Jesuit movable-type press in Japan (Kirishitan-ban)
Imprenta de tipos móviles de los jesuitas en Japón (Kirishitan-ban)
- Date
- 1590-1591 · confidence high
- Place
- Kazusa, Minamishimabara, Nagasaki, Japan
- Credited to
- Alessandro Valignano and Jesuit missionaries
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
What it is
A European-style movable-type press brought by Valignano in 1590 that printed Christian texts and Japanese classics in Latin and Japanese characters. It was the first movable-type press used regularly in Japan.
Japan had known woodblock printing since the 8th century and received Korean type after the 1592-93 invasion; the Jesuit press was closed around 1614.
What it led to
- Christian books and the Japanese-Portuguese dictionary (1603)
- Japanese texts in the Latin alphabet
- a boost to movable wooden type in the Edo period