Reading Path
Four diplomatic missions across half a century, each ending differently.
In 1582, four young Japanese nobles embarked on an extraordinary journey to Europe, meeting Philip II of Spain and Pope Gregory XIII. Their voyage is one of the most remarkable episodes of early modern global diplomacy.
In 1613, a one-eyed northern warlord sent his retainer across three oceans to negotiate with Philip III of Spain and Pope Paul V. The mission spanned seven years, three continents, and ended in failure, martyrdom, and a galleon sold for scrap.
In the summer of 1640, 74 unarmed men sailed from Macau into a harbor they had been explicitly forbidden to enter. 61 of them would lose their heads. The 13 who survived were meant to send a message.
Seven years after the expulsion, four years after sixty-one men lost their heads, Portugal sent two galleons back to Nagasaki, armed with a new king, a new argument, and an old refusal to take no for an answer.