Yasuke

16th-century African samurai

For the anime based on him, see Yasuke (TV series). For the character, see Yasuke (Assassin's Creed).

Yasuke

Rimpa-style suzuri-bako (detail) from 1590s possibly depicting Yasuke

Born| c. 1555[1]
Portuguese Mozambique (most likely)
Died| After June 1582 (aged 27 or older)
Allegiance|

* Jesuits, Alessandro Valignano
* Oda clan, Oda Nobunaga (1581–1582)

Battles / wars|

* Honnō-ji Incident

Yasuke (Japanese: 弥助 / 弥介, pronounced [jasɯ̥ke]) was a samurai of African origin who served Oda Nobunaga between 1581 and 1582, during the Sengoku period, until Nobunaga's death.[2][3][4][5]

According to historical accounts, Yasuke first arrived in Japan in the service of Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano. Nobunaga summoned him out of a desire to see a black man.[6] Subsequently, Nobunaga took him into his service and gave him the name Yasuke. As a samurai, he was granted a sword, a house and a stipend.[3][7][8] Yasuke accompanied Nobunaga until his death and fought at the Honnō-ji Incident until the death of Oda Nobutada. Afterwards, Yasuke was sent back to the Jesuits.[9] There are no subsequent records of his life.

## Birth and early life

[edit]

Yasuke is the first known African to appear in Japanese historical records. Much of what is known about him is found in fragmentary accounts in the letters of the Jesuit missionary Luís Fróis, Ōta Gyūichi's Shinchō Kōki (信長公記, Nobunaga Official Chronicle), Matsudaira Ietada's Matsudaira Ietada Nikki (松平家忠日記, Matsudaira Ietada Diary), Jean Crasset's Histoire de l'église du Japon and François Solier's Histoire Ecclesiastique des Isles et Royaumes du Japon.[10][11]

The earliest record of Yasuke dates to 1581.[1] He received his name from Oda Nobunaga.[12] His birth name is unknown.[13]

Based on Ōta Gyūichi's biography of Nobunaga, Shinchō Kōki, Yasuke was estimated to be in his mid-twenties in 1581.[1] Accounts from his time suggest Yasuke accompanied Alessandro Valignano from "the Indies", a term encompassing Portuguese overseas territories like Goa and Cochin (modern-day Goa and Kochi in India) as well as Portuguese Mozambique.[1] Researcher Thomas Lockley has also proposed that Yasuke might have originated from the Dinka people of what is now South Sudan.[1] A 1581 letter by Jesuit Lourenço Mexia[14] and a later account from 1627 by François Solier refer to Yasuke as a Cafre.[a] Solier further described Yasuke as a More Cafre, which has been interpreted as "Moorish infidel", and identified him as a servant from Mozambique. Due to these descriptions, some historians have suggested that Yasuke may have been Muslim.[17][18]

## Documented life in Japan

[edit]

Oda Nobunaga, late 16th-century depiction

In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano.[6][19] Valignano had been appointed the Visitor (inspector) of the Jesuit missions in the Indies (which at that time meant East Africa, South, Southeast, and East Asia). Valignano's party spent the first two years of their stay in Japan, mainly in Kyushu.[10]

Entering 1581, Valignano decided to visit the capital Kyoto as an envoy. He wanted to have an audience with Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful man in Japan, to ensure the Jesuits' missionary work before leaving Japan.[10] These events are recorded in a 1581 letter Luís Fróis wrote to Lourenço Mexia, and in the 1582 Annual Report of the Jesuit Mission in Japan also by Fróis. These were published in Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Jesus escreverão dos reynos de Japão e China II (1598), normally known simply as Cartas.[20][21] On 27 March 1581, Valignano, together with Luís Fróis, who had arrived in Japan earlier, had an audience with Nobunaga, and Yasuke is said to have accompanied them as an attendant.[9]

The Jesuit Luís Fróis wrote that while in the capital, a melee broke out among the local townsfolk who fought amongst themselves to catch a glimpse of Yasuke, breaking down the door of a Jesuit residence in the process and ended in a number of deaths and injuries among the Japanese.[22][6] Luís Fróis's Annual Report on Japan states that Nobunaga also longed to see a black man, and summoned him.[6] Fr. Organtino took Yasuke to Nobunaga, who upon seeing a black man for the first time, refused to believe that his skin color was natural and not applied later, and made him remove his clothes from the belt upwards.[21] Suspecting that Yasuke might have ink on his body, Nobunaga made him undress and wash his body, but the more Yasuke was washed and scrubbed, the darker his skin became.[23][24] Nobunaga's children attended the event and one of his nephews gave Yasuke money.[25]

