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{{Short description|16th-century African samurai}}
{{nihongo|'''Yasuke'''|彌介}} (c. 1556-?) was a black (African) [[retainer (medieval)|retainer]] who for a short time was in the service of the Japanese warlord [[Oda Nobunaga]]. The name "Yasuke" was given to him after he took service with Nobunaga. His original name is not recorded.
{{pp-protected|small=yes}}
==Contemporary Accounts==
{{For|the anime based on him|Yasuke (TV series)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Yasuke
| image = Rinpa style ink-stone box (cropped).jpg
| caption = Rimpa-style ''[[suzuri-bako]]'' (detail)
| birth_date = {{circa|1555}}<ref name="Lockley-2024" />
| death_date = After June 1582
| birth_place = [[Portuguese Mozambique]] (most likely)
| allegiance = {{ubl
| [[Jesuits]], [[Alessandro Valignano]]
| [[Oda clan]], [[Oda Nobunaga]] (1581–1582)
}}
| battles = {{ubl|[[Honnō-ji Incident]]}}
}}


{{Nihongo|'''Yasuke'''|弥助 / 弥介|extra={{IPA|ja|jasɯ̥ke|pron}}|lead=yes}} was a man of African origin who served as a [[samurai]]<!-- DO NOT alter this statement without discussing it in the talk page.--><ref>{{Cite EBO|title=Yasuke|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yasuke|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716194719/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yasuke |archive-date=16 July 2024|access-date=2024-11-23|last=Lockley|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Lockley|quote= 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.|ref=none}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Atkins |first=E. Taylor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPySEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22%20height%20and%20strength%20(which%20%22surpassed%20that%20of%20ten%20men%22)%2C%20Nobunaga%20gave%20him%20a%20sword%20signifying%20bushi%20status.%20Yasuke%20served%20as%20Nobunaga%27s%20retainer%20and%20conversation%22&pg=PA72 |title=A History of Popular Culture in Japan: From the Seventeenth Century to the Present |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |year=2023 |edition=2nd |pages=72 |isbn=978-1-350-19592-9 |quote=Impressed with Yasuke's height and strength (which "surpassed that of ten men"), Nobunaga gave him a sword signifying bushi status.|ref=none |access-date=26 July 2024 |archive-date=26 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726213742/https://books.google.com/books?id=LPySEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22%20height%20and%20strength%20%28which%20%22surpassed%20that%20of%20ten%20men%22%29%2C%20Nobunaga%20gave%20him%20a%20sword%20signifying%20bushi%20status.%20Yasuke%20served%20as%20Nobunaga%27s%20retainer%20and%20conversation%22&pg=PA72 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=López-Vera | first=Jonathan | title=A History of the Samurai: Legendary Warriors of Japan | publisher=Tuttle Publishing | publication-place=Tokyo; Rutland, VT | date=2020 | isbn=9784805315354 | pages=140–141 | quote=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.|ref=none}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Germain |first=Jacquelyne |date=January 10, 2023 |title=Who Was Yasuke, Japan's First Black Samurai? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-was-yasuke-japans-first-black-samurai-180981416/ |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |language=en}}</ref> to [[Oda Nobunaga]] from sometime in 1581 until the Honnō-ji incident in 1582. According to the few historical accounts, Yasuke first arrived in [[Japanese archipelago|Japan]] in the service of Jesuit [[Alessandro Valignano]]. Nobunaga summoned him out of a desire to see a black man.<ref name="Leupp-1995" /> Subsequently, Nobunaga took him into his service and gave him the name Yasuke. He was granted a sword, a house and a [[stipend]], indicating samurai status.<ref name="Kaneko-2009" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Atkins |first=E. Taylor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPySEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22%20height%20and%20strength%20(which%20%22surpassed%20that%20of%20ten%20men%22)%2C%20Nobunaga%20gave%20him%20a%20sword%20signifying%20bushi%20status.%20Yasuke%20served%20as%20Nobunaga%27s%20retainer%20and%20conversation%22&pg=PA72 |title=A History of Popular Culture in Japan: From the Seventeenth Century to the Present |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |year=2023 |edition=2nd |pages=72 |isbn=978-1-350-19592-9 |access-date=26 July 2024 |archive-date=26 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726213742/https://books.google.com/books?id=LPySEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22%20height%20and%20strength%20%28which%20%22surpassed%20that%20of%20ten%20men%22%29%2C%20Nobunaga%20gave%20him%20a%20sword%20signifying%20bushi%20status.%20Yasuke%20served%20as%20Nobunaga%27s%20retainer%20and%20conversation%22&pg=PA72 |url-status=live}}</ref> Yasuke accompanied fought at the [[Honnō-ji Incident]] during which Nobunaga died. Captured, he was sent back to the [[Jesuits]].<ref name="Ando-2021"/> There are no subsequent records of his life.
According to ''Histoire Ecclesiastique Des Isles Et Royaumes Du Japon'', written by François Solier of the [[Society of Jesus]] in 1627, Yasuke came from [[Mozambique]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://books.google.co.jp/books?ei=eJjFUe3tK4SEkgXlxoGICQ&hl=ja&id=pQE_AAAAcAAJ&dq=Histoire+Ecclesiastique+Des+Isles+Et+Royaumes+Du+Japon&jtp=444 |title=Histoire Ecclesiastique Des Isles Et Royaumes Du Japon, vol.1, p.444.|accessdate=2013-06-22}}</ref>　Some other accounts claim that he came from the Congo.
Yasuke is mentioned in some of the 1581 letters of the Jesuits [[Luis Frois]] and Lorenço Mexia and in the 1582 Annual Report of the Jesuit Mission in Japan. These were published in ''Cartas'' in 1598. They are translated in full in Vols. 3-5 and 3-6 of ''Juuroku...'' and there is no reference to him in Frois's ''History''.


