European University Institute Library

The first European description of Japan, 1585, a critical English-language edition of striking contrasts in the customs of Europe and Japan by Luis Frois, S.J., translated from the Portuguese original and edited and annotated by Richard K. Danford, Robin D. Gill, and Daniel T. Reff ; with a critical introduction by Daniel T. Reff

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 273-292) and index

index present

non fiction

The first European description of Japan, 1585

bibliography

858355969

translated from the Portuguese original and edited and annotated by Richard K. Danford, Robin D. Gill, and Daniel T. Reff ; with a critical introduction by Daniel T. Reff

Japan anthropology workshop series, 25

a critical English-language edition of striking contrasts in the customs of Europe and Japan by Luis Frois, S.J.

"In 1585, at the height of the Jesuit missionary activity in Japan, which was begun by Francis Xavier in 1549, Luis Frois, a long-time missionary in Japan, drafted the earliest systematic comparison of Western and Japanese cultures. This book constitutes the first critical English-language edition of the 1585 work, the original of which was discovered in the Royal Academy of History in Madrid after the Second World War. The book provides a translation of the text, which is not a continuous narrative, but rather more than 600 distichs or brief couplets on subjects such as gender, child rearing, religion, medicine, eating, horses, writing, ships and seafaring, architecture, and music and drama. In addition, the book includes a substantive introduction and other editorial material to explain the background and also to make comparisons with present-day Japanese life. Overall, the book represents an important primary source for understanding a particularly challenging period of Japanese history and culture."--, Provided by publisher

Concerning men, their persons, and their clothing -- Women, their persons and customs -- Concerning children and their customs -- Concerning the bonzes and their customs -- Concerning [Buddhist] temples, images and things pertaining to the practice of their religion -- The Japanese way of eating and drinking -- Japanese offensive and defenive weapons and warfare -- Concerning horses -- Diseases, doctors, and medicines -- Japanese writing and their books, paper, ink, and letters -- Houses, construction, gardens and fruits -- Ships, seafaring and dogus -- Japanese plays, farces, dances, singing and musical instruments -- Various and extraordinary things that do not fit neatly in the preceding chapters