Interactions Between Rivals : The Christian Mission and Buddhist Sects in Japan (c.1549-c.1647)

This volume presents comprehensive research on how southern European Catholics and the Japanese confronted each other, interacted and mutually experienced religious otherness in early modern times.
In their highly variable and asymmetric relations, during which the politi¬cal-military elites of Japan at times not only favoured, but also opposed and strictly controlled the European presence, missionaries – particularly the Jesuits – tried to negotiate this power balance with their interlocutors.
This collection of essays analyses religious and cultural interactions between the Christian missions and the Buddhist sects through processes of coopera¬tion, acceptance, confrontation and rejection, dialogue and imposition, which led to the creation of new relational spaces and identities.

Alexandra Curvelo holds a PhD in History of Art on Nanban Art and its circulation between Asia and America (c.1550-c.1700), and is a Professor at NOVA FCSH, Lisbon. She is also a researcher and board member of the Art History Institute (IHA) and an affiliated researcher of CHAM – Centre for the Humanities (NOVA FCSH). Her research focuses on the visual and material culture of early modern Japan during the Iberian presence and on processes of cultural transfers between Asia and the Americas in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Angelo Cattaneo holds a PhD in History and is a Researcher for the CNR – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (National Research Council of Italy) and an affiliated researcher of CHAM – Centre for the Humanities (NOVA FCSH, Lisbon). His research spans the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries and focuses on : the cultural construction of space (studying cosmography, cartography and travel literature); and the history of cross-cultural encounters at the interface of the European and Asian empires, concentrating on Catholic missions.