Through the gardens, art, and written accounts of the period, we represent facts and historical testimonies that complete a portrait of a time and place that is truly exceptional in the history of intercultural exchanges. For example, one intriguing element of the rapport, mutual curiosity and authenticated collaboration between the two peoples, which this book only briefly addresses, concerns a range of culinary exchanges. Some people know about kasutera (sponge cake) from Portuguese castelo and tempura (battered and fried seafood or vegetables) from Portuguese tempera, two Portuguese recipes still used in Japan. Most of the recipes imported from Portugal to Japan are related to eggs and sugar, although we do know that a dark sugar kuromitsu (brown honey) existed in Japan prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Our research confirmed that the more familiar whiter sugar obtained from sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum) was introduced by the Portuguese and quickly became favoured as a new ingredient in the Japanese diet. Grown in Madeira island since 1419 and in the Azores archipelago since 1432, sugar cane later spread to Brazil along with improvements in processing machinery. Thus, by the mid-sixteenth century sugar had become a common ingredient in Portuguese cuisine. The capacity to preserve fruit and eggs with sugar through the making of marmalades or sweet cakes that lasted for weeks was surely an important asset for long sea voyages. Along with the introduction of sugar, recipes featuring eggs also began to creep into Japanese cuisine; in fact, many retain some variation of a Portuguese name. Was the use of chicken eggs a novelty in Japan? Were they used in Japanese cuisine prior to the European incursion? As we indicate in the chapter devoted to Nara, hens and roosters were considered sacred in some areas and, therefore, their eggs were not eaten. In contrast, Christianity features no such elevation of animals, making their consumption perfectly acceptable. Thus, were those Portuguese recipes featuring eggs and sugar introduced by Japanese Christian families? More research is needed in order to determine why certain Japanese recipes that include eggs, sugar, or both, have a Portuguese origin—notably castela, caço doce, or tempura that use eggs for the fried dough. And, again, we observe that early information for this kind of anthropological research on nutrition can be found within Frois’ accounts. With respect to the major conclusions that encapsulate our research on this project, we suggest four findings of note. First, we believe that the descriptions we selected from Frois’ writings will be useful to historians of garden art and design and can be considered quite independently from their early religious significance. As we hope the reader will discover, notably in Chaps. 3, 4 and 5, Frois’ text reveals certain novelties that were unknown in the West when he refers to the pruning of shrubs, the distinctive use of flowers, and the timeless harmony and simplicity of these gardens and temples. Similarly, in his Forward, Marc Treib makes note of an unexpected detail in Frois’ report wherein he notes the presence of flowers in sixteenth-century Japanese gardens when traditionally no flowers were known to be used in that way. As a description of early Japanese gardens and cities, this book can also serve as a guide for visitors in Japan.

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In particular, tourists of Portuguese descent may find this book particularly useful for revealing their ancestral history as global explorers, missionaries, and merchants. Second, while a good number of mid-twentieth-century historians (e.g. C.  R. Boxer, Michael Cooper, James Murdoch, G.  Schurhammer S.J, Armando Janeira, Kiichi Matsuda, Diego Pacheco, and George A. Sioris) have addressed the European-Japanese relationship during the second half of the sixteenth century, they have sporadically referred to Frois’ Cartas, and had difficult access (at best) to the complete Historia de Japan, which was not published in English. Therefore, their accounts would most probably have been different if nourished by the amount of “real life” information provided by Luis Frois. In fact, the two “lost” Frois manuscripts describe a multitude of other themes that can serve researchers of the late sixteenth-century in examining both the early transnational relationship between Japan and Europe, and the socio-cultural record of Japan at the time of the Age of Discovery. While we in no way minimize the historical accounts of the period compiled by the Japanese, we argue that Frois’ detailed accounts of military and political strategy (e.g. he is especially prolific in information about Oda Nobunaga and the men involved in his political machinations and military successes), governance and justice, climate and the natural landscape of Japan, its commerce with other nations, daily life and descriptions of food and dress, and local housing/construction practices are very informative. Moreover, Frois describes medical doctors and related practices; the “way of tea” and its utensils, caddies and their value; and calligraphy, which involves a distinct culture of paper, pens and ways of writing. His historical accounts also address the history and the way of Buddhism and Shintoism, providing a critical analysis of the two religions. Third, we emphasize that Japanese gardens are considered as art objects and are so valued that their preservation, restoration, and conservation have long been crucial to the nation’s identity. Japanese gardeners, who have been highly respected for centuries, have developed ways of managing drainage and replacing old elements such as wooden or bamboo structures at precisely the correct time before they (and the garden) enter a ruined state. The proper approach for trimming plants has been taught to generations of gardeners as a way to celebrate Nature. Indeed, teaching garden maintenance to the younger generations is considered to be essential for maintaining the country’s heritage. Frois’ now 450-year-old accounts emphasize the pre-eminence that gardens had, and continue to have, for the nation of Japan since many of the sites that he visited still exist today. As such, this historical heritage should serve as a lesson to the world about garden maintenance and conservation. Finally, we pay tribute to the astonishing Luis Frois. As a Jesuit and diplomat, he spent 34  years in Japan—becoming fluent in the language, establishing relationships with the highest levels of power, and painstakingly documenting a world that was so entirely different from anything he had known. It is clear from his writings that the humble missionary and ambassador genuinely respected the culture, making him the ideal person to serve as an envoy capable of negotiating with Nobunaga to permit the introduction of a new religion to the country, and later with Sen no Rikyu in advocating to Hideyoshi the defence of Japanese Christians’ right to

