The first mission from Japan to Italy. The portrait of Itō Mancio between art, culture and science

The conference highlights the work of Domenico Tintoretto, whose painting is featured thanks to Bracco Group in the visitor experience for the entire six months of Expo. This presentation is complemented by the latest findings from diagnostic analyses, promoted by Bracco Foundation, which have unveiled fascinating new insights.

It’s the young samurai Itō Mancio portrait, painted in Venice in 1585. A Christian convert and a representative of the Nagasaki region's fiefdoms, Itō Mancio was part of the first Tenshō Mission sent to Europe and Italy to pay homage to the Pope between 1582 and 1585. This journey symbolized an initial cultural exchange between Japan and Europe, preceding any formal "Grand Tour" of Italy.

Thanks to Gruppo Bracco, the portrait (part of the Collection of the Trivulzio Foundation in Milan) opens the visitor experience of the Italian Pavilion at Expo Osaka. The work of art is accompanied by an immersive video showing the meticulous programme of diagnostic imaging promoted by the Bracco Foundation.

Programme

10.00 - 10.15 | Opening remarks
Mario Vattani, General Commissioner for Italy Expo 2025 Osaka
Andrea Raos, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Osaka
Diana Bracco, President, Bracco Group

10:15-10:45 |
Introduction: Rossella Menegazzo, Head of Culture, Italy Expo 2025 Osaka
Keynote speech Avv. Gian Giacomo Attolico Trivulzio

10.45 - 11.30 |
Itō Mancio and Tenshō Envoy. Travel as a cultural encounter
See with their own eyes and touch with their own hands the situation in those lands: relevance of the Tenshō mission.
Monsignor Alberto Rocca, Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana
The Tenshō Envoys to Europe: Their Missions were Fulfilled?
Prof. Kōso Toshiaki, S.J. (Former Chancellor of Sophia University)

11.30-12.15 |
Itō Mancio and Italian ideal city: the painting by Maeda Seison “Envoy
to Rome” from the Waseda Aizu Museum
The Epic Days of Envoy to Rome
Prof. Maji Rhee, Dean of the Center for International Education, Waseda University
Itō Mansho painted by Maeda Seison: “Envoy to Rome” in Aizu Museum, Waseda University
Takako Tamai, Adjunct Researcher, Aizu Museum Waseda University

12.15-12.35 |
The portrait of Itō Mancio from Nagasaki
Nagasaki and the Tenshō Mission to Europe
Koshiro Sonoda, Director, Nagasaki Prefecture Osaka Office

12.35-13.15 |
Itō Mancio portrait from Trivulzio Foundation: analysis and new
discoveries
Diagnostic imaging to discover the invisible
Prof.ssa Isabella Castiglioni, Conservator

A conference organized by the General Section Commissioner for Italian participation in Expo 2025 Osaka, in collaboration with Fondazione Trivulzio, Sophia University, Waseda University, Nagasaki Prefecture, the Aizu Museum, and the Advocacy of IIC of Tokyo and Osaka.