1640 Macau embassy to Nagasaki

1640 Macau embassy incident
Part of the Japanese isolationist policy

Front page of the 1643 book "Report of the Glorious Death of Four Portuguese Ambassadors from the City of Macau, with Fifty-seven Christians of their Delegation." by António Francisco Cardim[1]
Date6 July – 4 August 1640
Location
Nagasaki, Japan
Result Embassy seized; 61 executed and ship destroyed
Belligerents
Kingdom of Portugal
Macau		 Tokugawa shogunate
Commanders and leaders
Luís Pais Pacheco 
Rodrigo Sanches de Paredes 
Gonçalo Monteiro de Carvalho 
Simão Vaz de Pavia 		 Kagazume Minbu[2]
Nonoyama Shinbei[2]
Strength
74 crew Unknown number of Ōmura soldiers[3]
Casualties and losses
61 executed
13 spared and expelled		 None

The 1640 Macau embassy to Nagasaki (ポルトガル使節団長崎受難事件)[4] (Portuguese: Embaixada Mártir)[5] was a diplomatic mission dispatched by the Senate of Macau to Nagasaki in July 1640. Its purpose was to try and reverse the Tokugawa shogunate's decision to end nearly a century of Portuguese trade in Japan in 1639.[6][7]

The ban followed the Shimabara Rebellion, which the shogunate incorrectly blamed the Portuguese for aiding through the smuggling of supplies and missionaries.[8] Since Macau's economy relied on the annual trade with Japan,[9] the city's assembly resolved on March 13, 1640,[7][9] to dispatch four ambassadors, Luís Pais Pacheco, Rodrigo Sanches de Paredes, Gonçalo Monteiro de Carvalho and Simão Vaz de Paiva,[9] along with sailors and slaves, totaling 74 crew.[10] All participants knew that the risk of death was almost certain.[11]

The embassy's vessel arrived at Nagasaki on July 6, 1640,[10][12][13] however, all of the delegation members were imprisoned and detained on Dejima[12][13] while their appeals were sent to Edo.[13] On 3[14]–4[13] August 1640, 61 members of the mission, including all four ambassadors, were beheaded on Martyrs' Mount in Nagasaki, and their ship was burned in the harbor.[12][14][13] 13 men were spared and sent back to Macau on 1 September to deliver the message of the embassy's fate.[12][14]

References

  1. ^ de Sousa 2019, p. 332-333.
  2. ^ a b 松竹 1989, p. 72.
  3. ^ 松竹 1989, p. 66.
  4. ^ 松竹 1989, p. 45.
  5. ^ 松竹 1989, p. 65.
  6. ^ Boxer 1951, p. 383.
  7. ^ a b Simões 2016, p. 95.
  8. ^ Boxer 1951, p. 383-384.
  9. ^ a b c de Sousa 2019, p. 328.
  10. ^ a b de Sousa 2019, p. 330.
  11. ^ Boxer 1951, p. 384.
  12. ^ a b c d Simões 2016, p. 96.
  13. ^ a b c d e Boxer 1951, p. 385.
  14. ^ a b c de Sousa 2019, p. 332.

Bibliography

  • Boxer, C. R. (1951). The Christian Century in Japan: 1549–1650. University of California.
  • de Sousa, Lúcio (2019). The Portuguese Slave Trade in Early Modern Japan: Merchants, Jesuits and Japanese, Chinese, and Korean Slaves. Vol. 7. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004388079.
  • Simões, João Carlos dos Santos (2016). As Relações Luso‑Nipónicas durante a Época Nanban (PDF) (Thesis). University of Coimbra.
  • 松竹, 秀雄 (1989). "寛永17年 (1640) ポルトガル使節団長崎受難事件 (2)" [A Study on the Execution of Portages Ambassadors in Nagasaki in the 17th year of Kanei (1640. A. D.)]. 經營と經濟. 68 (4): 45–91. ISSN 0286-9101.
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