João Rodrigues’s Account of Sixteenth-Century Japan

2001

Central G161 H2 Ser.3 no.07

London: Hakluyt Society

João Rodrigues (c.1561-1633) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary who spent 33 years in Japan between 1577 and 1610. While living at Nagasaki, he published Arte da Lingoa de Iapam, a Portuguese grammar of the Japanese language, a seminal work in its field. And because of his familiarity with language and custom, he was often employed as an interpreter between the Jesuits and the Japanese authorities. His original account – Historia da Igreja do Japāo – is no longer extant, and this publication, which describes the country, its people, customs and etiquette, was based on a copy made in Macao during the 1740s.