Podcast Summary

Podcast: New Books Network
Episode: Mayu Fujikawa, "Envisioning Diplomacy: Japanese Ambassadors in Early Modern Europe" (Pennsylvania State UP, 2025)
Host: Dr. Miranda Melcher
Guest: Dr. Mayu Fujikawa
Date: December 19, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features Dr. Mayu Fujikawa discussing her groundbreaking book, Envisioning Diplomacy: Japanese Ambassadors in Early Modern Europe. The conversation delves into the Tenshō and Keichō embassies—the first official Japanese delegations to Europe (late 16th to early 17th century). Dr. Fujikawa, an art historian specializing in Italian Renaissance art, reveals how these unprecedented voyages became not only diplomatic milestones but also cultural spectacles, profoundly shaping European visual culture and ideas about Japan. The dialogue explores why Europeans depicted the embassies in art, how clothing and material culture served as diplomatic tools, and how news and images of these events traveled and mutated far beyond the original encounters.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction to Dr. Mayu Fujikawa and the Project

• [03:23] Dr. Fujikawa introduces herself as an art historian with personal and academic ties to Italy, the US, and Japan—contexts that inspired her study of Japanese embassies to Italy.
• Research scope: The book focuses on the Tenshō (1580s) and Keichō (early 1600s) embassies, the first and second Japanese diplomatic missions to Europe.
• Motivation & challenge: Early inspiration from Hidemiji Tanaka’s book and the challenge of assembling a vast corpus of art and archival materials over a decade.
• Dr. Fujikawa’s core research question: Why did Europeans depict these embassies in art so extensively? She sought explanations beyond curiosity and economic motives, exploring diplomatic, religious, and cultural significance.

Art, Material Culture, and Diplomacy

The Embassy of Obedience & Papal Portraits

• [10:55] Dr. Fujikawa explains the concept of the "ambassadors of obedience," wherein Catholic rulers sent envoys to demonstrate fealty to the Pope. The four Japanese boys were presented as ambassadors to display the global reach and authority of the Papacy.
  • Quote:
    “Pope Gregory XIII turned the Tenshō embassy into ambassadors of obedience… Gregory wanted to show his authority through textual and visual references.” (Dr. Fujikawa, 12:07)
• Examples of enduring visual commemoration: medals, drawings, and prints, including new discoveries like a 2005 drawing found in a descendant’s old book.

Who Were the Ambassadors?

• [14:45] The four Tenshō envoys were young seminarians from Kyushu, representing their regional lords and accompanied by Jesuit sponsors. The Jesuit and Papal interests shaped their selection and presentation.
• Jesuits hoped the boys would internalize Catholic grandeur and inspire Japanese converts; they also wanted to secure Papal funding and outmaneuver Franciscan rivals.

Visual Representation: Foreign or Assimilated?

• [17:40] Huge emphasis on visual appearance:
  • Jesuits sought hybridization (kimono with discreet European elements) so the boys didn’t appear too foreign, reflecting both concern for decorum and desire not to shock European audiences.
  • The Pope, conversely, wanted the Japanese figures to look clearly foreign in artworks, to emphasize the global Church’s reach.
  • Quote:
    “Jesuits were very much concerned about the visual assimilation of their proteges in Europe. In contrast, the Pope wanted them to stand out...” (Dr. Fujikawa, 18:18)

The Role and Symbolism of the Kimono

• [21:49] The kimono was official ceremonial wear, used sparingly and as a high-status diplomatic tool—reserved for audiences with top monarchs, but also, selectively, to court elite families like the Medici.
  • Jesuits fiercely controlled when kimonos were worn and treated them as tools of "soft power".
  • Used kimonos, swords, and other personal items were offered as gifts—reinforcing an aura of Japanese sophistication, while the Jesuits, resourcefully, minimized expenses on formal presents.
  • European fascination with the kimono enabled cultural exchange:
    “Jesuits utilized the Japanese costume as, I think, soft power to stir Europeans’ interest in Japanese culture and the Japan mission.” (Dr. Fujikawa, 24:15)

Additional Gifts and Foreign Material Culture

• [25:14] Gifts included swords (katana), lacquerware, folding screens (byōbu), and traditional writing sets (yatate) with Japanese paper—objects that often attained spiritual or symbolic significance in Europe.
  • Example: A piece of Japanese paper with religious text, placed in a silver frame, was treasured as a spiritual relic.

