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Book Cover
E-book
Author Castel-Branco, Cristina, author.

Title Luis Frois : first Western accounts of Japan's gardens, cities and landscapes / Cristina Castel-Branco, Guida Carvalho
Published Singapore : Springer, [2020]

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Description 1 online resource (xliii, 241 pages) : illustrations
Contents Introduction -- Portuguese people in Japan from 1543 to 1600 -- Japanese garden art and its evolution -- Gardens and landscapes described -- Comparative analysis with Japanese sources and Portuguese information -- Concluding thoughts -- Bibliography -- Annexes
Summary This book focuses on Luis Frois, a 16th-century Portuguese Jesuit and chronicler, who recorded his impressions of Japanese gardens, cities and building practices, tea-drinking rituals, Japans unification efforts, cultural traditions, and the many differences between Europe and Japan in remarkable manuscripts almost lost to time. This research also draws on other Portuguese descriptions from contemporary sources spanning the years 1543-1597, later validated by Japanese history and iconography. Importantly, explorer Jorge Alvares recorded his experiences of discovery, prompting St. Francis Xavier to visit Japan in 1549, thus ushering in the "Christian Century" in Japan. During this long period of accord and reciprocal curiosity, the Portuguese wrote in excess of 1500 pages of letters to European Jesuits that detail their impressions of the island nation--not to mention their observations of powerful public figures such as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Sen no Rikyu. In addition to examining these letters, the authors translated and researched early descriptions of 23 gardens in Kyoto and Nara and 9 important cities--later visited by the authors, sketched, photographed and compared with the imagery painted on 16th-century Japanese screens. However, the data gathered for this project was found mainly within five large volumes of Frois História do Japão (2500 pages) and his Treaty on Contradictions--two incomparable anthropological works that were unpublished until the mid-20th century for reasons detailed herein. His volumes continue to be explored for their insightful observations of places, cultural practices, and the formidable historical figures with whom he interacted. Thus, this book examines the worlds first globalization efforts that resulted in profitable commerce, the introduction of Portuguese firearms that changed Japans history, scientific advances, religious expansion, and many artistic exchanges that have endured the centur ies
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references
Subject Fróis, Luís, -1597.
Fróis, Luís, -1597. História de Japão.
SUBJECT Fróis, Luís, -1597 fast
Japan -- History -- 16th century
Subject Japan
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
Author Carvalho, Guida, author
ISBN 9789811500183
9811500185
9811500177
9789811500176
9789811500190
9811500193
9789811500206
9811500207