Arrival of the "Southern Barbarians"

Unknown artist, c. 1600

Download3400 × 1549 px View on a wall Edit

Medium: One of a pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on paper
Size: Image: 146.7 x 337.2 cm (57 3/4 x 132 3/4 in.)
Culture: Japan, Momoyama period (1573–1615)
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

This screen and its corresponding screen show Portuguese merchants arriving in Japan, having crossed the oceans in their large ship with a multinational crew. The Portuguese were known in Japan as the “Southern Barbarians” because they arrived from the south and their customs and manners were unfamiliar to the Japanese, who had not encountered anyone from Europe until their first appearance in 1543. In 1639, the Portuguese were forced out of Japan, mainly owing to internal difficulties caused by their Catholic missionaries, but they were a major conduit for both objects and ideas from Europe for nearly 100 years.