Japan on the Jesuit Stage: German-Speaking Areas and Beyond

Only recently interest has been aroused in Japan about the period of its history which entered the history books as `the Christian century`, i.e. the period from the middle of the 16th century, when the Jesuits started their missionary activities, to the middle of the 17th century, when Europeans were expelled from the country and the propagation of Christianity was no more allowed. This recent blossoming interest also extends to Latin texts: In 2017, a Neo-Latin drama will be restaged in Kyoto (and later on in other cities): This play was originally performed in Vienna in 1698, and not only the text, but also the music is preserved at the Austrian National Library. A joint project of the Austrian FWF and the Japanese JSPS will try find answers to the following question: What image of Japan did the Jesuits promote on their European stages? During the Order`s existence from 1540 to 1773 hundreds, even thousands of plays were staged, but only in rare cases is the text is still preserved. Two exemplary case studies, from Munich and Lucerne, will be the focus of our project. So far, most of the studies on Japan and Jesuit theatre focus on the German speaking provinces of the Society of Jesus. This restricted perspective must now be widened into other national contexts in which the Jesuits were active. Originally, the Portuguese were responsible for Europe`s relationship to Japan, but the Spanish contested this monopoly. On account of this, it will be interesting to investigate whether the Jesuits developed a different image of Japan on their stages in Portugal and Spain, in comparison to the German world. In order to answer this question, we will organise an international conference in Vienna where, alongside Austrian and Japanese scholars, a number of experts from Portugal, Spain, but also the Netherlands, the USA and Australia present their ideas. The results of this conference will be published and will constitute a crucial contribution to the expansion of our knowledge of the early modern image of Japan. In this way, these studies complement the current growth of interest in early Christianity in Japan.

When Christian missionaries approached Japan for the first time in the middle of the sixteenth century, a period started which is called Japan's 'Christian Century' in the history books. Until the middle of the seventeenth century, when all Christians were expelled from Japan, especially the members of the Society of Jesus excelled in establishing new colleges, schools, etc. in Japan. The strong Jesuit network ensured that information about the Jesuits' success in Japan reached Europe. Here, in Europe, the knowledge about Japan was spread inside the order via letters and publications. But the Jesuits also had a medium for communicating knowledge about their activities in Japan to a broader audience: Jesuit theatre. Until now, broad research on the Jesuit theatre was done especially for the German speaking and the Hungarian area. For the rest of Europe, it was hard to make a reliable point. In our joint project, we could show the differences between the single Jesuit provinces where plays were staged with a Japan related topic. Next to this general overview approach, we also made an in-depth study: In 1677, the play Sanctus Franciscus Xaverius Indiae et Iaponiae apostolus was staged in Lucern at the inauguration of the new Jesuit church. Two manuscripts of this play are still preserved. We could show that in this play not only the well known biography of Francis Xavier, one of the founding fathers of the Society of Jesus, but also rare details of Japanese culture and history are discussed. By bringing these facts on stage, the Jesuits could make them known to a broader Swiss audience.