In the middle of the sixteenth century, the Portuguese arrived in Japan and became the first Europeans to arrive in Japan. At this time, Japan was in the middle and late Warring States period, that is, the "Azuchi-Momoyama Period", from the Azuchi-Momoyama Period (mid-late 16th century) to the early Edo Period (Early 17th century), the Portuguese came in droves. Decorative screens, genre paintings, and arts and crafts with the theme of the Portuguese and their civilization began to become popular in Japan and spread overseas along with the travels in the Age of Discovery, becoming the earliest localized Western art in Japan.

The term "Nanman" was originally used by the Japanese to refer to the uncivilized Satsuma, Ryukyu, India, Southeast Asia and other places in the south. After the arrival of the Portuguese, these Europeans who came from the ocean and landed from Kyushu in southern Japan were called by the Japanese The title of "Southern Man" refers to Portugal, Spain and their colonies. Japan-Portugal trade was supported by daimyos such as Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who were powerful figures in the Azuchi-Momoyama era. Portuguese navigation, Catholicism, and paintings were introduced to Japan, and combined with Japanese screens, murals, and lacquerware to form an oriental form of expression. "Southern Barbarian Art" with Western content.

Kano school painter, Nanban screen, early 17th century, Japan, Portland Art Museum, USA

At the beginning of the 17th century, since the Edo period, Japan closed the country and cut off ties with Western countries. It was not until the arrival of the American black ship fleet in the middle of the 19th century that Japan was forced to open up. The era of Nanban art was also the last window period for foreign exchanges before Japan closed itself off. Europe in the Age of Discovery blended with Japan where local separatist regimes and samurai fought. Western Catholic values and Eastern Bushido spirit collided to create a magnificent artistic spark.

Kano school, gold-leaf folding screens and maki-e

Nanman art is highly combined with Japanese "Kano School" art. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's royal painter, Kano school painter's "Southern Barbarian Screen", "South Manchurian Crossing" pictures are magnificent and shining, combining Japanese pine, bamboo, flowers and birds, samurai demeanor with Portuguese missionaries and long-distance sailing ships. The fusion of East and West is vivid.

Kano inner meal, Nanban screen, 16th century, in the collection of the Portuguese National Museum of Antiquities (Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga)

The Kano school is the largest school of painting in the history of Japanese painting, active for more than 400 years from the Muromachi period (15th century) to the end of the Edo period (19th century). The Kano school is the collective name of the painter group, referring to the hereditary art family whose ancestor was the royal painter Kano Masanobu, and the descendants and brothers of the Kano clan as the successors. After the collapse of the Muromachi Shogunate, the Kano School continued to serve as painters for power figures Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Warring States period in Japan. They were closely tied to the regime and became the center of Japanese painting circles.

Kano Sanzhe, Peony Jacket, Mural Painting of the Chen Hall of Daikanji Temple in Japan

Masanobu Kano, the ancestor of the Kano school, worked for the Ashikaga shogunate for a long time and was the royal painter of the Muromachi shogunate. His great-grandson Kano Yongtoku was active in the Azuchi-Momoyama era. Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi successively dominated Japan. Kano Yongtoku, as the imperial painter of the Zhifeng regime, carried forward the art of the Kano School. The Kano School has an unshakable artistic status.

The Azuchi-Momoyama period was the end of the Warring States period in Japan. The various masters built castles, fortresses and palace courtyards as military defense facilities and symbols of power. The Kano school painted "barrier paintings" for Azuchi Castle and Osaka Castle during the Oritoyo regime, that is, indoor screen paintings, with themes such as castle construction, palace courtyards, and the ceremonies of the castle lord.

Kano Uchizen, Toyokuni Festival Map, 1606, Important Cultural Property, Kyoto Toyokuni Shrine Kura

Screens originated from the Han Dynasty in China, and became royal interior decorations during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. According to the Japanese history book "Nihon Shoki", the oldest screen in Japan is a tribute from the Korean Peninsula in the seventh century. The earliest surviving screen in Japan is the Bird Hair Standing Nv Screen preserved in Nara Shosoin.

In the Muromachi period, the screens were mostly in the style of ink painting. During the Warring States period, a large amount of gold leaf was used for painting, forming a resplendent "golden barrier screen painting".

