João Rodrigues, distinguished as Tçuzu and also known by other names in China and Korea, was a Portuguese sailor, warrior, and Jesuit interpreter, missionary, priest, and scholar in Japan and China. He is now best known for his linguistic works on the Japanese language, including The Art of the Japanese Language. He was also long erroneously supposed to have been the main compiler of the first Japanese–Portuguese dictionary, published in 1603.
João Rodrigues Tçuzu
A 16th- or 17th-century Japanese screen print of a Portuguese Black Ship engaged in the Nanban Trade.
A 17th-century Japanese painting of a Portuguese visitor in Western attire.
The Art of the Japanese Language
The Nippo Jisho or Vocabulario da Lingoa de Iapam is a Japanese-to-Portuguese dictionary compiled by Jesuit missionaries and published in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1603. Containing entries for 32,293 Japanese words with explanations in Portuguese, it was the first dictionary of Japanese to a European language. The original publication uses the Latin alphabet exclusively, without Japanese characters.
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