Japan 7A - post-midterm

Marco Polo

Venetian traveler who visited the court of Kublai Khan in China in the late 1200s and heard reports about Japan, though he never actually visited Japan.

Chitangu / Cipangu

Name Marco Polo used for Japan in his travel account; European knowledge of Japan developed partly through his writings.

Kublai Khan

Mongol ruler and founder of China’s Yuan dynasty; Marco Polo visited his court while the Mongols were preparing invasions of Japan.

Mongol invasions of Japan

Failed Mongol attempts to invade Japan in the late 1200s; these campaigns made Japan a major topic of discussion at the Yuan court while Marco Polo was there.

The Travels of Marco Polo

Marco Polo’s travel account, which introduced many Europeans to stories about Japan and its supposed wealth.

Christopher Columbus

European explorer influenced by Marco Polo’s descriptions of wealthy Asian lands; he believed he was sailing toward Asia and Japan rather than discovering a separate continent.

“Age of Discovery”

Eurocentric term for the period when European powers expanded overseas exploration; the professor emphasizes that Europeans were “discovering” places already inhabited by established societies.

Spain and Portugal

Major early European maritime powers that competed for overseas trade routes, colonies, and missionary opportunities.

Treaty of Tordesillas (1494)

Agreement dividing much of the non-European world into Spanish and Portuguese spheres of expansion.

Portuguese Empire

Maritime commercial empire whose Asian bases and trade networks helped bring Portuguese merchants, missionaries, firearms, and goods to Japan.

Tanegashima

Southern Japanese island where Portuguese visitors arrived in 1543 carrying matchlock firearms; the Japanese later used “Tanegashima” as a name for this type of gun.

1543

Year traditionally associated with the first Portuguese arrival in Japan and the introduction of European matchlock firearms.

Matchlock firearm

Early gun fired using a burning match mechanism; Japanese craftsmen quickly copied and mass-produced the technology after its introduction.

Battle of Nagashino (1575)

Major battle in which Oda Nobunaga used firearms effectively against the Takeda forces; illustrates the military importance of imported technology.

Oda Nobunaga

Powerful late-1500s warlord and first of the three major political unifiers of Japan; used firearms successfully and established his headquarters at Azuchi.

Takeda clan

Rival warrior house defeated by Oda Nobunaga’s forces at Nagashino.

Palisades at Nagashino

Defensive barriers used by Oda’s forces to protect firearm units and organize repeated volleys against the Takeda.

Three Great Unifiers

Title for the major warlords associated with Japan’s late-1500s political unification: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and later Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Azuchi

Headquarters of Oda Nobunaga; gives its name to the Azuchi portion of the Azuchi-Momoyama period.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Second major unifier discussed in the course; established political headquarters in the Momoyama area of Kyoto.

Momoyama

Area of Kyoto associated with Hideyoshi’s headquarters; source of the name “Momoyama period.”

Azuchi-Momoyama period

Late-1500s era associated with the political unification of Japan under Nobunaga and Hideyoshi.

Protestant Reformation

European Christian movement in which many believers broke away from the Roman Catholic Church; helped create intense religious competition in Europe.

Catholic Counter-Reformation

Catholic response to the Protestant Reformation, including efforts to strengthen Catholicism and gain converts outside Europe.

Society of Jesus / Jesuits

Catholic missionary order founded in 1534 during the Counter-Reformation; especially active in overseas missions and education.

Ignatius Loyola

Founder of the Jesuit order; unlike Francis Xavier, Loyola never traveled to Japan.

Francis Xavier

Jesuit missionary who traveled to Japan in 1549 to spread Catholic Christianity; relied heavily on Yajirō for information about Japanese language and religion.

1549

Year Francis Xavier arrived in Japan, often used as the starting point of Japan’s so-called “Christian Century.”

Goa

Portuguese colonial center in India and important Jesuit missionary base; Xavier prepared there for his mission to Japan.

Malacca

Portuguese-controlled Southeast Asian port where Yajirō traveled before eventually reaching Goa.

Yajirō / Anjirō

Japanese samurai who fled Japan, traveled through Portuguese networks, met Francis Xavier, and became Xavier’s major source of information about Japan before the Jesuit mission.

Dainichi

“Great Sun” Buddha associated with esoteric Buddhism; Jesuits initially mistook Dainichi for something comparable to the Christian God.

Daiusu / Deusu / Deus

Japanese rendering of the European word Deus, meaning the Christian God; Jesuits adopted it after deciding that “Dainichi” caused too much Buddhist confusion.

Deus Destroyed / Deias Destroyed

Course reading showing Japanese criticism or interpretation of Christianity; the special written character in the text represents the Christian God.

Nanban / namban

Literally “southern barbarian”; Japanese term commonly used for Portuguese and Spanish visitors in the 1500s.

“Southern barbarians”

Portuguese and Spanish Europeans were called this because they usually reached Japan through southern Asian maritime routes, even though Europe itself lies west of Japan.

Eastern barbarians

Label Yamato Japanese applied to northern/eastern peoples outside Yamato cultural and political control; the professor connects this idea with later use of “southern barbarian” for Europeans.

Ainu

Indigenous northern people referenced in the lecture as an example of populations whom Yamato Japanese historically categorized as peripheral or “barbarian.”

Mikoshi-nyūdō

Very tall folkloric monster to whom Europeans could be compared because Europeans were often perceived as unusually tall.

Tengu

Japanese folkloric beings with prominent noses; Europeans were sometimes visually compared to them because Japanese observers emphasized Europeans’ noses.

Nanban screens

Painted folding screens depicting Portuguese/Spanish visitors, ships, trade, servants, luxury goods, churches, and other aspects of early European contact.

Izumo no Okuni

Female performer traditionally credited with founding kabuki; shown wearing a Christian cross even though this does not prove she converted to Christianity.

Greyhounds

Dogs brought by the Spanish that became popular among Japanese warrior lords; example of European material culture persisting beyond direct European presence.