A Japanese Mission to Seventeenth-Century Rome: Date Masamune’s Cosmopolitan Dream
Ebook
Through essays on its key players, detailed original maps, and a narrative drawn from contemporary Italian and Latin sources never before translated into English, A Japanese Mission to 17th Century Rome: Date Masamune’s Cosmopolitan Dream presents a nuanced history of the Keicho Mission (1613-1620), a little-known embassy sent to Europe by Masamune Date, the wealthy and ambitious Lord of Oshu (northeastern Japan) seeking to establish trade and cultural ties with Spain and the Roman Catholic Church. Kathryn M. Lucchese describes how the Mission crossed the Pacific, New Spain, and the Atlantic, toured Spain and Italy and paraded in triumph across Rome before making the long return to Sendai. Though its full success was doomed by unfriendly forces in Europe and unfolding policies in Japan, the Mission did open a brief period of trade with New Spain and earned papal support for a Diocese of Japan, leaving traces of its passing in the form of Japanese settlers in Spain and Mexico and the cosmopolitan soul of modern Sendai.
Part I: The Context
Chapter 1. The Unusual Force of Character
Chapter 2. A Phoenix Lands in Oshu
Chapter 3. Islands Rich in Silver, Rich in Gold
Chapter 4. Their Sound Has Gone Out
Part II: The Characters
Chapter 5. Padre Luis Sotelo, O.F.M., Enterprising Friar
Chapter 6. Date Masamune, Momoyama Man
Chapter 7. Sebastián Vizcaíno, Cosmographer, and Spy
Chapter 8. Hasekura Rokuemon, Lordly Ambassador
Chapter 9. Scipio Amatus, Mysterious Chronicler
Part III: The Quest
Chapter 10. The Dream Sets Forth
Chapter 11. Stonewalled in Spain
Chapter 12. Fair Auguries
Chapter 13. Hasekura’s Triumph
Chapter 14. Pyrrhic Victories
Chapter 15. The Place of the Axe
Conclusion. Lighting the Darkness
“A cartography expert and world traveler, Kathryn M. Lucchese presents an engaging and lively narrative to reveal varying characteristics of the main individuals pertaining to the Keicho embassy and its epic journey. A Japanese Mission to Seventeenth-Century Rome: Date Masamune’s Cosmopolitan Dream is a much needed and long-awaited, monograph-length introduction of this fascinating Japanese embassy for English readers.”
- Title: A Japanese Mission to Seventeenth-Century Rome: Date Masamune’s Cosmopolitan Dream
- Author: Kathryn M. Lucchese
- Publisher: Lexington Books
- Print Publication Date: 2024
- Logos Release Date: 2024
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666962062, 9781666962055, 1666962058, 1666962066
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666962062
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-10-01T12:04:59Z
Kathryn M. Lucchese is a retired lecturer in Human Geography at Texas A&M University.