Latest / The History of Portugal: The Small Nation That Built a Global Empire — Fexingo History / The Portuguese in Japan: A Hundred Years of Trade and Conflict
Transcript
- Lucas: Hey Luna, today we're picking up a thread from earlier episodes — Portugal's global reach — but zeroing in on one of the most fascinating encounters in the Age of Discovery: Portugal's hundred-year relationship with Japan. It's a story of guns, faith, trade, and eventually tragedy. Luna: I know a little about the Portuguese being the first Europeans in Japan, but I didn't realize it was only a hundred years. That's pretty short. Lucas: Yeah, it really is. It all starts by accident, actually. In 1543, a Portuguese ship — probably a junk, not a carrack — was blown off course by a typhoon and landed on the tiny island of Tanegashima, south of Kyushu. And that random landing changed Japanese history. Lucas: The Portuguese had something the Japanese had never seen before: the arquebus, an early matchlock firearm. The local lord, Tanegashima Tokitaka, was fascinated. He bought two of them and had his swordsmith try to copy them. It took a while, but within a few years, Japanese smiths were mass-producing them. Luna: Wait — so guns were basically introduced to Japan by accident? That's wild. Lucas: Exactly. And it had a massive impact. Japan was in the middle of the Sengoku period — a century of civil war between feudal lords called daimyo. Suddenly, anyone with arquebuses could train peasants to shoot from behind fortifications, leveling the playing field against samurai with swords. It actually helped lead to the unification of Japan under Oda Nobunaga and later Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lucas: But the Portuguese weren't just arms dealers. They were also missionaries — especially the Jesuits. In 1549, Francis Xavier landed in Kagoshima. He was one of the founders of the Jesuit order, and he'd already worked in India and the Moluccas. He adapted to Japanese culture, dressed simply, learned the language, and focused on the elite — daimyo and intellectuals. Luna: Did he have much success? I feel like converting Japan would be a tough sell. Lucas: Surprisingly, yes. By the 1580s, there were maybe 150,000 to 200,000 Christians in Japan, mostly in Kyushu. Some daimyo converted, sometimes for genuine faith, but also for trade — the Portuguese brought silver, silk, and guns. The port of Nagasaki became a Christian stronghold, and for a while, the Jesuits had a lot of influence. Lucas: But the shogunate started getting suspicious. First, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who unified Japan, issued an edict expelling missionaries in 1587 — though he didn't enforce it strongly. Then, after the Spanish arrived from Manila and started competing for converts, the Tokugawa shogunate grew more hostile. They saw Christianity as a foreign ideology that could undermine their authority. Luna: So the Portuguese were caught between trade and religion? That seems like a recipe for conflict. Lucas: Exactly. And the breaking point came in 1637-38 with the Shimabara Rebellion. That was a massive uprising of mostly Christian peasants and ronin samurai, fueled by economic oppression and religious persecution. The shogunate crushed it brutally, and after that, they were done. In 1639, they expelled all Portuguese — they even killed a delegation from Macau that came to negotiate. Only the Dutch, who didn't proselytize, were allowed to stay, confined to the tiny island of Dejima. Luna: What about the Japanese Christians? Did they all go underground? Lucas: Many did. They became the Kakure Kirishitan — 'hidden Christians'. They practiced their faith in secret, using Buddhist imagery to disguise their icons, passing down prayers orally for generations. Some communities only emerged when Japan reopened in the 19th century. It's a powerful testament to their faith. Lucas: On the flip side, the Portuguese left a lasting cultural footprint. Words like 'tempura' — from the Portuguese 'tempero', meaning seasoning or cooking technique — and 'pan' for bread, from 'pão'. They also introduced things like sponge cake, which evolved into 'kasutera'. Luna: I love that. So it wasn't just guns and Bibles — they also gave Japan cake. Lucas: Exactly. And it shows how even a short encounter can leave deep marks. Portugal's time in Japan was only about 96 years, but it shaped Japanese history in ways that echo even today.