An Exhibition Of The Portugese-Japanese Relations During The Edo Period

[Luc T]

We are happy to announce another interesting exhibition. the Japanese Armor Society helped the museum with the research of some unknown but true Treasures from their collection.

"A Striking story | Portugal - Japan - 16th-20th Centuries "

Exhibition at Galeria D. Luís | Palácio Nacional da Ajuda

30th November to 26th March

Thurdays to Tuesdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

 

By means of screens, lacquers, cartography, armors, among other rare and fascinating objects, some exhibited for the first time, this exhibition tells the story of the encounter and reunion between Portugal and Japan over five centuries. A story manifest by astonishment and wonder but also by the distrust, with moments of approach, of quarrels, cut of relations and diplomacy. A story which tells as much by the written documentation, as by the material culture, the language, the exchange of the scientific knowledge, the art and the religion.

The exhibition will be open to the public from November 30, 2018 to March 26, 2019, with a catalog in Portuguese and English of 173 pages, with scientific texts, chronology and color images.

"A Striking Story. Portugal-Japan Centuries XVI-XX" presents items from private collectors and from public and private institutions, Portuguese and Japanese.

[TETSUGENDO]

Luc, an interesting segment of Japan's history,  thanks for bringing this to the attention of all here!

 

-S-

[BIG]

Thanks and good luck with the exhibition..

 

Best

[Luc T]

Arigato gentlemen ( comes from the portugese word obrigado, thanks)

[Guest]

Good morning Luc.,

 

Congratulations upon the forthcoming exposition, it looks tremendously exciting.

 

It is a popularly held belief that arigato comes from the  Portuguese as a loan word based upon obrigado, however it is not the case.

 

The loan words were termed Gairaigo 外来語.

 

Extant records which predate the Jesuit Joao Rodruigues' Vocabulario da Lingoa de lapam, also known as Nippo Jisho 日葡辞書 published in Nagasaki in 1603  clearly show that arigato and arigato gozaimasu were in common usage prior to the 16th Century. 

 

The adjective arigatai 有難い from which arigato gozaimasu and arigato decend was used in the Manyoshu 万葉集 which was composed during the Nara period and published many times over several centuries prior to the Portuguese sphere of influence and its enforced cessation.

 

Speaking of which, there is currently an interesting exhibit at the Tokyo National which shows Fumi-e 踏み絵 from the archives of the Nagasaki Magistrates Office.

 

(Fumi-e were likenesses of Jesus or Mary which would be trampled upon to apostatize, as shown in Martin Scorsese's recent film Silence).

 

I will post some snaps in the Izakaya later.

 

[Luc T]

Thanks for this very interestin explanation Malcolm.

I’ve learned something!

Obrigado

[Shogun8]

Hi All,

 

Just a point of clarification - the JAS does not have any involvement in the exhibition. However, we assisted the curator with research and information for some gift items that came from Japan, for which they did not have any proper information. Some very interesting discoveries...

[Bugyotsuji]

The exhibition looks fascinating.

 

Some years ago for Japan Week in Oporto, and to celebrate 150 years of Portuguese-Japanese official government relations, our matchlock troop was invited to the opening tape cutting ceremonies, along with three other troops from Japan. At the time we learned many of the common words between the two cultures, including the Japanese word for ramrod カルカ karuka, which seems to have come from calcador, for  'charging' (ie loading a gun), related to the word 'cargo' in English.

 

As to Malcolm's word arigatai above, it literally means 'hard to exist', therefore 'hard or impossible to get', and has a religious connotation, therefore something rare or precious or good that enters one's possession only by the grace of heaven or the gods, and thus something towards which a feeling of gratitude or thanks is born.