THE 'DISCOVERERS' OF JAPAN

They are an ambulant people who wander to and fro. They have no fixed abode and they barter what they have for what they do not have. They are, consequently, an inoffensive people.

Teppo-Ki

This article deals with the Portuguese "discovery" of Japan. Not that there is any new contribution to make about the date of the inaugural voyage or the identity of its leading figures. Ever since Georg Schurhammer published an erudite article on the subject in 19461, consecrating the year 1543 and condemning Fernão Mendes Pinto's version, the issue has ceased to be discussed with the fervour of the first decades of this century. 2 The thesis of the German Jesuit, irrespective of whether or not it is the last, has been taken ever since to hold true.

What I hope to do is place the 1543 expedition within a broad framework of issues. In fact, the first Portuguese contacts with Japan become clearer if divested of the medley of minor details. Thus I will begin by juxtaposing the voyage of António Peixoto, António da Mota and Francisco Zeimoto with the pivotal characters of the Portuguese expansion in the East. Following on from this, I will attempt to sketch a portrait of the "discoverers" of Japan to use as a basis to reflect, in conclusion, on the first metamorphosis of "Portuguese Japan" in the early 1550s: the point at which the Japan discovered by the adventurers gave way to a Japan influenced by institutional powers.

THE "DISCOVERERS" OF JAPAN AND PORTUGUESE EXPANSION IN THE EAST

The last few decades have shown that Portuguese expansion in the East was far from a monolithic phenomenon. Its features varied according to the men shaping them, the moment in time, or the regions in question. The Malabar known to Vasco da Gama was not the same one that André Furtado de Mendonça had to deal with a hundred years later. By the same token, it was not possible to mechanically transpose to China the formula tried by the Portuguese on the island of Ceylon: the geographic and human architecture was different, and likewise the solutions encountered by the recent arrivals. Furthermore, one must bear in mind the fact that policies devised in Lisbon could change. The policy of imperialist monopoly outlined by Dom Manuel had become altogether unfeasible when, by the middle of the century, the system of licensed voyages was instituted. Moreover, the strategies drawn up by the Crown were not always borne out in loco: the personal conceptions of the governors often prevailed over them. Finally, one must not overlook the interests of those Portuguese who, increasingly detached from Lisbon and its overseas policy, frequently clashed with the central authority. In short, the historian must never cease to consider, simultaneously, the diversity of the "contaminated" and the diversity of the "contaminators".

Addressing the arrival of the first Portuguese in Japan presupposes an examination of some of these problems. The fact is that the disembarkation in Tanegashima in the early 1540s cannot be dissociated from the Crown's position on the Far East in that period, and equally, from the existence of a host of private individuals hungry for trade and piracy in regions remote from Goa, as was the case with the China Sea.

Awareness of the extraordinary diversity of the social aspects of Portuguese expansion in the East encouraged the search for new forms of 'charting' the men who had settled to the east of the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. Among the most common and apt is the one which divides the Portuguese in Asia between servants of the King and rebels, with this second category embracing a vast array of cases culminating in the renegade. 3 The phenomenon, as Luís Filipe Thomaz rightly underlined, was prompted by the very attitude of the Crown towards commerce: by founding a stifling monopoly scarcely mitigated by perquisites which the monarch in medieval style deigned to confer on his subjects as reward for services rendered, the sovereign excluded a considerable mass of men from the profits provided by trade. Now, those who did not belong in the system naturally opted to disengage themselves, seeking a place in the trading networks of the many regions of the Indian Ocean where the vigilance of the Estado da Índia was tenuous or even altogether absent. 4

Consolidated by the central authority's more liberal periods or the governor's more lax ones, this was the phenomenon that gave rise -to use the terms of L. F. Thomaz- to the Portuguese 'merchant republics', 'sub-spontaneous colonies' which burgeoned to some extent in all regions. The most organized of these, such as São Thomé de Meliapor, Negapatam or Macau, achieved a political and administrative structure which the Crown itself eventually sanctioned. Others always remained informal, such as Fukien or that of Patane in southern Siam, where by the middle of the sixteenth century there were already more than three hundred Portuguese settlers. 5 Malacca appears to have been the first departure point of these men who were 'out of the service' of the king. From there they set sail for the Far East, but also westwards: in 1520 there were more than two hundred 'mutineers' from Malacca living in Coromandel. 6 Another important route was that of the Ceylon Sea, across which private individuals abandoned Malabar in the direction of Coromandel and other countries of the Bay of Bengal. 7

The division is thus accompanied by a geographic distinction: public service 'faithfuls' peopled the western Indian Ocean, whilst regions to the east of Cape Comorim constituted the haven of the marginals. George Winius even conceived a 'Shadow Empire' in the Bay of Bengal, that is, a kind of negative version of Goan power. 8 Besides, language itself sanctioned this social dichotomy: the texts of the time speak frequently of scoundrels, outcasts, mutineers, renegades, and dissolutes.

The dichotomy is of course too simplistic. Coming to light today are the activities of the 'marginals' in zones like Cochim, controlled by the Estado da Índia, and were as detrimental to the Crown as those of the Bay of Bengal men, if not more so. 9 By the same token, one must give due emphasis to the hybrid cases, that is, individuals who divide their time between public service and 'marginality': Miguel Ferreira and other contemporaries of his, inhabitants of Coromandel, for example. 10 Moreover, Luís Filipe Thomaz demonstrated recently in one of the most penetrating analyses of Portuguese society in Asia, that a good number of these men drifted between the two worlds, rarely breaking altogether with the state, rarely altogether becoming rebels. The marginals, in spite of their tenuous links with Lisbon, continued to lay great store by the attractions of royal recognition and the possibility of climbing the social ladder. 11

None of this, however, detracts from the general principle. To the east of Cape Comorim, the Portuguese presence took on an informal character. Here we are not speaking merely of the activities of private individuals, but of the very initiatives of the central authority, which were always much less consistent in that region. With the exception of the conquest of Malacca (1511), the Estado da Índia exercised extraordinary caution, attempting to introduce itself into the established order without unsettling it. It was in this manner that Dom Manuel conceived the first incursion to the east of the Island of Ceylon. The directive issued to Dom Francisco de Almeida advised sending to those regions men "with merchandise in ships of the country that are going thither". The monarch demonstrated, above all else, a deep concern for the choice of people for these missions: "and those you send thither must be men who well know how to do it."12