Kano Yamaraku, Dragon and Tiger Screen

The golden screen not only shows the images of the emperors of the Warring States period, but also is full of Japanese-style mysterious connotations. In the daimyo castle, in front of the screen is the living room, and behind the screen are the hidden retainers and warriors. They hide behind the screen and listen to the discussions at the front desk as "hermits". "Hongmen Banquet", under the lens of the Japanese film master Akira Kurosawa who promotes the spirit of the samurai, you can always get a glimpse of it.

The painters of the Kano school, who were royal painters for the court, participated in the creation of Nanman art and formed the "Nanman screen". The existing Nanban screen painters of the Kano School mainly include Kano Neishan, Kano Sanraku, and Kano Tami (transliteration).

Kano Naizen, Map of the Southern Barbarian Ferry, circa 1600, in the collection of Kobe City Museum of Art

The most famous Nanman art is Kano Neizan's "Nanman People Crossing and Coming" and "Nanman Screen", which are respectively preserved in Kobe, Japan and Lisbon, Portugal. The screen is full of gold foil as the background color, highlighting the resplendent, dazzling and luxurious royal temperament of Kano School art.

In the center of "The Nanman Screen" is a large piece of ocean symbolized by blue and black. Ships sail and arrive, crowds gather at the port, and foreigners in Portuguese-style suits come in droves. It is very lively. In the distance of the picture are Japanese pavilions, courtyards and temples, dotted with pines, cypresses, plantains, and dry landscapes, full of Japanese aesthetic style of mystery and sorrow. There are people worshiping quietly in the temple, and what is hidden behind the wall is the wabi-sabi wind Living room and isolated quiet Japanese daily life. The exotic style from the sea blends with the simple and quiet Japanese aesthetics on the island.

Part of Nanban screen

Kano Yamaraku's "Nanban Screen" also Japaneseized Westerners. The main colors of the screen are golden, cobalt blue, emerald green, and ivory white, with vermilion dotted among them. The pines and cypresses are vigorous, the plantains are green, and the turquoise is looming. The boats and boats come and go in the shallow sea nearby. There are not only the majesty of the giant sailing ships of the Westerners, but also the comfort of the Japanese boating on the lake. In the distance, there are layers of rocks and complex mountains, lush forests and trees, and the middle is bustling with tourists, forming an integrated picture scroll full of static and fluidity.

Kano Sanraku, Nanban Screen, Important Cultural Property, Suntory Museum of Art, Japan

The withered beauty and ingenuity of the screen in still life are speechless, which is continued in Kano Sanle's "Nanban Screen". The screens "Red Plum Picture Coat" and "Peony Coat" he painted for the Chendian of Dajue Temple in Kyoto have the Japanese aesthetic feeling of "knowing things and mourning". This beauty of mourning is distributed on the left half of the Nanban screen and blends with the Western style on the right.

Kano Sanzhe, Red Plum Jacket, Mural Painting of the Chen Hall of Daikanji Temple in Japan

The interaction between the characters and the ocean in the Nanban screen is reminiscent of the Japanese painting "Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji" 300 years later. The common people overlook the scenery of Mount Fuji through the ocean.

There are not many documents about Kano Domi (transliteration). Only the Roman spelling name Kano Domi survives in the world. His Nanban screens are more concise, eliminating detailed descriptions of gardens and courtyards, and using figures as the main body. The sailors on the ship waited eagerly for the docking, and the people on the shore overlooked the ocean scenery, and the joy of common people's life was vividly displayed on the screen.

Kano Domi, Nanban Screen, 1593–1600, National Museum of Antiquities, Portugal

Porcelain is a symbol of Chinese art, while lacquerware is a representative of Japanese art. The Chinese English name China means "porcelain", and the Japanese English name Japan means "lacquerware".

Lacquer is known as the blood of gods in Japan. Lacquerware is a representative of Japanese craftsmanship. It is independent of the four major categories of ancient arts and crafts in the world: ceramics, fiber, glass, and metal. It is the fifth unique craftsmanship in East Asia. Next to the three points of water in the word "lacquer", a tree was artificially cut out of the water. The so-called lacquer for a thousand dollars per catty vividly shows the process of collecting lacquer trees.