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p­ ractice their religion. And although it may be coincidental that after his death in 1597 in Nagasaki at age 65 the relationship between Japanese and Portuguese began its rapid deterioration, we choose to believe that, in this regard, Frois’ death was as significant as was his life. Among the seventeen gardens, palaces, castles, and temples in Kyoto detailed in this book, five have disappeared and can only be imagined from textual descriptions, as well as from images from contemporary byobu screens. The remaining twelve serve as priceless representatives of Japanese culture—with six listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Nonetheless, the overall similarity between many of the sixteenth-century gardens and buildings and what one can see today is truly astonishing. This continuity reinforces the enduring capacity of Japanese garden designers and those who maintain these sites to preserve over the centuries artistic achievements that have passed the test of time.

Appendix: Luis Frois Main Publications

Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Publications Frois, Luis. 1586. Avvisi del Giappone de gli anni M.D.LXXXII.  LXXXIII. et LXXXIV., con alcuni altri della Cina dell’LXXXIII. et LXXXIV., cavati dalle lettere della Compagnia di Giesù, ricevute il mese di dicembre M.D.LXXXV. Roma: Francesco Zanetti. Frois, Luis. 1586. Nuovi avvisi del Giapone con alcuni altri della Cina del LXXXIII, et LXXXIV. Cavati dalle lettere della Compagnia di Giesù. Ricevute il mese di decembre prossimo passato M D LXXXV. Veneza: Gioliti. Frois, Luis.1593. Lettera annale del Giapone scritta al padre generale della Compagnia di Giesù, alli XX di febraio M.D.LXXXVIII. Roma: Francesco Zanetti. Frois, Luis. 1593. Copia di due lettere annue scritte dal Giapone del 1589. & 1590.L’una del padre viceprovinciale […] l’altra dal P. Luigi Frois […] et dalla spagnuola nella italiana lingua tradotte dal P.  Gasparo Spitilli […]. Roma: Francesco Zanetti. Frois, Luis. 1595. Lettera del Giapone degli anni 1591 et 1592.Scritta al R.P. Generale della Compagnia di Giesu. Et dalla spagnuola nella italiana lingua tradotta dal P. Ubaldino Bartolini. Roma: Francesco Zanetti. Frois, Luis. 1598. Copia d’una lettera annua scritta dal Giappone nel M. D. XCV. al R.P. Claudio Acquaviva Generale della Compagnia di Giesù. Roma: Francesco Zanetti. Frois, Luis. 1598. Ragguaglio della morte di Quabacondono, scritta dal P. Lvigi Frois della Compagnia di Giesù, dal Giappone nel mese d’ottobre del 1595. Et dalla portoghesa nella lingua italiana tradotta dal P. Gasparo Spitilli di Campli, della compagnia medesima. Roma: Francesco Zanetti.

