mercredi 15 octobre 2014

Hasekura Tsunenaga - Forgotten Diplomatic History of Japan

As a Japanese history buff, I am surprised that I never came across the story of this diplomatic mission until very recently. Anyone who has even the slightest interest in Japanese history should check this out

http://ift.tt/1c5NO7V

http://ift.tt/1wKipPI



http://ift.tt/1wKiov7



The first, if not ever samurai to travel to the Americas and Europe with the prospect of opening up diplomacy to several nations. There are paintings of him being applauded in Vatican square, its crazy.



For so long, I was under the impression that Japan was an isolationist country, with a few exceptions of China and Korea, but never read about an emissary to Europe and the Americas. Reading about it for the first time seemed like reading a piece of fiction. Sure, we know about the Dutch and the Portuguese landing in Japan and exporting guns and christianity, but not much else.



Maybe the reason why its never talked about is because the mission never went anywhere. Tokugawa's anti-christian sentiments stopped what could have been a prosperous cultural exchange between Japan and the west.





via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1wKjib2

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