In this mould, Dom Francisco de Almeida planned the first attempt to reach Malacca. The failed expedition of Francisco Pereira and Estevão de Vilhena would eventually evolve into the first Portuguese recognition of southern Coromandel (1506). The Portuguese travelled from Cochim aboard the ship of a "Moor of the country" and accompanied by one of the sons of Gaspar of India. 13

After the conquest of Malacca, a series of official voyages to the countries of the Bay of Bengal were prepared. Duarte Fernandes, who knew Malayan, was the first Portuguese emissary to Ayutthaya, and travelled aboard a fleet of Chinese junks (1511). Rui Nunes, sent to Pegu in the same year, also made the voyage aboard a local ship. In 1512 the junk São João journeyed from Malacca to Martaban, with Nina Chatu as crown envoy. Two years later, the junk's factor - Pero Pais- would return to Pegu, this time integrated in a fleet of ships belonging to merchants of Malacca. 14 Even the expedition to the Spice Islands (1512) -the most "stateoriented" of these voyages- did not fail to include "some Malayans, and Jáos, who were on that expedition". Moreover, António De Abreu took "before him a Moor, native of Malacca, by the name of Nehodá Ismael, with the merchant junk of some Jáos Moors and Malayans, who traded in those regions, so that Antonio d'Abreu would be received well when he reached those ports".15

These were discreet voyages, which coupled commercial interests with political and diplomatic goals. The voyages of private individuals, by contrast, although organized identically, were guided solely by their own economic interests. This was the case with Henrique de Leme's voyage to Pegu (1515-1516) or that of João Coelho to Bengal (1516) aboard a Bengali vessel. 16 Neither of these differed, at the final count, from the first Portuguese voyage to Japan.

A good part of Portuguese activity in the China Sea during the first half of the sixteenth century was also conducted along similar lines. Jorge Álvares' voyage to China in 1513, commanded by the captain of Malacca, was a typical voyage exploring the interior traffic of the China Sea. Organized like that of Pero Pais to Pegu the previous year, the expedition -curiously led by the notary of the junk São João - was to be purely commercial, proof of Portuguese penetration in regional trade alongside the merchants of the country. 17 The same took place the following year with Rafael Perestrelo. One such expedition had been planned in 1512 but had never materialized. 18

After the Estado da Índia's failed intervention in the region, resulting from the disturbances provoked by Simão de Andrade's armada and from the subsequent ill-starred embassy of Tomé Pires, 19 it was down to private individuals to secure Portuguese presence on the Chinese coast. It is tenable that Portuguese merchants began to frequent the ports of Fukien from the late thirties onwards. 20 In 1542, they established themselves in Liampo, to settle three years later in Chincheu (1545-1548). In the 1550s, the return to Canton and the settling of the Portuguese in Macau would again be incumbent upon these men who, in the meantime, had become pastmasters of trade in the China Sea. Between Jorge Álvares' voyage to Canton and the founding of Macau, there lie almost forty years of exploration of the maritime routes of the Far East, practically dominated by private individuals. During this long stretch of time, there is at least one milestone which it behooves us to bear in mind: the disembarkation in Tanegashima in the year 1543.

The "discovery" of Japan is only intelligible in the light of these premises and this is the justification for the present excursus, any lack of innovation aside. The Japanese archipelago belonged to the world of informal expansion, it lay within the field of influence of the adventurers. The arrival of the first Portuguese in Japan could hardly, then, have other characteristics. What is more, as will be seen later, the central authority did not have, at the beginning of the 1540s, any strategy drawn up for intervention in the Far East.

FROM THE JAPAN OF THE ADVENTURERS TO THE JAPAN OF THE INSTITUTIONALIZED POWERS

Whether addressing the voyage of António da Mota, Francisco Zeimoto and António Peixoto or the expedition of Fernão Mendes Pinto, we remain in the presence of an initiative of adventurers, detached from the objectives of the Estado da Índia. The first group escaped from Diogo Freitas' vessel in Siam and boarded a Chinese junk set sail for Fukien. A storm was to carry them away from the port of Liampo towards the Ryukyu islands (Lequeios) and from there towards Japan. 21

The second group, coming from Malacca, travelled between the coastal areas of Fukien and Japan aboard the junk of a corsair, once again putting in at the Ryukyu islands. 22

Both voyages registered themselves on the commercial axis of the region. The first represented Portuguese penetration in one of the vital routes of that area, precisely that linking Siam to the Chinese and Japanese markets. 23 The other also figured in the range of close relations between the Malayan archipelago, the Chinese coast and the Japanese archipelago. At all events, one must point out the importance of the Ryukyu islands as one of the commercial nerve centers of the China Sea24 and equally, the relevance of the ports of Funkier in connection with the relationship between the Celestial Empire and Japan: a year after establishing themselves in Liampo the Portuguese were disembarking in Tanegashima.

The recent arrivals emerge, then, as merchants among merchants in a region which was experiencing at that time extraordinary commercial dynamism. Further, they benefitted from the listlessness of the Japanese network, largely caused by the preponderance of merchants from the Ryukyu islands25 and by the interruption of official commerce between China and Japan. 26 From Malacca, and from other ports of South West Asia, the Portuguese network was to consolidate itself in the extreme in the 1540s and 1550s, in a process which ranged from the settling of the Fukien Ports (1542-1548) and the first voyage to the Ryukyu islands (1542) to their arrival in Japan (1543) and the founding of Macau (1557).

