Frois - Frois, Luis

Japanese: フロイス - Ｆｒｏｉｓ，Ｌｕｉｓ

Year of death: May 24, 1597 (July 8, 1597)
Year of birth: 1532
He came to Japan at the end of the Muromachi period and wrote "History of Japan" and "Annual Report of the Society of Jesus in Japan." He was born in Lisbon, Portugal. As a boy, he worked in the royal secretariat, and at the age of 16, he joined the Society of Jesus and traveled to India. He studied at St. Paul's College in Goa and was deeply impressed by Xavier, who returned from Japan. He was ordained a priest in 1561 and served as secretary to the Provincial of India. According to a list compiled in 1559, he was talented in all writing tasks, had good judgment, a rich vocabulary, and could become an excellent preacher. In 1563, he arrived at Yokoseura, Hizen (the northern tip of the Nishisonogi Peninsula in Nagasaki Prefecture). He then spent 10 months studying Japanese language and Japanese customs under Brother Fernandez on the island of Doshima in Hirado. He entered Kyoto at the end of the following year to support Father Villela and gave a New Year's greeting to Ashikaga Yoshiteru, the Shogun of the Muromachi Shogunate. After Yoshiteru's assassination, he was banished from Kyoto and took refuge in Sakai. In 1579, with the consent of Oda Nobunaga, he returned to Tokyo for the first time in four years. Since then, under Nobunaga's protection, he met him at least 18 times, greatly influencing the expansion of Nobunaga's worldview. He remained in Tokyo until December 1577 (January 1577), during which time he studied the eight volumes of the Lotus Sutra with Father Organtino, with the help of a Buddhist monk from the Ashikaga School. He later went to Bungo (Oita Prefecture) and worked to convert Otomo Sorin. He served as secretary to Vice-Provincials Coello and Gomez, and prepared the Japan Annual Report for the 11th year of the 12 ... Valignano described him as a man who lacked great caution, tended to exaggerate, was reckless and timid, was fixated on trivial matters and was unable to maintain moderation, and ordered the reduction of the "History of Japan" on the grounds of length. Frois requested that the original version be sent to Rome, but this was not granted. The book contains articles up to the beginning of Bunroku 3 (1594). This "History of Japan" details politics and the spread of Christianity during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, and is a valuable historical resource that is indispensable to the study of contemporary history. He died in Nagasaki a few months after completing his report on the martyrdom of the 26 saints in 1597 (Keicho 2). <References> Frois/History of Japan, translated by Matsuda Takeichi and Kawasaki Momota

(Takashi Gonoi)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

没年：慶長2.5.24(1597.7.8)
生年：1532
室町末期に来日した『日本史』の著者で「イエズス会日本年報」作者。ポルトガルのリスボン出身。少年時代王室秘書庁に勤め,16歳のときイエズス会に入りインドに渡航。ゴアで聖パウロ学院に学び日本から帰ったザビエルから強い感銘を受ける。1561年司祭に叙階しインド管区長秘書を務める。1559年作成の名簿による,その人物評価は,あらゆる文筆の仕事に才あり,判断力良,語彙力豊かで優れた説教師となりうる,というものであった。永禄6(1563)年,肥前横瀬浦(長崎県・西彼杵半島北端)到着。のち平戸領度島で10カ月間フェルナンデス修道士から日本語と日本の習俗などについて学ぶ。ヴィレラ神父支援のため翌年末に入洛し室町幕府将軍足利義輝に年頭の挨拶をした。義輝暗殺後に京都を追放され堺に避難する。同12年織田信長の了解を得て4年ぶりに帰京。以来,信長の庇護を得て少なくとも18回信長に会い,彼の世界観拡大に大きな影響を与えた。天正4年12月(1577年1月)まで在京し,この間足利学校出身の一仏僧の協力を得てオルガンティーノ神父と共に法華経8巻を研究する。のち豊後(大分県)に下り大友宗麟の改宗に努める。準管区長コエリョおよびゴメスの秘書を務め11年度分の日本年報を作成した。また日本教会史作成を命じられて同11年執筆を始め同14年に第1部を完成,『日本史』と題した。その副産品として『日欧文化比較』(岡田章雄訳。改題本『ヨーロッパ文化と日本文化』)を著す。ヴァリニァーノは彼を,大いに慎重に欠けて誇張癖があり,軽率,小心者で些事にこだわり,中庸を保つことができない人物と評し,冗漫の理由をもって『日本史』の縮小を命じた。フロイスは原形のままのローマ送付を希望したが容れられなかった。なお同書には文禄3(1594)年初めまでの記事がみられる。この『日本史』は織豊期の政治とキリスト教布教について詳述し,同時代史研究に不可欠の貴重な史料である。慶長2(1597)年26聖人殉教事件報告を書き上げてのち数カ月後に長崎で死去。<参考文献>松田毅一・川崎桃太訳『フロイス/日本史』

(五野井隆史)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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