It’s fun to dig around Japanese history for interesting tidbits to discover. Like William Adams, the Englishman who arrived in Japan with a Dutch ship in the year 1600 and who was befriended by Ieyasu Tokugawa, the third of Japan’s three great unifiers. Adams’ arrival was good timing for Tokugawa, who used the 19 cannon on the ship to win the Battle of Sekigahara, the watershed victory that made him the Shogun (military general) of all Japan and ushered in the 265 years of peace known as the Edo Period, making Tokugawa comparable to Caeser Agustus in Western history in terms of political success. In return for his services, Adams was made a daimyo, or samurai lord, and given a fief with retainers in present-day Yokohama, which is about as awesome as it gets for a gaijin in Japan.
But Adams wasn’t the first foreigner to attain the status of samurai. In 1581 Nobunaga Oda, the first of the above three unifiers, met a black slave traveling with an Italian Jesuit. Since Nobunaga loved unique things from foreign countries — my daughter once compared me to him because I’m always buying the latest technological gizmos — he took an intense interest in the man, giving him the name of Yasuke and making him an official retainer, complete with twin samurai swords. Yasuke served Nobunaga faithfully, and when his lord was attacked by a turncoat general at Honnoji Temple in Kyoto, Yasuke went to assist Nobunaga’s son, and fought very bravely. He was eventually captured and turned over to the Jesuits, and no further mention is made of him after that. Who would’ve thought that Afro Samurai was based on a true story?
Did you know that Afro Samurai was based on a true story?