Hence, an unrestrained interest in commerce with Japan perforce followed the inaugural voyage. Fernão Mendes Pinto, one of those who took part in that "silver rush", gives us an account of the phenomenon. 27 Japanese sources corroborate it. 28 It is important, then, to evaluate the traces of this tide. In 1544, the Spaniard Pero Diez "left Patane in a Chinese junk" bound for Japan, where he encountered five Chinese junks with Portuguese from the colony of Patane aboard, and others who came from the Ryukyu islands. 29 Jorge de Faria was the chief of half a dozen Portuguese merchants heading for Japan in a "small Chinese junk";30 one would also have to consider a series of other voyages stretching up to 1550. It was these men, arriving from Fukien, Malacca and Siam, who brought Francisco Xavier the first tidings of Japan. Thanks to the writings of the Jesuits, we are now able to discuss their activities. 31

Furthermore, the voyages of private individuals to Japan were not "punished" by the Crown. In Lisbon at the turn of the 1540s Dom João III was not overly preoccupied with the Far East. In spite of having opted to concentrate men and resources in the East to the detriment of North Africa, it was the East of spices and Turks that interested him and not the Far East, where his policies did not reach the exuberant heights of the Manueline period. Cambay and the Moluccas certainly meant more to his ears than China or Japan. 32 The governors of the Estado da Índia lent their support to this move. Martim Afonso de Sousa (1542-1545) would invariably partake of the problems of equatorial India, leaving the Far East to private initiative. 33 For his part, and although this liberality may not have been altogether to his liking, Dom João de Castro (1545-1548) concentrated primarily on the neutralization of the Rumes. The affirmation of central authority in the Far East, then, was not forthcoming from the actions of these two figures.

When we speak of the "discoverers" of Japan, we refer not only to those habitually associated with the inaugural voyage. In truth, one ought to include also the names of all those known to have been involved in commerce with Japan between 1543 and the early years of the following decade. I allude among others to Diogo Vaz de Aragão, Duarte da Gama, Luís de Almeida, Jorge Álvares, Francisco Toscano, Diogo Pereira, Francisco Pereira de Miranda, Alvaro Vaz, Jorge de Faria and Gaspar de Melo.

In the majority of cases, unfortunately, we can get no further than the occasional reference in narrative sources and archival documents. We have no consistent information which would allow a true biographical sketch of any of these men. The family trees are of no great help. The same can be said for the records of the Royal Chancery. Also, one has to take stock of the existence of an endless number of homonyms, which renders the identification of Portuguese men very problematic. 34

We are dealing, in truth, with anonymous individuals, wholly or partially removed from the political and administrative structure of the Estado da Índia. They did not endorse letters to the King or the Governor, they did not answer to any fortress captain, they did not need to organize account books for each occasion they set out on a commercial voyage. Because of this, we lack written traces of their activities. The fact is, archives "are records or symbols of authority".35 Thus, the actions of these men emerge from the half-light only when for some reason or other they came into contact with a given authority. Their close relations with the missionaries, which I shall discuss further below, is a case in point: in order to start their missionary work in Japan, the Jesuits had to rely on these men, and conversely the former "brought to life" figures such as Jorge Álvares. 36 The exception, clearly, is Fernão Mendes Pinto. Naturally, his affiliation with the Society of Jesus assisted in making his movements better known. If only all these adventurers had also written a Peregrinação.37

What affinities can be established among these men? An extraordinary grasp of the various maritime trade routes of the Far East appears to be one of the common denominators. By the same token, one may perceive the existence of close relations between some of them. However, what further conclusions can we draw?

In the first place, one notes close bonds between merchants and missionaries. Firm ties of friendship united Francisco Xavier to Fernão Mendes Pinto ("the true friend of master Francisco"); Francisco Pereira de Miranda ("special friend"); Jorge Álvares ("my friend"); or Diogo Pereira ("special lord and friend"). Some of them, like Mendes Pinto and Luís de Almeida, even went as far as to join the Society. 38 Others, like Duarte da Gama, provided material support for the activities of the first Jesuits in Japan. 39 This privileged relationship, which also helps to explain the settlement in Nagasaki, was to last the course of the century and as a consequence the "merchants lost the most profitable voyage of the Estado da Índia due to their solidarity with the missionaries".40

Exactly the same situation occurred in other times and places. Traders and missionaries looked to each other for assistance. If we want to familiarize ourselves with the activities of Portuguese private individuals in the Bay of Bengal we must turn, in a notable percentage of cases, to the testimonies of the missionaries. 41 Not to be overlooked either is the association of interests between Miguel Ferreira (who knew Xavier) and the missionaries of the Pescaria Coast and Ceylon regarding the conquest of Jaffna (1546-1548)42; the bonds between Diogo Veloso and Father António da Piedade in Cambodia at the close of the sixteenth century43; or even the presence of the Portuguese in the Sultanate of Banjarmasin where, towards to end of the seventeenth century, "the fathers were unable to continue after the departure of the merchants".44

Secondly, the term 'adventurer' is not necessarily a synonym for 'man of low standing'. Among the leading figures of the early voyages to Japan we come across people of 'quality'. Take the cases of Dom Fernando de Menezes, "a nobleman";45 Francisco Pereira de Miranda, a noble of the Royal Court; 46 or Gaspar de Melo, "a nobleman".47 As Luís Filipe Thomaz noted, with regard to the movements of private individuals in the Bay of Bengal at the beginning of the sixteenth century, there was no lack of noblemen among the rebels. The same was true of China: many of the Portuguese merchants seeking a place in the very profitable commerce in Canton in those years were noblemen. Mateus de Brito and Galiote Pereira are only two such examples. There is nothing surprising about this phenomenon if we bear in mind what was said in the first section of this study.

Thirdly, another feature which unites these men is their lucid, rapid comprehension of the new realities around them. Among the skills which facilitated this was a grasp of the local language (Diogo Vaz de Aragão) and an extraordinary aptitude and discretion when dealing with "the people of the country" (Jorge Álvares, Alvaro Vaz).

As in other cases, these "men of Japan" had a penchant for observing and describing, a writing down their impressions. In an earlier study dedicated to a Portuguese figure who moved in other geographic regions, I tried to demonstrate how in that period the choice of ambassador did not necessarily conform to the criteria for "quality". Rather than social status, what was important was a knowledge of the local languages, a curiosity for the new, and a flare for relating what was seen. Thus I sought to justify Miguel Ferreira's preference for Alfonso de Albuquerque, a socially low-key figure, as leader of an embassy to Persia. What is certain is that Miguel Ferreira kept a "journal of all that had happened until turning the Straits of Hormuz" and years later he would draft an inquiry about the tomb of Saint Thomas, commissioned by Nuno da Cunha. 48 The composition of texts on the East was not, then, delivered into to the hands of men of letters, rather it was monopolized by men like Tomé Pires and Duarte Barbosa. 49 Bear in mind the author of Lembrança d'algumas cousas que se passaram quando António de Brito e Diogo Pereira foram a Bengala (1521), an anonymous interpreter who succeeded in writing something in the same vein as Peregrinação, "le texte indo-portugais le plus riche et le plus beau de la premiere moitié du XVIe siècle"50 according to its editors. And the Portuguese texts on China prior to Friar Gaspar da Cruz's Tratado? Were they not all written by "men of the country" captive more often than not, but who nonetheless continue describing and mediating? 51

