Luís Fróis (1532 – 8 July 1597) was a Portuguese missionary who worked in Asia during the second half of the 16th century.

Fróis was born in Lisbon in 1532. He was educated at the court of King João III of Portugal, where a close relative served as a scribe.^[1] At an early age, he started working for the Royal Secretary's office.^[2] In 1548, he joined the Jesuits traveling to Portuguese India to study at Saint Paul's College, Goa. He arrived in Goa on 4 September 1548.^[1] One of his teachers described Fróis' character as tough and good natured but not religious.^[1]

During his stay in Goa, Fróis reported on the mass conversion of over 200 Kshatriyas to Christianity that had taken place on 25 August 1560 in the village of Batim, in a letter dated 13 November 1560:^[3]

"Mass baptisms in this village took place on 25 August 1560. The priests who had been sent to make preparations for the christening were asleep when at midnight of the 24th, more than 200 persons (men, women and children) knocked at their door and declared that they wished to become Christians. The women were very well dressed and wore plenty of gold. The men were also well dressed with feathers in their caps and guns on their shoulders. This group was led by one man named Camotim. He wore scarlet satin pants, had a silver sword at his waist and a gun on his shoulder. All of them were baptised on the above-mentioned day. These people belonged to the Chardo class, consisting of warriors, men of a much better personality than the Bamonns."

Fróis became a priest and confessor in 1561 after completing his theological studies in Goa.^[2] A year later, he was sent to Japan along with Giovanni Battista de Monte to engage in missionary work.^[4] On 6 June 1563, after spending several months in Macau, he arrived in Yokoseura, Japan.^[2] The following year, he travelled to Kyoto, where he met Ashikaga Yoshiteru who was then shōgun. In 1569, he befriended Oda Nobunaga and stayed in his personal residence in Gifu while writing books for a short while. His works on history were somewhat expanded by Joāo Rodrigues. Among his works was the Treatise or The First European Description of Japan (1585) in which is contained some brief comparisons of the behaviors between the peoples of Europe and Japan (Tratado em que se contêm muito sucinta e abreviadamente algumas contradições e diferenças de costumes entre a gente de Europa e esta província de Japão).^[5]

Fróis wrote a book about the history and custom of Japan, titled Historia de Iapam. In it he gave details about the Jesuit mission in Japan and its most important figures. He described the destruction of Buddhist and Shinto temples as victories over the devil and that Jesuits like Gaspar Coelho encouraged the destruction despite resistance from Japanese Christian nobles.^[6]

He was portrayed by Terry O'Brien in the Japanese TV series Hideyoshi. A fictionalized version of Luís Fróis appears in the Capcom game Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams^[7] and the Japanese light novel The Ambition of Oda Nobuna.

• Francis Xavier
• Gaspar Vilela
• Francisco Cabral
• Alessandro Valignano
• List of Westerners who visited Japan before 1868