The Shinchō Kōki manuscript describes Yasuke as follows:[26][10][22]

> On the 23rd of the Second Month, a blackamoor came from the Kirishitan Country. He appeared to be twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. Black over his whole body, just like an ox, this man looked robust and had a good demeanor. What is more, his formidable strength surpassed that of ten men. The Bateren brought him along by way of paying his respects to Nobunaga. Indeed, it was owing to Nobunaga's power and his glory that yet unheard-of treasures from the Three Countries and curiosities of this kind came to be seen here time and again, a blessing indeed.[27]

Alessandro Valignano, late 16th-century depiction

Nobunaga was impressed by Yasuke and asked Valignano to give him over.[6] He gave him the Japanese name Yasuke,[b] accepted him as attendant at his side and made him the first recorded foreigner to receive the rank of samurai.[1] Nobunaga granted Yasuke the honor of being his weapon-bearer and served as some sort of bodyguard[29][30] According to Lopez-Vera, he was occasionally allowed to share meals with the warlord, a privilege extended to few other vassals.[30]

The Shinchō Kōki of the Sonkeikaku Bunko (尊経閣文庫) archives states:

> It was ordered that the young black man be given a stipend (扶持, fuchi), named Yasuke, and provided with a sword (さや巻, sayamaki),[c] and a private residence. At times, he was also entrusted with carrying the master's weapons.[7]

According to historians this was the equivalent to "the bestowing of warrior or 'samurai' rank" during this period.[1] Yasuke was also granted servants according to Thomas Lockley.[1][32]

Father Lourenço Mexía wrote in a letter to Father Pero da Fonseca dated 8 October 1581:[33]

> The black man understood a little Japanese, and Nobunaga never tired of talking with him. And because he was strong and had a few skills, Nobunaga took great pleasure in protecting him and had him roam around the city of Kyoto with an attendant. Some people in the town said that Nobunaga might make him as tono ("lord").

Yasuke next appears in historical records on 11 May 1582. The Ietada Diary of Matsudaira Ietada, a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu, mentions that Yasuke accompanied Nobunaga on his inspection tour of the region after he destroyed his long-time arch-enemy, the Takeda clan of Kai.[9][10] The description of 11 May 1582 states:

> Nobunaga-sama was accompanied by a black man who was presented to him by the missionaries and to whom he gave a stipend. His body was black like ink and he was 6 shaku 2 bu [182.4 cm or near 6 feet] tall. His name was said to be Yasuke.

According to Fujita, on 14 May 1581, Yasuke departed for Echizen Province with Fróis and the other Christians.[d][34] They returned to Kyoto on May 30th.[35]

## Honnō-ji Incident

[edit]

On 21 June 1582, Oda Nobunaga was betrayed and attacked by his senior vassal Akechi Mitsuhide at Honnō-ji temple in Kyoto, an event known as the Honnō-ji incident. At the time of the attack, Nobunaga was accompanied by a retinue of about 30 followers, including Yasuke. They fought but were defeated by the Akechi's forces, and Nobunaga committed seppuku.[1][36]

On the same day, after his lord's death, Yasuke joined the forces of Nobutada, Nobunaga's eldest son and heir, who was garrisoned at the nearby Nijō-goshō imperial villa. They fought against the Akechi clan but were overwhelmed. Yasuke was captured by Mitsuhide's vassals, then sent to the Jesuits by Mitsuhide who suggested that because Yasuke was not Japanese, his life should be spared.[1][36]

There are no historical documents to show the true meaning of Mitsuhide's statement, and it is not known whether it was a sign of his discriminatory mindset or an expedient to save Yasuke's life.[9][37]

It is certain that Yasuke did not die, as Luís Fróis wrote five months after the Honnō-ji Incident, thanking God that he did not lose his life.[10] However, there are no historical sources about him since then and it is not clear what happened to him afterwards.[38]

## Possible depictions of Yasuke

[edit]

Detail from the Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu, drawn in 1605. It has been suggested that the black man on the left is Yasuke.

Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu

The Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu (相撲遊楽図屏風, Sakai City Museum collection), drawn in 1605 by an anonymous artist, depicts a dark-skinned man wrestling a Japanese man in the presence of noble samurai. There are various theories regarding the work: some believe that this samurai is Oda Nobunaga or Toyotomi Hidetsugu, while others believe that the dark-skinned man wrestling in the center is Yasuke and the one further to the right of the wrestlers (not depicted in the detailed image), playing the role of a gyōji (referee), is Oda Nobunaga.[37]

Rinpa Suzuri-bako

An ink-stone box (suzuri-bako) made by a Rinpa artist in the 1590s, owned by Museu do Caramulo [pt], depicts a black man wearing Portuguese high-class clothing. Author Thomas Lockley argues that it could be Yasuke, as he does not appear to be subservient to the other Portuguese man in the work.[39]

Nanban byōbu (painted by Kano Naizen), Europeans and their African followers

Nanban byōbu

A Nanban byōbu painted by Kanō Naizen, a painter active in the same period, depicts dark-skinned followers holding parasols over Europeans as well as a spear.[36] It was not uncommon for individual Africans to be brought to Japan as attendants of Jesuit missionaries.[9]

## In popular culture

[edit]

### Literature

[edit]

* In 1968, author Yoshio Kurusu and artist Genjirō Mita published a children's book about Yasuke titled Kurosuke (くろ助). The following year, the book won the Japanese Association of Writers for Children Prize (日本児童文学者協会賞, Nihon Jidō Bungakusha Kyōkai-shō).[40][41]
* Yasuke inspired the 1971 satirical novel Kuronbō (黒ん坊) by Shūsaku Endō.[42][43]
* Yasuke appears in the 2008 novel Momoyama Beat Tribe [ja] as one of the main characters. This novel was later made into a play in 2017.[44]

### Manga and anime

[edit]

* Yasuke appears as Alessandro Valignano's servant in volume 29 of the ongoing manga series The Knife and the Sword by Takurō Kajikawa.[45]
* The ongoing time-travel manga series Nobunaga Concerto by Ayumi Ishii portrays Yasuke as a Black baseball player from the present day.[45]
* Yasuke was the inspiration for Takashi Okazaki's Afro Samurai franchise.[41]
* Yasuke plays a minor role in the 2005 to 2017 manga series Hyouge Mono by Yoshihiro Yamada.[45]
* Yasuke is featured in the 2016 to 2020 manga series Nobunaga o Koroshita Otoko (信長を殺した男, "The Man Who Killed Nobunaga") by Akechi Kenzaburō and Yutaka Tōdō.[45]
* Yasuke is the main protagonist in the 2021 Netflix anime series Yasuke, created by LeSean Thomas and animated by MAPPA. He is voiced by Jun Soejima in Japanese and LaKeith Stanfield in English.[46][47]

### Film

[edit]

* In March 2017, Lionsgate announced plans for a live-action film about Yasuke titled Black Samurai.[48] In May 2019, Deadline reported that the film, retitled Yasuke, had left Lionsgate for Picturestart. Chadwick Boseman signed on to portray Yasuke.[49][50] As of September 2021, Picturestart's official website states that the film is "in development".[51]
* In April 2019, MGM announced plans for their own live-action film about Yasuke, to be produced by Andrew Mittman and Lloyd Braun of Whalerock Industries, with a script written by Stuart C. Paul.[52]
* In the 2023 historical drama film Kubi directed by Takeshi Kitano, Yasuke, in another portrayal by Jun Soejima, served as a retainer to Oda Nobunaga.[53]
* In April 2024, a new feature film spec script titled Black Samurai written by Blitz Bazawule was acquired by Warner Bros. for Bazawule to direct.[54]

### Video games

[edit]

* Yasuke is a recurring minor character in Koei Tecmo's Nobunaga's Ambition series, appearing in the 1992 video game Nobunaga's Ambition: Tales of the Conquerors as a DLC character, and returning in 2013's Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence as a recruitable officer.[55]
* The 2017 video game Nioh and its 2020 sequel feature a portrayal of Yasuke, voiced by Richie Campbell.[56]
* Koei Tecmo's 2021 video game Samurai Warriors 5 includes Yasuke as a playable character, voiced by Paddy Ryan.[57]
* A black samurai inspired by Yasuke, named Nagoriyuki, appears in Arc System Works' 2021 fighting game Guilty Gear Strive.[58]
* Yasuke is set to be one of the protagonists of Ubisoft's upcoming video game Assassin's Creed Shadows,[59] voiced by Tongayi Chirisa.[60]

