Latest / The History of Portugal: The Small Nation That Built a Global Empire — Fexingo History / The Portuguese in Japan: Samurai, Jesuits and the Nanban Trade
Transcript
- Lucas: So, Luna, we've talked a lot about Portugal in India, China, and Africa, but there's another chapter that's just as fascinating — and it starts with a shipwreck. In 1543, three Portuguese merchants aboard a Chinese junk were blown off course and landed on the island of Tanegashima, off the southern coast of Japan. It was Japan's first encounter with Europeans. Luna: Wait — three random merchants? That's how it all started? Lucas: That's the story, anyway. The local daimyo, Tanegashima Tokitaka, was intrigued. The Portuguese had these matchlock harquebuses, and one of them demonstrated by shooting a duck from a hundred paces. The daimyo was so impressed he bought two of them and ordered his swordsmiths to reverse-engineer them. Within a few years, Japanese smiths were producing thousands of these guns — and they completely changed the nature of samurai warfare. Luna: So the gun that unified Japan was Portuguese. Lucas: Exactly. The arquebus became a decisive factor in the Sengoku period — the Warring States era. Oda Nobunaga, one of the great unifiers, used massed volleys of gunfire at the Battle of Nagashino in 1575 to defeat the Takeda clan's cavalry charges. And all because three traders washed up on Tanegashima. Luna: What did the Japanese call the Portuguese? Lucas: They called them Nanban-jin — 'Southern Barbarians.' The word Nanban literally means 'southern barbarian,' and it was originally a Chinese term for peoples in Southeast Asia. But in Japan, it became the label for all Europeans, at least for a while. And the trade that grew up around them is known as the Nanban trade. Lucas: Now, the Portuguese didn't just bring guns. They also brought Christian missionaries, most famously the Jesuit Francis Xavier, who arrived in 1549. Xavier was amazed by Japan — he called it 'the delight of my heart.' He spent two years there, learning Japanese, preaching, and making converts. By the time he left, there were perhaps a thousand Christians in Japan. Luna: A thousand in two years — that's pretty impressive. Lucas: It was, but Xavier realized the key was adapting to Japanese culture. The Jesuits in Japan later developed a policy of accommodation, led by a man named Alessandro Valignano. He insisted that missionaries learn Japanese, dress like Buddhist monks, and respect the social hierarchy. Valignano even founded a seminary for young samurai and organized the Tensho Embassy — a delegation of four Japanese boys who traveled to Europe in 1582 and met Philip II of Spain and Pope Gregory XIII. Luna: Wait — four Japanese teenagers went to Europe in the 1580s? That must have been mind-blowing. Lucas: It was. They were away for eight years, and when they returned, Japan had changed. They became the subject of huge curiosity in Europe — people painted their portraits, wrote about them. But back home, the political landscape was shifting. By the 1590s, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had unified Japan, began to see Christianity as a threat. He issued an edict expelling missionaries, though it wasn't fully enforced until later. Luna: Why did he see them as a threat? Lucas: Several reasons. First, Hideyoshi worried that the daimyo who converted might become too loyal to the Pope or the Portuguese crown — a kind of fifth column. Second, the Jesuits were destroying Buddhist temples and shrines, which angered the populace. And third, there were rumors that the Portuguese were planning a military invasion, backed by the Spanish. So Hideyoshi cracked down, crucifying 26 Christians in Nagasaki in 1597. Luna: The 26 Martyrs of Japan. I've heard of that. Lucas: Right. And then under the Tokugawa shogunate, the persecution intensified. The shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu initially tolerated the trade — he needed Portuguese silver and the silk trade from Macau. But his successors, especially Tokugawa Iemitsu, moved toward isolation. By the 1630s, Japan expelled all Portuguese, restricted the Dutch to the island of Dejima, and cut off almost all contact with the outside world. That policy, sakoku, lasted over two centuries. Luna: What about the silver trade? You mentioned that. Lucas: Ah, yes — that's the economic side. Japan was a huge producer of silver, especially from the Iwami Ginzan mine. The Portuguese bought Japanese silver in exchange for Chinese silk, which they sourced from Macau. This Macau-Nagasaki trade was incredibly profitable for the Portuguese crown and for the private traders who held the monopoly. The silver from Japan even helped finance the Portuguese empire in Asia. Luna: So the Portuguese were middlemen between China and Japan? Lucas: Exactly. China wanted silver, Japan wanted silk, and the Portuguese had the ships and the access. They also introduced new foods to Japan — things like tempura, which is actually derived from a Portuguese dish, and the word 'arigato' might come from the Portuguese 'obrigado' — though that's debated. So the cultural exchange went both ways, even after the expulsion. Luna: I love that — tempura is Portuguese. I never knew that. Lucas: It's a great example of how these encounters leave traces. The Nanban trade also produced beautiful art — the Nanban screens, which depict Portuguese ships and merchants in elaborate detail, with their baggy trousers and strange hats. Those screens are treasured today as a record of a brief but transformative moment in Japanese history. Luna: And after the expulsion, did any Portuguese or Japanese Christians survive in hiding? Lucas: Yes — the Kakure Kirishitan, or 'hidden Christians.' They practiced their faith in secret, using Buddhist imagery to disguise their crosses and statues. They passed down oral traditions and adapted prayers. Some communities survived for over 200 years until Japan reopened in the 19th century. When missionaries returned, they found these groups still practicing a version of Christianity that had evolved in isolation. Luna: That's incredible. So Portugal's impact on Japan was deep, even if it was short-lived. Lucas: It was. Guns, Christianity, trade, food, art — all in the space of about a century. And then the door slammed shut. But those first encounters shaped Japan's path toward unification and its later isolationist policy. It's a reminder that even a small nation like Portugal could reach across the world and leave a lasting mark.