==Birth and early life==
Yasuke arrived in Japan in 1579 as the servant of the Italian Jesuit [[Alessandro Valignano]], who had been appointed the Visitor (inspector) of the Jesuit missions in the [[Indies]], meaning [[South Asia|South]] and [[East Asia]]. He accompanied Valignano when the latter came to the capital area in March 1581 and caused something of a sensation. In one event, several people were crushed to death while clamouring to get a look at him. Nobunaga heard about and expressed a desire to see him. Suspecting the black color of his skin to be paint in [[Sumi ink]], Nobunaga had him strip from the waist up and made him scrub his skin.<ref>1581 letters of the Jesuits Luis Frois and Lorenço Mexia</ref>
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 {{Nihongo|''[[Shinchō Kōki]]''|信長公記||Nobunaga Official Chronicle}}, [[Matsudaira Ietada (Fukōzu)|Matsudaira Ietada]]'s {{Nihongo|''Matsudaira Ietada Nikki''|松平家忠日記||Matsudaira Ietada Diary}}, [[Jean Crasset]]'s ''{{lang|fr|Histoire de l'église du Japon}}'' and [[François Solier]]'s ''{{lang|fr|Histoire Ecclesiastique des Isles et Royaumes du Japon}}''.<ref name="WARAKU web-2019">{{Cite web |date=30 August 2019 |title=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? |trans-title=Movie made in Hollywood! Who was Yasuke, a black man who served Nobunaga? |url=https://intojapanwaraku.com/rock/culture-rock/28746/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230919001439/https://intojapanwaraku.com/rock/culture-rock/28746/ |archive-date=19 September 2023 |access-date=12 September 2023 |website=WARAKU web |publisher=[[Shogakukan]] |language=ja}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shihan de Silva |first1=Jayasuriya |title=African Slavery in Asia : Epistemologies across Temporalities and Space |journal=紀要論文 / Departmental Bulletin Paper(1) |date=2023 |volume=72 |issue=特集 |pages=9–39 |url=https://kansai-u.repo.nii.ac.jp/records/23944}}</ref>


The earliest record of Yasuke dates to 1581.<ref name="Lockley-2024" /> He received his name from Oda Nobunaga.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tsujiuchi |first=Makoto |date=1998 |title=Historical Context of Black Studies in Japan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43294431 |url-status=live |journal=Hitotsubashi Journal of Social Studies |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=95–100 |issn=0073-280X |jstor=43294431 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240519003436/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43294431 |archive-date=19 May 2024 |access-date=19 May 2024}}</ref> His birth name is unknown.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Choudhury |first1=Srabani Roy |title=Japan and Its Partners in the Indo-Pacific Engagements and Alignment |date=May 12, 2023 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781000880526}}</ref>
Nobunaga's nephew gave him money. In May, Yasuke accompanied a group of Jesuits on a short trip to the province of [[Echizen Province|Echizen]]. Yasuke could speak some Japanese, so Nobunaga enjoyed talking with him and was also impressed by his strength. At Nobunaga's request, Valignano left Yasuke with Nobunaga before Valignano left central Japan later that year. Nobunaga treated Yasuke with such great favor that people in Azuchi even said he would probably be made a {{nihongo|lord|殿|tono}}. This did not happen, but he was given the position of samurai.


Based on Ōta Gyūichi's biography of Nobunaga, ''Shinchō Kōki'', Yasuke was estimated to be in his mid-twenties in 1581.<ref name="Lockley-2024" /> Accounts from his time suggest Yasuke accompanied [[Alessandro Valignano]] from "the [[East Indies|Indies]]", a term encompassing [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese overseas territories]] like Goa and Cochin (modern-day [[Goa]] and [[Kochi]] in India) as well as [[Portuguese Mozambique]].<ref name="Lockley-2024">{{Cite EBO|title=Yasuke|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yasuke|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716194719/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yasuke |archive-date=16 July 2024|access-date=2024-11-23|last=Lockley|first=Thomas|author-link=Thomas Lockley}}</ref> Researcher [[Thomas Lockley]] has also proposed that Yasuke might have originated from the [[Dinka people]] of what is now [[South Sudan]].<ref name="Lockley-2024" /><ref name="Lopez-Vera-2020" />Some historians believe that he was a slave when he arrived in Japan, only gaining his freedom when serving Nobunaga<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lopez-Vera |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXvgDwAAQBAJ&q=yasuke&pg=PT8 |title=A History of the Samurai: Legendary Warriors of Japan |publisher=[[Tuttle Publishing]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4629-2134-8 |pages=140–141 |access-date=16 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925085617/https://books.google.com/books?id=qXvgDwAAQBAJ&q=yasuke&pg=PT8#v=snippet&q=yasuke&f=false |archive-date=25 September 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Leupp |first1=Gary |title=Interracial Intimacy in Japan Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900 |date=2003 |publisher=Continuum |isbn=9780826460745}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last=Brockey | first=Liam Matthew | date=2022 | editor-last1=Millett | editor-first1=Nathaniel | editor-last2=Parker | editor-first2=Charles H. | title=Jesuits and Race | chapter=Jesuits and Unfree Labor in Early Modern East Asia | publisher=University of New Mexico Press | page=82 | isbn=9780826363671}}</ref> A 1581 letter by Jesuit Lourenço Mexia<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mexia |first=Lourenço |title=Segunda parte das cartas de Iapão que escreuerão os padres, & irmãos da Companhia de Iesus. Livro primeiro |publisher=Manuel de Lyra |year=1598 |location=Évora |page=17 |language=pt |chapter=Carta que o padre Lourenço Mexía escreueo de Funày ao padre Pero da Fonseca a oito de Outubro de 1581 |access-date=24 May 2024 |chapter-url=https://digitalis-dsp.uc.pt/bg5/UCBG-VT-18-9-17_18/UCBG-VT-18-9-17_18_item1/P680.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240524005319/https://digitalis-dsp.uc.pt/bg5/UCBG-VT-18-9-17_18/UCBG-VT-18-9-17_18_item1/P680.html |archive-date=24 May 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> and a later account from 1627 by [[François Solier]] refer to Yasuke as a ''[[Kaffir (racial term)#Historical usage|Cafre]]''.{{efn|name="Cafre"|Originally, the Portuguese used the word {{lang|pt|Cafre}}, plural {{lang|pt|Cafres}} — from [[Arabic language|Arabic]] {{transl|ar|kāfir}} ({{lang|ar|كافر}}), meaning "infidels", "renegade" — to designate the non-[[Bantu peoples|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sousa |first=Lúcio de |url=https://brill.com/display/title/37924 |title=The Portuguese Slave Trade in Early Modern Japan: Merchants, Jesuits and Japanese, Chinese, and Korean Slaves |date=2018 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-36580-3 |series=Studies in Global Slavery |volume=7 |publication-place=Leiden ; Boston |page=12 |access-date=19 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240719065044/https://brill.com/display/title/37924 |archive-date=19 July 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Arndt |first=Jochen S. |date=2018-01-02 |title=What's in a Word? Historicising the Term 'Caffre' in European Discourses about Southern Africa between 1500 and 1800 |journal=Journal of Southern African Studies |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=59–75 |doi=10.1080/03057070.2018.1403212 |issn=0305-7070}}</ref>}} 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 [[Muslims|Muslim]].<ref name="Morris-2018">{{Cite journal |last=Morris |first=James Harry |date=2 January 2018 |title=Christian–Muslim Relations in China and Japan in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09596410.2017.1401797 |url-status=live |journal=Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations |language=en |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=37–55 |doi=10.1080/09596410.2017.1401797 |issn=0959-6410 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240518232323/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09596410.2017.1401797 |archive-date=18 May 2024 |access-date=18 May 2024}}</ref><ref name="Thomas-2017">{{Cite book |last1=Thomas |first1=David |title=South and East Asia, Africa and the Americas (1600-1700) |last2=Chesworth |first2=John A. |date=2017 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-32683-5 |series=Christian-Muslim Relations. A Bibliographical History |volume=33 |page=335 |chapter=South-East Asia, China and Japan |doi=10.1163/9789004335585_007 |access-date=27 August 2024 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v9vzDQAAQBAJ&dq=Yasuke%20Islam&pg=PA335 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925085616/https://books.google.com/books?id=v9vzDQAAQBAJ&dq=Yasuke%20Islam&pg=PA335#v=onepage&q=Yasuke%20Islam&f=false |archive-date=25 September 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>
In June 1582, Nobunaga was [[Incident at Honnōji|attacked]] and committed [[seppuku]] in [[Honnō-ji]] in [[Kyoto]] by the army of [[Akechi Mitsuhide]]. Yasuke was also there at the time. Immediately after Nobunaga's death, Yasuke went to the lodging of Nobunaga's heir [[Oda Nobutada]] and tried to withdraw with him to Nijō Castle. When they were ambushed halfway, Yasuke fought alongside the Nobutada forces for a long time. Finally he surrendered his sword to Akechi's men. They asked Akechi himself what to do with him. Akechi said that the black man was a beast and did not know anything, and furthermore, he was not Japanese, so they should not kill him but take him to the church<ref name="nempo">{{cite book|last1=Murakami|first1=Naojiro|last2=Yanagitani|first2=Takeo|title=イエズス会日本年報 上 (新異国叢書)|trans_title=Society of Jesus - Japan Annual Report, first volume (New Foreign country book series)|year= 2002| publisher=Yushodo-shuppan|location=|language=Japanese|isbn=978-4841910001}}
</ref>. This was much to the relief of the Jesuits there who had worried about him. There is no information about him after that.