### Music

[edit]

* In February 2023, the Brazilian samba school Mocidade Alegre of the São Paulo city carnival performed a samba song about Yasuke, winning that year's competition.[61]

## See also

[edit]

* Black people in Japan
* List of foreign-born samurai in Japan

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Originally, the Portuguese used the word Cafre, plural Cafres — from Arabic kāfir (كافر), meaning "infidels", "renegade" — to designate the non-Bantu peoples they encountered in southern Africa, particularly the Khoisan people of southern Africa. In Asia, the term was applied to individuals with dark skin, who were often enslaved.[15][16]
2. ^ The origin of his name is unknown.[28]
3. ^ According to Lockley, this refers to a short sword known as a koshigatana, which he describes as a status symbol[31]
4. ^ Midori Fujita says that during this trip they met local warlords such as Shibata Katsutoyo [ja], Hashiba Hidekatsu, and Shibata Katsuie.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lockley, Thomas. "Yasuke". Britannica Online. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica. ISSN 1085-9721. Archived from the original on 16 July 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
2. ^ Lockley, Thomas. "Yasuke". Britannica Online. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica. ISSN 1085-9721. Archived from the original on 16 July 2024. Retrieved 23 November 2024. "Ōta states that Nobunaga made Yasuke a vassal, giving him a house, servants, a sword, and a stipend. During this period, the definition of samurai was ambiguous, but historians think that this would contemporaneously have been seen as the bestowing of warrior or "samurai" rank."
3. ^ a b Atkins, E. Taylor (2023). A History of Popular Culture in Japan: From the Seventeenth Century to the Present (2nd ed.). Bloomsbury Academic. p. 72\. ISBN 978-1-350-19592-9. Archived from the original on 26 July 2024. Retrieved 26 July 2024. "Impressed with Yasuke's height and strength (which "surpassed that of ten men"), Nobunaga gave him a sword signifying bushi status."
4. ^ López-Vera, Jonathan (2020). A History of the Samurai: Legendary Warriors of Japan. Tokyo; Rutland, VT: Tuttle Publishing. pp. 140–141\. ISBN 9784805315354. "He was granted the rank of samurai and occasionally even shared a table with Nobunaga himself, a privilege few of his trusted vassals were afforded."140-141&rft.pub=Tuttle+Publishing&rft.date=2020&rft.isbn=9784805315354&rft.aulast=López-Vera&rft.aufirst=Jonathan&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Yasuke" class="Z3988">
5. ^ Germain, Jacquelyne (10 January 2023). "Who Was Yasuke, Japan's First Black Samurai?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
6. ^ a b c d e Leupp, Gary P. (March 1995). "Images of black people in late medieval and early modern Japan 1543–1900". Japan Forum. 7 (1): 1–13\. doi:10.1080/09555809508721524. ISSN 0955-5803. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024.1-13&rft.date=1995-03&rft_id=info:doi/10.1080/09555809508721524&rft.issn=0955-5803&rft.aulast=Leupp&rft.aufirst=Gary+P.&rft_id=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09555809508721524&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Yasuke" class="Z3988">
7. ^ a b Kaneko, Hiraku (2009). 織田信長という歴史 － 「信長記」の彼方へ [The History of Oda Nobunaga: Beyond the Shinchōki] (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. p. 311\. ISBN 978-4-585-05420-7. "然に彼黒坊被成御扶持、名をハ号弥助と、さや巻之のし付幷私宅等迄被仰付、依時御道具なともたさせられ候、" [It was ordered that the young black man be given a stipend, named Yasuke, and provided with a sword, and a private residence. At times, he was also entrusted with carrying the master's weapons]
8. ^ Jozuka, Emiko (20 May 2019). "The legacy of feudal Japan's African samurai". CNN. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
9. ^ a b c d e Ando, Kenji (6 May 2021). "織田信長に仕えた黒人武士「弥助」の生涯とは?ネトフリのアニメ『Yasuke -ヤスケ-』のモデルに" [What was the life of Yasuke, a black warrior who served Oda Nobunaga? The model for the Netflix anime Yasuke]. HuffPost (in Japanese). BuzzFeed Japan. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
10. ^ a b c d e f "ハリウッドで映画化!信長に仕えた黒人、弥助とは何者だったのか?" [Movie made in Hollywood! Who was Yasuke, a black man who served Nobunaga?]. WARAKU web (in Japanese). Shogakukan. 30 August 2019. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
