Tçuzzu, João Rodriguez

TÇUZZU, João Rodriguez. - Jesuit, missionary and historian, b. at Sernancelhe (diocese of Lamego, Portugal) ca. 1561, d. at Macao (China) in 1634.

Having left for Japan in 1576, he is found in 1578 in the retinue of Yakata Yoslishige, who had converted to Christianity under the name don Francisco of Bungo; in 1580 he entered the Society of Jesus, where, ordained a priest in 1594, he continued until 1626 the office of procurator of the mission, begun in 1591. The new persecution of 1614 banished him from Japan and brought him, with 12 confreres, to Macao. His familiarity with the language and the various Japanese doctrines made him very skilled in the ministries and highly esteemed by the Shoguns Hydeyoshi and Jeyasu, with whom he was able to render excellent services to the Order and to Christendom; in 1590 he accompanied as interpreter to the court of Hydeyoshi the pilgrims who had returned from Italy.

His works are: Arte da lingua de Japon, Nagasaki 1590; Arte breve da lingua japa (Macao 1620). His principal work remained incomplete and unpublished: Historia da Igreja de Japan (in two manuscripts: one in the Library of the Academy of History in Madrid, the other in the Ajuda Library in Lisbon). Of the three parts it was to have, according to the plan expressed by the author in the preface: Poese e popolazione! Storia della Chiesa, Terre vicine (China, Annam, Cambodia, Korea), only books I and II of part 1 and book I of part 2 remain. An excellent work as regards historical and critical value for the information sought out and the events of which he was an eyewitness.