== Documented life in Japan ==
The "[[Lord Nobunaga Chronicle]]" (信長公記 Shinchōkōki) has a description of Yasuke's first meeting with Nobunaga. "On the 23rd of the 2nd month [March 23, 1581], a black page (黒坊主 "kuro-bōzu") came from the Christian countries. He looked about 26 [24 or 25 by Western count] or 27 years old; his entire body was black like that of an [[ox]]. The man was healthy and good-looking. Moreover, Nobunaga praised strength of Yasuke.
[[File:Odanobunaga.jpg|thumb|[[Oda Nobunaga]], late 16th-century depiction]]


In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary [[Alessandro Valignano]].<ref name="Leupp-1995" /><ref name="Crasset-1925">{{Harvnb|Crasset|1925|p=384 (number of frames 207)}}</ref> Valignano had been appointed the Visitor (inspector) of the [[Jesuit]] missions in the [[Indies]] (which at that time meant [[East Africa]], [[South Asia|South]], [[Southeast Asia|Southeast]], and [[East Asia]]). Valignano's party spent the first two years of their stay in Japan, mainly in [[Kyushu]].<ref name="WARAKU web-2019" />
After [[Matsudaira Ietada]] had met Yasuke in May 1582, Ietada journalized his looks. " His name was Yasuke. His height was 6 ''[[Shaku (unit)|shaku]]'' 2 sun (6&nbsp;ft. 2 in., or 188&nbsp;cm.). He was black, and his skin was like charcoal." If so, his tall stature would have been very imposing to the Japanese of the day.


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.<ref name="WARAKU web-2019" /> 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 {{lang|pt|Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Jesus escreverão dos reynos de Japão e China II}}<!-- NOT A TYPO. Title in pre-modern spelling. --> (1598), normally known simply as {{lang|pt|Cartas}}.<ref>1581 letters of the Jesuits Luís Fróis and Lorenço Mexia</ref><ref name="UC-1965">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/theycametojapan0000coop/page/70/mode/2up |title=They came to Japan : an anthology of European reports on Japan, 1543–1640 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |others=Center for Japanese Studies, University of California, Berkeley |year=1965 |isbn=978-0-520-04509-5 |editor-last=Cooper |editor-first=Michael |location=Berkley and Los Angeles |pages=71 |oclc=500169}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Ando-2021">{{Cite web |last=Ando |first=Kenji |date=6 May 2021 |title=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 |trans-title=What was the life of Yasuke, a black warrior who served Oda Nobunaga? The model for the Netflix anime Yasuke |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/entry/yasuke_jp_609347f7e4b09cce6c26a9b2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230919001439/https://www.huffingtonpost.jp/entry/yasuke_jp_609347f7e4b09cce6c26a9b2 |archive-date=19 September 2023 |access-date=12 September 2023 |website=[[HuffPost]] |publisher=BuzzFeed Japan |language=ja}}</ref>
Yasuke was also mentioned in the prototype of Shinchōkōki owned by Sonkeikaku Bunko ([[:ja:尊経閣文庫|尊経閣文庫]]). According to this, Yasuke was given his own house and a short [[katana]] by Nobunaga. Nobunaga also assigned him the duty of carrying his personal spear.<ref>「織田信長という歴史　『信長記』の彼方へ」、　[[Bensei Shuppan]]:Tokyo,　2009,　pp.311-312.</ref>


