Luís Fróis (1532 – 8 July 1597) was a Portuguese

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

who worked in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

during the second half of the 16th century. While in Japan in 1582, he witnessed the attack on Honnō-ji, a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

temple that ended in the death of

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

Biography

Fróis was born in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

in 1532. He was educated in King Joao's court, where a close relative served as a scribe. At an early age, he started working for the Royal Secretary's office. In 1548, he joined the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

traveling to

Portuguese India The State of India ( pt, Estado da Índia), also referred as the Portuguese State of India (''Estado Português da Índia'', EPI) or simply Portuguese India (), was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded six years after the discovery of a se ...

to study at

Saint Paul's College, Goa St. Paul's College was a Jesuit school, and later college, founded circa 1542 by saint Francis Xavier, at Old Goa. It was once the main Jesuit institution in the whole of Asia. It housed the first printing press in India, having published the first ...

. He arrived in Goa on September 4, 1548. One of his teachers described Fróis' character as tough and good natured but not religious. During his stay in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

, Fróis reported on the mass conversion of over 200

Kshatriyas Kshatriya ( hi, क्षत्रिय) (from Sanskrit ''kṣatra'', "rule, authority") is one of the four varna (social orders) of Hindu society, associated with warrior aristocracy. The Sanskrit term ''kṣatriyaḥ'' is used in the conte ...

to Christianity that had taken place on 25 August 1560 in the village of

Batim Batim is a village situated in the Tiswadi taluka of North Goa district. The village received widespread publicity in 1993 due to an alleged apparition of the Virgin Mary. The parish church of Batim is dedicated to ''Guadalup Saibinn'' i.e. N ...

, in a letter dated 13 November 1560: Fróis became a priest and confessor in 1561 after completing his theological studies in Goa. A year later, he was sent to Japan along with Giovanni Battista de Monte to engage in missionary work. On June 6, 1563 - after spending several months in

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

- he arrived in

Yokoseura Yokoseura (横瀬浦) is a port located at the northern tip of the Nishisonogi Peninsula on the Japanese island of Kyushu, administratively under Saikai city, Nagasaki Prefecture. It was developed as an entrepot by the Portuguese in 1562 with the ...

, Japan. The following year, he travelled to

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

, where he met

Ashikaga Yoshiteru , also known as Yoshifushi or Yoshifuji, was the 13th ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1546 to 1565 during the late Muromachi period of Japan. He was the eldest son of the 12th ''shōgun'', Ashikaga Yoshiharu, and his mother ...

who was then ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

''. In 1569, he befriended

and stayed in his personal residence in

Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku ...

while writing books for a short while. His works on history were somewhat expanded by Joāo Rodrigues. Among his works was the Treatise (1585) in which is contained some brief comparisons of the behaviors between the peoples of Europe and that province of Japan (''Tratado em que se contêm muito sucinta e abreviadamente algumas contradições e diferenças de costumes entre a gente de Europa e esta província de Japão''). Fróis wrote a book about the history and custom of Japan, titled ''Historia de Iapam''. In it he gave details about the Jesuit mission in Japan and its most important figures. He described the destruction of Buddhist and Shinto temples as victories over the devil and that Jesuits like

Gaspar Coelho Gaspar Coelho ( – 1590) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary. He replaced Francisco Cabral as the Superior and Vice-Provincial of the Jesuit mission in Japan during the late 16th century. He catalyzed the disfavor of Toyotomi Hideyoshi against t ...

encouraged the destruction despite resistance from Japanese Christian nobles. In 1582, Frois witnessed the end of Nobunaga from his church across the street from Honno-ji. He wrote an account of what he saw afterward.

Cultural references

He was portrayed by Terry O'Brien in the Japanese TV series ''

Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

''. A fictionalized version of Luis Frois appears in the Capcom game '' Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams''. Nihonshi

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frois, Luis 1532 births 1597 deaths Clergy from Lisbon 16th-century Portuguese Jesuits Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries Roman Catholic missionaries in Japan Jesuit missionaries in Japan Portuguese male writers Japanologists 16th-century Portuguese writers Portuguese Renaissance writers Portuguese travel writers Portuguese expatriates in Japan

Biography

Cultural references

See also

References