João Rodrigues (missionary)

João Rodrigues
Born	1558, 1561 or 1562 Sernancelhe, Portugal
Died	1633 or 1634 Portuguese Macau
Occupation	Jesuit priest, linguist
Known for	Missionary in Japan

João Rodrigues (Sernancelhe, 1558, 1561 or 1562 – Macau, 1633 or 1634) known in Japan as João Rodrigues "Tçuzu" (interpreter) was a Portuguese Jesuit priest who carried out missionary work in Japan, having distinguished himself in linguistic studies. He wrote several books, including a Japanese grammar work entitled Arte da Lingoa de Iapam in 1604, and he is erroneously supposed to have been the main compiler of the Nippo Jisho or Vocabvlario da Lingoa de Iapam, the first Japanese-to-Portuguese dictionary published in 1603. He was born in Portugal; when he was 15 years old, he moved to Japan and enrolled in the Jesuit seminary.

Rodrigues sailed from Portugal to India around 1574, when he was 14 years old. Shortly after his arrival from Macau to Japan in 1577, he joined the novitiate in the Society of Jesus. He devoted himself to teaching grammar and Latin while learning the Japanese language. A few years later he completed his studies in theology in Nagasaki.

Once ordained priest in Macau in 1580, he returned to Japan, where he became a merchant, diplomat, politician and interpreter between the Japanese and foreign sailors. His fluency in eastern languages earned him a special relationship with key Japanese leaders during the civil war and the consolidation of the shogunate of Tokugawa Ieyasu. In this period he witnessed the expansion of the Portuguese presence and the arrival of the first English, William Adams.

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