Latest / The History of Portugal: The Small Nation That Built a Global Empire — Fexingo History / Portugal in Japan: The Nanban Trade Legacy
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about Portugal's empire in Africa, India, and Brazil, but there's one place that always surprises people: Japan. For about a century, from 1543 to 1639, Portugal had an incredible influence there, especially during what's called the Nanban trade period. 'Nanban' literally means 'southern barbarians'—that's what the Japanese called Europeans. Luna: Wait, why 'southern barbarians'? Lucas: Because the Portuguese arrived from the south, sailing past Southeast Asia, and they didn't quite fit into the Chinese world order. The Japanese had a term for it. Anyway, it all started by accident. Some Portuguese traders were on a Chinese junk that got blown off course and landed on the island of Tanegashima, south of Kyushu. They had arquebuses—matchlock guns. The local daimyo, the lord of Tanegashima, was fascinated. Luna: So guns were the first big introduction? Lucas: Exactly. The Japanese had never seen firearms before. Within a few years, the daimyo had local smiths reverse-engineer the arquebus, and soon guns were being mass-produced in Japan. This changed warfare completely. Oda Nobunaga, one of the great unifiers of Japan, used massed arquebus formations to devastating effect at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575. The Portuguese didn't just bring guns, though. They brought Christianity, via the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier, who arrived in 1549. Lucas: Xavier was a founding member of the Jesuits, and he had a real gift for adaptation. He learned Japanese, dressed in simple Buddhist robes at first, and tried to find common ground. He had some success—maybe a few hundred thousand converts by the end of the century. The daimyo saw advantages in trading with the Portuguese, so they often allowed missionaries to work in their domains. The port of Nagasaki, in fact, was effectively a Portuguese colony for a time. Luna: How did Nagasaki become Portuguese? Lucas: In 1571, a local Christian daimyo named Ōmura Sumitada granted the Portuguese the right to use Nagasaki as a port. Over time, the Jesuits built a settlement there, and it became a major hub for the silk trade between Macau and Japan. But the shoguns were uneasy. Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who succeeded Nobunaga, initially tolerated the Christians but later issued an expulsion edict in 1587. He didn't enforce it harshly, but things got worse under the Tokugawa shogunate, which unified Japan in the early 1600s. Luna: Because they saw Christianity as a threat to their authority? Lucas: Exactly. The Tokugawa shoguns, especially Ieyasu and his successors, saw the spread of Christianity as a foreign ideology that could undermine loyalty to the shogunate. There were also fears that European powers—Spain and Portugal—might use Christianity as a pretext for colonization. So they started persecuting Christians. In 1614, Christianity was banned outright. Missionaries were expelled, and Japanese converts were forced to apostatize or face torture and execution. Lucas: The most dramatic event was the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637-1638. It was a massive uprising of mostly Christian peasants and ronin—masterless samurai—in the Shimabara Peninsula. The shogunate crushed it with incredible brutality. After that, the Tokugawa closed Japan to the outside world under the sakoku policy. Only the Dutch, who had no missionary agenda, were allowed to trade at the tiny island of Dejima in Nagasaki. Luna: So the Portuguese were completely expelled? Lucas: Yes. In 1639, the shogunate issued a final decree: no Portuguese ships could enter Japan. Any Portuguese who stayed were deported or killed. It was a total reversal from the friendly relations of the 1500s. But there's a poignant legacy: the Kakure Kirishitan, or 'hidden Christians'. These were communities who kept their faith in secret, passing down prayers and rituals orally for centuries, often mixing them with Buddhist and Shinto elements. They were only discovered when Japan reopened in the 19th century. Luna: That's incredible—surviving in secret for so long. Lucas: It really is. There are even stories of them using statues of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy, which looked similar to the Virgin Mary, to hide their true devotion. And there's another fascinating episode: the Keichō Embassy, a Japanese diplomatic mission to Europe led by a samurai named Hasekura Tsunenaga from 1613 to 1620. He traveled to Mexico, Spain, and Rome, meeting the Pope. But when he returned, Japan had changed—Christianity was banned, and he was effectively sidelined. Luna: Did the Portuguese leave any other cultural marks? Lucas: Oh, plenty. The word 'tempura' in Japanese actually comes from the Portuguese 'tempero', meaning seasoning or cooking technique. The Portuguese introduced batter-frying, and it caught on. There's also 'pan' for bread, 'shabon' for soap, and 'karuta' for playing cards. And in art, you have the nanban screens—beautiful folding screens depicting the arrival of the 'southern barbarians', with their strange clothes, ships, and black-robed priests. They're incredibly detailed and show the Japanese fascination with these foreigners. Lucas: So in just a hundred years, the Portuguese left a lasting imprint on Japan, even though their presence ended abruptly. It's a story of cultural exchange, technological impact, and tragic persecution. And it's a reminder that Portugal's empire reached even into the far corners of the Pacific. Luna: It's amazing how much history is packed into that century. Thanks for sharing that, Lucas. Lucas: My pleasure. It's one of my favorite chapters in Portuguese history. Next time, we might look at how the Portuguese left their mark in Africa or the Americas—there's always more to explore.