List of Westerners who visited Japan before 1868

This list contains notable Europeans and Americans who visited Japan before the Meiji Restoration. The name of each individual is followed by the year of the first visit, the country of origin, and a brief explanation.

16th century António da Mota and Francisco Zeimoto and possibly António Peixoto (1543, Portugal) The first Europeans, Portuguese navigators, to land on the island of Tanegashima also credited for introducing the matchlock arquebus, cannons and gunpower. Fernão Mendes Pinto (1543, Portugal) Visited Japan and claimed to have introduced guns to the Japanese, though the account is almost certainly untrue.Tanegashima: the arrival of Europe in Japan, Olof G. Lidin, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, NIAS Press, 2002 Francis Xavier (1549, Spain (on Portuguese mission)) The first Roman Catholic missionary who brought Christianity to Japan. Cosme de Torres (1549, Spain) A Spanish Jesuit (on Portuguese mission) who successfully converted Ōmura Sumitada to Christianity – the first Christian daimyō.Diego Pacheco, S. J., El hombre que forjó a Nagasaki. Vida del P. Cosme de Torres, S. J. Madrid, 1973. Luis de Almeida (1552, Portugal) A Portuguese Jesuit who established the first western hospital in Japan and negotiated the opening of the port of Yokoseura to Portuguese traders. Gaspar Vilela (1556, Portugal). A Portuguese Jesuit who, in a departure from Xavier's methods, learned the Japanese language and talked directly with daimyos, opening the center of Japan to the mission.[https://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8157/tde-03102013-101034/publico/2013_MarianaAmabileBoscariol_VCorr.pdf No que toca à língua e adaptação na metodologia de trabalho jesuíta no Japão: Gaspar Vilela, Alessandro Valignano e João Rodrigues (1549–1620) Melchior Nunes Barreto (1556, Portugal) established the first Jesuit library in Kyushu, Japan around 1556. Luís Fróis (1563, Portugal) A Jesuit who befriended Oda Nobunaga and published the account later.The First European Description of Japan, 1585: A Critical English-Language Edition of Striking Contrasts in the... by Luis Frois SJ, Daniel T. Reff and Richard Danford (Mar 7, 2014)Biography of Luis Frois http://kotobank.jp/word/ルイス・フロイス His record still serves as an important resource for Japanese historians.大濱徹也 (2009年7月). "ルイス・フロイスが見た日本". 日本文教出版. Gnecchi-Soldo Organtino (1570, Italy) An Italian missionary with the Society of Jesus. João Rodrigues (1577, Portugal) A Portuguese Jesuit priest who carried out missionary work in Japan and served as an interpreter for both Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Rodrigues is also known for authoring notable works on Japanese culture and language.Cooper, Michael. Rodrigues the Interpreter: An Early Jesuit in Japan and China. New York: Weatherhill, 1973 Alessandro Valignano (1579, Italy) An Italian Jesuit priest and missionary who helped supervise the introduction of Catholicism to the Far East, and especially to Japan. Francesco Pasio (1583, Italy) Italian missionary of the Society of Jesus who worked in a number of places in East Asia Giovanni Niccolò (1583, Italy) A Jesuit Italian painter who was sent to Japan to found a seminary of painting, named the Seminary of Painters. Luis de Cerqueira (1592, Portugal) A Jesuit priest and missionary from Portugal, who became the Bishop of Funai in the late 16th century. Pedro Martins (bishop) (1596, Portugal) Jesuit prelate of the Catholic Church and later Bishop of Funai. Francesco Carletti (1597, Italy) A merchant and slave trader from Florence who stopped in Japan during his circumnavigation of the globe. William Adams (1600, England) The first Englishman to reach Japan. Among the first Westerners to become a samurai, under Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu.Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan. By Giles MiltonPars Japonica: The First Dutch Expedition to Reach the Shores of Japan. Brought by the English Pilot Will Adams, Hero of Shogun, (2006) by William de Lange. Jan Joosten van Lodensteyn (1600, Dutch Republic) Adams' shipmate, also among the first Westerners to become a samurai, who became an advisor for the shōgun. He is remembered in Japan (based on their variation of his name) in the Yaesu area of Tokyo and as Yaesu on one exit of the Tokyo Station.

