The Usual Exercise of Fine Arts

In 1587, four young Japanese men, the so-called Tenshō ambassadors, spent time in Goa immersed in the ‘usual exercise of fine arts’, from Latin rhetoric to music, under Jesuit tutelage. Their training, exemplified by Hara Martinho&s;s Latin speech, formed part of Alessandro Valignano&s;s experiment to merge European humanism with Japanese traditions and cultivate Catholic elites. Watanabe reassesses Jesuit pedagogy, highlighting Japan&s;s exposure to Baroque Latin and situating it alongside parallel ventures such as the Colegio de Santa Cruz in Mexico and the Collegio dei Cinesi in Naples. It argues for recognising early modern non-Western contributions to global humanism.