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Captain Jorge Álvares and Father Luís Fróis S.J.: Two Early Portuguese Descriptions of Japan and the Japanese

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

CLIVE WILLIS
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Extract

The dialogism of the Russian philosopher and literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin (1895–1975), that is, the study of cultural interaction and the acknowledgment of the value or at least of the objective existence of other cultures, corresponds to one of the most significant aspects of Renaissance Humanism.1 In his turn, the Franco-Bulgarian philosopher Tzvetan Todorov (born 1939) has stressed the Humanists’ quest for “cultural relativism”, as exemplified by Amerigo Vespucci, who sought to evaluate the arrival of Europeans from the standpoint of American Indians, in total contrast to the monological approach of Christopher Columbus.2 The emphasis was on a two-way process. Similar attitudes to those of Vespucci can be found in Thomas More's Utopia, in Michel de Montaigne's celebrated essay on the cannibals he encountered in Rouen, and in the Fides, religio moresque aethiopum of Damião de Góis (to mention but three prominent cases). Finally, it was the Palestinian-American literary theorist and cultural critic Edward Said (1935–2003) who throughout Orientalism (New York, 1978) propounded the widely accepted (though often hotly debated) theory that westerners’ analyses of eastern cultures were (and are) predominantly condescending, racist and imperialistic.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , April 2012 , pp. 391 - 438
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2012

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References

1 Danow, David K., The Thought of Mikhail Bakhtin (London, 1991), pp. 126–127CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 Todorov, Tzvetan, “Finzioni e verità”, I Viaggi di Erodoto, 14 (1991), p. 154Google Scholar.

3 For an English translation see Pinto, Fernão Mendes, The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Catz, Rebecca (London, 1989), Chapters 133–134CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 For an English translation see Boxer, C. R., The Christian Century in Japan (Manchester, 1993), pp. 31–32Google Scholar.

5 In some texts Yajiro's name appears as Anjiro or Angiro.

6 de Medina S.J., Juan Ruiz (ed.), Documentos del Japón, 2 vols (Rome, 1990–5), I, pp. 4–24Google Scholar.

7 Kyūshū.

8 Yamagawa is situated in the province of Satsuma, in south-western Kyūshū.

9 That is to say, on the principal Japanese island of Honshū.

10 Sometimes spelled Miako, this city later took the name of Kyōtō and was the capital of Japan until 1868.

11 The straits of Setouchi, nowadays known as Setonaikai.

12 Nor had the Japanese, it seems, realised the potential of the grape, sake being a wine made from rice. But cultural interaction had plainly already begun (thus introducing a dialogical element) and was not solely limited to the introduction of the arquebus to Tanegashima.

13 The religious connotation of this practice appears nowadays to have been lost, but in sundry parts of Japan the day still begins with the sprinkling of water inside the entrance to people's houses.

14 It seems clear from this that Álvares is referring to the typhoons that sometimes occur in September.

15 Álvares fails to grasp that houses were protected internally at night by the use of wooden bolts and that shutters were used against inclement weather.

16 Whatever were the racial differences that the Europeans encountered in the Far East, it is clear that the issue of colour did not arise in the earlier years. Europeans, in their early contacts with Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Tartars, regularly described them as white rather than yellow.

17 The last two sentences make very clear just how inaccurate Escalante's hearsay report was.

18 Still burning brightly in the collective Portuguese memory was the significant role played at the battle of Aljubarrota (1385) by John of Gaunt's 600 English longbow men in the crushing defeat of the Castilian army at the hands of the much smaller Anglo-Portuguese force.

19 This is surely a crucial sentence in any Bakhtinian analysis.

20 This degree of expected mutual hospitality must have surprised Europeans less prone to inviting people into their homes. This is of great significance in the context of dialogism.

21 Denomination of coin used in many parts of Asia, usually for coins of low value (Sanskrit: ţańka, ‘stamped coin’; Mahratta: ţāńk; Concani: tāńg; Turki: tanga).

22 Tea. Álvares had previously been in China, and it is odd that he did not identify the beverage as tea.

23 This is clearly a reference to the curd made from mashed soya beans and known as tōfu, common in Japan and China, and now internationally appreciated.

24 A reference to mugicha, still common today.

25 Divorce and separation were, however, common. This is implied three sentences further on. Álvares, unlike the missionaries, remains non-committal and objective, even on the matter of wife-killing (and, in Paragraph 22, on slave-killing). For priestly separation see Paragraph 30.

26 Whether this was truly respect or huge curiosity is not entirely clear.

27 Here (and below, in Paragraphs 25–28 and 36) Álvares, rather oddly, uses the word for king (rei). ‘[Local] ruler’ would appear to be the most appropriate rendering.

