João Rodrigues (missionary)

João Rodrigues ( * 1561 /62 Sernancelhe (Portugal ); † August 1, 1633 in Macau) was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary in Japan and is especially known for his linguistic studies. His voice talent earned him the Japanese nickname " Tçuzzu / Tçuzu " (interpreters, modern transcription: Tsuji ) a. He wrote several books, including Arte da Lingoa de IAPAM (1604 ), a milestone in the exploration of the western Japanese. He was probably also in the compilation of the Vocabulario da Lingoa de IAPAM (1603 ) involved, but its share in this project are not yet sufficiently clarified.

Life

João Rodrigues comes from Sernancelhe, a small town in northern Portugal. The background of his departure to the Far East is not clear, but he drew approximately 1574 to East Asia and reached 1577 of Macau from Japan, where he entered as a novice in the Society of Jesus. In addition to his grammar and Latin studies, he worked intensively with the acquisition of the Japanese language, and received, first in Bungo, a theological training, which he completed in Nagasaki.

In 1580 he was ordained in the Portuguese enclave of Macau to the priest, after which he returned to Japan. Thanks to this excellent language skills he rose to become a key figure on the communication between the Japanese authorities and rulers and the Europeans in the country. Rodrigues witnessed the expansion and the growing problems of the Portuguese in Japan. He witnessed the birth of the Tokugawa dynasty under the first shogun Ieyasu and also the arrival of the Dutch in Japan. Many of his observations on the life of the Japanese people and the political events are preserved in letters and writings. It is worth noting, inter alia, the first western description of the Japanese tea ceremony ( "Arte del cha" ).

1603 he was procurator of the mission in Nagasaki. In 1609 in Macau was an incident with a Red Seal ship of the sovereign Arima Harunobu, in which 48 of its sailors were killed. Harunobu took the Shogun Ieyasu permission to retaliate, and when he heard that the responsible captain came on the ship Madre de Deus to Nagasaki, he tried to arrest them. During the violent clashes the Madre de Deus caught fire and sank. Portuguese missionaries were expelled, including Rodrigues In the course of further reprisals.

Rodrigues moved to Macao, where the Society of Jesus had founded in 1694 with the Colégio de São Paulo, an academy, where the Asia missionaries not only theology, philosophy and mathematics, but also geography, astronomy, Portuguese, Latin and Chinese language studies operated. Here he worked until 1615 with the history of Christianity in China. 1620 appeared in Macao a compressed, more manageable edition of his Japanese grammar. Then he accompanied the Visitor André Palmeiro to Beijing. In 1630, he interpreted for Portuguese soldiers who helped the troops of the Ming Dynasty against the invading Manchus.

In the so-called " rites controversy ", he scored a certain influence on the question of whether one could use Chinese terms for the God of Christianity. Rodrigues said, due to his experiences in Japan in favor of retaining the Japanese "Deus ". This position went into Niccolò Longo Bardos weighty " Responsio brevis super controversias de Xamti ". Rodrigues died in the summer of 1633 in Macao.

Works

• Since De Arte Lingoa IAPAM Composta Pello Padre Ioão Rodriguez Portugues because Cõpanhia de tres Iesv diuidida em Livros. Com Licença Do Ordinario, E Svperiores Em Nangasaqui no Collegio de Iapão as Companhia de Iesv Anno. 1604.
• Arte del Cha. (Edition: Arte del Cha. ) By Juan Rodriguez Tsuzu, SJ Edited by Jose Luis Alvarez- Taladriz. 1954