The Four Members of the Tenshō Embassy Have an Audience with the Pope
The Jesuit Visitor Alessandro Valignano came up with the idea of sending a mission from Japan to Europe. In 1582, the Tenshō embassy, which consisted of four young students from a seminary in Arima, set out from Nagasaki. Traveling via Macao, Goa, and the Cape of Good Hope, the embassy eventually arrived in Lisbon and went on to meet with Philip II, the king of Spain, and two popes, Gregory XIII and Sixtus V.
After 1571, there were many European merchants and missionaries living in Nagasaki, which had become a hub thanks to the trade brought by Portuguese ships. In 1580, the Christian daimyo Ōmura Sumitada ceded Nagasaki to the Jesuits, who administered the city for the next seven years. More than 10 churches were built in the center of the city at this time.