Curated Reading

Essential Bibliography

The standard scholarly works on the Nanban period and Japan's Christian century, with links to find each title.

C.R. Boxer

The Christian Century in Japan, 1549–1650

Carcanet Press, 1951

Michael Cooper

They Came to Japan: An Anthology of European Reports, 1543–1640

University of Michigan Press, 1965

George Elison

Deus Destroyed: The Image of Christianity in Early Modern Japan

Harvard University Press, 1973

Derek Massarella

A World Elsewhere: Europe's Encounter with Japan in the 16th and 17th Centuries

Yale University Press, 1990

Luís Fróis, S.J.

The First European Description of Japan, 1585

Routledge, 2014 (ed. Daniel T. Reff et al.)

João Paulo Oliveira e Costa

O Japão e o Cristianismo no Século XVI

Sociedade Histórica da Independência de Portugal, 1999

Some links above are affiliate links: if you buy through them, this site may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.