Note 3 — Letter from Dasmarinas to the Ruler of Japan

As explained in the letter of Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, of June 11, 1592. (q.v. p. 256, ante), two copies of the translation of this letter into Spanish were sent to Spain. The above, which is the second in the document we follow, bears title “The same letter translated by the ambassador, through an interpreter.” The other copy was the one made by order of the governor in Manila. Page 246nAs the governor states in his letter, they are alike in essentials. The first letter is dated “The year nineteen of Tienche, in the ninth month, and on the nineteenth day of the month. The Quanpec of the kingdom of Japon.” See another version (in Spanish) of the second letter, with still other variations, in Santa Inés's Crónica, ii, pp. 545–547; the editor of that work states that the date of the letter—which, however, is there given as “the 13th year of Tenjo, 11th month”—corresponds to the year 1591.