11. ^ Shihan de Silva, Jayasuriya (2023). "African Slavery in Asia : Epistemologies across Temporalities and Space". 紀要論文 / Departmental Bulletin Paper(1). 72 (特集): 9–39.9-39&rft.date=2023&rft.aulast=Shihan+de+Silva&rft.aufirst=Jayasuriya&rft_id=https://kansai-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/23944&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Yasuke" class="Z3988">
12. ^ Tsujiuchi, Makoto (1998). "Historical Context of Black Studies in Japan". Hitotsubashi Journal of Social Studies. 30 (2): 95–100\. ISSN 0073-280X. JSTOR 43294431. Archived from the original on 19 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024.95-100&rft.date=1998&rft_id=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43294431#id-name=JSTOR&rft.issn=0073-280X&rft.aulast=Tsujiuchi&rft.aufirst=Makoto&rft_id=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43294431&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Yasuke" class="Z3988">
13. ^ Choudhury, Srabani Roy (12 May 2023). Japan and Its Partners in the Indo-Pacific Engagements and Alignment. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000880526.
14. ^ Mexia, Lourenço (1598). "Carta que o padre Lourenço Mexía escreueo de Funày ao padre Pero da Fonseca a oito de Outubro de 1581". Segunda parte das cartas de Iapão que escreuerão os padres, & irmãos da Companhia de Iesus. Livro primeiro (in Portuguese). Évora: Manuel de Lyra. p. 17\. Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
15. ^ Sousa, Lúcio de (2018). The Portuguese Slave Trade in Early Modern Japan: Merchants, Jesuits and Japanese, Chinese, and Korean Slaves. Studies in Global Slavery. Vol. 7\. Leiden ; Boston: Brill. p. 12\. ISBN 978-90-04-36580-3. Archived from the original on 19 July 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
16. ^ Arndt, Jochen S. (2 January 2018). "What's in a Word? Historicising the Term 'Caffre' in European Discourses about Southern Africa between 1500 and 1800". Journal of Southern African Studies. 44 (1): 59–75\. doi:10.1080/03057070.2018.1403212. ISSN 0305-7070.59-75&rft.date=2018-01-02&rft_id=info:doi/10.1080/03057070.2018.1403212&rft.issn=0305-7070&rft.aulast=Arndt&rft.aufirst=Jochen+S.&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Yasuke" class="Z3988">
17. ^ Morris, James Harry (2 January 2018). "Christian–Muslim Relations in China and Japan in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries". Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations. 29 (1): 37–55\. doi:10.1080/09596410.2017.1401797. ISSN 0959-6410. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 18 May 2024.37-55&rft.date=2018-01-02&rft_id=info:doi/10.1080/09596410.2017.1401797&rft.issn=0959-6410&rft.aulast=Morris&rft.aufirst=James+Harry&rft_id=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09596410.2017.1401797&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Yasuke" class="Z3988">
18. ^ Thomas, David; Chesworth, John A. (2017). "South-East Asia, China and Japan". South and East Asia, Africa and the Americas (1600-1700). Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History. Vol. 33\. BRILL. p. 335\. doi:10.1163/9789004335585_007. ISBN 978-90-04-32683-5. Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
19. ^ Crasset 1925, p. 384 (number of frames 207)
20. ^ 1581 letters of the Jesuits Luís Fróis and Lorenço Mexia
21. ^ a b Cooper, Michael, ed. (1965). They came to Japan : an anthology of European reports on Japan, 1543–1640. Center for Japanese Studies, University of California, Berkeley. Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 71\. ISBN 978-0-520-04509-5. OCLC 500169.
22. ^ a b Russell, John G. (1 January 2007). "Excluded Presence: Shoguns, Minstrels, Bodyguards, and Japan's Encounters with the Black Other" (PDF). Zinbun 40, Kyoto University. 40: 15–51\. doi:10.14989/71097. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 May 2024. Retrieved 19 May 2024. "The most well-documented case is that Yasuke, a Mozambican brought to Japan by the Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano"15-51&rft.date=2007-01-01&rft_id=info:doi/10.14989/71097&rft.aulast=Russell&rft.aufirst=John+G.&rft_id=https://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/71097/1/40_15.pdf&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Yasuke" class="Z3988">
23. ^ Lockley, Thomas (16 July 2024). "Yasuke". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
24. ^ Fujita 2005, pp. 8–9.
25. ^ Lockley 2017, p. 65.
