The year 1543 marked the beginning of a new global consciousness in Japan with the arrival of Portuguese merchants at Tanegashima Island. This history of Japan's first encounter with the West, augmented with maps and a beautiful blend of Portuguese and Japanese illustrations, details the consequences of the foreigners' introduction of the musket to Japan, which was to revolutionize both Japanese warfare and the nation's unification process, followed soon after by an influx of missionaries-thus ushering in the Christian century.