28 Here is a further indication of the dialogical nature of this text.

29 Expressed as ‘autos de folgar’ in Álvares's original text.

30 That is to say, not of rock.

31 The context is that of Buddhism. The information provided by Álvares from here to the end of his report must have been of immense interest to Xavier. Álvares, for the most part, attempts an objective approach, but cannot avoid being somewhat judgmental regarding matters of a sexual nature, particularly immodest bathing (Paragraphs 31 and 34) and, apparently but rather indirectly, sodomy (Paragraph 36). Fróis too was troubled by these practices.

32 Procuresses. The term is taken from the Spanish novel-in-dialogue, La Celestina (1499), attributed by some to Fernando de Rojas (1465–1541). Here Álvares is not so much condemnatory as accepting the clear cultural equivalence. The remark also provides a major clue to his level of literacy.

33 After childbirth.

34 The practice of bathing in the presence of others has nowadays largely disappeared. Compare also Paragraphs 8 and 9.

35 The latter of these is not discussed until Paragraph 43.

36 Portuguese bonze (also bonzo) is probably derived from Japanese bōzu ‘Buddhist priest’, though some prefer to derive it from Japanese bonsō ‘Buddhist monk’. It is notable that Álvares reports only on Buddhism, presumably because Shinto was largely overshadowed by Buddhism throughout sixteenth- century Japan.

37 These admittedly external parallels with Christian practice would have been immensely encouraging to Xavier, for all that the similarities were somewhat superficial.

38 Boxer considers that here Álvares was ‘horrified’ (The Christian Century in Japan, p. 35). This may have been the case, even for a seasoned sea captain, but, rather than declare this directly, Álvares looks for censure from the Japanese and fails to find it. He would, of course, have been well aware that in Catholic Europe and in Goa the punishment for sodomy was burning at the stake. In parallel, Pinto reports in Chapter 211 of his Peregrinaçam that Xavier denounced the easy acceptance of pederasty in Japan.

39 Tatami in Japanese: usually made of straw.

40 Once again the two-way dialogical process is to be noted.

41 Álvares appears to be unaware that there was (and still is) no single Chinese language.

42 The writing was mutually intelligible throughout China, Korea and Japan via Chinese ideograms introduced into the two latter countries, possibly in the sixth century.

43 These women were known by the native Japanese word ama, but also as bikuni, a word taken from Sanskrit.

44 Álvares appears to be referring to the various eclectic Shugendō sects within Buddhism.

45 A sistrum is an ancient form of tambourine, furnished with a handle by which it was shaken. It is thought to have originated in Egypt, where it was used in the worship of Isis (Greek: σɛîστρον, from σɛίɛιν, ‘to shake’).

46 There already exists a rather dense version by Gill, Robin D.: Topsy-turvy 1585 (Florida, 2004)Google Scholar.

47 de Castro, Xavier (trans.), Traité de Luís Fróis sur les contradictions de moeurs entre Européens et Japonais (Paris, 1994)Google Scholar.

48 Shimo was the term used by the Jesuits to designate western areas of the island of Kyūshū.

49 Kazusa was a hamlet on the Shimabara peninsula (in western Kyūshū), where the Jesuits had a residence and, for a while, their college.

50 Lusitanised plural of Japanese dōgu, “item of equipment”.

51 Not all the above chapter headings correspond exactly with the headings that now follow.

52 “In summer unlined clothing, in autumn lined clothing, in winter heavily lined clothing”. No doubt spring clothing was the same as in autumn.

53 Respectively, a kimono, a loose-fitting robe, worn with a sash, and a katabira, a lightweight version of the same.

54 A word is missing from the text here. It is reasonable to assume that it should be cavalo, “horse”.

55 “Imperial” was a silk fabric with gilt figures, imported from Greece and the Middle East.

56 Japanese ganga and nuno, varieties of cotton cloth. Ganga is derived from Chinese yang (dialectally kang) and is the source of modern Portuguese ganga, ‘denim’.

57 Lusitanised plural of Japanese dōbuku, ‘travel cape’.

58 Lacquered. This obsolete Portuguese term is derived from Japanese urushi, ‘lacquer’.

59 This is a highly dubious and arguably naive assertion. Normally Fróis bases his evidence on observation, unlikely in this instance.

60 This is the first instance of a mere handful of rare dialogical comments made by Fróis.

61 This comment and the comment in item 46 indirectly (and adversely) suggest that there is a significant effeminate tendency among Japanese men.

62 This comment is the first of many where Fróis implies that the Japanese have a shameless attitude towards what he clearly regards as the undue baring of flesh. See also the references to immodest public bathing and to diaphanous clothing in items 53 and 61.

