| 研究実績の概要 |
After a comparative study of works of Catholic missionaries in early modern Japan, China, Mexico and Peru (which included thorough consultation of secondary literature as well), in this fiscal year I was able to draw a number of preliminary conclusions about the impact of such missionaries in the process of reframing the concept of "religion" in Europe. "Religion" and "civilization" comprise the two most generalizing notions devised by the Western Catholic world in their effort to make sense of all the new information that entered Europe following the so-called Age of Discovery. The reconceptualization of "religion" in this moment was, thus, the result of the process of generalizing Christianity for the different missionary fields worldwide. In the case of Japan, the notion of "religion" also played a role in demonstrating Europe's superiority, since Japanese society was considered by the missionaries almost as civilized as European ones. In this sense, the Japanese mission was very similar to the Chinese one, especially in that they both had the support of the Portuguese crown and held no coercive power against the local population. However, one feature that distinguished these two mission fields had a direct impact in the process of reframing "religion," namely the political role of the Buddhist clergy in Japan and the dialogue that developed, as a consequence, between them and the Jesuit missionaries. By comparing Christianity and Buddhism, Jesuits unintendedly contributed to a new understanding of "religion" and Christianity that developed in Europe.
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| 現在までの達成度 (区分) |
現在までの達成度 (区分)
3: やや遅れている
理由
For the fiscal year of 2020, my original plan was to do a comparative analysis and place, in a more global perspective, my findings regarding the impact of the Japanese Christian mission in the process of reframing the concept of "religion." I focused on the writings of two Spanish missionaries: the Jesuit Jose de Acosta (1539?-1600),who worked in Peru, and the Dominican friar Bartolome de Las Casas (1484?-1566), who worked in Mexico. Both these missionaries were part of the school of thought known as "Second Scholasticism" and their writings were widely read in Europe. The comparison between these writings and reports produced by Jesuits in Japan, along the reading of secondary literature on Early Modern Catholic missions worldwide were crucial for my analysis of the emergence of a new understanding of "religion" in Europe, as well as of the importance of the concept of "idolatry" in that context. Despite being unable, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to travel to either Europe or Tokyo for conducting archival research, I was still able to access a fair amount of material on the topic through inter-library loans etc.
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| 今後の研究の推進方策 |
The interpretations and discursive elaborations of the missionaries in Japan were not restricted to the islands of the Japanese archipelago, but spread to other missionary fields as well as to the metropole. That is, the writings produced by these missionaries were taken back to Europe, where a number of them were translated into different languages and published in several editions. The consequences of the circulation of this new knowledge in Europe will be the focus of my analysis in the next fiscal year. As it reframed "religion," Latin Christendom was also transforming its understanding of Christianity, which ultimately formed the basis for the secularization process that took place in the following centuries. I will continue to work on my monograph, tentatively titled "The Japanese Early Modern Christian Mission and the Globalization of Religion," which I intend to publish after the completion of this fellowship. Papers based on our investigation thus far have been accepted for the 16th International Conference of the European Association for Japanese Studies (EAJS) and for the 2021 Asian Studies Conference Japan (ASCJ) but, unfortunately, both these conferences were either canceled or postponed due to the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation.
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