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Hasekura TsunenagaHasekura Rokuemon Tsunenaga (支倉六右衛門常長, 1571–1622) was a Japanese samurai and retainer of the daimyo of Sendai Date Masamune. He led an embassy to Mexico and then Europe between 1613 and 1620, after which he came back to Japan. He was the first-ever Japanese official envoy to the Americas. Little is known of the early life of Hasekura Tsunenaga, except for the fact that he was a veteran samurai of the Japanese invasion of Korea under the Taiko Hideyoshi, in 1592 and 1597. Spanish approaches The Spanish started trans-Pacific voyages between Mexico ("New Spain") and China, through their territorial base in the Philippines, following the travels of Andrs de Urdaneta in the 16th century. Manila became their definitive base for the Asian region in 1571. Spanish ships were periodically shipwrecked on the coasts of Japan due to bad weather, initiating contacts with the country. The Spanish wished to expand the Christian faith in Japan. Efforts to expand influence in Japan were met by stiff resistance from the Jesuits, who had started the evangelization of the country in 1549, as well as the Portuguese and the Dutch who did not wish to see Spain participate in Japanese trade. In 1609 the Spanish galleon San Francisco encountered bad weather on its way from Manila to Acapulco, and was wrecked on the Japanese coast in Chiba, near Tokyo. The sailors were rescued and welcomed, and the ship's captain, Rodrigo de Vivero, met with Tokugawa Ieyasu. A treaty was signed on 29 November 1609, whereby the Spaniards could establish a factory in eastern Japan, mining specialists would be imported from Nueva España, Spanish ships would be allowed to visit Japan in case of necessity, and a Japanese embassy would be sent to the Spanish court. The embassy project A Franciscan monk named Luis Sotelo who was proselytizing in the area of Tokyo convinced the Shogun to send him as an ambassador to Nueva España. He travelled with the returning Spanish sailors onboard the San Buena Ventura, a ship built by the English adventurer William Adams for the Shogun. Once in Nueva España, Luis Sotelo met with the Viceroy Luis de Velazco, who agreed to send an ambassador to Japan in the person of the famous explorer Sebastian Vizcaino, with the added mission of exploring the "Gold and silver islands" which were thought to be east of the Japanese isles. Vizcaino arrived in Japan in 1611, and had many meetings with the Shogun and feudal lords. These encounters were tainted by his poor respect for Japanese customs, the mounting resistance of the Japanese towards Catholic proselytism, and the intrigues of the Dutch against Spanish ambitions. Vizcaino finally left to search for the Silver island, during which search he encountered bad weather, forcing him to return to Japan with heavy damage. The Shogun decided to build a galleon in Japan in order to bring Vizcaino back to Nueva España, together with a Japanese mission. The Daimyo of Sendai, Date Masamune, was put in charge of the project. He named one of his retainers, Hasekura Tsunenaga, to lead the mission. The Galleon, named Date Maru by the Japanese and later San Juan Bautista by the Spanish, took 45 days work in building, with the participation of technical experts from the Bakufu, 800 shipwrights, 700 smiths, and 3,000 carpenters. Trans-Pacific voyage Upon completion, the ship left on 28 October, 1613 for Acapulco in Mexico with around 180 people on board, including 10 samurai of the Shogun (led by the Minister of the Navy Mukai Shouken), 12 samurai from Sendai, 120 Japanese merchants, sailors, and servants, and around 40 Spaniards and Portuguese. The ship arrived in Acapulco on 25 January 1614 after three months at sea. Mission to Europe Spain The ultimate mission for the embassy was to go on to Europe, which she reached by crossing the Atlantic Ocean on a Spanish galleon on December 20, 1614. The Japanese embassy met with the king of Spain Philip III in Madrid on 30 January, 1615. Hasekura remitted to the King a letter from Date Masamune, as well as offer for a treaty. The King responded that he would do what he could to accommodate these requests. Hasekura was baptized on 17 February by the king's personal chaplain, and renamed Felipe Francisco Hasekura. France After travelling across Spain, the embassy sailed on the Mediterranean aboard three Spanish frigates towards Italy. Due to bad weather, they had to stay for a few days in the French harbour of Saint Tropez, where they were received by the local nobility, and made quite a sensation on the populace. The visit of the Japanese Embassy is recorded in the city's chronicles as led by "Philip Francis Faxicura, Ambassador to the Pope, from Date Masamunni, King of Woxu in Japan". Many picturesque details of their movements were recorded: - "They never touch food with their fingers, but instead use two small sticks that they hold with three fingers".
- "They blow their noses in soft silky papers the size of a hand, which they never use twice, so that they throw them on the ground after usage, and they were delighted to see our people around them precipitate themselves to pick them up".
- "Their swords cut so well that they can cut a soft paper just by putting it on the edge and by blowing on it."
- ("Relations of Mme de St Troppez", October 1615, Bibliotheque Inguimbertine, Carpentras).
Italy
The Japanese Embassy went on to Italy where they were able to meet with the Pope Paul V in Rome in November 1615. Hasekura remitted to the Pope a gilted letter, containing a request for a trade treaty between Japan and Mexico and the dispatch of Christian missionaries to Japan. The Pope agreed to the dispatch of missionaries, but left the decision for trade to the King of Spain. The Pope wrote a letter to Date Masamune, a copy of which is still visible at the Vatican. Second visit to Spain For the second time in Spain, Hasekura met again with the King, who declined to sign a trade agreement, on the ground that the Japanese Embassy did not appear to be an official embassy from the ruler of Japan Tokugawa Ieyasu, who, on the contrary, had promulgated an edict in January 1614 ordering the expulsion of all missionnaries from Japan, and started the persecution of the Christian faith in Japan. The embassy left Seville for Mexico in June 1617 after a period of two years spent in Europe but some of the Japanese remained in Spain, in a town near Seville (Coria del Ro), where their descendants use still today the surname Japn. Return to Japan In April 1618 the San Juan Bautista arrived to the Philippines from Mexico, with Hasekura and Luis Sotelo on board. The ship was acquired by the Spanish government there, with the objective of building up defenses against the Dutch. Hasekura returned to Japan in August 1620. By the time Hasekura came back, Japan had changed quite drastically: an effort to eradicate Christianity had been under way since 1614, and Japan was moving towards a period of isolation. Because of these persecutions, the trade agreements with Mexico he had been trying to establish were denied. In the end, his embassy seems to have had little result. Hasekura abandoned the Christian faith for Buddhism and burnt all his Christian possessions. Little is known of his life afterwards. He died two years later of illness. External link See also References - Boxer, C.R. The Christian Century in Japan, 1549–1650. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1951. ISBN 1857540352 (1993 reprint edition).
- Marcouin, Francis and Keiko Omoto. Quand le Japon s'ouvrit au monde. Paris: Dcouvertes Gallimard, 1990. ISBN 207053118X.
Tsunenaga, Hasekura Tsunenaga, Hasekura Tsunenaga, Hasekura
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