Aug. 28 – The Italian Institute of Culture in Tokyo explores the fascinating figure of Hasekura Tsunenaga, a “Roman citizen from Sendai,” during a conference scheduled for Monday, September 1 at 6.30pm. Annibale Zambarbieri, Professor of History of Christianity and the Church at the University of Pavia, will discuss the figure of Hasekura Tsunenaga, who during the 16th and 17th centuries was a Japanese samurai and servant of Date Masamune, the Sendai daimyo. Hasekura served at the embassy in Mexico and then, between 1613 and 1620 in Europe. The Japanese delegation also made a stop in Rome, where in 1615 Hasekura obtained an audience with Pope Paul V. The Roman Senate also gave Hasekura the honorary title of Roman citizen, a document now preserved in Sendai. “After taking stoke of the comments of the embassy in Europe from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century – confirmed the statement released by the IIC – Hasekura’s life will be analyzed in further detail, with particular attention to the meaning of the warm welcome and honors he received in Rome.”
