Anjirō

A statue of St. Francis Xavier (center), Anjirō (left) and Bernard of Kagoshima (right) in Xavier Park Kagoshima city.

Anjirō (アンジロー) or Yajirō (ヤジロー, ヤジロウ), later known as Paulo de Santa Fé, was a Japanese interpreter from Satsuma Province. After committing a murder, he fled to the portuguese province of Goa alongside adventurer and writer Fernão Mendes Pinto. In Goa he met Saint Francis Xavier (1506–1552) and returned to Japan with him as an interpreter. Anjirō had a unique outlook on the ways of Japan, which gained the interest of missionaries at Goa.

See also