He Had Six Fingers: Japan's Ruler Through a Jesuit's Eyes (Luís Fróis on Hideyoshi)

“He had six fingers on one hand.” In 1586, the Portuguese Jesuit Luís Fróis stood a few feet from Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the warlord who unified Japan. Hideyoshi led the missionaries up his castle keep to the eighth floor, handed them his own cup and served them fruit with his own chopsticks. A year later he ordered the missionaries out of Japan within twenty days. Ten years later, twenty-six Christians were crucified on a hill in Nagasaki. This documentary reads what Fróis actually wrote, in his History of Japan and in the Jesuit letters printed in Évora in 1598, and checks it against Japanese sources: a Japanese record that also gives Hideyoshi six digits, the original 1587 expulsion edict, and a Buddhist monk's diary. Along the way: Hideyoshi's brother Hidenaga, the young Japanese envoys who played European music for him, the missionary who reported his death, and the 300-year journey of Fróis's lost manuscript. ▼ Chapters 0:00 Opening 1:29 Chapter 1: The Recorder from Lisbon 2:55 Chapter 2: Six Fingers 5:07 Chapter 3: A Tour to the Eighth Floor 7:04 Chapter 4: The Next Country 8:09 Chapter 5: The Brother, Hidenaga 9:10 Chapter 6: The Night at Hakata 12:20 Chapter 7: A Brother's Death, and Three Encores 14:53 Chapter 8: The Twenty-Six of Nishizaka 17:04 Chapter 9: Who Wrote the Ending 18:35 Chapter 10: The Buried Manuscript 21:08 Ending ▼ Notes • Fróis was a missionary, and his writing carries that point of view, along with things he only heard secondhand. In this video his words are presented as “Fróis wrote,” and compared with Japanese sources. • On-screen translations of the original texts are our own translations or summaries unless a published translation is cited. • Dates are given in the Gregorian calendar. • Some portraits were painted after the subject's death. • Some scenes are illustrative recreations, made to convey the atmosphere of the period. ▼ Main sources • Luís Fróis, Historia de Japam, ed. José Wicki (Biblioteca Nacional de Lisboa, 1976–84) • Luís Fróis, History of Japan, Japanese translation by Matsuda Kiichi & Kawasaki Momota (Chūōkōronsha, 1977–80) • Segunda parte das cartas de Iapão… (Évora, 1598), incl. Fróis's letter of Oct 17, 1586 • Relatione della gloriosa morte di XXVI. posti in croce (Rome, 1599; Kyoto University, Graduate School of Economics) • Ōnishi Yasumasa, “Kokuso Yigon (1),” Kanazawa Castle Research Bulletin 20 (2022) • Hattori Hideo (2011) on Fróis's Hideyoshi; P. A. Pimenta, master's thesis (2013) • Kanda Chisato (2011) on the 1587 expulsion edict; Nakamura Shūya (2024) • Oka Mihoko, “Sea and Power,” Bulletin of the National Museum of Japanese History 223 (2021) • Tamon-in Diary (via lecture materials by Kawauchi Masayoshi) • L. M. Brockey & J. S. A. Elisonas, “The Death of Taycosama” (2022) • Kawasaki Momota (1987) and Ikawa Kenji (2019) on the manuscript copies • Aida Yoshiko (2024); Twenty-Six Martyrs Museum, Nagasaki; Matsura Historical Museum; Nagasaki City ▼ Art, photo and book credits • Screens, portraits, prints, maps and books: public domain (Kobe City Museum, Suntory Museum of Art, National Museum of Ancient Art Lisbon, Eggenberg Palace, Mitsui Memorial Museum, National Museum of Japanese History, Kōdai-ji, Uwajima Date Foundation, Asian Art Museum, Osaka Castle Museum, Kyoto University, Fondazione Trivulzio, University of Amsterdam Library, Matsura Historical Museum) • Nanban screen (right panel, Kyushu National Museum, ColBase, CC BY 4.0) • Portrait of Toyotomi Hidenaga (replica of the Shungaku-in portrait). Photo: KKPCW (CC BY-SA 4.0) • Jacques Callot, The Martyrs of Japan (c. 1627, National Gallery of Art, CC0) • Engraving of Valignano (posthumous, CC BY 4.0) • Relatione della gloriosa morte di XXVI… (1599, Kyoto University, Graduate School of Economics), detail, edited • Photo: Suicasmo (CC BY-SA 4.0) • Photo: Saigen Jiro (CC0) • Photo: Michal Osmenda (CC BY 2.0) • Photo: Berthold Werner (CC BY-SA 4.0) • Photo: Corpse Reviver (CC BY-SA 3.0) (Cropped, zoomed, blurred and highlighted in the video.) Map: based on Natural Earth (public domain) If you enjoyed this, please like the video and subscribe to Japan Before Now. #Hideyoshi #JapaneseHistory #Samurai