Flower and bird maki-e mother-of-pearl book Tantan, Japanese lacquerware, 16th century, collected by the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lacquerware originated in the Shang Dynasty of China, was popularized in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and spread to Japan in the Tang Dynasty. "Makie" is a representative of Japanese lacquer crafts. It was produced in the Nara period. Gold and silver flakes were added to the lacquer liquid. After drying, it was polished to show the gold and silver color. The pattern is extraordinarily luxurious.

"Nanban" is also the theme of Japanese lacquerware from the Azuchi-Momoyama period. The flower-and-bird mahogany mother-of-pearl shrine is themed on the Catholic Virgin and Child. The two sides of the shrine are embellished with mahogany techniques, and the branches and leaves of wisteria, flowers and plants are embedded, which is gorgeous, exquisite, luxurious and gorgeous.

Flower and bird maki-e mother-of-pearl shrine, lacquerware, 16th century, in the collection of Kyushu National Museum of Art, Japan

Nanban lacquerware has also influenced other countries. Mexican lacquerware has the shadow of maki, as well as techniques such as immersion gold and mother-of-pearl. This is the result of the Nanban trade between Japan, Portugal and Spain. It was re-exported to the Americas through the Spanish colony of the Philippines.

Atlas of All Nations, Oceanic Narrative and Oriental World View

In the mid-to-late fifteenth century, the Onin Rebellion broke out in Japan, and daimyo struggled. The flames of war spread all over Japan except Kyushu, entering the Warring States Period for nearly a century. The traditional daimyo and the authority of the emperor are gradually weakening. The guardian daimyo who were originally enshrined by the shogunate in various places have gradually been usurped by the guardian generation, retainers, and people of the country, that is, "Xiakeshang".

During the Portuguese-Japanese trade period, Japan was in the transition period from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. The Nanban art, which lasted for more than 100 years, was produced in the most violent era in Japanese history.

Kano inner meal, part of a Nanban screen

Advocating military power and warring states generals gradually developed their views on the world outside the Japanese island during their contacts with Portugal, which not only triggered Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s Korean campaign, but even affected Japan in the Meiji Restoration and World War II more than 300 years later .

Prince of Western Europe

The Azuchi Momoyama period, also known as the Zhifeng period, started when Oda Nobunaga Shangluo and supported the last Muromachi shogun Ashikaga Yoshiaki as a puppet, and finally Tokugawa Ieyasu established the Edo shogunate.

A six-curved screen with a Western European princely painting and ointment pattern, produced in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, U.S.A.

The Azuchi-Momoyama era formed a situation in which the three forces of Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu fought for power. It was often compared with China's Three Kingdoms period, and it was called Japan's "Three Kingdoms era." From Oda Nobunaga's "holding the emperor to order the princes" to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's "Great Unification", although it is a thousand years behind China's Three Kingdoms period, it is very similar.

Taisei prince riding a horse screen, circa 1611-1614, Kobe City Museum of Art

The famous military generals represented by the three parties are full of ambitions to dominate and dominate the world, and they respect princes and generals. The Nanban screens often feature Western princes as the main body, depicting the military career of emperors and generals. "Taixi Prince Riding Horse Picture Screen" draws the four princes of the King of Spain, the King of France, the King of Ethiopia, and the Persian Empire.

The Ming Dynasty in China, which was at the same time as the Azuchi-Momoyama era, regarded itself as a celestial kingdom and regarded foreign culture as a subsidiary, while the Japanese daimyo admired Western culture very much, and admired the invincible deeds of Western emperors on the world battlefield.

