Hasekura Tsunenaga (1613): A Samurai Embassy to Mexico and Rome

The Keicho embassy was a Japanese diplomatic mission led by the samurai Hasekura Tsunenaga that travelled from Japan to New Spain, Spain and Rome between 1613 and 1620. Sent by Date Masamune, lord of Sendai, it sought direct trade with Spanish Mexico and was received by King Philip III of Spain and Pope Paul V. Although it failed in its aims, it was one of the most remarkable journeys of the early modern world and a landmark in relations between Japan, the Americas and Europe.

Background

In the early seventeenth century Japan’s new rulers, the Tokugawa shogunate, were interested in foreign trade. Spanish ships of the Manila galleon trade crossed the Pacific each year between the Philippines and Acapulco, and some Japanese lords hoped to tap this route to the silver of New Spain.

Date Masamune (1567–1636), one of the most powerful daimyo in north-eastern Japan, saw an opportunity. His domain around Sendai faced the Pacific, and he hoped to open a direct link with Mexico. The Franciscan friar Luis Sotelo, who had worked in Japan for several years, encouraged the plan and hoped it would also bring more missionaries to the region. Masamune chose one of his retainers, Hasekura Tsunenaga, then in his early forties, to lead the mission.

Across the Pacific

A Western-style galleon, the San Juan Bautista, was built in Masamune’s domain with help from Spanish sailors, including members of the crew of the explorer Sebastian Vizcaino. The ship left Tsukinoura, near present-day Ishinomaki, on 28 October 1613 with about 180 people on board, including samurai, merchants, Spaniards and Sotelo.

After about three months at sea, the San Juan Bautista reached Acapulco on 25 January 1614. The Japanese travelled overland to Mexico City, where many of them were baptised. Part of the group stayed in New Spain to trade, while Hasekura, Sotelo and a smaller party continued on to Europe.

Spain and Rome

Hasekura’s party crossed the Atlantic with the Spanish fleet from Veracruz and arrived at Sanlucar de Barrameda in October 1614. They travelled up the Guadalquivir to Seville, passing through the small town of Coria del Rio, and then went on to Madrid.

On 30 January 1615 Hasekura was received by King Philip III and presented letters from Date Masamune. On 17 February 1615 he was baptised in Madrid in the presence of the king, taking the name Felipe Francisco.

The embassy then travelled to Rome. It made a formal entry into the city in late October 1615, and on 3 November Hasekura had an audience with Pope Paul V. The Roman Senate granted him honorary citizenship, and a portrait of him, attributed to the painter Archita Ricci, survives in Rome.

Failure and return

The mission’s timing was poor. In 1614 the shogunate had banned Christianity and ordered the expulsion of missionaries, and news of the persecution reached Europe. Spanish officials doubted that Masamune could deliver what he promised, and the king declined to grant a trade agreement.

Hasekura returned to Spain in 1616 and left for Mexico in 1617. He sailed from Acapulco to Manila, where he spent about two years, and finally reached Japan in 1620. He found Christianity outlawed and the country moving towards the restrictions later called sakoku. He died in 1622. Sotelo, who re-entered Japan secretly, was arrested and burned at the stake in 1624.

Key people

Hasekura Tsunenaga (1571–1622) was a middle-ranking samurai in Date Masamune’s service. Little is known of his early life, and his family had recently suffered disgrace when his father was condemned for an offence, which may have made the dangerous mission an opportunity to restore its standing.

Date Masamune (1567–1636), known as the “one-eyed dragon”, was one of the great lords of the age and founder of the city of Sendai. He remained loyal to the Tokugawa while pursuing his own ambitions abroad.

Luis Sotelo (1574–1624) was a Spanish Franciscan from Seville who hoped to become bishop of a new diocese in north-eastern Japan. He acted as the embassy’s interpreter and chief advocate in Spain and Rome.

Legacy

Some members of the embassy stayed in Spain. In Coria del Rio several hundred people carry the surname Japon, and local tradition links them to these Japanese visitors, though the connection has not been proven. Statues of Hasekura stand in Coria del Rio, Acapulco, Havana and near Rome, as well as in Japan.

A full-size replica of the San Juan Bautista was built at Ishinomaki in 1993. Documents and objects from the mission, held in Japan and Spain, were inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2013.

Timeline

• 1613, 28 October: The San Juan Bautista sails from Tsukinoura.
• 1614, 25 January: The embassy reaches Acapulco.
• 1614, October: Hasekura’s party lands at Sanlucar de Barrameda in Spain.
• 1615, 30 January: Audience with Philip III in Madrid.
• 1615, 17 February: Hasekura is baptised in Madrid.
• 1615, 3 November: Audience with Pope Paul V in Rome.
• 1620: Hasekura returns to Japan by way of Mexico and Manila.
• 1622: Hasekura dies.

Why it matters

The Keicho embassy linked Japan, the Americas and Europe in a single journey, a vivid example of the global connections created by the Spanish Pacific trade. Its failure also marks a turning point: within a few years Japan had sharply limited its contacts with Europe, and such journeys became impossible for more than two centuries.