Luís Fróis

"As much as we wish to be the masters of our fate, Christ has his own grand designs."

―Luís Fróis, 1582.

Luís Fróis (1532 – 1597) was a Portuguese Catholic priest and missionary who was the Jesuits' historian during their mission in Japan. During the mission, Fróis sent lengthy reports about the country detailing the Jesuits' actions, Japan's internal politics, and the situation of local Christian communities.

Biography

Early life

Born in Lisbon, Fróis joined the Society of Jesus as a novice in 1548 and was sent to Goa, India, where he met three Japanese people brought by Francis Xavier. Fróis was ordained a priest in 1561 and left for Macau the following year before landing at Yokoseura, Japan, in 1563.

Expedition to Japan

Initially a missionary in Kyushu, where he immediately began to learn Japanese, Fróis was later sent to the Kinki region (Sakai and Kyoto) to continue evangelizing. In 1569, he was received by Oda Nobunaga in Kyoto and, being open to a new culture, managed to ingratiate himself to the daimyō, who once invited him to visit Gifu Castle.

Fróis returned to Kyushu as a superior in Bungo from 1577 to 1581. During this time, he became the Japanese translator and interpreter for fellow Jesuit Alessandro Valignano, who arrived in the country in 1579.

Although his superiors considered his writing too extensive, Fróis continued sending annual reports of over 100 pages. Like fellow Jesuit Gaspar Vilela, he adopted many Japanese customs to better integrate himself into the society he was attempting to convert to Christianity. This effort was not seen kindly by the appointed heads of the Japan sector, Francisco Cabral and Gaspar Coelho, who were in favor of maintaining their European habits.

Seeking passage from Nobunaga

On 8 March 1581, Fróis was part of an envoy led by Valignano in Kyoto to meet with Nobunaga and seek free movement for the priests in Japan. Accompanied by their bodyguard Diogo, the envoy met with Nobunaga's general Akechi Mitsuhide and followed him to the meeting place at Honnō-ji, where they met Lady Nene, the wife of Nobunaga's general Hashiba Hideyoshi, and Mori Ranmaru, Nobunaga's closest retainer.

Fróis, Valignano, and Diogo meeting with Oda Nobunaga

During the meeting with Nobunaga, Fróis remained silent while Valignano did most of the talking. He also bore witness to Nobunaga taking interest in Diogo due to his skin color, stature, and intelligence. Fróis, Valignano, and the rest of the retainers were then asked to leave the room so that Nobunaga could speak to Diogo alone. The Jesuits would return a short while later and were asked by Nobunaga to relinquish Diogo from their service and into his own.

Honnō-ji incident

By September 1581, Diogo had spent over six months in Oda Nobunaga's service, during which time he became known as Yasuke. Fróis briefly passed Yasuke on horseback while leaving the Oda castle and gave him a nod, acknowledging him as a samurai, before continuing on his way.

On 21 June 1582, Fróis was present at Honnō-ji when the temple came under attack by Akechi Mitsuhide's forces. Fróis was escorted to safety by Mori Ranmaru, along with all the women; Nobunaga apologized to the priest for having to delay their tea ceremony. In the aftermath, with Nobunaga having committed seppuku and being beheaded by Yasuke at his own request, a disappointed Mitsuhide ordered Fróis to take the black samurai back to his homeland. As soon as Mitsuhide had departed, Fróis understood that Yasuke had no intention of leaving Japan and expressed hope that they would meet again before parting ways.

Reunion with Yasuke

Following the Honnō-ji incident, Fróis relocated to the Jesuit Residences in Kyoto. It was here that he was reunited with Yasuke, who needed help translating a letter he could not fully understand. Fróis read the letter and revealed that it was an oath to the Templar Order. At Yasuke's shock that Fróis knew of the Order, the priest revealed that he had heard much about them during his time in Italy before working for Valignano. The Pope and three great houses, including the House of Borgia, had been part of this conspiracy and nearly ruined Rome in their pursuit of power, until they were mysteriously eradicated by a secret organization.

Continuing on with the letter, Fróis told Yasuke that it was addressed to Duarte de Melo, a name Yasuke knew all too well. Fróis then led Yasuke to the name Kimura Kei, a samurai gathering warriors in Kii on the orders of Nuno Caro. After Yasuke revealed that he had worked for Caro prior to entering the Jesuits' service, Fróis recalled how they had found him at sea holding onto a piece of driftwood. He then mentioned that Yasuke had never told the Jesuits how he had ended up in that situation, to which the latter insisted that it was better if his past stayed a mystery.

Fróis, understanding, did not probe Yasuke for answers any further and turned his attention back to the letter. Surmising that both de Melo and Caro were part of the Templar Order, Yasuke declared his intentions to track down the latter by finding Kimura Kei first, and left after bidding Fróis farewell.

Compiling his treatise

Sometime later, Fróis was met again by Yasuke, this time in Ōmi, and was introduced to his ally Fujibayashi Naoe, who respectfully asked Fróis about his mission. After giving a satisfying answer that he was there to provide medicine and teaching, Fróis revealed to the pair that, during his time in Japan, he had been working on a treatise about the land for other foreigners, although his notes had recently gone missing. After Naoe and Yasuke recovered the notes, Fróis quoted an entry for the former and bade the pair to meet him in Ōtsu to witness a baptism.

In Ōtsu, Naoe and Yasuke met with Fróis as the priest prepared for the baptism of Lady Satoko. Due to threats against Lady Satoko's life, Fróis asked the pair to make sure the baptism could proceed safely. After an investigation, Naoe and Yasuke discovered that the baptism party was to be ambushed after the ceremony. However, the baptism party left Ōtsu before either Yasuke or Naoe could catch up to them. A rōnin attack was repelled along the route, which left Fróis visibly shaken yet ever-resolute in his faith. After calming down, he invited Yasuke and Naoe to visit the Jesuit mission in Azuchi.

Meeting the pair in the Merchants' Quarters of Ōmi, Fróis relished being able to talk about his writings. He retold sections he had written on dancing, child rearing, and poetry. Before parting ways, he gave Yasuke and Naoe a solemn thought of his notes on Japan being used for misdeeds, and then a prayer for good fortune.

Later life

During his later years, Fróis divided his life between Kyushu and Kyoto and accompanied Valignano again when he returned to Japan in 1592. After another stay in Macau for five years to escape persecution by Japan's new de facto ruler, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Fróis returned to the island and died in Nagasaki in 1597, a few months after the first Christian martyr.

After his death, Fróis would be remembered for his extensive correspondence with his superiors back in Europe, and especially for his History of Japan, a book about the history of the Christian church in Japan. In 1946, Fróis' Treatise on the Contradictions of Customs between Europeans and Japanese was rediscovered in Madrid; considered a true ethnological work ahead of its time, it contains a fascinating discourse on the understanding of otherness as well as a unique set of data for the history of daily life and mentalities, both in Europe and Japan.

Gallery

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  Fróis, Alessandro Valignano, and Diogo meeting Akechi Mitsuhide

Appearances

• Echoes of History – Shadows (first mentioned)
• Assassin's Creed: Shadows (first appearance)