Near Livorno Gate, in Corso Marconi, you will find, with surprise, a bronze statue depicting a samurai: it is one of the first confirmed ambassadors of the Rising Sun in America and Europe, Hasekura Tsunenaga, (1571-1622). This is the only statue dedicated to a Japanese person in Italy.
It is a work of the second half of the twentieth century, when Civitavecchia twinned with its eastern counterpart Ishinomaki. Tsunenaga had sailed from Ishinomaki, as a Japanese ambassador, to reach Europe in 1615, crossing the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, to speak with King Philip III of Spain and with Pope Paul V. In Spain he converted to Christianity, taking the name of Francis Philip.
You can retrace his journey from Civitavecchia to Rome following the Hasekura Way and the Japanese Martyrs, present in the Italian Catalogue of Religious Paths of the Ministry of Tourism. All info in https://www.camminodihasekura.it.
For more information: Il gemellaggio con Ishinomaki
