The Janus Face of Normativities in a Global Mirror: Viewing 16th-Century Marriage Practices in Japan from Christian and Japanese Traditions

Since the 13th century, the Ashikaga clan governed Japan as shōguns (military rulers). During the rule of Ashikaga Yoshiharu, the 12th shōgun of the Muromachi period (1336–1573), Japan was amid the turmoil of a civil war. Due to the lack of political articulation, the effective power of the shōgun was diminishing considerably day by day. To complicate this scenario, something unique happened for the first time on Japanese soil: in 1543, Portuguese travelers arrived in the island of Tanegashima aboard Chinese junk ships, making the first contact between Japan and Europe.¹ Six years later, the first Jesuits in Japan, Francisco