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EpisodeCOMPENDIVM SPIRITVALIS DOCTRINAE IN COLLEGIO IAPONICOandSPIRITVAL XVGVIO7Two Recent Additions To The Kirishitan Bunko Library CollectionAfter More Than 400 Years, Rare Kirisitan-banVolumes Have Been Returned to JapanTop: SPIRITVAL XVGVIO Authors: Gaspar Loarte/Pedro Gomez. Year of publication: 1607. Bottom: COMPENDIVM SPIRITVALIS DOCTRINAE IN COLLEGIO IAPONICO Author: Bartholomeu de Martyribus. Year of publication: 1596.The Jesuit missionaries who came to Japan to spread the word of God in the 16th century brought with them printing presses and the expertise to print. At the time, the printing press contributed greatly to religious development. Two Kirisitan-ban, The Je-suit Mission Press, entitled COMPENDIVM SPIR-ITVALIS DOCTRINAE IN COLLEGIO IAPONICO, “Spiritual Indoctrination in a Japanese College” and SPIRITVAL XVGVIO, “Spiritual Training”, were con-veyed out of Japan to protect them from harm after the Edict of Banishment of Missionaries (1587) by Toyo-tomi Hideyoshi and the national ban on Christianity (1612-1613) decreed by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Some four centuries later, they have been returned and are now in Sophia University’s library collection.It was Father Alessandro Valignano, a missionary in Japan, who arranged for a delegation of the Ten-sho Embassy, an embassy sent under the auspices of the Japanese Christian Lord Otomo Sorin to the Pope and the kings of Europe in 1582, to learn, among other things, printing technology in Europe.The first printing press was used in Japan in 1590, and six years later, the same year COMPENDIVM SPIRITVALIS DOCTRINAE IN COLLEGIO IAPO-NICO was published, a historically important refer-ence, Seishin Seikatsu Koyo, “Spiritual Exercises”, was also produced. This book for meditation was written by Ignatius of Loloya, then edited by Bartholomeu de Martyribus and published in Amakusa, Kyushu. “Spiri-tual Training” was published in 1607 by the then vice provincial of the Jesuit mission in Japan, Pedro Gomez. The ability of the Japanese to translate at that time is said to impress present-day academics with the alacrity with which conjunctions are used, and the perfection of nuance. The languages of the press in Japan at that time were Latin and Japanese, and through recent exami-nation of the manuscripts it has been discovered that only the finest washi paper, that was in use at the Im-perial Court and Shogunate, was used for printing. It is likely that many different Kirisitan-ban books were produced, but a mere 30 or so titles still exist today. That so few examples remain makes these books pre-cious. Moreover, that two such publications have come into the possession of Sophia University is highly sig-nificant, and a great joy for the Society of Jesus Japan as Kirisitan-ban books played such a vital role in early missionary activities. Contributed by Fr. Shinzo Kawamura, S.J. / Fr. Kawamura is a Professor in the Department of History, Faculty of Humanities at Sophia University. He received his doctorate in History from Georgetown University. His research focuses on the history of cultural exchange between Japan and Europe, Kirishitan history, and European Christian history.1. The title page of Seishin Seikatsu Koyo 2. Handwritten notes in Portugese can be dis-cerned on the robust, high-quality Japanese paper 3. The title page of “Spiritual Training”12331Catholic Heritage