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.<ref name="Russell-2007">{{Cite journal |last=Russell |first=John G. |date=1 January 2007 |title=Excluded Presence: Shoguns, Minstrels, Bodyguards, and Japan's Encounters with the Black Other |url=https://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/71097/1/40_15.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Zinbun 40, Kyoto University |volume=40 |pages=15–51 |doi=10.14989/71097 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240517061605/https://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/71097/1/40_15.pdf |archive-date=17 May 2024 |access-date=19 May 2024 |quote=The most well-documented case is that Yasuke, a Mozambican brought to Japan by the Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano}}</ref><ref name="Leupp-1995" /> Luís Fróis's ''Annual Report on Japan'' states that Nobunaga also longed to see a black man, and summoned him.<ref name="Leupp-1995">{{Cite journal |last=Leupp |first=Gary P. |date=March 1995 |title=Images of black people in late medieval and early modern Japan 1543–1900 |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09555809508721524 |url-status=live |journal=Japan Forum |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=1–13 |doi=10.1080/09555809508721524 |issn=0955-5803 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201053947/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09555809508721524 |archive-date=1 February 2023 |access-date=19 May 2024}}</ref> Fr. [[Gnecchi-Soldo Organtino|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.<ref name="UC-1965" /> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lockley |first=Thomas |date=2024-07-16 |title=Yasuke |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yasuke |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925085715/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yasuke |archive-date=25 September 2024 |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]]}}</ref>{{sfn|Fujita|2005|pp=8–9}} Nobunaga's children attended the event and one of his nephews gave Yasuke money.{{Sfn|Lockley|2017|p=65}}
A 2013 investigation by ''Discovery of the World's Mysteries'' ([[:ja:日立 世界・ふしぎ発見!|世界ふしぎ発見]]) concluded that Yasuke was a [[Makua people|Makua]] named '''Yasufe'''.<ref>http://www.tbs.co.jp/f-hakken/bknm/20130608/p_1.html</ref>


The ''[[Shinchō Kōki]]'' manuscript describes Yasuke as follows:<ref name="本の万華鏡">{{Cite web |title=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 |trans-title=Part 14: Japan in Africa, Africa in Japan Chapter 2: Africans who came to Japan |url=https://www.ndl.go.jp/kaleido/entry/14/2.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231023031849/https://www.ndl.go.jp/kaleido/entry/14/2.html |archive-date=23 October 2023 |access-date=12 September 2023 |website=本の万華鏡 |publisher=[[National Diet Library]] |language=ja}}</ref><ref name="WARAKU web-2019" /><ref name="Russell-2007" />
==Popular culture==
Yasuke was featured in the children's [[Historical novel|historical fiction]] novel, ''Kuro-suke'' (くろ助 ''Kuro Suke'') by Yoshio Kurusu (1916-2001) with illustrations by Genjirou Minoda, published in 1943. It features a highly fictionalized and sympathetic account of Yasuke's life in Japan under Nobunaga. It received the [[Japanese Association of Writers for Children]] Prize in 1969.<ref name=Kurosuke>[http://www.iiclo.or.jp/100books/1946/htm-e/050main-e.htm International Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka, One Hundred Japanese Books for Children 1946-1979: Kuro-suke], retrieved on: June 30, 2007</ref>


{{blockquote
==References==
|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.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ōta |first=Gyūichi |title=The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga |date=2011 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-20162-0 |editor-last=Elisonas |editor-first=J. S. A. |location=Leiden and Boston |pages=385–386 |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004201620.i-510.8 |editor-last2=Lamers |editor-first2=J. P.}}</ref>
;Specific
}}
<references/>
;General
* Matsuda, Kiichi, ed., ''Jūroku-jūnanaseiki Iezusukai Nihon Hōkokushuu'', Hōdōsha, 1987-98.
*Ōta, Gyūichi, ''Shinchōkōki'', 1622.


[[File:Alessandro Valignano 2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Alessandro Valignano]], late 16th-century depiction]]
{{Persondata

| NAME = Yasuke
Nobunaga was impressed by Yasuke and asked Valignano to give him over.<ref name="Leupp-1995" /> He gave him the Japanese name ''Yasuke'',{{efn|The origin of his name is unknown.<ref name="Wright-1998">{{Cite journal |last=Wright |first=David |date=1998 |title=The Use of Race and Racial Perceptions Among Asians and Blacks: The Case of the Japanese and African Americans |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43294433 |url-status=live |journal=Hitotsubashi Journal of Social Studies |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=135–152 |issn=0073-280X |jstor=43294433 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230313173327/https://www.jstor.org/stable/43294433 |archive-date=13 March 2023 |access-date=19 May 2024 |quote=In 1581, a Jesuit priest in the city of Kyoto had among his entourage an African}}</ref>}} accepted him as attendant at his side and made him the first recorded foreigner to receive the rank of samurai.<ref name="Lockley-2024" /> Nobunaga granted Yasuke the honor of being his weapon-bearer and served as some sort of bodyguard<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Moon |first=Kat |date=2021-04-30 |title=The True Story of Yasuke, the Legendary Black Samurai Behind Netflix's New Anime Series |url=https://time.com/6039381/yasuke-black-samurai-true-story/ |access-date=2024-06-27 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Lopez-Vera-2020">{{Cite book |last=Lopez-Vera |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXvgDwAAQBAJ&q=yasuke&pg=PT8 |title=A History of the Samurai: Legendary Warriors of Japan |publisher=[[Tuttle Publishing]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4629-2134-8 |pages=140–141 |access-date=16 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925085617/https://books.google.com/books?id=qXvgDwAAQBAJ&q=yasuke&pg=PT8#v=snippet&q=yasuke&f=false |archive-date=25 September 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref> According to Lopez-Vera, he was occasionally allowed to share meals with the warlord, a privilege extended to few other vassals.
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
<ref name="Lopez-Vera-2020">{{Cite book |last=Lopez-Vera |first=Jonathan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qXvgDwAAQBAJ&q=yasuke&pg=PT8 |title=A History of the Samurai: Legendary Warriors of Japan |publisher=[[Tuttle Publishing]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-4629-2134-8 |pages=140–141 |access-date=16 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240925085617/https://books.google.com/books?id=qXvgDwAAQBAJ&q=yasuke&pg=PT8#v=snippet&q=yasuke&f=false |archive-date=25 September 2024 |url-status=live}}</ref>
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Samurai

| DATE OF BIRTH =
The ''Shinchō Kōki'' of the {{Nihongo|''Sonkeikaku Bunko''|尊経閣文庫}} archives states:
| PLACE OF BIRTH =

| DATE OF DEATH =
{{blockquote
| PLACE OF DEATH =
|It was ordered that the young black man be given a {{Nihongo|stipend|扶持|fuchi}}, named Yasuke, and provided with a {{Nihongo|sword|さや巻|sayamaki}}{{efn|According to Lockley, this refers to a short sword known as a ''koshigatana'', which he describes as a status symbol{{sfn|Lockley|2017|p=90}}}}, and a private residence. At times, he was also entrusted with carrying the master's weapons.<ref name="Kaneko-2009">{{Cite book |last=Kaneko |first=Hiraku |title=織田信長という歴史 － 「信長記」の彼方へ |date=2009 |publisher=[[Iwanami Shoten]] |isbn=978-4-585-05420-7 |page=311 |language=ja |trans-title=The History of Oda Nobunaga: Beyond the Shinchōki |quote=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、 |trans-quote=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}}</ref>
}}
}}