17th century Jerome de Angelis (1603, Italy) missionary to Japan beatified in 1867. (1604, Portugal) missionary of the Society of Jesus in Japan. Francisco Pacheco (1604, Portugal) A Jesuit missionary and martyr in Japan. Wojciech Męciński (1604, Poland) A Catholic Jesuit missionary, widely believed to be the first Pole to visit south-eastern Asia. Joam Mattheus Adami (1604, Italy) Jesuit who did missionary Work in Japan before exiling to Macau. Diogo de Carvalho (1609, Portugal) was a Jesuit missionary martyred in Edo period, Japan. Cristóvão Ferreira (1609, Portugal) A Jesuit missionary who committed apostasy after being tortured in the anti-Christian purges of Japan. His apostasy is the main subject of the novel Silence by Shūsaku Endō.The making of an enterprise: the Society of Jesus in Portugal, its empire, and beyond, 1540–1750, Dauril Alden, Stanford University Press, 1996 Luis Sotelo (1609, Spain) A Franciscan friar who proselytized in the Tōhoku region of Japan with the help of Daimyo Date Masamune. He was executed after re-entering Japan illegally in 1624. John Saris (1613, England) Captain of the English ship Clove, who met with shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu to establish a trading post in Japan. , ecclesiastical visitor of the Asian missions of the Jesuits Camillus Costanzo (1622, Italy) Italian Roman Catholic Jesuit missionary in Japan, burned alive in 1622, as a martyr. Martin Lubreras (1632, Spain) A Roman Catholic missionary beatified by Pope John Paul II. Nicolaes Couckebacker (1633, Dutch Republic) VOC Opperhoofd (chief Dutch trader/agent) in Hirado, who assisted the government in 1638 to suppress Japanese Christian rebels led by Amakusa Shirō.Yasuko Suzuki, Japan-Netherlands Trade 1600–1800: The Dutch East India Company and Beyond Guillaume Courtet (1636, France) A French Dominican friar, Catholic priest, and missionary. The first Frenchman to have visited Japan. Marcello Mastrilli (1637, Italy) Jesuit missionary who was martyred in Japan on Mount Unzen during the Tokugawa Shogunate. Giuseppe Chiara (1643, Italy) Entered Japan at a time when Christianity was strictly forbidden in an attempt to locate fellow priest Cristóvão Ferreira who had apostatized his Christian faith at the hands of torture by the Japanese authorities in 1633. Chiara was also tortured and eventually became an apostate as well. Engelbert Kaempfer (1690, Holy Roman Empire) A German naturalist and physician. His descriptions in History of Japan (posthumously published in English in 1727) became the chief source of Western knowledge about the country for nearly two centuries.Kaempfer's Japan: Tokugawa Culture Observed by Engelbert Kaempfer, Beatrice Bodart-Bailey and Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey (1998) Giovanni Battista Sidotti (1700, Italy) An Italian Jesuit priest who entered Japan illegally and was arrested. His communication with the scholar Arai Hakuseki resulted in the book Seiyō Kibun.Mikkou Saigo no Bateren Sidotti. By Furui Tomoko. 2010. .

