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Giovanni Battista Sidotti was the last Christian missionary to enter Japan during the [[Tokugawa period]], prior to [[Bakumatsu]].
Giovanni Battista Sidotti was the last Christian missionary to enter Japan during the [[Tokugawa period]], prior to [[Bakumatsu]].
Born in Sicily and trained as a missionary in Rome, Sidotti was ordered by the Pope in [[1703]] to travel to [[Manila]], and from there to Japan, to seek to convince or force the Japanese to lift their ban on [[Christianity]].<ref>Watanabe Hiroshi, ''A History of Japanese Political Thought, 1600-1901'', 155.</ref>
He entered Japan in [[1708]], landing on [[Yakushima]], an island just south of Kyushu, and was arrested there. After being brought to Edo, he was interrogated by [[Arai Hakuseki]], who used the information gained from Sidotti in writing his ''[[Seiyo kibun|Seiyô kibun]]'' ("Record of Things Heard about the West").
He entered Japan in [[1708]], landing on [[Yakushima]], an island just south of Kyushu, and was arrested there. After being brought to Edo, he was interrogated by [[Arai Hakuseki]], who used the information gained from Sidotti in writing his ''[[Seiyo kibun|Seiyô kibun]]'' ("Record of Things Heard about the West").