The same phenomenon occurs with the first texts on Japan. They are the writings of merchants like Jorge Álvares, who were, nevertheless, no less informed about the new realities. Chapter 18 of Livro que trata das cousas da India e do Japão constituted the first Portuguese depiction of Japan. 52 Written by Jorge Álvares at the request of Francisco Xavier, this text would rapidly reach the hands of Governor de Sá, circulating later in Europe with great speed. 53 It contains in greater or lesser detail descriptions of the countryside; material life; the physical traits and behaviour of the Japanese; dress; what is eaten and how; religion; and language. The two other texts on Japan included in this collection of 1548 are of the same calibre: both the "account of the island of Japan given by master Francisco" and the "account of Japan given by Father Niqulao" were composed on the basis of reports by Yajiro (Anjirô, later Paulo de Santa Fé), a Japanese man who Jorge Álvares himself had presented to Francisco Xavier in Malacca. 54 Needless to say, those chapters of the Peregrinação devoted to Japan, although edited later, constitute evidently a part of this first Portuguese portrait, drawn up between 1543 and the first years of the following decade. Was it not this, hand in hand in with the actual "discovery", that constituted the adventurers' major contribution to Western Europe's knowledge of Japan (the real Japan, not that of Marco Polo or Christopher Columbus)?

By the early 1550s, only a few years after the inaugural voyage, the panorama alters significantly.

In the first place, one has to consider the interests of the Church, well illustrated by Francisco Xavier's presence on the archipelago between 1549 and 1551. 55 Xavier would die in 1552, but this did not undermine Jesuit zeal for the task of conversion in Japan. Balthazar Gago, Pêro de Alcáçova, Cosme de Torres, João Fernandes and Gaspar Vilela continued their work and, eight years later, the missionaries were establishing themselves in Kyoto, the capital. Henceforth, the Cross would cement in good measure the relations between the Portuguese and the Japanese. Even if, in the early stages the missionaries depended heavily on the influence of the merchants, within a few years the relationship would invert itself altogether: it was to the missionaries, who were permanently resident in Japan, that the seasonal merchants resorted. 56 Similarly, the accounts of the merchants -the paradigm, as was seen, was that of Jorge Álvares- soon gave way to the letter-reports of the missionaries, 57 not to mention such long-winded works as those by Alessandro Valignano, 58 Luís Froís59 or João Rodrigues Tçuzzu. 60

Then one must consider the interests of the Estado da Índia, embodied in the 1550 creation of the China and Japan Voyage, whose captain was appointed yearly by the Crown. 61 Goa thus put an end to a brief stretch of time during which commerce with Japan was totally open. Granted, the first years of monopoly may have been faltering ones, but commerce was rapidly institutionalized with the foundation of Macau (1557) and Nagasaki (1570-1571). 62 Henceforth, talk centres on the "black ship" which circulated between the two cities, captained by someone who often represented the interests of the great merchants of Macau.

The productive efforts of men such as Garcia de Sá (1548-1549) or Dom Alonso de Noronha (1550-1554) in relations with the Far East must also be mentioned. Garcia de Sá appeared to nurture the chimera of conversion in China, to go by what may be deduced from an "account" of 1548 written by Xavier and based on the testimony of a merchant. 63 He also took an interest in Japan, judging by the contents and form of the three chapters dedicated to the Japanese archipelago in the Livro que trata das cousas da India e do Japão. In the same vein, Dom Alfonso de Noronha attempted to strengthen relations with Japan: this was the reason behind Fernão Mendes Pinto's Bungo voyage, which took place in 1556 but had been under preparation from 1554. 64 These relations were to continue beyond the death Dom João III, under Queen Catarina and Dom Sebastião. 65 Diogo Pereira's failed embassy to China (1552) is clearly part of this picture: after all, it represented the first official initiative in the Celestial Empire after the embassy of Tomé Pires thirty years earlier. 66 Might not this sudden interest on the part of the Crown have been connected to possible Spanish pressure in the Far East? In 1544-1545, the Spanish had clear aspirations to carve out for themselves a place in the China and Ryukyu trade. 67 In 1552, Francisco Xavier conveyed to Simão Rodrigues the Emperor's interest in the Ilhas Platareas68:

The Spanish call these islands the Silver Islands. And the Portuguese I encountered in Japan told me that the Castilians who depart from New Spain for Malacca pass very close to these islands; and if some of these Castilians who leave New Spain to discover these islands lose themselves on the voyage, the Japanese say it is because in those regions through which the Spanish pass to reach Japan there are many reefs in the sea and there they go astray. I relate this to you, my brother Master Simão, so that you can tell our King and Queen that for the benefit of their consciences they ought to warn the Emperor or the Kings of Castile not to send any more Armadas from New Spain in search of the Silver Islands because all those who make the journey are bound to perish.

Whether or not it was out of fear of Castilian competition, the fact remains that, by the end of the 1540s, the central authority awoke to the importance of Japan and China. It was, therefore, a harbinger of the period when the Estado da Índia would include the Far East as one of its priorities: the 1560s. 69

Lastly, one must speak in some detail of Macau and its role in relations with Japan. It could be argued, and pertinently so, that Macau was not the sole reserve of the Estado da Índia: rather it was a haven for the casados and others seeking opportunities for private initiative. Yet Fernão Mendes Pinto had very little in common with figures such as Bartolomeu Vaz Landeiro. The author of Peregrinação belonged to a group of men who, pastmasters of commerce in the China Sea, nevertheless limited themselves to capitalizing on chance opportunities. Landeiro, by contrast, was already a fullyfledged magnate: one has only to recall the diversity of his interests, which ranged from a place in Canton commerce, to a privileged position in trade with Japan, the Moluccas and the Philippines. 70

