OVERVIEW

Representing Christian feudal lords Omura Sumitada, Otoro Sorin and Arima Harunobu, four boys were sent on a trip to Europe to meet the Pope. This mission was proposed and planned by Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano.

Ito Mancio, Chijiwa Miguel, Hara Martinho and Nakaura Julião, left Japan in 1582 as boys and returned eight years later as youths. The mission achieved tremendous success. In each city the boys visited, they were greeted by grand celebrations and the warmest welcome, gaining audiences with many important figures in each city. The boys made their first stop at Portugal, proceeded to Spain where they met with King Phillip II before continuing on to Italy which they toured extensively. They were received by both Pope Gregory XIII and his successor Sixtus V. Many records remain of this mission, including a portrait of Mancio dated 1582, discovered in Italy in 2014.

The boys returned from this trip with the printing press (which printed the first book in Japan – a Romanised Japanese Christian text), a map of the world, the first European drawn map of Japan and other gifts that made important contributions to their respective fields in Japan.