The earliest history of European language education in Japan: focusing on Latin education by Jesuit missionaries†

要旨

This article outlines the early history of Latin education in Japan. This history began when European missionaries came to the country and taught Latin in missionary schools in the sixteenth century. The Society of Jesus began to build missionary schools to train the indigenous Japanese missionaries. The Latin language was taught in the schools since it was the official language of the Catholic Church. In 1582, the best students were sent to Rome. When they came back in 1590, they brought a printing press, and various kinds of books were printed: e.g. a book of Latin grammar, a Latin dictionary, and a Japanese translation of Aesop’s fables. Later, the Tokugawa government rejected Christianity, and closed the country to most of the West in 1641. The printing press and printers themselves were sent to Macau in 1614, and any Latin books found in Japan were burned around 1627. However, some interest in and knowledge of Latin led to its continued existence, if only just, until the government formally opened the door to European science in the eighteenth century; subsequently, some Japanese scholars tried to translate Latin into Japanese.

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