Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies ISSN: 0874-8438 [email protected] Universidade Nova de Lisboa Portugal Correia, Pedro Reseña de "Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko" de Murai Shósuke y "Tanegashima. The Arrival of Europe in Japan" de Olof G. Lidin Bulletin of Portuguese - Japanese Studies, núm. 8, june, 2004, pp. 93-106 Universidade Nova de Lisboa Lisboa, Portugal Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=36100805 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative BPJS, 2004, 8, 93-106 Review Essay 93 REVIEW ESSAY Murai Shósuke ‘A Reconsideration of the Introduction of Firearms to Japan’ in Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko, nº 60, 2002, pp. 19-38. Olof G. Lidin Tanegashima. The Arrival of Europe in Japan, Copenhagen, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2002. The common element between these works by Murai Shósuke and Olof Lidin is an analysis of the arrival of the first Portuguese in Japan and the consequent expansion of firearms in the Japanese archipelago. However, both authors frame this theme in different contexts. Murai limits his study to events that took place in a short period of time (1542- 1545), but seeks to understand the arrival of firearms in Japan within the scope of the integration of the Portuguese into the trade routes of East Asia. Lidin, on the contrary, reduces the geographical area under study to the Japanese archipelago and extends the chronological period under analysis (1542-1549). Lidin’s objective is to study the genesis of the European pres- ence in Japan that, according to the author, began in 1543 with the arrival of the first Portuguese in Tanegashima and ended in 1549 with the arrival of St. Francis Xavier. Likewise, this historian seeks to understand the impor- tance of Tanegashima in the expansion of the teppó in Japan. Despite the fact that their studies have different objectives, both authors have structured their works around an analysis of diverse documental sources. In these two studies, a presentation of ideas or theories about the subjects dealt with therein is accompanied by a rigorous critique of the documental sources. Thus, an analysis of the theses presented by both authors must also be accompanied by an analysis of the way in which Lidin and Murai study and evaluate the information provided by this source material. As both these studies are the result of research that was structured around sources, the documents used were conditioned by the objectives of each author. Murai seeks to analyse the arrival of the Portuguese and the introduction of firearms in Japan in an Asiatic context. He presents us with two groups of sources, European and Asian, respectively, that converge in 94 Pedro Lage Reis Correia his re-examination of the date of the arrival of the teppó on Japanese soil. The group of European documents consists of the Tratado dos diversos e des- vayrados caminhos (1563?) by António Galvão and Garcia Escalante’s Rel- ación (1548). Furthermore, the Japanese author also refers to the História da Igreja no Japão by João Rodrigues Tçuzu. Amongst Asian sources, Murai uses the Japanese documents Teppóki and Tanegashima kafu. As a matter of fact, both authors consider these two sources to be the main Japanese documents for any study of the arrival of the Portuguese and firearms in Japan. The Teppóki narrates the arrival of the Portuguese and firearms in Tanegashima and is integrated into an anthology of works authored by the Zen monk Nanpo Bunshi (1555-1620), of Satsuma. This account was writ- ten in 1606 at the request of Tanegashima Hisatoki, the son of Tanegashima Tokitaka, the ruler of Tanegashima at the time when firearms arrived on the island of Tanegashima. The Tanegashima kafu is an account of the History of the Tanegashima family from the 12th century to the 19th century, based on diverse documents. This source was begun by Kózuma Takanao, commis- sioned by another Tanegashima Hisatoki (1639-1710), and had already been completed in the Meiji period. Murai considers the Teppóki to be the main Japanese source for informa- tion about the arrival of the Portuguese in Japan, relegating the Tanegashima kafu to a secondary role. However, Murai does not limit his selection of Asiatic sources to Japanese documents and extends his analysis to some Chinese sources as well. This utilisation of Chinese documents is linked with his objective of understanding the arrival of the Portuguese, and the firearms they brought with them, within an Asiatic context. Murai highlights the reference to a Chi- nese element in the account of the Teppóki, which would enable one to inte- grate the arrival of the Portuguese within the dynamics of Asian relationships. According to the