The Japan traders generated by Macau could count on the backing of powerful institutions (the Senado da Câmara, and the Santa Casa da Misericórdia) and they often brought pressure to bear on the central authority; they had their own fleets; they skilfully combined interests in different markets of the region; they resorted to respondência. It was men such as António Fialho Ferreira and Lopo Sarmento de Carvalho who monopolized commerce with Japan and Manila in the 1630s, counting on the approval of Goa; 71 or like Simão Vaz de Pavia, one of those commissioned in 1640 by the Câmara to regain Macau's place in the commerce between the Celestial Empire and the Japanese archipelago. 72 Francisco da Gama himself, who specialized in trade between India and Malacca in the first decades of the seventeenth century without involvement in the China Sea, serves as an example: his "prayer" book has survived down to our own days and bears testimony of the activities of these sharp merchants. 73 There can be no doubt that this is a far cry from the spontaneity of men like Fernão Mendes de Pinto, first generation traders who had no qualms about the kind of vessel they sailed in, trading off-chance merchandise. This is the image given by the excerpt from Teppo-Ki (Book of the Gun) that I cited in opening this article: the Portuguese are men who "barter what they have for what they do not have".74 Granted, there is a prevailing admiration for the português guerreiro, 75 which the very introduction of the gun by the Portuguese helped to create. 76 Nevertheless, the português comerciante, the small trader, is not absent from the Japanese texts. 77

Japan, lying between China and the Americas, in a map dating from the time of the first contacts.

(Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Abraham Ortelius, Antwerp, 1574)

Relations with Japan were by now in the hands of institutionalized powers: the Church, the Crown, the Senado da Câmara. Where once in an ephemeral earlier period they had at least been shared with the adventurers, diplomatic contacts were rapidly monopolized by missionaries and the magnates of Macau. In 1556, Fernão Mendes Pinto had accompanied Father Melchior Nunes Barreto on an embassy to Bungo, 78: in 1588, however, the envoy of Dom Duarte de Menezes to Toyotomi Hideyoshi was Valignano. 79 By the same token, the 1644-1647 embassy to Japan was headed by Gonçalo Siqueira de Souza, the agent of António Fialho Ferreira and of the interests of the great merchants of Macau. 80 It is true that communal powers, consubstantiate in the Santa Casa and in the Senado, echoed the aspirations of the casados. except that it was a question of backing the magnates, not the small-time trader. The same would occur, years later, with the Canton trade: from 1595, access the Canton fair was reserved for the Eleitos de Cantão, a group of thirty city dignitaries chosen by the Câmara to trade there representing all the others, thus excluding from business a host of small-time traders. 81 In Japan, as in Canton, the adventurers gave way to the magnates, who in most cases were ensconced in the institutionalized powers. Thus the first incarnation of "Portuguese Japan" was consummated.

Japan at the time of the last European contacts before the isolation of the country.

Given this background, what difference does it make who were the first Portuguese to arrive in Japan? António da Mota, António Peixoto and Francisco Zeimoto; Fernão Mendes Pinto, Diogo Zeimoto and Cristóvão Borralho... Did they not all belong to a single category of men, alongside a handful of others who have been discussed above? Did they not all encounter a Japan as yet free from the watchful eye of institutionalized powers?

NOTES

1 "O descobrimento do Japão pelos Portugueses no ano de 1543", in Anais da Academia Portuguesa da História, 2nd series, 1 (1946), pp. 7-112. The article was subsequently included in Orientalia (Rome-Lisbon, 1963, pp. 485-580), the edition used here.

2 I refer here to the works of H. Haas, S. Purchas, J. Murdoch, D. Osborne, I. Okamoto-J. Abranches Pinto, Cristóvão Aires, Luís Norton and Jordão de Freitas amongst others, reviewed by Schurhammer, art. cit. supra; ibid., "Fernão Mendes Pinto und seine 'Peregrinaçam'", in Orientalia, pp. 23-103; and by Maria Antonieta Soares de Azevedo, in her summary "Japão, relações com o" in Dicionário de História de Portugal, ed. Joel Sarrão, republished, vol. III, Oporto, 1981, pp.335-360.

3 Cf. Maria Augusta Lima Cruz, "Exiles and Renegades in early sixteenth century Portuguese India", in The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 23-3 (1986), pp. 249- 262.

4 Geneviève Bouchon/Luís Filipe Thomaz, Voyage dans les deltas du Gange et de l'Irraouaddy, relation portugaise anonyme, 1521, Paris, 1988, p.31 & ff.

5 For the preceding, see the excellent study by L. F. Thomaz, "Estrutura política e administrativa do Estado da Índia no século XVI", in Actas do II Seminário Internacional de História Indo-Portuguesa, org. by Luís de Albuquerque & Inácio Guerreiro, Lisbon, 1985, pp. 513-540 (531-532).

6 Letter from Nuno de Castro to Dom Manuel, Cochim, 31. X.1520, publ. in Cartas de Alfonso de Albuquerque, seguidas de documentos que as elucidam, ed. R. A. de Bulhão Pato & H. Lopes de Mendonça, 7 vols., Lisbon 1884- 1935 (henceforth referred to as Cartas), VII, pp. 181-182.

7 Cf. Jorge M. Flores, "Os Portugueses e o Mar de Ceilão, 1498-1543: Trato, Diplomacia e Guerra", M. A. Dissertation presented to the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, 1991, circulated.

8 Cf. "The 'Shadow Empire' of Goa in the Bay of Bengal", in Itinerario, VII/2 (1983), pp. 83-101, later republished as "Portugal's 'Shadow Empire' in the Bay of Bengal", in Review of Culture,No. 13/14 (Jan.-Jun. 1991), pp. 273-287.

9 In 1537, a certain Diogo Fernandes denounced the men of Cochim who had quotas and contracts with the Mappillas. They were Portuguese living five or six leagues from the city, in lugares de guerra (war zones) like that of Calakkuti (Culimute), trafficking prohibited merchandise and warring against the fleets of the Estado da Índia (letter to Dom João III, Lisbon, 1. VI. 1537, Arquivo Nacional da Torre do Tombo (TdT), Corpo Cronológico (CC) 11-211-65, fols. 5v-6). Here it is worth remembering the subversive activities of de Albuquerque's opponents, carried out in Cochim (Cf. I. Guerreiro & V. Rodrigues, "O 'grupo de Cochim' e a oposição a Afonso de Albuquerque", a paper presented at the 5th International Seminar on Indo-Portuguese History, Cochim, Jan.-Feb. 1989, circulated); further, the relevance of Cochim de cima as the rebels' paradise in 1630s. (cf. S. Subrahmanyam, "Cochim in decline, 1600-1650: myth and manipulation in the Estado da Índia", in Portuguese Asia: aspects in history and economic history (16th & 17th centuries), ed. Roderich Ptak, Stuttgart, 1987, pp. 59-85).

