PDF ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's Journey West: The Course of Human Solidarity by From Brand: Palgrave Macmillan in History

Description

In 1585; at the height of Jesuit missionary activity in Japan; which was begun by Francis Xavier in 1549; Luis Frois; a long-time missionary in Japan; drafted the earliest systematic comparison of Western and Japanese cultures. This book constitutes the first critical English-language edition of the 1585 work; the original of which was discovered in the Royal Academy of History in Madrid after the Second World War. The book provides a translation of the text; which is not a continuous narrative; but rather more than 600 distichs or brief couplets on subjects such as gender; child rearing; religion; medicine; eating; horses; writing; ships and seafaring; architecture; and music and drama. In addition; the book includes a substantive introduction and other editorial material to explain the background and also to make comparisons with present-day Japanese life. Overall; the book represents an important primary source for understanding a particularly challenging period of history and its connection to contemporary Europe and Japan.