This article is about the 16th-century samurai and 25th head of the Matsura clan. For the 17th-century daimyo and 28th head of the clan, see Matsura Takanobu (1592–1637).
Matsura Takanobu (松浦 隆信, 1529 – April 1, 1599) or Taqua Nombo was a 16th-century Japanese
Kyūshū and one of the first to allow trading with Europeans, particularly the Portuguese, through whom he amassed great profits in the import of western firearms. He was also an early host and patron to the Jesuits, who he hoped would help secure an increase in trade with the Portuguese and other European traders.[1]
Biography
After becoming lord of Hirado in 1543, the 14-year-old Takanobu was advised by
Ojika, Noshima as well as the areas of Kasuga, Shishi and Iira in Hirado. That same year he became an ally of the powerful wakō leader Wang Zhi, inviting him to live in Hirado and allowing his band to dominate the outlying islands off Kyūshū.[2]
During the 1550s, he was involved in a fierce rivalry with the rival
Nagasaki to the Jesuits in 1580, making it the Portuguese port of call
henceforth.
Although initially tolerant to the
Yasumandake spoke out against Father Gaspar Vilela and resulted in several mobs of Buddhist followers stoning the three churches in the area and, in one instance, toppling the cross from one church. This recent surge in religious violence forced Takanobu to ask Vilela to leave. He later forced Kato Saemon, lord of the district of Kato
, into retirement in Nagasaki due to pressure from his brothers.