According to historians this was the equivalent to "the bestowing of warrior or '[[samurai]]' rank" during this [[Sengoku period |period]].<ref name="Lockley-2024" /> Yasuke was also granted servants according to Thomas Lockley.<ref name="Lockley-2024" /><ref>{{Cite web |last=Jozuka |first=Emiko |date=2019-05-20 |title=The legacy of feudal Japan's African samurai |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/19/asia/black-samurai-yasuke-africa-japan-intl/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406221038/https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/19/asia/black-samurai-yasuke-africa-japan-intl/index.html |archive-date=6 April 2023 |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=CNN |language=en}}</ref>

Father Lourenço Mexía wrote in a letter to Father Pero da Fonseca dated 8 October 1581:<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mexia |first=Lourenço |title=Segunda parte das cartas de Iapão que escreuerão os padres, & irmãos da Companhia de Iesus. Livro primeiro |date=1598 |pages=16–17 |chapter=Carta que o padre Lourenço Mexía escreueo de Funày ao padre Pero da Fonseca a oito de Outubro de 1581 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/segunda-parte-das-cartas-de-iapao-que-escreuerao-os-padres-irmaos-da-companhia-d/page/n37/mode/2up}}</ref>

{{blockquote
|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 (Fukōzu)|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 Province|Kai]].<ref name="Ando-2021" /><ref name="WARAKU web-2019" /> The description of 11 May 1582 states:

{{blockquote
|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 (unit)|shaku]]'' 2 ''bu'' [182.4&nbsp;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.{{efn|Midori Fujita says that during this trip they met local warlords such as {{ill|Shibata Katsutoyo|ja|柴田勝豊}}, [[Hashiba Hidekatsu]], and [[Shibata Katsuie]].}}{{sfn|Fujita|2005|pp=7–8}} They returned to Kyoto on May 30th.{{sfn|Fujita|2005|p=8}}

==Honnō-ji Incident==
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|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 clan|Akechi]]'s forces, and Nobunaga committed [[seppuku]].<ref name="Lockley-2024" /><ref name="Watanabe-2021">{{Cite web |last=Watanabe |first=Daimon |date=19 May 2021 |title=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 |trans-title=Who was Yasuke, the black warlord promoted by Oda Nobunaga? |url=https://news.yahoo.co.jp/expert/articles/d194e53c49a9b820a56755a998831cd6ec13f430 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230919001438/https://news.yahoo.co.jp/expert/articles/d194e53c49a9b820a56755a998831cd6ec13f430 |archive-date=19 September 2023 |access-date=12 September 2023 |website=Yahoo! News |publisher=[[Yahoo! Japan]] |language=ja}}</ref>

On the same day, after his lord's death, Yasuke joined the forces of [[Oda Nobutada|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.<ref name="Lockley-2024" /><ref name="Watanabe-2021" />

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.<ref name="Ando-2021" /><ref name="Ayukawa-2020">{{Cite web |last=Ayukawa |first=Tetsuya |date=4 October 2020 |title=信長に仕え本能寺の変を生き延びた"黒人侍" |trans-title=Black Samurai who served Nobunaga and survived the Honnoji Incident |url=https://dot.asahi.com/articles/-/83724 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230919001438/https://dot.asahi.com/articles/-/83724 |archive-date=19 September 2023 |access-date=12 September 2023 |website=[[Aera (magazine)|Aera]] |publisher=The Asahi Shimbun Company |language=ja}}</ref>

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.<ref name="WARAKU web-2019" /> However, there are no historical sources about him since then and it is not clear what happened to him afterwards.<ref name="Vaporis-2019">{{Cite book |last=Vaporis |first=Constantine Nomikos |title=Samurai. An Encyclopedia of Japan's Cultured Warriors |date=2019 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-4408-4270-2 |publication-place=Santa Barbara, California |page=114}}</ref>

==Possible depictions of Yasuke==
'''Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu'''
{{Multiple image | perrow=1 | total_width=180
| image1 = Black sumo wrestler in 17th century.jpg
| image2 = Sumō yūrakuzu byōbu.jpg
| footer = Detail from the {{transliteration|ja|[[commons:File:Sumō yūrakuzu byōbu.jpg|Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu]]}}, drawn in 1605. It has been suggested that the black man on the left is Yasuke.
}}
The {{Nihongo|''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.<ref name="Ayukawa-2020" />

'''Rinpa Suzuri-bako'''
[[File:Rinpa style ink-stone box.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Rimpa-style ''[[suzuri-bako]]'', depicting a dark-skinned man in Portuguese clothing]]

An ink-stone box ({{transliteration|ja|[[suzuri-bako]]}}) made by a [[Rinpa school|Rinpa]] artist in the 1590s, owned by {{ill|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.<ref name="Lockley-2017">{{Harvnb|Lockley|2017|pp=147–148}}</ref> However, it is not possible to determine with certainty whether any of these works depicts Yasuke.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lockley |first=Thomas |date=2024-07-16 |title=Yasuke |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yasuke |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716194719/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yasuke |archive-date=16 July 2024 |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

'''Nanban byōbu'''
[[File:Namban-17.jpg|thumb|upright|''Nanban byōbu'' (painted by Kano Naizen), Europeans and their African followers]]

A ''[[Nanban art|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.<ref name="Watanabe-2021" /> It was not uncommon for individual Africans to be brought to Japan as attendants of Jesuit missionaries.<ref name="Ando-2021" />

