OpenTube

First Samurai in America and Europe: Tragic Story of the Keicho Embassy (1613 - 1620) DOCUMENTARY

Voices of the Past

1,991,059 views

Claim your SPECIAL OFFER for MagellanTV here: https://try.magellantv.com/voicesofth.... Start your free trial TODAY so you can watch "The Magnificent Three" and the rest of MagellanTV’s history collection: https://www.magellantv.com/explore/hi...
--------------
00:00 New Spain
05:18 Mexico City
10:00 Spain
16:52 Onwards to Rome
23:56 The English
31:20 Japan

Written by Thomas Lockley.
Check out his book on Yasuke: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Geoffrey-...

Edited and narrated by David Kelly.
Art by Matthew Cartwright:
https://mattcartwrightillustration.com/
And Alexstoica https://www.artstation.com/banana_art...

************BIBLIOGRAPHY IN A PINNED COMMENT**********

— Music courtesy of:-
Epidemic Sound
Artlist.io

Image Credits:
Sendai Shrine By Tak1701d - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Church of the Delcazas Reales By Dorieo - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... PMRMaeyaert - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
By Richard Mortel from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales, Madrid, 16th century, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Washi Paper By Mizu basyo - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Mizu basyo - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Basilica By Jean-Pol GRANDMONT - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Chapel By Franco Vannini from Sansepolcro (AR), Italy - aDSC03538, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Nicola Quirico - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
Japan Times article on Coria del RioChristian in Japan Board By Zunkir - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Christian Objects By No machine-readable author provided. World Imaging assumed (based on copyright claims). - No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index... Vatican By Dnalor 01 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...

20 Comments

@VoicesofthePast Creator 4 years ago (edited) Pinned

CORRECTIONS AND REFERENCES:

Chimalpahin would have been dressed in Spanish attire, not in indigenous clothing (and he was "Nahua", not Nahuatl).

Batts, Joshua. 2017. Circling the Waters: The Keichō Embassy and Japanese-Spanish Relations in the Early Seventeenth Century. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Columbia University.

Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, Don Domingo de San Antón Muñón. 2006. Lockhart, James; Schroeder, Susan; Namala, Doris (eds.). Annals of His Time. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

Corradini, Piero. 1990. Some Problems concerning Hasekura Tsunenaga’s Embassy to the Pope. In Rethinking Japan. Abingdon: Routledge.

Harding, C. 2020. The Japanese: A history in twenty lives. London: Allen Lane.

Marcouin, Francis; Omoto, Keiko. 1990. Quand le Japon s'ouvrit au monde. Découvertes Gallimard. Paris: Gallimard.

Mathes, W. Michael. 1968. Viscaino and Spanish Expansion in the Pacific Ocean, 1580-1630. San Francisco: California Historical Society.

Mathes, W. Michael. 1990. A Quarter Century of Trans-Pacific Diplomacy: New Spain and Japan, 1592–1617. Journal of Asian History. 24(1): 1–29.

Screech, Timon. 2012. The English and the Control of Christianity in the Early Edo Period
Japan Review, 24, pp. 3-40.

@jack_L858 4 years ago (edited)

Stories like this make me wonder how many stories have been lost to time or haven't been written down and have been forgotten. History truly is a gift

@ArakeenArchivist 4 years ago

Ah yes, the Christian samurai. The power of God and anime on their side.

@tetsu1000 4 years ago

"In 1614, an Aztec nobleman registered the stabbing of a Spanish soldier by a Japanese samurai in Acapulco, Mexico."

@Miductions 4 years ago

This is why Goku is so popular in Mexico.

@jpwilliams6926 4 years ago

My favorite part of these stories is how everyone always thinks the other people are the barbarians.

@BalbazaktheGreat 4 years ago

"not only an ambassador, but a spy."
So... an ambassador, then.

@Dionaea_floridensis 4 years ago

"what will these delightful orientals think of next"
-my mom at the Toyota dealership

@NoPantsBaby 4 years ago

Spanish: I will give you brotherhood and accolades.
English: We will rid you of the Spanish.
Dutch: We'll give you 15% off.

@claucemicro1080 4 years ago

If I remember correctly, the Japanese-Mexican embassy was the first foreign embassy in Mexico. Maybe it was by Hasekura.

@aitorguirao5059 4 years ago

Funny thing about this is that a group of Japanese samurai ended staying in Spain, and received the surname of Japon. A couple of years ago a comedy movie called "The Japon Family" was released in Spain, it is about the japanese emperor dying and the true heir to the throne being a spanish guy that descends from one of those samurai. It's a pretty shitty movie to be honest.

@endaohalloran6649 4 years ago

36:28 this Italian librarian did the most insane research imaginable. I couldn't think of a day more memorable for a librarian than to whip out an unknown 2 century old letter to a Japanese embassy to tell them they were not the first here. Amazing

@BuuWaterloo 4 years ago (edited)

Around this time, two Japanese men lived in Guadalajara, another city in México, but back in the day it was the capital of New Galicia in the northwest of the territory. The eldest of the two (Luis de Encío, who knows what was his Japanese name) married an indigenous woman and had a daughter. The other Japanese who apparently arrived as a 10 yo kid, ended up marrying the daughter of the other guy. They both were businessmen, but the youngest, Juan de Páez, ended up in a very high place in the society of the time, working for the Cathedral of the city until his death. He was very successful.

@pendulunium2408 4 years ago

It would be interesting to hear first hand accounts of the Siamese embassy to France of 1686 which caused much excitement among the French.

@mikekennedy4572 3 years ago

Back in the late 1970s, my then-girlfriend took me to visit a classmate of hers and her family for Christmas and enjoy homemade tamales. Their family had emigrated to the US a generation prior. I was somewhat shocked when I met the very welcoming family because physically, they were Japanese, but culturally, they were 100 percent Mexican and spoke Spanish and also English. However, they were more confortable speaking Spanish. Everything about them, the food, the Christmas traditions and the language, was Mexican. I politely asked how their ancestors came to settle in Mexico, and they said they said both the dad's and mom's families came to Mexico in the 18th century for work. Anyway, it was a great holiday evening that could have happened in any typical Mexican family, but physically, the hosts were Japanese.

@DOMDZ90911 4 years ago

First it was Samurai vs. Conquistadors, then Ottomans vs. Aztecs, how long before we get Samurai vs. Cowboys?

@darkwar25 4 years ago

The great story of the samurai family that would befriended Abraham Lincoln

@Alejojojo6 3 years ago (edited)

Most of the Embassy members actually decided not to return to Japan and settled in Coria del Rio, Southern Spain, marrying local people. Over 750 people there are descendants of the Japanese embassy and have the surname "Japón" which means "Japan" in Spanish.

@greglocker2124 3 years ago

It's so tragic that Hasekura could have never known how important he ended up being.

Even more tragic about his son. Poor guy just wanted to believe he could see his dad again and tell him he restored their honor.