One pair of eight tunes, twenty-eight cities and countries, screen, 17th century, Miyauchi Sannomaru Shozokan

The existing national treasure-level artwork "Twenty-eight Cities and Ten Thousand Nations Painting Screens" of the Japanese Imperial Household Agency depicts 8 Western princes, covering a very vast geographical area, including not only the Roman Emperor, the King of Spain, the King of France, the Grand Duke of Moscow and other European emperors, There are also Asian and African rulers such as the Ottoman Sultan, the Tatar Khan, the Ethiopian King, and the Persian Shah.

map of nations

Japan is an imported culture with weak language subjects. The imported vocabulary of Japanese is 600,000, and the output is only 50,000. There are many Portuguese input words in Japanese, such as tempura (tempura, tempero), tobacco (タバコ, tobako), golden rice sugar (Confeito), Christian (jilizhidan, christão), raincoat (合羽, capa), pumpkin (カボチャ, camboja), pastor (with Tianlian, Padre), God (デウス, Deus), etc.

World Map of Four Capitals, Kobe City Museum Collection

In the "World Map of Four Capitals", Japan used the perspective of Portugal, the world's largest navigating country at that time, to see the world with its eyes open. With the Atlantic Ocean as the center, Japan drew the four continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, and the United States on the map, expanding its scope. world cognition. At the same time, the Ming Dynasty in China also introduced the earliest world map with complete longitude and latitude lines in China in the middle and late 16th century, "Kun Yu Wan Guo Quan Tu". The difference is that "Kun Yu Wan Guo Quan Tu" takes the Pacific Ocean as the central axis and sees the world centered on Asia, where China is located, while Japan adopts a world perspective centered on Europe.

World Map of Four Capitals, Kobe City Museum Collection

"World Map of Four Capitals" is divided into two parts. In addition to drawing the world map, the other is an aerial view of the four major cities of Constantinople, Rome, Madrid, and Lisbon. The upper part of the screen depicts the population of the four cities portrait. It is worth noting that in addition to the four princes who satisfy the Japanese king worship complex, there are also images of common people men and women, dressed in characteristic national costumes, similar to the anthropological map, and the Gaz that was popular in Spanish and Portuguese American colonies in the 16th and 18th centuries. The ethnographic map of the tower oil painting (Casta) is highly consistent.

One pair of eight tunes, twenty-eight cities and countries, screen, 17th century, Miyauchi Sannomaru Shozokan

This is even more evident in Japan's 1609 world map "Twenty-eight Cities and Worlds Drawing Screens". This national treasure collected by the Japanese Imperial Household Agency and listed as an important cultural property of Japan, in addition to the depiction of continents and oceans, 21 ethnographic portraits were drawn on both sides of the map, arranged strictly according to the color of the race from dark to light , which is almost exactly the same as the Casta paintings in the Spanish colony of Virreinato de Nueva España (Virreinato de Nueva España) in the same period. New Spain is today's Mexico. It can be seen that Japan at the end of the Warring States period was closely connected with Spain, Portugal and America.

command of the sea

The Azuchi-Momoyama era was not only the era of great voyages for the expansion of the Portuguese Empire, but also the era of Japan's earliest foreign strategic expansion. The trade with Japan and Portugal also made the Japanese daimyo realize the military strategic significance of the sea, and the port and sea are of far-reaching significance to the island country.

Nanban Screen, Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA

The Japanese learned Portuguese shipbuilding techniques and built "Zhuyin Ships" to go to Siam, Annan, the Philippines and other places, which opened up Japan's early "Southern Seas", which is quite similar to Zheng He's voyages to the Western Seas in the Ming Dynasty in China.

Shigekura Kondo, "A Ship Map of Foreign Books from Nagasaki to Annan Country"

"Battle of Lepanto Screen Screen" reflects the Japanese samurai's high attention to maritime hegemony. The screen depicts a naval battle in the Gulf of Greece between the Holy Alliance Fleet, with the Spanish Empire and the Republic of Venice as the main force, and the Ottoman Navy in 1571.

Lepanto Battle Screen, in the collection of Koxue Museum of Art, Japan

Although this battle in the Mediterranean was very far away from Japan, it appeared as a theme painting on the Nanban screen. During the heyday of trade with the West and Japan, Japan was very concerned about the current situation in Spain. The Spanish Empire, which dominated the world, achieved territorial expansion through naval warfare.

H. Wright, Battle of Lepanto, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London

Japanese samurai had a strong interest in the sea power struggle between the Spanish Empire and the Ottoman Turkish Empire. The painter's depiction of ocean ships, port blockhouses, and army-navy coordinated operations provided reference materials for Japanese samurai to learn sea power.