==In popular culture==

=== Literature ===
* In 1968, author Yoshio Kurusu and artist Genjirō Mita published a children's book about Yasuke titled {{Nihongo||くろ助|Kurosuke}}. The following year, the book won the {{Nihongo|Japanese Association of Writers for Children Prize|日本児童文学者協会賞|Nihon Jidō Bungakusha Kyōkai-shō}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=''Kuro-suke'' [Black One] |url=http://www.iiclo.or.jp/100books/1946/htm-e/frame050-e.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513180159/http://www.iiclo.or.jp/100books/1946/htm-e/frame050-e.htm |archive-date=13 May 2021 |access-date=13 May 2021 |website=International Institute for Children's Literature, Osaka}}</ref><ref name="Jozuka-2019">{{Cite web |last=Jozuka |first=Eimiko |date=19 May 2019 |title=African samurai: The enduring legacy of a black warrior in feudal Japan |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/19/asia/black-samurai-yasuke-africa-japan-intl/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406221038/https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/19/asia/black-samurai-yasuke-africa-japan-intl/index.html |archive-date=6 April 2023 |access-date=21 May 2019 |website=[[CNN]]}}</ref>
* Yasuke inspired the 1971 [[satirical]] novel {{Nihongo||黒ん坊|Kuronbō}} by [[Shūsaku Endō]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bridges |first=Will |title=Playing in the Shadows: Fictions of Race and Blackness in Postwar Japanese Literature |date=2020 |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=978-0-472-07442-6 |series=Michigan Monograph Series in Japanese Studies |volume=88 |page=137 |chapter=Genre Trouble: Breaking the Law of Genre and Literary Blackness in the Long 1970s |quote=... ''Kuronbō'' (Darkie), Endō Shūsaku's (1923–96) 1971 satirical more-fiction-than-history historical fiction of Yasuke and Nobunaga? |access-date=13 May 2021 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n9LGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513180157/https://books.google.com/books?id=n9LGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA137 |archive-date=13 May 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Berlatsky-2021">{{Cite web |last=Berlatsky |first=Noah |date=2 May 2021 |title=The Real Yasuke Is Far More Interesting Than His Netflix Show |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/02/the-real-yasuke-is-far-more-interesting-than-his-netflix-show/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601170214/https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/05/02/the-real-yasuke-is-far-more-interesting-than-his-netflix-show/ |archive-date=1 June 2023 |access-date=12 May 2021 |website=[[Foreign Policy]]}}</ref>
* Yasuke appears in the 2008 novel ''{{ill|Momoyama Beat Tribe|ja|桃山ビート・トライブ}}'' as one of the main characters. This novel was later made into a play in 2017.<ref>{{Cite web |script-title=ja:舞台「桃山ビート・トライブ Momoyama Beat Tribe」 |url=http://mottorekishi.com/momoyamabeat/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514071026/http://mottorekishi.com/momoyamabeat/ |archive-date=14 May 2021 |access-date=21 May 2021 |website=Mottorekishi.com}}</ref>

=== Manga and anime ===
* Yasuke appears as Alessandro Valignano's servant in volume 29 of the ongoing manga series ''[[The Knife and the Sword]]'' by Takurō Kajikawa.<ref name="Kayama-2021">{{Cite news |last=Kayama |first=Ryūji |date=29 April 2021 |script-title=ja:Netflixアニメ『Yasuke -ヤスケ-』の主人公・弥助、マンガの世界ではどう描かれてきた？ |url=https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/kayamaryuji/20210429-00230505/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409074008/https://news.yahoo.co.jp/byline/kayamaryuji/20210429-00230505 |archive-date=9 April 2023 |access-date=7 May 2021 |website=[[Yahoo! Japan]] |language=ja}}</ref>
*The ongoing time-travel manga series ''[[Nobunaga Concerto]]'' by Ayumi Ishii portrays Yasuke as a Black baseball player from the present day.<ref name="Kayama-2021" />
* Yasuke was the inspiration for [[Takashi Okazaki]]'s ''[[Afro Samurai]]'' franchise.<ref name="Jozuka-2019" />
* Yasuke plays a minor role in the 2005 to 2017 manga series {{transliteration|ja|[[Hyouge Mono]]}} by Yoshihiro Yamada.<ref name="Kayama-2021" />
* Yasuke is featured in the 2016 to 2020 manga series {{Nihongo||信長を殺した男|Nobunaga o Koroshita Otoko|"The Man Who Killed Nobunaga"}} by Akechi Kenzaburō and Yutaka Tōdō.<ref name="Kayama-2021" />
* Yasuke is the main protagonist in the 2021 [[Netflix]] anime series ''[[Yasuke (TV series)|Yasuke]]'', created by [[LeSean Thomas]] and animated by [[MAPPA]]. He is voiced by Jun Soejima in Japanese and [[LaKeith Stanfield]] in English.<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 April 2021 |title=Yasuke Anime Unveils Japanese Cast With New Teaser |url=https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2021-04-13/yasuke-anime-unveils-japanese-cast-with-new-teaser/.171694 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210414010039/https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2021-04-13/yasuke-anime-unveils-japanese-cast-with-new-teaser/.171694 |archive-date=14 April 2021 |access-date=30 May 2022 |website=[[Anime News Network]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Armstrong |first=Vanessa |date=1 April 2021 |title=Netflix's epic Yasuke trailer finds LaKeith Stanfield as a reluctant ronin in magic & mech-filled Japan |url=https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/netflix-yasuke-trailer |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210402050926/https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/netflix-yasuke-trailer |archive-date=2 April 2021 |access-date=3 May 2021 |website=[[Syfy Wire]] |language=en}}</ref>

