Person

Gaspar Vilela

1525–1572 · 16th century

Gaspar Vilela was a Portuguese Jesuit missionary who worked in Japan from 1556 until about 1570. He was the first Jesuit allowed to preach in Kyoto, where he obtained permission from the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru in 1560, and he founded Christian communities in Sakai and the surrounding region. His letters described Sakai as a wealthy, self-governing city like Venice.

Gaspar Vilela — Image: Gaspar Vilela, Mariana Boscariol · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Cite this entry

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). Gaspar Vilela. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gaspar-vilela
MLA: “Gaspar Vilela.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gaspar-vilela. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “Gaspar Vilela.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gaspar-vilela.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Gaspar Vilela’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/gaspar-vilela (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