Anjiro

Anjirō (アンジロー) or Yajirō (弥次郎, ヤジロウ), baptized as Paulo de Santa Fé, was the first recorded Japanese Christian, who lived in the 16th century. After committing a murder in his home domain of Satsuma in southern Kyushu, he fled to Portuguese Malacca and he sought out Saint Francis Xavier (1506–1552) and returned to Japan with him as an interpreter. Along with Xavier, Anjirō returned to Japan with two other Jesuits, two Japanese companions, and a Chinese companion who had been baptized to Catholicism to form the first Jesuit mission to Japan.

Anjirō was originally a samurai of the Satsuma Domain, and was described to be "rich and of a noble extraction", but he killed a man and was forced to go on the run. In the port of Kagoshima, he met the Portuguese captain of a trading ship, Alvaro Vas, to whom he confessed his deed and described his hardships as an outlaw. Vas got him a job on a Portuguese ship, but Anjirō reported to the wrong ship and presented himself to Captain Jorge Álvares, a personal friend of Francis Xavier. Álvares took him to Malacca to see Xavier since he felt Xavier was better suited to hear Anjirō's confession. Upon their arrival, however, they had discovered that Xavier had departed for the Moluccas. Disappointed, Anjirō boarded a ship that would take him back to Japan, but it encountered a storm and had to take shelter on the Chinese coast. There, he met yet another Portuguese captain, who informed him that Xavier had returned to Malacca, and the captain took Anjirō back to Malacca, where he finally met Xavier in December 1547.

Anjirō had picked up some pidgin Portuguese by this time and could communicate with Xavier directly. The priest told Anjirō the word of God while Anjirō described the land of Japan to Xavier, which impressed the priest so much that he became resolved to go to Japan himself. Anjirō then went with Xavier to Goa, the headquarters of Portuguese India where he was baptized with the name Paulo de Santa Fé (Paul of the Holy Faith), furthered his training in the Portuguese language, and received catechesis in Saint Paul's College. On 14 April 1549, Xavier left Goa and made his way to Japan with a party of seven, including Anjirō as interpreter, and reached Malacca by 25 April. There, they boarded a Chinese pirate junk since that was the only craft they could book that would take them to Kagoshima.

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