Compared with the oil painting "Battle of Lepanto" in the British Nautical Museum, "Battle of Lepanto Screen" shows the different perspectives of the Japanese on naval warfare, combining the characteristics of Japanese territory and Japanese samurai's understanding of sea control.

Dutch battleship (Ship Vessel De Ryp) during the Shimabara Rebellion, painted in 1800

Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched the Battle of Wenlu Qingchang against North Korea, also known as the Battle of Wanli Korea. It can be said that Japan imitated Spain and Portugal to conquer foreign territory for the first time. Although it ended in failure, Japan invaded East Asia more than 300 years later. A preview of the construction of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".

international city

The Nanban screen depicts the scene of people of all colors living together in Japan, and the Western exotic clothes and Japanese kimono weaving go hand in hand.

Part of Nanban screen

At that time, Japan was highly open to the outside world, inclusive, and the power figures were racially tolerant. Oda Nobunaga, who overthrew the Muromachi Shogunate and ended the Onin Rebellion, used black Africans brought by Portugal as samurai to form a multiracial samurai group.

Folding Screen for Foreigners Playing Music (Chongwen), Collection of MOA Museum of Art, Shizuoka, Japan

"Foreigners Playing Music Picture Screen" almost completely depicts the joys of life of foreigners in Western style. Foreigners wore western clothes, played harps and lutes in the green forests of lakes and seas under Mount Fuji in Japan, and troubadours sang duets, which reflected the vision of the Japanese rulers at that time for building an international city.

From the East to the West: Japanese Figures in Western Art

Through the Nanban trade, Japan not only imported Portuguese ships, guns and clothing, but also exported Japanese arts and crafts overseas.

Visiting Europeans, Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA

In addition to being used for decoration by Japanese daimyos, Nanban screens are also exported to Japan's foreign trade. The combination of Western characters on the screen and Japanese garden architecture, with gold foil as the background, is exquisite and very popular among European royal families.

Painter unknown, Mexican palace screen, 1676-1700, Museum of the Americas, Mexico City

The Mexican screens are obviously influenced by the Nanban screens. The gold leaf background and the folding fan-style composition are inseparable from the trade exchanges between Japan and Spanish America.

Japan and Mexico communicated very early. Tokugawa Ieyasu sent Katsusuke Tanaka to New Spain twice in 1610. Katsusuke Tanaka was the earliest Japanese to reach America in historical records. Masamune Date, the daimyo of the Sendai Clan in northern Japan, also sent his retainer Hasekura Tsunecho to New Spain in 1613. Hasekura Tsunecho set off from Seville, Spain, to Mexico, and returned to Japan from Mexico via the Philippines in 1618.

Scipione Amati, Portrait of Tsunecho Hasekura, book illustration, 1615, Italy

Hasekura Tsunecho is not only a Japanese diplomatic envoy, but also a Catholic. His real name is Rokuemon Nagune, and his baptism name is Philip Francis. His image appears in many Western historical materials and works of art.

Portrait of Tsunecho Hasekura on a fresco in Rome, Italy, collection of Quirinal Palace, Rome, Italy

Sendai daimyo Date Masamune built the sailing ship "Date Village" in 1611, and asked Spanish missionaries to use this ship to take the Japanese mission to Europe and New Spain. As the representative of the mission, Tsunecho Hasekura created the first ship in Japan and France. The first recorded exchange is also the most typical Japanese face in the eyes of Europeans. In 1615, Tsunecho Hasekura arrived in Rome and worshiped. His face is still preserved on Italian murals from the 16th century.

Japanese Catholics in Portuguese dress mentioned in Arnold Toynbee's "Historical Studies"

Europe's initial understanding of Japan relied on these Japanese Catholics. After the Orientals came to the West, they appeared as Christians in Western art. In addition to the Europeans wearing Portuguese costumes, there are also Japanese figures in Westernized clothes on the Nanban screen.

Portrait of an envoy sent by Tensho to Europe, 1586, in the collection of Kyoto University

In 1582, the young envoys sent by Tensho to Ou, supported by Kyushu daimyo, set off from Nagasaki, and under the guidance of Portuguese missionaries, they passed through Portuguese Macao, Malacca, Goa, and arrived in Lisbon, and visited Spain, Florence, Rome, and Venice. See Rome The Pope returned home in 1590.

