Purple Silk and Black Cotton: Francisco Cabral and the Negotiation of Jesuit Attire in Japan (1570–73)

This chapter analyses the debates on the use of proper garments by the Jesuit missionaries working in sixteenth-century Japan. It focuses on the reform enacted by Jesuit Superior Francisco Cabral, against the use of Japanese colorful silk clothes, on his analysis of the use the missionaries did of the latter, and on his understanding of the black cassock as the only garment proper for the members of the Society of Jesus.