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The Samurai Conquistador
Daimyo Date Masamune
A year ago, I unveiled an amazing story, which I would like to share with you today. The main character's name is Hasekura Tsunenaga (1571 – 1622), a Japanese samurai and the year is 1613 – unified Japan is swayed by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and has been enjoying internal peace for thirteen years. Armed with a samurai katana and a ship called San Juan Bautista, Tsunenaga set off on an epic voyage to an unexplored part of the world – the land of the Southern Barbarians (terminology used by the Japanese at the time to refer to Europeans). The mission was named the Keichō Embassy.
Representing his shrewd feudal lord, Date Masamune, aka the “One-Eyed Dragon of Oshu” because of his missing eye, Tsunenaga headed a diplomatic mission of thirty samurai, 120 Japanese merchants, and forty Spanish and Portuguese to establish trade agreements between their Sendai fief and European countries.
In 1612, Tsunenaga’s father, Hasekura Tsunenari, a minor samurai, was indicted for corruption, and was put to death in 1613. His fief was confiscated. Usually, all his children would had been executed with him. Date, however, gave Tsunenaga, Tsunenari’s son, the opportunity to redeem his honor by placing him in charge of the embassy to Europe, and returned his territories to him when he agreed.
Tsunenaga reached California via the Pacific and in three months was in Acapulco. Cuba followed and they arrived in Spain on 5 October 1614. The Japanese embassy met with King Philip III in Madrid on January 30, 1615.
Tsunenaga remitted to the King a letter from Date Masamune, as well as an offer for a treaty. The King responded that he would do what he could to accommodate his requests. Tsunenaga was baptised in Spain and given the Christian name of Francisco Felipe Faxicura. Eight months later, they headed to Rome, but due to bad weather, they were obliged to stay in France for few days.
Letter written in Latin, from Date Masamune to the Pope, dated 1613. It is kept at the Vatican archives
In November 1615, Tsunenaga arrived in Rome and was granted an audience with Pope Paul V. As it had happened in other European countries, they were received cordially, but in 1614 Tokugawa Ieyasu had promulgated an edict ordering the expulsion of all missionaries from Japan. Hence, the signing of trade agreements was unsuccessful. The Japanese embassy returned to Spain for one more try. Tsunenaga met again with the King, but unfortunately, he also declined to sign a trade agreement, on the same ground the samurai had been refused by Rome. There was nothing else disgruntled Tsunenaga could do apart from returning to Japan.
Extant records show that some of Tsunenaga men decided to stay in Spain, mainly in a town called Coria del Río near Seville. Approximately 700 inhabitants of the town today bear the surname Japón (originally Hasekura de Japón), identifying them as descendants of the members of Tsunenaga's delegation.
In April, 1618, the San Juan Bautista arrived in the Philippines after a 5 month stay in Mexico. Then Tsunenaga finally returned to Japan, reaching Nagasaki in August 1620. But he returned to a very different Japan from the one he had left. There was a new shogun, Hidetada in the command seat and the anti-Christian sentiment had surged. Nobody knows if Tsunenaga abandoned Christianity. Some claim he practiced Christianity in secret. His descendants and servants were later executed for being Christians, what suggests Tsunenaga remained strongly Christian himself, and transmitted his faith to the members of his family. Christian artefacts, such as rosarios, crosses and medals were found in his estates in 1640s.
Tsunenaga tomb's in Miyagi Prefecture
Tsunenaga succumbed to an illness a year after his return to Japan. Nonetheless, he is deemed the first Japanese ambassador in the Americas and in Spain. Less than twenty years after his return from the exploratory travels, Japan closed its borders and remaining secluded from the world for the next 229 years. Tsunenaga's journey was forgotten until the reopening of the country in 1868. In 1873, the Japanese Iwakura mission to Europe, learned of Tsunenaga's visit to Mexico and Europe when they were shown documents in Venice, when touring Italy.
Tsunenaga Coat of Arms
Tsunenaga had an official coat of arms, consisting of a Buddhist swastika crossed by two arrows, within a shield and surmounted by a crown, on an orange background. It is depicted in Deruet's painting, the Roman citizenship certificate (top left), various engravings (middle), and was used as the flag on his ship (right).
Tsunenaga Roman Citizenship Certificate
The Title of Roman Noble and Roman Citizenship granted to "Faxecura Rokuyemon", aka Hasekura Tsunenaga by the Pope Paulo V.
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