18th century Robert Janson (1704, Ireland), a native of Waterford seized off the coast of Kyushu and brought to Dejima Island.Matthew Jones, "The Oriental Irish", History Ireland, Volume 22, Issue 1 (January/February 2014) Martin Spanberg (Russia, born in Denmark) visited the island of Honshu in 1738, being in command of the first Russian naval squadron specifically sent to seek for a diplomatic encounter with the Japanese. The Russians landed in a scenic area which is now part of the Rikuchu Kaigan National Park. Despite the prevalent policy of sakoku, the sailors were treated with politeness if not friendliness.Glynn Barratt. Russia in Pacific Waters, 1715–1825. UBC Press, 1981. . Pages 35–37. Isaac Titsingh (1779–1784) A Dutch East India Company ("VOC") Opperhoofd at Dejima in Nagasaki Bay.Boxer, C.R. (1950) Jan Compagnie in Japan, 1600–1850. Martinus Nijhoff: The Hague, p. 135. Adam Laxman (1792, Russia) Son and representative of Finnish-born researcher Eric Laxman, led a Russian expedition to Hokkaido, ostensibly to return Daikokuya Kōdayū to Japan.Kodayu to Rakusuman: Bakumatsu Nichi-Ro koshoshi no ichi sokumen (Tosui rekishi zensho) (Japanese Edition) by Ryohei Kisaki (1992) Carl Peter Thunberg (1775, Sweden) A Swedish naturalist who came as a surgeon on a Dutch East India Company ("VOC") ship. He was a follower of Carl Linnaeus whose scientific activities resulted in the first detailed description of the flora and fauna of Japan.Flora Japonica (1784) Hendrik Doeff (1799, Dutch Republic) former Dutch East India Company ("VOC") Opperhoofd (Chief Officer) who maintained the Dutch nationality of Dejima even after Napoleon conquered the Netherlands. He presided over the Dutch East India Company ("VOC") during the Phaeton incident."Phaeton Incident and Saga-han." by Saga Castle History Museum

19th century Nikolai Rezanov (1804, Russia) A Russian diplomat who stayed in Nagasaki for 6 months. He was commissioned by Alexander I as Russian ambassador to Japan to conclude a commercial treaty, but his efforts were thwarted by the Japanese government. Vasily Golovnin, Fedor Mur, Andrey Khlebnikov with the crew (1811, Russia) – Russian navigators who were held captive for two years on the island of Hokkaido. Golovnin's book, Captivity in Japan During the Years 1811, 1812, 1813,Narrative of my Captivity in Japan, etc. To which is added, an account of voyages to the coasts of Japan, and for the release of the author. by Capt. Rikord by Vasily Mikhailovich Golovnin was widely read by Europeans. Khlebnikov's mémoires left unpublished. Titia Bergsma was a Dutch woman who visited Dejima Island, Japan, in August 1817 with her husband, Jan Cock Blomhoff. She was believed to be the first Western woman to visit Japan. Johan Willem de Stürler (at least 1823-1826) Director of Dutch trading post at Dejima, Nagasaki. Philipp Franz von Siebold (1823, Netherlands/Germany) A German physician, botanist in Dutch service at Dejima, Nagasaki, who brought Western medicine to Japan. He was expelled from Japan after being accused as a spy (Siebold Incident).Siebold and Japan. His Life and Work by Arlette Kouwenhoven, Matthi Forrer, M. Forrer and A. Kouwenhoven (2000) Heinrich Bürger (1825..1835, Netherlands/Germany), A German scientist in Dutch service who became a pharmacist and botanist on Dejima. Felice Beato (1863, Italy) An Italian photographer with British citizenship who recorded many rare views of Edo Period Japan.Felice Beato: A Photographer on the Eastern Road. By Anne Lacoste. Edoardo Chiossone (1833, Italy) An Italian engraver and painter, noted for his work as a foreign advisor to Meiji period Japan, and for his collection of Japanese art. He designed the first Japanese bank notes. Mercator Cooper (1845, United States) First formal American visit to Edo (now Tokyo), Japan. Ranald MacDonald (1848, Scottish-Canadian), The first native English-speaker to teach English in Japan, who taught Einosuke Moriyama, one of the chief interpreters to handle the negotiations between Commodore Perry and the Tokugawa shogunate. Matthew C. Perry (1853, United States) A Commodore of the U.S. Navy who landed with 250 sailors in 1853 and opened Japan to the West in 1854.The Perry mission to Japan, 1853–1854 by William Gerald Beasley, Aaron Haight Palmer, Henry F. Graff, Yashi Shōzan, Ernest Mason Satow, Shuziro Watanabe Townsend Harris (1855, United States) The first United States Consul-General to Japan, and first Western diplomat to meet directly with the Shogun.Townsend Harris, First American Envoy in Japan by William Elliot Griffis