COVER -- CONTENTS -- FIGURES AND MAPS -- PREFACE -- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS -- ABBREVIATIONS -- A NOTE ON CURRENCY -- ROMANIZATION OF JAPANESE ANDCHINESE NAMES -- INTRODUCTION -- Background to De Missione -- Objectives of the Embassy and the Individuals Chosen -- Publication of De Missione -- Authorship of De Missione -- Sources of De Missione -- Contextualizing De Missione -- Evaluating De Missione and the Tenshō Embassy -- The Boys after their Return to Japan -- Conclusion -- A DIALOGUE CONCERNING THE MISSION OF THE JAPANESE AMBASSADORS TO THE ROMAN CURIA -- Imprimatur -- Nihil obstat -- Alessandro Valignano of the Society of Jesus to the pupils of the Japanese seminaries. -- Duarte de Sande to Claudio Aquviva, Superior General of the Society of Jesus -- Contents of these Colloquia -- Colloquium I: The reasons for the Japanese embassy -- Colloquium II: The journey from Japan to Macao, the gateway to China, and from there to the Straits of Singapore -- Colloquium III: The approach to the city of Malacca, in the Golden Chersonese, and from there to the city of Cochin, in Nearer India -- Colloquium IV: The coming of the Portuguese to India, and the spread of the Portuguese empire -- Colloquium V: About the Indian race, and the houses of the Society in India -- Colloquium VI: The Voyage from India to Portugal -- Colloquium VII: About the things of Europe in general, and firstly of the sacred or ecclesiastical monarchy, and other lower ranks -- Colloquium VIII: About the secular monarchy, and various dignities belonging to it -- Colloquium IX: Of the splendour and opulence of the kings and rulers of Europe in what concerns the treatment of the body, food, and accommodation, and of their great costs and expenses -- Colloquium X: Of the multitude of servants and the pomp which the princes of Europe use at home and abroad.

Colloquium XI: About the agreeable and honourable exercises which the nobles of Europe engage in, and of the noble education of their children -- Colloquium XII: The arrangements and customs of Europeans with regard to the administration of kingdoms and republics -- Colloquium XIII: Of the wars which are usually waged in Europe, the way of setting up an army, and land battles -- Colloquium XIV: Of the naval battles in which they usually engage in Europe -- Colloquium XV: Of the size of the cities, the splendour of the churches, and the magnificence of other buildings -- Colloquium XVI: Reverting to the account of the journey, with a description of Lisbon, capital of the kingdom of Portugal -- Colloquium XVII: Which gives an account of the things which took place in Lisbon, and then in Évora and Vila Viçosa, and then proceeds into the kingdom of Castile, to Toledo and to Mantua Carpetana or Madrid -- Colloquium XVIII: Of the power of King Philip of Spain, and the oath by which the nobles of the kingdom swore allegiance to his son as his successor, and of the visit which the ambassadors made to both -- Colloquium XIX: Of various works built by King Philip, especially the work of the Escorial, and of how we came to the city of Alón or Alicante -- Colloquium XX: The voyage from Spain to Italy, the visit to the grand duke of Tuscany, and things noted in Pisa and Florence -- Colloquium XXI: Of the delights and pleasures of the Pratolino villa of the duke of Tuscany, and of things observed at Siena, Viterbo, and on the remainder of the journey to Rome -- Colloquium XXII: Of the entrance into the celebrated city of Rome, the audience with the Supreme Pontiff Gregory XIII, and of the sacred palace and the most august church of St Peter -- Colloquium XXIII: Continues with things noted at the pope's solemn Masses and elsewhere.

Colloquium XXIV: Of what took place in Rome up until the death of Pope Gregory XIII -- Colloquium XXV: How the funeral of a pope is carried out, and the way in which another pope is chosen, and to what great and universal applause Sixtus V was proclaimed pope -- Colloquium XXVI: The cavalcade with which the pope made his way to the church of St John Lateran, and the ambassadors, invested with the insignia of knighthood, departed the city -- and of the most noble city of Naples, and the church ofthe Blessed Virgin of Loreto -- Colloquium XXVII: The journey through other cities, especially Ancona, Bologna, Ferrara, and Venice, and the things seen there -- Colloquium XXVIII: Gives an account of notable things observed in Venice, and of the honour with which the Japanese ambassadors were treated by its august Senate -- Colloquium XXIX: More about things in Venice, but also dealing with the access of the ambassadors to other cities, principally Padua, Verona, Mantua, Cremona, and Milan, and the rejoicing with which they were received in them -- Colloquium XXX: More about things noted in Milan and in Pavia, and about their entry into the city of Genoa and the voyage to Spain -- Colloquium XXXI: Of the city of Coimbra and the famous college of the Society there, the generous treatment extended to the ambassadors in Lisbon, by order of King Philip, with regard to the voyage to India, and the reasons for the wealth of Europe -- Colloquium XXXII: The Voyage from Portugal to India, and from India to the Kingdom of China -- Colloquium XXXIII: The kingdom of China, its customs and administration -- Colloquium XXXIV: A summary description of the whole world, and a statement as to which is its principal and noblest part -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X.

Y -- Z.