A tombstone that is believed to belong to Chijiwa Miguel, one of four envoys a Christian feudal lord from Kyushu sent to Europe in 1582, has been found in the town of Tarami, Nagasaki Prefecture, the local education board said Saturday.
It is the first tombstone of any of the four envoys to be discovered and was found by Kazuhisa Oishi, a teacher at the prefectural Koka High School.
Born Chijiwa Seizaemon in 1569 and baptized Miguel in 1580, he was sent by the Christian feudal lord Omura Sumitada on a mission to Europe with Ito Mancio and two other envoys.
After leaving Nagasaki in 1582, the group visited Spain, Portugal and Italy and had an audience with Pope Gregorius XIII. The envoys returned to Japan in 1590 after warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued his anti-Christian edicts, although little is known about the latter part of Miguel's life.