63 Lusitanised plural of Japanese tabi, “sock”.

64 A word is missing from the text at this point.

65 This is the first of Fróis's assertions of Japanese moral depravity.

66 The accusation that Japanese women “always stink” is a brutal statement.

67 Cotton floss, Japanese watabōshi.

68 Japanese kubō, i.e., shōgun, commander-in-chief and de facto ruler of Japan.

69 A word is missing from the text at this point.

70 This comment and item 20 once more underline the view held by Fróis that it is shameless and immodest to bare flesh unduly.

71 With the exception of item 37, the sequence 31–44 constitutes a massive criticism of Japanese family life, sexual behaviour and perinatal practices: this, for Fróis, was a society greatly in need of reform.

72 Lusitanised plural of Japanese bikuni, “Buddhist female religious”.

73 Battle.

74 See note 58.

75 Once again Fróis reveals a less than generous attitude towards Japanese women by this sweeping generalisation.

76 Lusitanised plural of Japanese byōbu, ‘screen’, whence modern Portuguese biombo.

77 Straw matting.

78 Glass (for sake, rice wine), Japanese sakazuki.

79 Lusitanised plural of Japanese hashi, ‘chopstick’.

80 The original text is slightly damaged at this point. The strong implication is that the Japanese practice of ‘sparing the rod’ is not to be recommended and the sign of an immoral society.

81 This trenchant rejection of pederasty echoes that of Francis Xavier. For Álvares's view, see note 38 above. The very use of the Portuguese word abominasões deliberately recalls the language of Leviticus 18. 22 and 20. 13.

82 Remarkably, in view of item 7, Fróis, in both items 11 and 13, finds something to admire in Japanese youth.

83 Respectively, sword and poniard, Japanese katana and wakizashi. Catana has now passed into Portuguese vocabulary as a word for “sword”, especially of the oriental variety.

84 Significant once more is the tone of disapproval in respect of the implied effeminacy.

85 Most of this chapter is a ferocious condemnation of the bonzes, of the sort that could be expected of a Counter-Reformation missionary. Yet, despite his odium theologicum, he must have been aware of the beam in the Church's own eye (Matthew 7. 3).

86 Lusitanised plural of Japanese danna, “one of the faithful”.

87 These Buddhist warrior monks came originally from a village named Negoro.

88 Lusitanised plural of Japanese tono, ‘feudal lord’.

89 Lusitanised plural of Japanese buryaku, ‘war stratagem’.

90 Lusitanised plural of Japanese niwa, ‘garden’.

91 See note 67.

92 Lusitanised plural of Japanese Zenshū, ‘Zen bonze or priest’.

93 Robe, Japanese koromo.

94 From Japanese hokkekyō, a highly prized Buddhist sutra (holy scripture).

95 Power, Japanese isei.

96 Lusitanised plural of Japanese Ikkō-shū, ‘bonze of the Ikkō sect’.

97 Lusitanised plural of Japanese yamabushi, ‘hermit’.

98 See note 56.

99 Lusitanised plural of Japanese tatami, ‘straw mat’.

100 This comparison is a somewhat ex parte statement, forgetful of gargoyles and hellfire homilies.

101 For once Fróis allows himself a rare dialogical statement.

102 This appears to contradict item 22 above, so perhaps it refers to the burial of the cremated remains; otherwise it is a slip of the pen.

103 To Fróis's Counter-Reformation mindset, this item must have been yet another indication of Japanese degeneracy.

104 Lusitanised plural of Japanese kami, ‘Shinto deity’.

105 Lusitanised plural of Japanese hotoke: broadly speaking, a Buddhist entity.

106 This example of theological eclecticism strengthens Fróis's case for help from Rome.

107 A cruzado was a silver coin of 400 reals (réis).

108 See note 58.

109 See note 77.

110 Soup, Japanese shiru. Note Fróis's variant, elsewhere in the text: xiro.

111 Here it is difficult to discern what the difference is.

112 See note 78.

113 Earthenware, Japanese kavarak.

114 Soup bowl, Japanese shiru goki. Noteworthy once more is the implication of degeneracy in both this and the preceding item. See also item 38.

115 Gentleman. Compare note 88.

116 A pulp.

117 A side dish with rice wine, sakana in Japanese.

118 The original text is slightly damaged at this point.

119 Here Fróis is clearly not fully informed.

120 See note 83.

121 Cloth. Compare note 56.

122 Copper knife, Japanese kōgai.

123 See note 83.

124 Lusitanised plural of Japanese kogatana, ‘knife’.

125 See note 58.

126 Long-handled halberds.

127 Lusitanised plural of Japanese naginata, ‘long-handled halberd’.

128 Kimono.

129 This should have appeared as fiaquxos: it is the Lusitanised plural of Japanese hyakushō, ‘peasant worker’.

130 A clear reference to harakiri (perhaps not the case in Chapter 4, item 41).

131 A clear affirmation from Fróis of the need to reform Japanese attitudes.

132 Kambala is a Sanskrit word for a piece of woollen cloth (Hindi: kamlī).

133 In the original list at the beginning of his text, Fróis had assigned Chapter Eleven to horses.

134 This comment is somewhat at variance with that of Álvares in the latter's paragraph 26, where he avers that Japanese horses were smaller but allows that nobles had horses of quality.