=== Film ===
* In March 2017, [[Lionsgate]] announced plans for a live-action film about Yasuke titled ''Black Samurai''. <ref>{{Cite web |last=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |date=23 March 2017 |title=Lionsgate Taps 'Highlander' Creator Gregory Widen To Script Film On First Black Samurai |url=https://deadline.com/2017/03/lionsgate-taps-highlander-creator-gregory-widen-to-script-film-on-first-black-samurai-1202049635/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512021658/https://deadline.com/2017/03/lionsgate-taps-highlander-creator-gregory-widen-to-script-film-on-first-black-samurai-1202049635/ |archive-date=12 May 2021 |access-date=12 May 2021 |website=[[Deadline Hollywood|Deadline]]}}</ref> In May 2019, ''[[Deadline Hollywood|Deadline]]'' reported that the film, retitled ''Yasuke'', had left Lionsgate for [[Erik Feig#Picturestart|Picturestart]]. [[Chadwick Boseman]] signed on to portray Yasuke.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |date=7 May 2019 |title=Chadwick Boseman To Play African Samurai 'Yasuke' In Deal With Picturestart, De Luca Productions, Solipsist & X●ception Content |url=https://deadline.com/2019/05/chadwick-boseman-yasuke-african-samurai-black-panther-1202608769/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231032939/https://deadline.com/2019/05/chadwick-boseman-yasuke-african-samurai-black-panther-1202608769/ |archive-date=31 December 2020 |access-date=14 February 2021 |website=[[Deadline Hollywood|Deadline]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Vlessing |first=Etan |date=7 May 2019 |title=Chadwick Boseman to Star in Samurai Drama 'Yasuke' |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/chadwick-boseman-star-yasuke-samurai-drama-1208369/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512021658/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/chadwick-boseman-star-yasuke-samurai-drama-1208369/ |archive-date=12 May 2021 |access-date=12 May 2021 |website=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]}}</ref> As of September 2021, Picturestart's official website states that the film is "in development".<ref>{{Cite web |title=''Yasuke'': Not just an action movie, a cultural event. |url=https://www.picturestart.com/projects/yasuke/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513174536/https://www.picturestart.com/projects/yasuke/ |archive-date=13 May 2021 |access-date=22 September 2021 |website=[[Erik Feig#Picturestart|Picturestart]]}}</ref>
* 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.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |date=18 April 2019 |title=MGM Sets Film On 'Yasuke', History's Sole African Samurai |url=https://deadline.com/2019/04/yasuke-mgm-african-samurai-film-1201904332/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512060204/https://deadline.com/2019/04/yasuke-mgm-african-samurai-film-1201904332/ |archive-date=12 May 2021 |access-date=12 May 2021 |website=[[Deadline Hollywood|Deadline]]}}</ref>
*In the 2023 historical drama film [[Kubi (film)|Kubi]] directed by [[Takeshi Kitano]], Yasuke, in another portrayal by Jun Soejima, served as a retainer to Oda Nobunaga.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kubi 2023 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27502365/|access-date=5 October 2024 |website=IMDb}}</ref>
*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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Jackson |first=Angelique |date=10 April 2024 |title=Warner Bros. Lands 'Black Samurai' Movie From 'The Color Purple' Director Blitz Bazawule (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2024/film/news/warner-bros-black-samurai-yasuke-movie-blitz-bazawule-1235965842/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240410190751/https://variety.com/2024/film/news/warner-bros-black-samurai-yasuke-movie-blitz-bazawule-1235965842/ |archive-date=10 April 2024 |access-date=10 April 2024 |work=Variety}}</ref>

=== Video games ===
* The 2017 video game ''[[Nioh]]'' and its [[Nioh 2|2020 sequel]] feature a portrayal of Yasuke, voiced by [[Richie Campbell (actor)|Richie Campbell]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Yasuke Voice – Nioh (Video Game) |url=https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/video-games/Nioh/Yasuke/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408181125/https://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/video-games/Nioh/Yasuke/ |archive-date=8 April 2023 |access-date=30 May 2022 |website=behindthevoiceactors.com |postscript=. Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources.}}</ref>
* [[Koei Tecmo]]'s 2021 video game ''[[Samurai Warriors 5]]'' includes Yasuke as a playable character, voiced by Paddy Ryan.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Romano |first=Sal |date=23 April 2021 |title=''Samurai Warriors 5'' adds Nobunaga Oda (Mature), Mitsuhide Akechi (Mature), Hanzo Hattori, Sandayu Momochi, Magoichi Saika, and Yasuke |url=https://www.gematsu.com/2021/04/samurai-warriors-5-adds-nobunaga-oda-mature-mitsuhide-akechi-mature-hanzo-hattori-sandayu-momochi-magoichi-saika-and-yasuke |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408202427/https://www.gematsu.com/2021/04/samurai-warriors-5-adds-nobunaga-oda-mature-mitsuhide-akechi-mature-hanzo-hattori-sandayu-momochi-magoichi-saika-and-yasuke |archive-date=8 April 2023 |access-date=12 May 2021 |website=Gematsu}}</ref>
* A black samurai inspired by Yasuke, named Nagoriyuki, appears in [[Arc System Works]]' 2021 fighting game ''[[Guilty Gear Strive]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Walker |first=Ian |date=26 June 2021 |title=Guilty Gear Strive's Vampire Samurai Says Black Lives Matter |url=https://kotaku.com/guilty-gear-strive-s-vampire-samurai-says-black-lives-m-1847177569 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230722195924/https://kotaku.com/guilty-gear-strive-s-vampire-samurai-says-black-lives-m-1847177569 |archive-date=22 July 2023 |access-date=16 September 2021 |website=Kotaku}}</ref>
* Yasuke is set to be one of the protagonists of [[Ubisoft]]'s upcoming video game ''[[Assassin's Creed Shadows]]'',<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nszrx939ZVA |title=Assassin's Creed Shadows: Who Are Naoe and Yasuke? |date=15 May 2024 |publisher=Ubisoft |access-date=15 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240515161357/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nszrx939ZVA |archive-date=15 May 2024 |url-status=live |via=YouTube}}</ref> voiced by [[Tongayi Chirisa]].<ref>{{Cite tweet |number=1791036763848192225 |user=ZiFMStereo |title=American based Zimbabwean actor Tongayi Chirisa will feature in the upcoming Assassin's Creed:Shadows game where he voices the character Yasuke |author=[[ZiFM Stereo]] |date=16 May 2024 |access-date=6 August 2024}}</ref>

=== Music ===
* In February 2023, the Brazilian samba school [[Mocidade Alegre]] of the [[Carnival of São Paulo|São Paulo city carnival]] performed a [[Samba-enredo|samba song]] about Yasuke, winning that year's competition.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 February 2023 |title=Watch: Sao Paulo carnival champions tell the story of Mozambique's Yasuke, who was a samurai in Japan |url=https://clubofmozambique.com/news/watch-sao-paulo-carnival-champions-tell-the-story-of-mozambiques-yasuke-who-was-a-samurai-in-japan-234301/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230224234336/https://clubofmozambique.com/news/watch-sao-paulo-carnival-champions-tell-the-story-of-mozambiques-yasuke-who-was-a-samurai-in-japan-234301/ |archive-date=24 February 2023 |access-date=25 February 2023 |website=Club of Mozambique}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Black people in Japan]]
* [[List of foreign-born samurai in Japan]]
* [[Abram Petrovich Gannibal]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
{{Refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last=Cooper |first=Michael |title=They came to Japan: an anthology of European reports on Japan, 1543-1640 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1981 |isbn=978-0-520-04509-5 |editor-last=Cooper |editor-first=Michael |location=Berkeley |ref=none |orig-date=1965}}
* {{Cite book |last=Crasset |first=Jean |author-link=Jean Crasset |url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/971162 |title=日本西教史 (''Histoire de l'eglise du Japon'') |publisher=太陽堂書店 (Taiyōdō Bookshop) |year=1925 |volume=1 |language=ja |oclc=835444691 |access-date=11 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230919001438/https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/971162 |archive-date=19 September 2023 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Solier |first=François |author-link=François Solier |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k8553004?lang=EN |title=Histoire Ecclesiastique des Isles et Royaumes du Japon |publisher=Sébastien Cramoisy |year=1627–1629 |language=fr |id={{BnF|31381883n}} |ref=none |access-date=8 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240708140407/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k8553004?lang=EN |archive-date=8 July 2024 |url-status=live}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fujita |first=Midori |publisher=[[Iwanami Shoten, Publishers|Iwanami Shoten]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-4-00-026853-0 |language=ja |script-title=ja:アフリカ「発見」日本におけるアフリカ像の変遷 |trans-title=Discover Africa―History of African image in Japan (World History series)}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lockley |first=Thomas |date=February 2017 |publisher=[[Ohta Publishing]] |isbn=978-4-7783-1556-6 |translator-last=Yoshiko Fuji|url=https://www.publication.law.nihon-u.ac.jp/pdf/treatise/treatise_91/all.pdf |trans-title=The story of Yasuke: Nobunaga’s African retainer |script-title=ja:信長と弥助 本能寺を生き延びた黒人侍}}
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
* Matsuda, Kiichi, ed., {{transliteration|ja|Jūroku-jūnanaseiki Iezusukai Nihon Hōkokushuu}}, Hōdōsha, 1987–1998.
* Ōta, Gyūichi, {{transliteration|ja|[[Shinchō Kōki]]}}, 1622.

