The First European Description of Japan, 1585
Language: English
Published by Taylor and Francis Ltd, GB, 2015
- Softcover
- New

Seller: Rarewaves.com USA, London, London, United KingdomRarewaves.com USA
AbeBooks seller since June 11, 2025
Condition: New
£ 73.83
Quantity: Over 20 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
In 1585, at the height of 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 history and its connection to contemporary Europe and Japan.…
Seller Inventory # LU-9781138643321
- Title
- The First European Description of Japan, 1585
- Author
- Luis Frois SJ
- Publisher
- Taylor and Francis Ltd, GB
- Publication year
- 2015
- Condition
- New
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1138643327
- ISBN 13
- 9781138643321
- Item weight
- 453 grams
- Series
- Book 24 of 36: Japan Anthropology Workshop
In 1585, at the height of 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 history and its connection to contemporary Europe and Japan.
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
About the Author
Luis Frois S.J. was a long-time Jesuit missionary in Japan in the later years of the sixteenth century.
Daniel T. Reff is an anthropologist and Professor in the Department of Comparative Studies in the Humanities, The Ohio State University, USA
Richard Danford is an Associate Professor of Spanish and Portuguese and Vice-President for Diversity and Inclusion at Marietta College, Ohio, USA
Robin Gill is a freelance translator, author and editor, USA
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
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