People of the Nanban Century

Reference cards for the people who made the encounter. Each card gives dates, role, a two-sentence biography, and links to the full articles and to every article where the figure appears.

From Across the Seas

Francis Xavier 1506–1552 Co-founder of the Society of Jesus; opened the Japan mission, 1549

Cosme de Torres 1510–1570 Second superior of the Japan mission, 1551–1570

Luís de Almeida 1525–1583 Merchant-surgeon who bankrolled the mission and built its hospital

Gaspar Coelho 1530–1590 Vice-provincial whose bravado helped provoke the 1587 edict

Luís Fróis 1532–1597 Chronicler of the mission; author of the Historia de Japam

Francisco Cabral 1533–1609 Third superior of the Japan mission, 1570–1581

Organtino Gnecchi-Soldo 1533–1609 The Kyoto mission's beloved resident, 1570–1609

Alessandro Valignano 1539–1606 Visitor of the East Indies missions; architect of accommodation

Sebastián Vizcaíno 1548–1624 The Spanish envoy whose arrogance soured Japan on New Spain

William Adams 三浦按針 1564–1620 English pilot; Ieyasu's foreign adviser

Jacques Specx 1585–1652 Founder of the Dutch factory at Hirado

André Pessoa ?–1610 Capitão-mor who destroyed the Madre de Deus, 1610

Wang Zhi ?–1559 The pirate-merchant king who piloted the Portuguese to Japan

Gaspar Vilela c. 1526–1572 Opened the Kyoto mission, 1559

João Rodrigues “Tçuzzu” c. 1561–1633 Interpreter to Hideyoshi and Ieyasu; grammarian of Japanese

Cristóvão Ferreira c. 1580–1650 The Provincial who apostatised, 1633

The Japanese

Matsunaga Hisahide 1508–1577 The Kyoto power-broker who tried to expel the first missionaries

Anjirō 1511–? The fugitive who became Japan's first Christian — and Xavier's guide

Matsuura Takanobu 1529–1599 Daimyō of Hirado, the first host of the Portugal trade

Ōtomo Sōrin 大友宗麟 1530–1587 Christian daimyō of Bungo; the mission's greatest patron-lord

Ōmura Sumitada 大村純忠 1533–1587 First Christian daimyō; opened and ceded Nagasaki

Oda Nobunaga 織田信長 1534–1582 First unifier; the mission's great patron

Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 1537–1598 Second unifier; issued the 1587 anti-Christian edict

Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 1543–1616 Founder of the Tokugawa shogunate

Takayama Ukon 高山右近 1552–1615 The samurai who chose exile over apostasy

Honda Masazumi 1565–1637 Ieyasu's chief councillor; the Okamoto affair broke in his house

Arima Harunobu 有馬晴信 1567–1612 Christian daimyō; ruined by the Okamoto Daihachi affair

Date Masamune 1567–1636 The One-Eyed Dragon who sent an embassy to the Pope

Konchiin Sūden 1569–1633 The shogunate's drafting brush — author of the 1614 expulsion edict

Hasekura Tsunenaga 支倉常長 1571–1622 Envoy of the Keichō embassy to Spain and Rome

Tokugawa Hidetada 徳川秀忠 1579–1632 Second Tokugawa shogun; hardened the persecution

Tokugawa Iemitsu 徳川家光 1604–1651 Third shogun; closed the country

Okamoto Daihachi ?–1612 The fraudster whose scandal triggered the first Tokugawa ban

Hirayama Jōchin ?–1622 The red-seal captain burned for smuggling missionaries

Ibi Masayoshi ?–? Hidetada's commissioner for the investigation of Christianity, c. 1615–1622

Konishi Yukinaga 小西行長 c. 1558–1600 Christian general; vanguard of the Korea invasions

Amakusa Shirō 天草四郎 c. 1621–1638 Boy figurehead of the Shimabara Rebellion