<!--==External links==
*[http://yasuke-san.com/ ''Yasuke: The Real AfroSamurai''] (documentary)
-->
{{People of the Sengoku period|state=autocollapse}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:16th-century African people]]
[[Category:Oda retainers]]
[[Category:Oda retainers]]
[[Category:Japanese people of African descent]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:People from Nampula Province]]
[[Category:Samurai]]
[[Category:Samurai]]
[[Category:Foreign samurai in Japan]]

Latest revision as of 22:45, 23 December 2024

For the anime based on him, see Yasuke (TV series).

Yasuke
Rimpa-style suzuri-bako (detail)
Bornc. 1555[1]
Portuguese Mozambique (most likely)
DiedAfter June 1582
Allegiance
Battles / wars

Yasuke (Japanese: 弥助 / 弥介, pronounced [jasɯ̥ke]) was a man of African origin who served as a samurai[2][3][4][5] to Oda Nobunaga from sometime in 1581 until the Honnō-ji incident in 1582. According to the few historical accounts, Yasuke first arrived in Japan in the service of 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. He was granted a sword, a house and a stipend, indicating samurai status.[7][8] Yasuke accompanied fought at the Honnō-ji Incident during which Nobunaga died. Captured, he was sent back to the Jesuits.[9] There are no subsequent records of his life.

Birth and early life

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][14]Some historians believe that he was a slave when he arrived in Japan, only gaining his freedom when serving Nobunaga[15][16][17] A 1581 letter by Jesuit Lourenço Mexia[18] 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.[21][22]

Documented life in Japan

Oda Nobunaga, late 16th-century depiction

In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano.[6][23] 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.[24][25] 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.[26][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.[25] 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.[27][28] Nobunaga's children attended the event and one of his nephews gave Yasuke money.[29]

The Shinchō Kōki manuscript describes Yasuke as follows:[30][10][26]

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.[31]

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[33][14] According to Lopez-Vera, he was occasionally allowed to share meals with the warlord, a privilege extended to few other vassals. [14]

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][35]

Father Lourenço Mexía wrote in a letter to Father Pero da Fonseca dated 8 October 1581:[36]

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][37] They returned to Kyoto on May 30th.[38]

Honnō-ji Incident

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][39]

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][39]

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][40]

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.[41]

Possible depictions of Yasuke

Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu

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

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.[40]

Rinpa Suzuri-bako

Rimpa-style suzuri-bako, depicting a dark-skinned man in Portuguese clothing

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.[42] However, it is not possible to determine with certainty whether any of these works depicts Yasuke.[43]

Nanban byōbu

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

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.[39] It was not uncommon for individual Africans to be brought to Japan as attendants of Jesuit missionaries.[9]

Literature

  • 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).[44][45]
  • Yasuke inspired the 1971 satirical novel Kuronbō (黒ん坊) by Shūsaku Endō.[46][47]
  • 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.[48]

Manga and anime

  • Yasuke appears as Alessandro Valignano's servant in volume 29 of the ongoing manga series The Knife and the Sword by Takurō Kajikawa.[49]
  • The ongoing time-travel manga series Nobunaga Concerto by Ayumi Ishii portrays Yasuke as a Black baseball player from the present day.[49]
  • Yasuke was the inspiration for Takashi Okazaki's Afro Samurai franchise.[45]
  • Yasuke plays a minor role in the 2005 to 2017 manga series Hyouge Mono by Yoshihiro Yamada.[49]
  • 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.[49]
  • 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.[50][51]

Film

  • In March 2017, Lionsgate announced plans for a live-action film about Yasuke titled Black Samurai. [52] In May 2019, Deadline reported that the film, retitled Yasuke, had left Lionsgate for Picturestart. Chadwick Boseman signed on to portray Yasuke.[53][54] As of September 2021, Picturestart's official website states that the film is "in development".[55]
  • 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.[56]
  • 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.[57]
  • 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.[58]

Video games

Music

See also

Notes

  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.[19][20]
  2. ^ The origin of his name is unknown.[32]
  3. ^ According to Lockley, this refers to a short sword known as a koshigatana, which he describes as a status symbol[34]
  4. ^ Midori Fujita says that during this trip they met local warlords such as Shibata Katsutoyo [ja], Hashiba Hidekatsu, and Shibata Katsuie.

References

  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. ^ 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.
  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.
  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. ^ 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.
  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.
  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.
  13. ^ Choudhury, Srabani Roy (12 May 2023). Japan and Its Partners in the Indo-Pacific Engagements and Alignment. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000880526.
  14. ^ a b c 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.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ Leupp, Gary (2003). Interracial Intimacy in Japan Western Men and Japanese Women, 1543-1900. Continuum. ISBN 9780826460745.
  17. ^ Brockey, Liam Matthew (2022). "Jesuits and Unfree Labor in Early Modern East Asia". In Millett, Nathaniel; Parker, Charles H. (eds.). Jesuits and Race. University of New Mexico Press. p. 82. ISBN 9780826363671.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ 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.
  21. ^ 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.
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Sources

Further reading

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