Letter from the Vice-Prince of India, Portugal, 1588, in the collection of the Myoto Court, Kyoto, Japan

The four teenagers of the mission, as the official representatives of Japan, are the first time Japanese have arrived in Europe since recorded records. They brought back to Japan the letter written by the Governor of the Portuguese royal family in Goa, India, to Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Roman Painter, "1585 Angelic Legion Visiting Pope Gregory XIII", Collection of Pontifical Gregorian University, Italy

The four teenagers who were sent to Europe not only appeared in the "Portrait of Tianzheng's Envoys to Europe" published in German newspapers, but also appeared in the Italian painting "The Angels' Mission Meets Pope Gregory XIII". Mitsusho Ito, the leader of the mission, is on the left side of the picture, dressed in a cobalt blue jacket and wearing a Japanese-style bun, prostrating to the Pope.

Nobukata Hasegawa, "European Woman Playing Guitar"

After the Catholic missions visited Europe, Japan began to gain fame in Europe, and there were special paintings for export in Japan. A Japanese painter named Hasegawa Nobukata is very popular in French collectors. There are not many Japanese documents about him, and we can only find clues in French documents. Judging from the pronunciation, the surname Hasegawa, the first name may be Nobukata, and was active in the early 17th century.

His "European Woman Playing the Guitar" depicts a European woman in a vermilion robe, which has the tranquility of Japanese painting. The other two works "Dharma" and "Shen Nong" are more interesting.

Nobukata Hasegawa, Daruma

"Bodhidharma" takes the founder of Zen Buddhism in Japan as the main character. There is only Bodhidharma alone in the picture. The background is empty without any decorations. It has the aesthetics of blank space and the sense of "emptiness" of Zen. Bodhidharma is dressed in bright vermilion, has a wide nose and big eyes, and is more European-style, which is different from the image of the Yamato nation.

"Shen Nong" is based on the legend of Shen Nong in the pre-Qin period of China. Shen Nong tasted all kinds of herbs and became the king of medicine. Shennong not only has big eyes and thick eyebrows, but also has two protruding bumps on the top of his head, which are quite mythical. His gestures are in the style of European oil paintings, and he has endless aftertastes.

Nobukata Hasegawa, "Shen Nong"

At the end of the Warring States Period, besides the Kano school, there was also a painter named Hasegawa Tohaku who was the royal painter of the daimyo. He once created the "Hasegawa school". Whether this little-recorded but well-known French Hasegawa Nobukata (transliteration) is related to it is still an unsolved mystery.

The Thirty Years' War in Europe and Japan's Last Window Period

The widespread popularity of Nanman art in Japan during the Azuchi-Momoyama era was inseparable from the value orientation of the supreme ruler. It not only tested its economic vision and world structure, but was also inseparable from religious beliefs.

Oda Nobunaga is known for being anti-Buddhist. The Japanese Ichiko sect once used "Buddhist enemies" to refer to Oda Nobunaga specifically, and called on Japanese Buddhists and daimyos to crusade together. Oda Nobunaga allowed the Portuguese to spread Catholicism to Japan, which is inseparable from his anti-Buddhist thoughts.

"Master Two Dozis" and "Western Two Samurai Figures", early 17th century, Kobe City Museum of Art

Japan is deeply influenced by Buddhism, and Zen is prevalent. Takeda Shingen, the warlord of the Warring States Period, is a devout Buddhist. In 1572, Takeda Shingen crusade against Oda Nobunaga, wrote a letter declaring war, and signed it "Tiantaizao Master Salmon Shingen". Oda Nobunaga replied and signed himself "Sixth Heaven Demon King Nobunaga" to ridicule Buddhists.

Portrait of Kuroda Nagamasa, Fukuoka City Museum Kuroda

Oda Nobunaga believed that to eliminate local separatism, Buddha must be destroyed first, and cutting off the spiritual beliefs of local daimyos was the beginning of their collapse. The elimination of Buddhism and the support of Catholicism are all political and military considerations.