135 See note 95.

136 See note 56.

137 A word appears to be missing here; “tack”is probably what is intended.

138 Lacquer, Japanese urushi.

139 Lusitanised plural of Japanese hishaku, ‘trough’. These troughs were fitted with handles for removal.

140 A central province in the north of Honshū island.

141 See note 88.

142 This topic was originally listed by Fróis as being the subject of Chapter Eight.

143 A rare dialogical comment.

144 Support, Japanese makura.

145 Kimono.

146 A further dialogical comment.

147 Once more Fróis seeks to underline his view of Japanese sexual licence.

148 This topic was originally listed by Fróis as being the subject of Chapter Nine.

149 Cana (Japanese kana) embraces both the Hiragana and Katakana syllabaries. The “infinite number of other characters” are the ideograms that the Japanese language has adopted from China.

150 The original text is damaged at this point: it is unclear whether it reads “aves” (birds) or “corvos” (crows).

151 Deliberately, Japanese waza to.

152 The original text is again damaged here, and the reading is unclear. It seems likely that the ink mark was made on whatever device was used to fasten the scroll.

153 See note 58.

154 This practice would appear to apply primarily to the Jesuits and their black clothing. It is otherwise at variance with the use of the device mentioned in item 9.

155 It seems reasonably clear that Fróis has here mistakenly used the verb ‘fechar’ (to close) instead of ‘abrir’ (to open).

156 The sand was used to dry the ink.

157 This is a very crude over-simplification.

158 See note 77.

159 This topic was originally listed by Fróis as being the subject of Chapter Ten.

160 Pillar, Japanese hashira.

161 Lusitanised plural of Japanese shiki, ‘runner’.

162 Tea ceremony.

163 Lusitanised plural of Japanese zashiki ‘room’.

164 The original text is damaged here; it is very probable that ‘cazas’ (houses) is the obliterated word.

165 Lusitanised plural of Japanese byōbu, ‘screen’. Compare note 76.

166 See note 77.

167 Lusitanised plural of Japanese kaya, ‘mosquito net’.

168 Cloth. Compare note 56.

169 Deliberately. Compare note 151.

170 This item runs parallel to the earlier condemnation of immodest public bathing.

171 Lusitanised plural of Japanese kakego, ‘drawer’.

172 See note 90.

173 See note 169.

174 Basin, Japanese tarai.

175 See note 58.

176 See note 50.

177 The catur was a small Indian galley, propelled by a sail and oars. The name is thought by some to be the origin of English ‘cutter’, whence Portuguese ‘cúter’.

178 Lusitanised plural of Japanese fune, ‘ship’.

179 This item appears to contradict item 11.

180 Presumably, in relation to the depth of the ship in the water.

181 Fróis must surely have been aware that this was popular myth; otherwise this comment is naive.

182 The words in brackets were added later, perhaps by another hand.

183 This strange assertion is clearly at variance with what is stated in the following item 10.

184 Discordant, Japanese kashimashi.

185 The range of the smallest European spinet, known as the ottavine, was three octaves and a sixth, from E to C′″, which would require many more than 12 strings.

186 Lusitanist plural of Japanese wakizaki, ‘poniard, dagger’.

187 Side dishes, Japanese sakana.

188 A rare dialogical comment.

189 Lusitanised plural of Japanese supi, ‘corn swingle’.

190 The circumstances permitting killing in one's own house are evidently left unstated.

191 This statement is plainly either naive or an unwonted exaggeration. The same applies to item 8.

192 The implication that Japanese servants were solely and always punished by beheading is again a clear exaggeration.

193 These islands are located off the north-west coast of Kyūshū.

194 See note 88.

195 Rei, Japanese for “greeting”.

196 The caxa or caixa (Sanskrit. kars'a; English: ‘cash’; French: cache) was a Chinese copper coin of low value that also circulated in India and the Far East.

197 See note 50.

198 See note 162.

199 Blows with their catanas. See note 83.

200 Fróis means zeni, tiny coins of low value, often strung together in their hundreds, like beads. They were once referred to in English as ‘gen’.

201 The five provinces around Miyako (Kyōtō).

202 Lusitanised plural of Japanese komono, ‘servant’.

203 See note 77.

204 Soups and sauces, Japanese shiru. Compare note 110.

205 See note 48.

206 See note 78.

207 Both benzoin and eaglewood (agalloch) emit a fragrance when treated in this way.

208 Appearance, Japanese isei.