Footprints of Jurian Nakaura@No.8
Jurian and other members of the embassy met Prince Albert who was the deputy
of
Philip 2, who served as King of Spain as well as of Portugal concurrently.
Prince Albert
invited Jurian and others to another palace located in Sintra, summer resort
called
"Garden of Eden" by Byron. Moreover in Lisbon they looked around monasteries,
shipbuilding yard, livestock farm, shopping area and athletic field. Then
they visited Evora,
there they attended mass at the Cathedral of Evora, then went to Vila Vicosa
where they
were invited to the House of Braganza, one of the most important houses
of nobility of
Portugal. "Even if we collected all the treasures all feudal lords had in Japan, that's not
compared to Braganza's treasure." Jurian and others were amazed at
the great flamboyance.
Then they crossed the border and entered Spain. In Toledo many people were
pouring to
catch a glimpse of Japanese. They gained great popularity as if a big movie
star came from
abroad. They got to the monastery with difficulty. This Toledo was the
city which Christians
decided as the capital after they took back Spain from Arabic rules. Toledo
had been the
capital of Spain until the King of the day, Philip 2 transferred the capital
to Madrid. Jurian
and others were very impressed by magnificent buildings, technology of water system,
celestial globe they had never seen in Japan. However Migeru Chijiwa suffered
from
smallpox here in Toledo and became seriously ill. In Toledo, 2000 children that is nearly
ten percent of the entire population in this city caught smallpox and died. Jurian and
others prayed with one accord and one mind. Father Mezquita who was the
deputy of Father
Valignano who promised, "I will certainly take the boys back to Japan"
also did nothing but
prayed. God answered their prayers, and Migeru finally recovered miraculously
on the 16th
day.
Thus Jurian and others went for Madrid, the capital of Spain, to have an
audience with King
Philip 2.
(The Kyoto Glory Church Translation Committee is
responsible for the wording of this article.)
(Toledo)