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Frois, Luis. 1599. Lettera annua del Giappone dell’anno MDXCVI.Scritta dal p. Luigi Froes, al r.p. Claudio Acquauiua generale della Compagnia di Giesù; tradotta in italiano dal p. Francesco Mercati […]. Roma: Francesco Zanetti. Frois, Luis. 1599. Relatione della gloriosa morte di XXVI. posti in croce per comandamento del re di Giappone alli 5 di febraio 1597 […] mandata dal P.L. Frois […] al R.P. Claudio Acquaviva […] et fatta in italiano dal P. Gasparo Spitilli […]. Roma: Francesco Zanetti. Frois, Luis. 1599. Trattato d’alcuni prodigii occorsi l’anno M.D.XCVI. nel Giappone […] Tradotto in italiano dal P. Francesco Mercati […]. Roma: Francesco Zanetti. Frois, Luis. 1628. Martirio di tre beati religiosi della Compagnia di Giesu Paolo Michi, Giouanni Goto, Iacopo Ghisai giapponesi. Crocefissi in Nangasachi a 5. febbraio 1597. Scritto dal P. Luigi Frois al r.mo P: Claudio Acquauiua generale alli 15. marzo dell’anno medesimo, e stampato in Roma l’anno 1599. E ora ristretto, e dato alle stampe da prete Giuseppe Busoni rettore del Collegio de’ Nobili. In Edited by Giovanni Rho. Firenze: Simone Ciotti.

Twentieth Century Publications Frois, Luis. 1926. Die Geschichte Japans (1549–1578), von P. Luis Frois […] nach der Handschrift der Ajudabibliothek in Lissabon, übersetzt und kommentiert von G. Schurhammer und E. A. Voretzsch. Leipzig: Verlag der Asia Major. Frois, Luis. 1931. Nihon Kirishitan shishō (Japanese). Edited by Mokutarō Kinoshita. Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha. Frois, Luis. 1935. Relacion del Martirio de los 26 cristianos crucificados en Nagasaqui el 5 Febraio 1597, Edited by Romualdo Galdos S.J. Rome: Pontifica Universitas Gregoriana. Frois, Luis. 1942. La première ambassade du Japon en Europe, 1582–1592 […] Ouvrage edité et annoté par João. A.  A. Pinto, Yoshitomo Okamoto, Henri Bernard S.J. Tokyo: Sophia University. Frois, Luis. 1942. Le traité du Père Frois. Tokyo: Sophia University. Frois, Luis. 1955. Kulturgegensätze Europa-Japan (1585). Edited by Joseph Schütte. Tokyo: Sophia Universität. Frois, Luis. 1963–1975. Nihonshi: Kirishitan denrai no koro (Japanese). Edited by Takeo Yanigiya. Tokyo: Heibonsha. Frois, Luis. 1976. Historia de Japam: 1° v., 1549–1564. Edited by José Wicki. Vol. I. V vols. Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. Frois, Luis. 1977–1980. Furoisu Nihon shi (Japanese). Translated by Kiichi Matsuda and Momota Kawasaki. 12 vols. Tokyo: Chūō Kōronsha. Frois, Luis. 1981. Historia de Japam: 2° v., 1565–1578. Edited by José Wicki. Vol. II. V vols. Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. Frois, Luis. 1982. Historia de Japam: 3° v., 1578–1582. Edited by José Wicki. Vol. III. V vols. Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional.

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Frois, Luis. 1983. Historia de Japam: 4° v., 1583–1587. Edited by José Wicki. Vol. IV. V vols. Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. Frois, Luis. 1984. Historia de Japam: 5° v., 1588–1593. Edited by José Wicki. Vol. V. V vols. Lisboa: Biblioteca Nacional. Frois, Luis. 1991. Yōroppa bunka to nihon bunka (Japanese). Translated by Akio Okada. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten. Frois, Luis. 1993. Europa Japão: um diálogo civilizacional no século XVI. Edited by José Manuel García and Raffaella D’Intino. Lisboa: Comissão nacional para as comemorações dos descobrimentos portugueses. Frois, Luis. 1998. Européens et Japonais—traité sur les contradictions et différences de mœurs. Edited by Claude Lévi-strauss. Paris: Chandeigne. Frois, Luis. 2014. The First European Description of Japan, 1585: A Critical English-­Language Edition of Striking Contrasts in the Customs of Europe and Japan by Luis Frois, S.J. Edited by Richard Danford, Daniel T. Reff, and Robin Gill. Translated by Richard Danford, Daniel T. Reff, and Robin Gill. Routledge. Frois, Luis. 2017. Il “Trattato” di Luís Fróis, Europa e Giappone Due culture a confront nel secolo XVI. Edited by Cristina Rosa. Italy: Sette Città.