In 1543, Portuguese merchants became the first Europeans to reach Japan.

The country they had stumbled across was torn apart by an interneicine war, which provided

a golden opportunity for Portuguese trade.

Jesuits followed in the hope of converting the Japanese to Christianity.

Alessandro Vellano was among them, and despite thinking them barbarians, he was impressed

by what he found.

The people on these lands have interests in literature.

If they were Christians and live peaceful, wisdom would flourish here.

The language is not that difficult to understand, and even if it was difficult, we have already

plenty of things written by God, which satisfy those who want to listen.

But Europeans would not stay long in Japan.

After a century of civil war, changes in the way that Japan was ruled from around 1600

meant that the country effectively closed to the outside world.

Under the new Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the class system rigidified, and from the 1640s onwards,

Japan's brilliant and unique culture flourished in isolation.

I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb, and in this edition of Not Just The Tudors, we're navigating

the fascinating floating world of 17th century Japan.

I'm delighted to be joined today from Japan by Professor Taiman Screech, who is Professor

of the History of Art at Soas, the University of London, and a Fellow of the British Academy.

And he's the author of some dozen books on the art and culture of Japan's Edo period,

also known as the Tokugawa Shogunate.

His most recent books, both of which came out in 2020 are the Shogun Silver Telescope,

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