26. ^ "第14回 アフリカの日本、日本のアフリカ 第2章 日本に渡ったアフリカ人" [Part 14: Japan in Africa, Africa in Japan Chapter 2: Africans who came to Japan]. 本の万華鏡 (in Japanese). National Diet Library. Archived from the original on 23 October 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
27. ^ Ōta, Gyūichi (2011). Elisonas, J. S. A.; Lamers, J. P. (eds.). The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga. Leiden and Boston: Brill. pp. 385–386\. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004201620.i-510.8. ISBN 978-90-04-20162-0.385-386&rft.pub=Brill&rft.date=2011&rft_id=info:doi/10.1163/ej.9789004201620.i-510.8&rft.isbn=978-90-04-20162-0&rft.aulast=Ōta&rft.aufirst=Gyūichi&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Yasuke" class="Z3988">
28. ^ Wright, David (1998). "The Use of Race and Racial Perceptions Among Asians and Blacks: The Case of the Japanese and African Americans". Hitotsubashi Journal of Social Studies. 30 (2): 135–152\. ISSN 0073-280X. JSTOR 43294433. Archived from the original on 13 March 2023. Retrieved 19 May 2024. "In 1581, a Jesuit priest in the city of Kyoto had among his entourage an African"135-152&rft.date=1998&rft_id=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43294433#id-name=JSTOR&rft.issn=0073-280X&rft.aulast=Wright&rft.aufirst=David&rft_id=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43294433&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Yasuke" class="Z3988">
29. ^ Moon, Kat (30 April 2021). "The True Story of Yasuke, the Legendary Black Samurai Behind Netflix's New Anime Series". TIME. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
30. ^ a b Lopez-Vera, Jonathan (2020). A History of the Samurai: Legendary Warriors of Japan. Tuttle Publishing. pp. 140–141\. ISBN 978-1-4629-2134-8. Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 16 July 2024.140-141&rft.pub=Tuttle+Publishing&rft.date=2020&rft.isbn=978-1-4629-2134-8&rft.aulast=Lopez-Vera&rft.aufirst=Jonathan&rft_id=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXvgDwAAQBAJ&q;=yasuke&pg;=PT8&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Yasuke" class="Z3988">
31. ^ Lockley 2017, p. 90.
32. ^ Jozuka, Emiko (20 May 2019). "The legacy of feudal Japan's African samurai". CNN. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2024.
33. ^ Mexia, Lourenço (1598). "Carta que o padre Lourenço Mexía escreueo de Funày ao padre Pero da Fonseca a oito de Outubro de 1581". Segunda parte das cartas de Iapão que escreuerão os padres, & irmãos da Companhia de Iesus. Livro primeiro. pp. 16–17.16-17&rft.date=1598&rft.aulast=Mexia&rft.aufirst=Lourenço&rft_id=https://archive.org/details/segunda-parte-das-cartas-de-iapao-que-escreuerao-os-padres-irmaos-da-companhia-d/page/n37/mode/2up&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Yasuke" class="Z3988">
34. ^ Fujita 2005, pp. 7–8.
35. ^ Fujita 2005, p. 8.
36. ^ a b c Watanabe, Daimon (19 May 2021). "織田信長が登用した黒人武将・弥助とは、いったい何者なのか" [Who was Yasuke, the black warlord promoted by Oda Nobunaga?]. Yahoo! News (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
37. ^ a b Ayukawa, Tetsuya (4 October 2020). "信長に仕え本能寺の変を生き延びた"黒人侍"" [Black Samurai who served Nobunaga and survived the Honnoji Incident]. Aera (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun Company. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
38. ^ Vaporis, Constantine Nomikos (2019). Samurai. An Encyclopedia of Japan's Cultured Warriors. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 114\. ISBN 978-1-4408-4270-2.
39. ^ Lockley 2017, pp. 147, 150
40. ^ "Kuro-suke [Black One]". International Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021.
41. ^ a b Jozuka, Eimiko (19 May 2019). "African samurai: The enduring legacy of a black warrior in feudal Japan". CNN. Archived from the original on 6 April 2023. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
42. ^ Bridges, Will (2020). "Genre Trouble: Breaking the Law of Genre and Literary Blackness in the Long 1970s". Playing in the Shadows: Fictions of Race and Blackness in Postwar Japanese Literature. Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies. Vol. 88\. University of Michigan Press. p. 137\. ISBN 978-0-472-07442-6. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 13 May 2021. "... Kuronbō (Darkie), Endō Shūsaku's (1923–96) 1971 satirical more-fiction-than-history historical fiction of Yasuke and Nobunaga?"
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### Sources