10 Cf. Jorge M. Flores, "Um 'homen que tem muito crédito naquelas partes': Miguel Ferreira, os 'alevantados' do Coromandel e o Estado da Índia", in From Biography to History. Essays in the Social History of Portuguese Asia, 1500-1800, eds. Kenneth McPherson & S. Subrahmanyan (in print).

11 Cf. G. Bouchon & L. F. Thomaz, Voyage dans les deltas, pp. 31-48 and 365-413.

12 5. III. 1505. Cartas, II, p.323.

13 Gaspar da India to Dom Manuel, n. p., 16. XI.1506, Cartas, II, pp. 371-380. Regarding this expedition, see inter alia, Jorge M. Flores, "Os Portugueses e o Mar de Ceilão", second part, chap. I, pp. 130-131.

14 Regarding these missions, see G. Bouchon & L. F. Thomaz, Voyage dans les deltas, pp. 27-30. Thomaz published the accounts of Pero Pais' voyages (De Malaca a Pegu. Viagens de um feitor português (1512-1515), Lisbon, 1966).

15 João de Barros, Asia. Dos feitos que os Portugueses fizeram no descobrimento, e conquista dos mares, e terras do Oriente (ed. Livraria São Carlos, Lisbon, 1973-1975), III/5- 6.

16 G. Bouchon & L. F. Thomaz, Voyage dans les deltas, pp. 49-53.

17 Regarding this voyage, see Luís Keil, Jorge Álvares, o primeiro português que foi à China (1513), reedited, Macau 1990; J. M. Braga, China Landfall, 1513 Jorge Álvares' voyage to China. A compilation of some relevant materials, Macau, 1955.

18 Cf. R. Bishop Smith, A projected voyage to China in 1512 and new notices relative to Tomé Pires in Canton, Bethesda, Maryland, 1972.

19 This inspired a change in Portuguese policy towards the Far East, to which we shall return at a later stage, notably analyzed by João Paulo Costa ("Do sonho manuelino ao realismo joanino: novos documentos sobre as relações lusochinesas na terceira década do século XVI", in Studia, No. 50 (1991), pp.121-155.

20 See J. P. Costa, ibid., which cites the testimonies of Jorge Cabral and Pero Barriga (1527).

21 António Galvão, Tratado dos Descobrimentos (4th ed., Oporto, 1987, pp. 164-165), successively resumed by J. Lucena (História da vida do Padre Francisco de Xavier), Diogo do Couto (Asia. Dos feitos que os Portugueses fizeram no descobrimento, e conquista dos mares, e terras do Oriente) and J. R. Tçuzzu (História da Igreja no Japão).

22 Fernão Mendes Pinto, Peregrinação, ed. Adolfo Casais Monteiro, republished, Lisbon, 1983, chap. CXXXII. Father Francisco de Sousa reconciles the two versions: "the names of these shipwrecked discoverers were Antonio da Mota, Francisco Zeymoto and Antonio Peyxoto. Before or after them, but in the same year, Fernão Mendez Pinto, Christovão Borralho and Diogo Zeymoto landed in one of the Japanese Isles, in the service of one corsair who purposely sought it". (Oriente Conquistado a Jesus Cristo, ed. Lopes de Almeida, Oporto, 1978, P. 1, C. IV, D. I, S. 1).

23 In the case of China, see S. Promboon, "Sino-Siamese Tributary Relations, 1282-1853", PhD Thesis, University of Wisconsin, 1971; Sarasin Viraphol, Tribute and Profit: Sino-Siamese Trade, 1652/1853, Harvard, 1977. In the case of Japan, cf. the study by Conceição Flores in this magazine.

24 Evidence with regard to the trading of horses is supplied by Roderich Ptak's Pferde auf See. Chinas Pferdeimporte von den Riukiu-Inseln und Ländern Südostasiens und des Indischen Ozeans (1368-1435), Kleine Beitrage zur europäishen Uberseegeschichte, Heft 8, Bamberg, 1991.

25 A phenomenon which, writing of Malacca, Tomé Pires grasped later at the end of the sixteenth century (A Suma Oriental de Tomé Pires e o Livro de Francisco Rodrigues, ed. Armando Cortesão, Coimbra, 1978, pp. 370-374).

26 The situation only returned to normal in the seventeenth century: see Paul Akamatsu, "Le décollage des grands marchands japonais au 17e siècle", in Marchands et hommes d'affaires asiatiques dans l'Océan Indien et la Mer de Chine, 13e-20e siècles, eds. Jean Aubin & Denys Lombard, Paris, 1988, pp. 129-145; Osamu Kondo, "Japan and the Indian Ocean at the Time of the Mughal Empire, with Special Reference to Gujarat", in The Indian Ocean. Explorations in History, Commerce & Politics, ed. Satish Chandra, New Delhi, 1987, pp. 174-190.

27 Peregrinação, CXXXVII, CC, CCII.

28 Quoted by Schurhammer, "O descobrimento do Japão", op. cit., pp. 542-554.

29 The account of Ruy López de Villalobos' expedition written by Garcia de Escalante Alvarado, the sailing master, Lisbon, 1. VIII.1548, publ. in Coleccíon de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista e navegación de las antiguas posesiones espanolas en America y Oceanía, 5 (Madrid, 1866), pp. 117-209. I refer to the excerpts published by Schurhammer in "O descobrimento do Japão", op. cit., pp. 527-529.

30 Luís de Fróis to the Portuguese Brothers, Bungo, 16. X. 1578, quoted by Schurhammer, ibid., pp. 533-535.

31 See inter alia, Francisco Xavier to the three brothers in Goa, Malacca, 20-22. VI. 1549, Epistolae S. Francisci Xaverii, ed. G. Schurhammer & J. Wicki (henceforth EX), II (1549-1552), Rome, 1945, doc. 84, p. 131; or even Francisco Xavier to the Society of Jesus in Europe, Malacca, 22. VI.1549, ibid., doc. 85, p. 147.

