ABSTRACT
It was during this century (probably in I 552) that Europe first learned of Japan through shipwrecked Portuguese sailors. Shortly after the discovery, came Portuguese Jesuit missionaries and traders and not far behind them, other traders, Dutch and English. The Jesuits were to play an important part in Japanese religious history, while the Dutch and English made some contributions to general Japanese knowledge, notably of firearms. But, on the whole, these Europeans had remarkably little influence on the cultural and artistic life of the nation and none, so far as we can see, on the gardens.
