RODRIGUES GIRÃO, João.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Litterae iaponicae annorum M.DC.IX et X. ad R. admodum piae mem. P. Claudium Aquavivam generalem praepositum Societatis Iesu A.R.P. Provinciali eiusdem in Iapone Societ. missae. Second Latin edition of this relation concerning the Jesuit mission to Japan during the years 1609 and 1610, the first Italian edition was published by Bartolomeo Zanetti in Rome, 1615, and the first Latin edition, translated by Halloix, appeared in Douai, 1615. The report was addressed to the Superior General of the order, Claudio Acquaviva (1543-1615) by Padre João Rodrigues Girão, or Giram (1558-1633), who "entered the Society of Jesus on in 1576, and in 1583 began his missionary labours in Japan. His work was facilitated by his winning the esteem of the Emperor Taicosama. He studied the Japanese language ardently, and is particularly known for his efforts to make it accessible to the Western nations. His Japanese grammar ranks among the important linguistic productions of the Jesuit missionaries. Published at Nagasaki in 1604 under the title Arte da lingoa de Japam" (Catholic Encyclopaedia). Rodrigues Girão was responsible for a number of similar letters, down to that for 1626. Acquaviva presided over the stabilization of the Jesuit missions in India and Japan, and expansions into China, and the Americas, but the situation in Japan was to change drastically with the elevation of Tokugawa Iemitsu to the shogunate. Uncommon, with just two copies in Germany, two in the Netherlands, and one copy in th

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