Strictly speaking, the earliest treatise that introduced the rhetorical art to Asia could be Xixue fan (『西學凡』, Hangzhou 1623) by Giulio Aleni (1582~1649). He reported briefly on arts and sciences, including the rhetoric that was taught in the European universities in the 16th century. However, Xiguo Jifa is the first real text that introduced European rhetoric to Asia. The title of the book means “The Memory Art of Europe,” and it explains the art of memory systematically. This paper is about how to understand Xiguo Jifa (『西國記法』), trying to answer three questions: why Matteo Ricci wrote the book, what are the characteristics of this book, and what kinds of references Ricci utilized for his writing.