32 Regarding this matter, see João Paulo Costa's article, "Do sonho manuelino ao realismo joanino", cit. supra. In my M. A. dissertation ("Os Portugueses e o Mar de Ceilão, 1498-1543: Trato, Diplomacia e Guerra", Lisbon, 1991, second part, chap. IV) I tried to show how Dom João III gradually veered away from the problems of Central Indian Ocean to concentrate exclusively on the guerra de Cambaia, where the future of Portugal's presence in the Seas of Asia was truly at stake.

33 Such did João Paulo Costa establish, noting the existence of a considerable number of licensed voyages to the China Sea during the years of M. A. de Sousa's government. (cf. "A descoberta da civilização japonesa pelos Portugueses", M. A. Dissertation in the History of Portuguese Discoveries and Expansion presented to the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon 1988, circulated, pp. 81-82, to be published this year by the Cultural Institute of Macau.).

34 Still, G. Schurhammer manages to identify Francisco Pereira de Miranda (with twelve homonyms!) and Diogo Pereira ("Doppelgänger in Portugiesisch-Asien", in Orientalia, pp. 121-147).

35 François Furet, A Oficina da História, Port. trans., Lisbon, n. d., p. 83.

36 Cf. Artur Basílio de Sá, Jorge Álvares, quadros da sua biografia no Oriente, Lisbon, 1955.

37 To review what has been written about the life and work of Mendes Pinto, see inter alia, G. Schurhammer, "Fernão Mendes Pinto und seine 'Peregrinaçam'"; id., and "O descobrimento do Japão", both published in Orientalia, pp. 23-103 and 485-580 (551-580), and, more recently, João David Pinto Correia, A 'Peregrinação' de Fernão Mendes Pinto, 2nd ed., Lisbon, 1983, pp. 29 & ff; Alfredo Pinheiro Marques, Guía de história dos descobrimentos e expansão portuguesa, Lisbon, 1987, pp. 115-118.

38 About Luís de Almeida, see Léon Bourdon, "Luís de Almeida, chirurgien et marchand, avant son entrée dans la Compagnie de Jésus au Japon (1525?-1556)", in Mélanges d'études portugaises offerts à M. Georges Le Gentil, Lisbon, 1949, pp. 69-85; Diego Yuuki, Luís de Almeida, médico, caminhante, apóstolo, Macau, 1989.

39 Cf. León Bourdon, ibid., pp. 83-84.

40 João Paulo Costa, "Os Portugueses no Japão", in Portugal no Mundo, ed. Luís de Albuquerque, vol. IV, Lisbon, 1989, pp. 197-211(211).

41 A theme which George Winius unfortunately did not manage to broach in the 6th International Seminar on Indo-Portuguese History (Missionary sources for the 'Shadow Empire'), but which he should take up in future work. As for the case of Burma, see Maria Ana de Barros Serra Marques Guedes, "Interferência e integração dos Portugueses na Birmânia, c. 1580-1630", M. A: Dissertation in the History of Portuguese Discoveries and Expansion at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, 1991, circulated.

42 Cf. Jorge Flores, "Um 'homem que tem muito crédito naquelas partes'", cit. supra.

43 Sanjay Subrahmanyan, "The Tail Wags the Dog: Sub-Imperialism and the Estado da Índia, 1570-1600", in Improvising Empire, Portuguese Trade and Settlement in the Bay of Bengal, 1500-1700, New Delhi, 1990, pp. 147-149.

44 Cf. Jorge Santos Alves, "Dois sonhos portugueses de negócio e evangelização no Archipélago Malaio em finais do século XVII", a paper presented at the 6th International Seminar on Indo-Portuguese History, Macau, Oct. 1991, circulated.

45 As told by Yajiro (letter to Ignatius Loyola, Goa, 29. XI. 1548, Documental India, ed. J. Wicki, I (Rome, 1948), doc. 51, p. 336).

46 Schurhammer, "Doppelgänger", op. cit., p. 131.

47 Peregrinação, CXXXVII.

48 Cf. Jorge Flores, "Um 'homem que tem muito crédito naquelas partes'", cit. supra.

49 As T. Tudor recalls, "l'auteur typique du récit de voyage n'est pas un écrivain professionnel; c'est quelqu'un qui prend la plume presque malgré lui, et parce que'il se sent porteurd'un message exceptionnel; celui-ci une fois délivré, il se hate de revenir à son existence normale de nonécrivain" (Les Morales de l'Histoire, Paris, 1991, p. 105).

50 Cf. G. Bouchon & L. F. Thomaz, Voyage dans les deltas, pp. 98-99.

51 I am referring, amongst others, to texts like the letters and reports de Cristóvão Vieira, Vasco Calvo, Amaro Pereira ou Galiote Pereira, collected by Raffaella D'Intino in Enformação das cousas da China. Textos de século XVI, Lisbon, 1989.

52 Codex 5/381 of the Municipal Library of Elvas, ed. Adelino de Almeida Calado, Coimbra, 1957, pp. 99-112.

53 Apart from the version in the codex in the Municipal Library of Elvas, nine other copies are known, six of which are Spanish and Italian translations; see G. Schurhammer, Francis Xavier. His life, his times, III, Rome, 1980, p. 273, n. 1.

54 Livro das cousas da India e do Japão, ed. cit., chaps. 17 (pp. 88-99) and 21 (pp. 121-125).

55 See G. Schurhammer, Francis Xavier, IV, Rome, 1982, book I, pp. 3-298.

56 Regarding all this, see João Paulo Costa, "As missões cristãs na China e no Japão", in Portugal no Mundo, ed. Luís de Albuquerque, III, Lisbon, 1989, pp. 143-157. Still, there are reports of some Portuguese merchants living in the region: Luís Martins de Figueiredo, Martim de Gouveia, Baltazar de Sousa, João da Costa and Diogo da Costa, all in the first decades of the seventeenth century (see C. R. Boxer, "When the Twain First Met: European Conceptions and Misconceptions of Japan, Sixteenth-Eighteenth Centuries", in Portuguese Merchants and Missionaries in Feudal Japan, 1543- 1640, Variorum reprints, London, 1986, IX, pp. 531-540).

57 The first ones are those of Xavier, from Kagoshima, printed later in 1551. In 1555 the first compilation was brought out in Lisbon and published the following year in Barcelona.