Hybrid and European Dress

• [32:16] The embassy members donned European dress for practical reasons and on occasion for safety, especially after arriving in India and the Iberian Peninsula; once in Rome, they toggled between rich European attire and kimono, depending on ceremony and audience.
  • The Pope gifted them lavish European clothes to elevate their status at court. Back in Japan, these same clothes signified European civilization, Papal generosity, and the allure of Christianity.
  • Quote:
    “Once in Japan, the European clothes took on different meanings.” (Dr. Fujikawa, 34:23)

Commemoration Across Cities: Public Art and Self-Glorification

• [39:09] Municipalities celebrated the embassies in site-specific artworks:
  • Venice: An unfinished Jacopo Tintoretto painting was meant to honor their lavish welcome.
  • Vicenza: A fresco in the Olympic Theater emphasized the Academy’s prestige—placing local hosts in the visual foreground and rendering the Japanese figures almost indistinct.
    Quote:
    “The visualization of hospitality in the reception was a form of self-glorification for the cities…” (Dr. Fujikawa, 43:17)

Comparing the Tenshō and Keichō Embassies

• [44:23] The first embassy (Tenshō) set a precedent, influencing attire, expectations, and ritual for the second (Keichō); the latter, sent by Date Masamune, was particularly elaborate in fashion, as reflected in surviving portraits.
• However, the second embassy did not receive identical pageantry, largely because Masamune was not Catholic at the time. The Papacy carefully modulated ceremonial honors based on religious and political alignment.

Visual Manipulation & Artistic Choices

• [49:36] Artistic renditions often distorted reality for symbolic or practical reasons:
  • In Vicenza’s fresco, just three ambassadors are pictured—to fit the Christian iconography of the three Magi.
  • Hair color was sometimes altered to enhance visibility in large murals or convey wisdom.

Circulation of Images and News

• [52:04] The embassies’ fame spread far beyond the actual locales via mass-produced prints and pamphlets:
  • These were translated into French and German, serving not only as information but as counter-Protestant propaganda.
  • Printed portraits were often labeled “true likeness” even when produced in places the embassies never visited, emphasizing the power and reach of the Catholic world.
  • Quote:
    “Printed images help viewers understand immediately how these non-Europeans looked like, because understanding… through text was challenging.” (Dr. Fujikawa, 52:20)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It took me more than ten years to find these images…the fresco at the Quirinal Palace…occupies the two long walls of a large hall.” (Dr. Fujikawa, 04:23)
• “Why did Europeans depict these Japanese embassies in art? Of course, they had curiosity… But I thought there was something more, because it costs time and money to commission these images.” (Dr. Fujikawa, 05:37)
• “Visual assimilation versus foreign display is a negotiation between the desires of the hosts and the diplomatic aims of the guests.” (Paraphrased from multiple points—see 17:40-19:38)
• “Jesuits utilized the Japanese costume as, I think, soft power to stir Europeans’ interest in Japanese culture and the Japan mission.” (Dr. Fujikawa, 24:15)
• “Number three was very important. There was a tendency among Europeans to connect these Japanese youth from the east with the three Magi.” (Dr. Fujikawa, 49:36)
• “News about these embassies were transferred and translated to counter the Protestants in Northern and Central Europe.” (Dr. Fujikawa, 54:03)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:23] Dr. Fujikawa’s background; origins of the project
• [10:55] Papal motivations for depicting Japanese envoys; “ambassadors of obedience”
• [14:45] Who were the embassy youth? Jesuit aims
• [17:40] Visual presentation: hybrid vs. foreign in court
• [21:49] Significance and deployment of the kimono in diplomacy
• [25:14] Gifts, swords, lacquerware, writing sets, European responses
• [32:16] Japanese ambassadors in European dress; cross-cultural implications
• [39:09] City-specific commemorations; art as civic glorification
• [44:23] Relationship and distinctions between the two embassies
• [49:36] Artistic manipulations: Magi motif, visibility changes
• [52:04] The wide circulation of images/news and their functions

Conclusion & Further Research

• [55:47] Dr. Fujikawa is now researching the foodways and culinary adaptation of embassy members during their European travels:
  “I’m working on various projects…one about the Tenshō Embassy’s food experience abroad. Poor them…in Europe, meat after meat.”

• The episode concludes with thanks and reminder of the book’s rich visual documentation, making early modern Japanese-European diplomatic history vivid for contemporary readers.

For further information:
Envisioning Diplomacy: Japanese Ambassadors in Early Modern Europe is available from Penn State University Press (2025), featuring nearly 100 images from Dr. Fujikawa’s extensive research.