[edit]

* Cooper, Michael (1981) [1965]. Cooper, Michael (ed.). They came to Japan: an anthology of European reports on Japan, 1543-1640. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-04509-5.
* Crasset, Jean (1925). 日本西教史 (Histoire de l'eglise du Japon) (in Japanese). Vol. 1\. 太陽堂書店 (Taiyōdō Bookshop). OCLC 835444691. Archived from the original on 19 September 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
* Solier, François (1627–1629). Histoire Ecclesiastique des Isles et Royaumes du Japon (in French). Sébastien Cramoisy. BnF 31381883n. Archived from the original on 8 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
* Fujita, Midori (2005). アフリカ「発見」日本におけるアフリカ像の変遷 [Discover Africa―History of African image in Japan (World History series)] (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. ISBN 978-4-00-026853-0.
* Lockley, Thomas (February 2017). 信長と弥助 本能寺を生き延びた黒人侍 [Nobunaga & Yasuke: The Black Samurai who survived the Honnoji Incident]. Translated by Yoshiko Fuji. Ohta Publishing. ISBN 978-4-7783-1556-6.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Matsuda, Kiichi, ed., Jūroku-jūnanaseiki Iezusukai Nihon Hōkokushuu, Hōdōsha, 1987–1998.
* Ōta, Gyūichi, Shinchō Kōki, 1622.

* v
* t
* e

Prominent people of the Sengoku and Azuchi–Momoyama periods

Emperor|

* Go-Kashiwabara
* Go-Nara
* Ōgimachi
* Go-Yōzei

Three major daimyō|

* Oda Nobunaga
* Toyotomi Hideyoshi
* Tokugawa Ieyasu

Shōgun|

* Ashikaga Yoshiharu
* Ashikaga Yoshiteru
* Ashikaga Yoshihide
* Ashikaga Yoshiaki
* Tokugawa Hidetada

Other daimyō|

* Amago Tsunehisa
* Amago Haruhisa
* Asakura Yoshikage
* Ashina Moriuji
* Akechi Mitsuhide
* Azai Nagamasa
* Chōsokabe Motochika
* Date Terumune
* Date Masamune
* Hatakeyama Yoshitaka
* Honda Tadakatsu
* Hōjō Sōun
* Hōjō Ujimasa
* Hōjō Ujiyasu
* Ii Naomasa
* Imagawa Yoshimoto
* Imagawa Ujizane
* Isshiki Yoshimichi
* Itō Yoshisuke
* Kitabatake Tomonori
* Kuroda Nagamasa
* Matsunaga Hisahide
* Miyoshi Nagayoshi
* Mogami Yoshiaki
* Mōri Motonari
* Ōuchi Yoshitaka
* Ōuchi Yoshinaga
* Ōtomo Sōrin
* Rokkaku Yoshikata
* Ryūzōji Takanobu
* Saitō Dōsan
* Saitō Yoshitatsu
* Sakai Tadatsugu
* Sakakibara Yasumasa
* Satomi Yoshitaka
* Sanada Yukitaka
* Sanada Masayuki
* Sanada Nobuyuki
* Satake Yoshishige
* Sagara Yoshihi
* Shimazu Yoshihisa
* Shimazu Yoshihiro
* Tachibana Dōsetsu
* Takeda Nobutora
* Takeda Shingen
* Tōdō Takatora
* Uesugi Kagekatsu
* Uesugi Kenshin
* Uesugi Norimasa
* Ukita Naoie
* Uragami Munekage
* Yamana Toyokuni
* Yamana Suketoyo