The island of Kyushu, which was the first to do business with the Portuguese, accepted Catholicism very early on. Kyushu daimyo believed in Catholicism and formed the "Auspicious Chitan Daimyo", such as Omura Juntada, Arima Harunobu, Otomo Sorin, Kuroda Nagamasa, and Oda Nobunaga's eldest grandson Oda Hidenobu and others.

"Eta", Catholic Service of the Shogunate, 1869

The art of the Azuchi-Momoyama era is significantly different from the mournful, secret, mysterious, blank, and haggard advocated by Japanese classical art. The art of the Nanban is rich in color and resplendent, and it is rare in the history of Japanese art. bright.

Archita Ricci, Portrait of Tsunecho Hasekura Rokuemon, 1615, Italy

Japanese envoys Tsunecho Hasakura and Tensho sent Ou youth missions dressed in colorful and gorgeous costumes, changing the simple and simple wabi-sabi sense of traditional Japanese kimonos. Hasekura Changcho uses silver, white and gold as the main colors, and the dark green satin depicts the posture of grass leaves, bordered by vermilion; the four teenagers are rich in color, showing a gorgeous Japan to Europe.

Stills of the Japanese TV series "MAGI-Tianzheng Sends European Youth Envoys"

In the eyes of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, the Azuchi Momoyama era is colorful. The movie "Shadow Samurai" uses blue, green, red, and yellow to express Takeda Shingen's belief in "Sun Tzu's Art of War: Military Struggle Chapter" "Fast as the wind, as slow as the forest, plundering as fire, immovable as a mountain", using colors to render the death of the Takeda family Sad, mourning a generation of heroes.

After Toyotomi Hideyoshi came to power, he began to tighten the policy on Catholicism, and once issued the "Bantenren Chasing and Release Order" to restrict the trade between Catholicism and the Southern Barbarians. After Tokugawa Ieyasu took power, he further tightened his policy towards Portugal. In 1633, the Tokugawa shogunate issued a decree of sequestering the country, severing diplomatic relations with Spain and Portugal. The Edo shogunate learned from China's Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the seclusion and isolation that lasted for more than two hundred years greatly restricted Japan's development process, but some scholars hold different views.

Catholic Martyrs Screen, Nagasaki, Japan

When the art of the Southern Barbarians was popular, the Thirty Years’ War broke out in Europe at the same time. The civil war of the Holy Roman Empire evolved into a large-scale European war. Portugal was annexed by Spain, and the Portuguese Restoration War broke out. The root of the war was the religious struggle initiated by the Reformation in the 16th century.

Although Portugal maintained peace with Asia through missionary methods, Catholicism was also a weapon for developing its colonies, such as Goa in India, the Spice Islands, East Timor, Malacca, and Macau in the Ming Dynasty in China. Although Japan was getting closer to Portugal, Oda Nobunaga even used Portuguese doctors as intelligence spies for a time, but Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was very deep in the city, saw the general trend and expelled the Portuguese to avoid turning Nagasaki into another Macau.

Saito Akipo, Shimabara no Ranshoku, 1837, in the collection of Akizuki Godokan, Asakura City

The Shimabara Rebellion broke out in Japan in 1637. It was not only the largest civil uprising in Japanese history, but also a Catholic teaching case. Japan's NHK TV history program "Moments Turning History" once analyzed the Shimabara Rebellion on the Dutch and Portuguese parties, religious wars, and maritime domination. The Shimabara Rebellion also symbolized the official introduction of Catholicism and Portuguese trade to the Japanese scene. The Nanban trade, which lasted for more than a hundred years, took a sharp turn, and Nanban art came to an end. Japan's more than 200 years of seclusion officially began.

Nanman art is now preserved in many countries and regions, most of which are stored in the old imperial palaces in Tokyo and Kyoto, public museums in Nagasaki, Kobe, and Kyushu, and private collectors of the old Kawanishi family. The rest are scattered in Lisbon, Portugal, and Spain Madrid, Mexico, Macau and the United States. The distribution of its collection not only reflects the footprints of Portugal in the East during the age of great voyages, but also reflects the early prototype of Japan's going to sea, marching towards the world, and integrating into international integration.