Teppóki, there was a Chinese man by the name of Gohó, or Wufeng, aboard the ship that brought the Portuguese to Tanegashima in 1543. The Teppóki affirms that Wufeng was the man who explained to the Japanese who these newly arrived foreigners were. According to Murai, we can consider this Wufeng to be Wang Zhi, the famous Chinese pirate. Based on this notion, the arrival of the Portuguese in Tanegashima could never be interpreted as an accidental occurrence but, rather, as a consequence of the integration of Portuguese merchants into the trade networks and commer- cial traffic of East Asia. For Murai, Wang Zhi is the key that enables one to place the “adventure” of these Portuguese within an Asiatic dimension. Con- sequently, Murai selects Chinese sources that relate Wang Zhi’s activities and confer a new meaning to his appearance in Tanegashima. These sources are the Chouhai tubian (1562), authored by Zheng Ruozeng and the Riben yijian (1565) by Zheng Shugong. Review Essay 95 For Murai, there is yet another situation that justifies an interpretation of the arrival of the Portuguese and the introduction of firearms within an Asian context. Both the Teppóki as well as the Tanegashima kafu refer to the existence of Japanese ships that travelled between Japan and China. These vessels were the so-called ‘tribute ships’. According to Murai, an analysis of Chinese sources that refer to these ships could help us to understand the activities of Wang Zhi and the arrival of the Portuguese in Tanegashima. It is with this view in mind that Murai turns to another Chinese source, the Ming Shizong shilu. Likewise, Lidin presents European and Asian sources, although the Asiatic documents are limited to Japanese sources. In much the same way as with Murai, the selection of source material was conditioned by the objectives of the study in question. Lidin seeks to analyse the beginning of the European presence in Japan, owing to which the set of European sources is broader than those presented by Murai. On the other hand, Lidin also seeks to study the importance of Tanegashima in the expansion of the teppó within the Japanese archipelago. For this, Lidin does not turn to Chinese sources, but only presents Japanese documents. This author refers to diverse European sources, such as the description by Jorge Álvares, the account by Garcia Escalante, the Suma Oriental by Tomé Pires, the Tratado by António Galvão and the Década V da Ásia by Diogo do Couto. Furthermore, he also mentions Fróis and João Rodrigues Tçuzu as important authors. However, for Lidin, the most important European source for a study of the period in question is, without doubt, the Peregrinação by Fernão Mendes Pinto. In fact, on Lidin’s part, this source merits a privileged treatment and he has dedi- cated several chapters of his book to this work. As we shall see, this is a clear contrast to the work by Murai, who relegates this narrative work by Fernão Mendes Pinto to a secondary level in terms of its historic value. Just like in the case of Murai, Lidin also uses the Teppóki and the Tanegashima kafu, but also adds the work known as the Kunitomo teppóki to the list. This work was written in Kunitomo in 1633 and seeks to demon- strate the importance of local blacksmiths of this area in the manufacture of muskets. Lidin refers to this document within the scope of his objective of analysing the expansion of firearms in Japan after the arrival of the Portu- guese in Tanegashima. As the works by Lidin and Murai are studies structured around the information contained in certain sources, one must mention the care with which both authors present these documents. Lidin does not limit himself to merely mentioning Japanese sources. In his work, this author presents us with chapters dedicated to the translation of excerpts from the Teppóki and Tanegashima kafu as well as a translation of the complete text of the 96 Pedro Lage Reis Correia Kunitomo teppóki. One must further add that Lidin also presents the sources in their original Japanese, in an appendix. Murai, keeping in mind the fact that he has published his study in the form of an article, presents us with excerpts from the sources that he men- tions and which serve as the basis for his analysis. As has already been mentioned, Lidin and Murai have different objec- tives, but also broach common themes, such as the arrival of the Portuguese in Tanegashima and the advent of firearms in Japan. Thus, it is important to analyse the way in which these authors interpret the same sources and approach the same issues. The question of the date of the arrival of the Portuguese in Tanegashima and the way in which this arrival was decisive for the expansion of the teppó in the Japanese archipelago has been investigated by many historians.