Swordsmen|

* Marume Nagayoshi
* Hikita Bungorō
* Kamiizumi Nobutsuna
* Miyamoto Musashi
* Mizuno Katsushige
* Sasaki Kojirō
* Tadashima Akiyama
* Tsukahara Bokuden
* Tsutsumi Hōzan
* Yagyū Munenori
* Yagyū Munetoshi
* Shinmen Munisai
* Itō Ittōsai

Advisers and strategists|

* Kobayakawa Takakage
* Kuroda Yoshitaka
* Naoe Kanetsugu
* Takenaka Shigeharu
* Usami Sadamitsu
* Yamamoto Kansuke

Ninja, rogues and
mercenaries

* Mochizuki Chiyome
* Fūma Kotarō
* Hatsume no Tsubone
* Hattori Hanzō
* Ishikawa Goemon
* Katō Danzō
* Kirigakure Shikaemon
* Kōzuki Sasuke
* Nakamura Chōbei
* Ohama Kagetaka
* Sugitani Zenjūbō
* Saika Magoichi
* Suzuki Sadayu
* Suzuki Shigehide
* Suzuki Shigetomo
* Suzuki Magoroku
* Igasaki Dōshun
* Umemura Sawano

Monks and other
religious figures

* Ankokuji Ekei
* Hongan-ji Kennyo
* Hon'inbō Sansa
* Ishin Sūden
* Jion
* Koji Kashin
* Nankōbō Tenkai
* Rennyo
* Sessai Chōrō
* Shimozuma Chūkō
* Shimotsuma Rairen
* Shimozuma Rairyū
* Takuan Sōhō

Female castellans|

* Ashikaga Ujihime
* Chacha
* Miyohime
* Munakata Saikaku
* Nene
* Onamihime
* Otazu no Kata
* Otsuya no Kata
* Seishin-ni
* Tachibana Ginchiyo

Female warriors|

* Akai Teruko
* Fujishiro Gozen
* Ichikawa no Tsubone
* Ikeda Sen
* Kaihime
* Kamehime
* Katakura Kita
* Katō Tsune
* Komatsuhime
* Kushihashi Teru
* Maeda Matsu
* Myōki
* Myōrin
* Numata Jakō
* Ōhōri Tsuruhime
* Okaji no Kata
* Okyō no Kata
* Omasa
* Oni Gozen
* Shigashi
* Shirai no Tsubone
* Ueno Tsuruhime
* Yuki no Kata

Other women|

* Lady Acha
* Akohime
* Asahihime
* Lady Chaa
* Chikurin-in
* Gōhime
* Lady Goryū
* Dota Gozen
* Gotokuhime
* Tsumaki Hiroko
* Lady Hayakawa
* Hosokawa Gracia
* Irohahime
* Izumo no Okuni
* Jukei-ni
* Shimazu Kameju
* Lady Kasuga
* Keigin-ni
* Kitsuno
* Konoe Sakiko
* Kōzōsu
* Kyōgoku Maria
* Kyōgoku Tatsuko
* Kyōun'in
* Matsuhime
* Megohime
* Lady Myōkyū
* Naitō Julia
* Nōhime
* Odai no Kata
* Oeyo
* Oichi
* Oinu
* Ohatsu
* Lady Ōkurakyo
* Ōmandokoro
* Ono Otsū
* Ōtomo-Nata Jezebel
* Rikei
* Lady Saigō
* Lady Sanjō
* Seien-in
* Seikōin
* Senhime
* Sentōin
* Tobai-in
* Toyotomi Sadako
* Tomo
* Lady Toida
* Tokuhime
* Tōshōin
* Lady Tsukiyama
* Yamauchi Chiyo
* Yoshihime
* Yoshihiro Kikuhime

Foreign people in Japan|

* Alessandro Valignano
* Francis Xavier
* Gaspar Coelho
* Jacob Quaeckernaeck
* Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn
* Julia Ota
* Luís Fróis
* Soga Seikan
* Wakita Naokata
* Wang Zhi
* William Adams
* Yasuke

See also|

* List of samurai from the Sengoku period

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* United States
* Japan
* Czech Republic

*[c.]: circa
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