58 Sumario de las cosas de Japón (1583), critical edition by José Alvarez-Taladriz, Tokyo, 1954.

59 Tratado em que se contem muito susinta e abreviadamente algumas contradições e diferenças de custumes antre a gente de Europa e esta provincia de Japão (1585), critical edition by Franz Josef Schütte, Tokyo, 1955; Historia de Japam, critical edition by J. Wicki, 5 vols., Lisbon, 1976- 1984.

60 História da Igreja do Japão, ed. J. Abranches Pinto, 2 vols., Macau, 1954-1956.

61 Regarding this voyage and all the others, see C. R. Boxer, The Great Ship from Amacon, republ., Macau, 1988.

62 Cf. Diego Pacheco, A fundação do porto de Nagasáqui, Macau, 1989.

63 Livro que trata das cousas da India e do Japão, chap. 19.

64 See infra, note 78.

65 Regarding this topic, see J. Paulo Costa, "Oda Nobunaga e a expansão portuguesa", in Review of Culture, cit. supra, pp. 258-272 (263).

66 Regarding this embassy, which so far has not been the subject of a separate study, see Schurhammer, Francis Xavier, IV, pp. 306 ff.

67 "And this I learned of a Portuguese mariner, a native of Vila Framqua, who came and left New Spain with them, and who fled to this fortress and I gave him lodging in my house in return for learning from him the intent of these men and he told me that they talked only of discovering China and the Lequeios [Ryukyu] and this is what was being plotted in the Armada" (Jerónimo Pires Cotão to Dom João III, Ternate, 20. II. 1544, in As Gavetas da Torre do Tombo, IX, Lisbon, 1971, p. 401.); "they are at anchor and if a message reaches them to move from here [from Tidore] for other regions, it seems to me, such as 1 heard, that it will be towards that Philippine Isle, which is on the coast of Mindanao, and from there attempt China and the Lequeios and other areas of the region." (Jordão de Freitas to Dom João III, Ternate, 1.11. 1545, TdT, CC 1-76-15, fol. 4).

68 From Goa, 8. IV. 1552, EX, II, pp. 356-357.

69 In accordance with Sanjay Subrahmanyan's observation, some historians -including K. N. Chaudhuri (Trade and Civilization in the Indian Ocean. An economic history from the rise of Islam to 1750, Cambridge, 1985, p. 66) - exaggerate the importance of the Far East in the range of political and strategic options of the Estado da Índia during this period, forgetting the prominence given to regions like Ceylon or continental Southeast Asia; see "The Tail Wags the Dog", op. cit., p. 141.

70 Regarding this figure, see George B. de Souza, The Survival of Empire, Portuguese Trade and Society in China and the South China Sea, 1630-1754, Cambridge, 1986, pp. 36-39.

71 Id., ibid., pp. 39-43.

72 Cf. Benjamin Videira Pires, A Embaixada Mártir, republ., Macau, 1988. pp.55-56.

73 Cf. G. B. Souza, "Portuguese Country traders in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea, c. 1600", in Moyen Orient & Océan Indien, I (1984), pp. 117-128; Sanjay Subrahmanyam, "Reflections on casado trade, 1550-1700", a paper given in the colloquium "Trade and Cultural Contacts: the Indo-Portuguese experience", New Delhi, Jan. 1989, circulated.

74 The Yaita family's postscript to the Teppô-Ki, by Dairiuji Bunji, of which Schurhammer gives a translation in Portuguese in "O descobrimento do Japão", op. cit., p. 536.

75 The King of Bungo, in Mendes Pinto's words, noticed that the Portuguese "carry swords not like merchants who trade goods, but like men who serve honour" (Peregrinação, CXXXV). Regarding this topic, see J. P. Costa, "Os portugueses no Japão", op. cit., p. 202.

76 Peregrinação, CXXXIV; see João Paulo Costa, "A introdução das armas de fogo no Japão pelos Portugueses à luz da História do Japão, de Luís de Fróis", off-print from Estudos Orientais, Lisbon, 1992.

77 "The Portuguese did not understand the natives, having no interpreter, they sold things only with scales and navigational tools instead of language"; Yofo Paulo, Monogatari, quoted by Tçuzzu and included by Schurhammer in his review of the Japanese texts dealing with the first contacts with the Portuguese ("O descobrimento do Japão", op. cit., pp. 535 and 542-547). Regarding this topic, see G. Bouchon, L. F. Thomaz & J. P. Costa, "Le miroir asiatique", in Lisbonne hors des murs, 1415-1580: l'invention du monde par les navigateurs portugais, Autrement, Séries Mémoires, 1 (Sept. 1990), pp. 253-266 (261).

78 Peregrinação, CCXXIIII.

79 L. Fróis, Historia de Japam, vol. V (1588-1593), chap. 39.

80 About this embassy, see the study by C. R. Boxer, The Embassy of Captain Gonçalo de Siqueira de Souza to Japan in 1644-1647, Macau, 1938. The same happened, curiously, in relation to China. At the time of Xavier, Diogo Pereira was spoken of as ambassador. But, a century later, the first mission from Macau to the city of Canton, recently conquered by the Tartars, consisted of one of the most notable merchants of Macau, Diogo Vaz Bávaro, and a priest, Father Manuel Pereira (The City of Macau to the Viceroy, Macau, 24.1.1651; João de Sousa Pereira to the Viceroy, Macau, 2. XII.1651, both published by C. R: Boxer, "A cidade de Macau e a queda da dinastia Ming (1644-1652)", in Boletim Eclesiástico da Diocese de Macau, vol. 35 (May 1938), pp. 787-809 (804- 809). Once again the authorities take precedence.

81 About this topic, see G. B. Souza, "Maritime trade and politics in China", in India and the Indian Ocean, 1500-1800, ed. A. Das Gupta & M. N. Pearson, Calcutta, 1987, pp. 317-330 (320); Jorge Manuel Flores "Macau e o comércio da Baía de Cantão (séculos XVI-XVII)", a paper presented at the 6th International Seminar on Indo-Portuguese History, Macau, Oct. 1991 (the respective materials to be published).

*B. A. in History from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Lisbon (1986); M. A. in the History of the Portuguese Discoveries and Expansion from the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at the Universidade Nova in Lisbon (1992), the title of his dissertation: "Os Portugueses e o Mar de Ceilão, 1498-1543: Trato, Diplomacia e Guerra". Assistant lecturer in the department of Portuguese Studies, University of Macau. Author of numerous studies about Portuguese Expansion in the East and about the History of the central Indian Ocean.