Born into the family of the Itō, lords of Hyūga (Miyazaki) (birth year debated).
When the Itō were defeated by the Shimazu and driven from Hyūga, he fled with his family to Ōtomo Sōrin in Bungo.
Around this time he entered the seminary at Arima (Nagasaki), studying Latin, music and more.
As Ōtomo Sōrin's representative he was chosen, with Chijiwa Miguel, Nakaura Julião and Hara Martinho, for the boys' embassy, and sailed from Nagasaki with the missionary Valignano.
After a voyage of over two years, via Portugal and Spain, he reached Rome and was received by Pope Gregory XIII, welcomed warmly everywhere.
He returned after eight years. The movable-type press the envoys brought back printed books in Japanese and other languages, but the edict expelling missionaries had already been issued.
At the Jurakudai he met Toyotomi Hideyoshi and is said to have played Western instruments for him. That year he joined the Society of Jesus.
After studies in Macau he was ordained a priest in Nagasaki and continued preaching across Kyushu.
He died of illness in Nagasaki, just before the ban on Christianity tightened.
Sanada Yukimura (Nobushige)Tachibana MuneshigeKuroda NagamasaYodo-donoHasekura TsunenagaUkita HideieYuki HideyasuKobayakawa Hideaki
People of the Sengoku/Azuchi-Momoyama period ・ People by period
Based on facts found in textbooks and biographies. Uncertain points are marked as such.