The story of Yasuke, the "Black Samurai"

 The story of Yasuke, the "Black Samurai" 

A new Netflix anime series called YASUKE is a fictional (ETA: I've seen the first ep now...definitely very very fictional :D ) story based on the life of a man who really existed. Note that I have not seen the anime yet; this essay is about what is known about the real life person who is known as Yasuke 弥助, who lived in the 16th century. 

Yasuke first appears in European historical documents (there are other written accounts of his existence in Japanese, but they are rather sketchy) as the slave of Alessandro Valignano  or Valignani, a Jesuit priest and missionary. Valignano's meeting with Oda Nobunaga, the dominant warlord in Japan of the latter 16th century, is noted in a book called "Histoire ecclesiastique des Isles et Royaumes du Japon" (The History of Christianity of the Islands and the Royalty of Japan), published in 1627 (so well after the events recorded) by a Frenchman called François Solier. Europeans had first made contact with the Japanese in the mid 16th century (most say the first formal contact was in 1541), so by then it seems people were more or less used to seeing white men walking around. But there were several incidents recorded of Black men from Africa accompanying their European masters around Japan as their slaves or servants, and because they looked so different, caused such a sensation that there were even accidents and riots caused by mobs eager to take a look at them. Nobunaga allegedly heard about these incidents but was skeptical unless he could see one of these men from Africa himself, and demanded that one be brought to him. We don't know if the man that Valignano brought with him was in response to that request, but in any case he did bring his slave along to that meeting. 

We don't really know for sure where the man was originally from, but most people believe he was probably from Mozambique. He had been purchased or entered the service of Valignano in some way in India, so he must have somehow ended up there - possibly originally captured as a slave or sold into slavery into his homeland. When he was presented to Nobunaga, he was said to be around 26 or 27, as "black as sumi ink", and "around 6 shaku 2 sun in height" or about 186 cm. In those days the average height of a Japanese man was around 155 cm, so you can imagine what a sensation he, and his fellow Africans, must have caused. It's said that Nobunaga was fascinated by this man, and could not believe his skin color was natural. This is of course all recorded decades after the encounter so we don't know if any of this actually happened, but it's said he demanded that the man be stripped down to the waist and scrubbed to prove his color didn't come off (it didn't of course). Nobunaga then demanded they say that the man be given to him as a servant, which Valignano did. We don't how willingly this exchange was made, or what the man himself thought about it. 

But things did turn out surprisingly well for the man, who was given the name Yasuke 弥助 by Nobunaga. He is said to have spoken some Japanese already, so he may have been in Japan for some time before his encounter with the great warlord. He was also very strong and easily beat every opponent in sumo. Nobunaga entrusted him enough to have him carry his sword for him in a battle, and apparently he was a very close retainer, even given the privilege of carrying his own short sword - which in those days was a major honor. It was said that he would shortly be given his own lands and castle and become a lord himself, although we again, we don't know if that would have happened. (Note that some non-Japanese sources say he 'would have become a samurai'; for all intents and purposes, he was already a samurai, or a retainer and follower of Nobunaga, by this time.) 

In 1582, one of the most infamous incidents in Japanese history happened. Called Honnoji no Hen, or the Honno Temple Incident, it is when one of Nobunaga's top generals, Akechi Mitsuhide, suddenly turns on him and assaults him as he was resting with a small group of retainers at Honno Temple in Kyoto. Rather than being captured alive, Nobunaga commited suicide and ordered his body to be burned (it is said). Just as another sign of how trusted Yasuke has become by this time, he was one of the small group of retainers with Nobunaga at Honno Temple. Indeed, he was the one who ran to inform Nobunaga's son what had happened, so that the son could escape. It is even said that he was entrusted to with Nobunaga's head (which the Akechi side looked for but couldn't find) or his death mask, although these again are tales told well after the fact so we don't know. 

What we do know is that Yasuke was one of the Nobunaga followers who was captured by the Akechi side, but he was not executed. There are some differing theories as to why his life was spared, which tend to shift with the reputation of the instigator of the revolt, Akechi Mitsuhide. If you follow NHK's year's big period dramas (the Taiga Dorama), you'd know that Akechi was the hero of last year's series. He has become a kind of revised antihero these days and his reputation has been reversed from his former one as a traitor to being a thoughtful, tortured soul who wanted the best for the nation. (Nobunaga's reputation has fluctuated quite a bit over the years too. One thing for sure is that he was a very mercurial, even cruel man who could be quite a bully. The fact the he remained fond of Yasuke given that temperament can be seen as being quite amazing. Or...who knows, maybe he would have gotten tired of Yasuke eventually. We really don't know.) 

Back to Akechi Mitsuhide. Previously the story was that he had said that Yasuke was not worthy of killing because he was not quite human, being not Japanese. Recent theories go that he said that in order to spare Yasuke's life, because Yasuke had fought hard by his lord's side and ran to inform his son and all of that, showing himself to be a true samurai. 

After the Honno Temple Incident, Yasuke disappears from history. That's when the legends about him begin. Some say he made his way down to Kyushu, where there was a friendly enclave of lords who had converted to Christianity and would be willing to shelter him. Some say he became a sort of shadow assassin (although it's hard to fathom how you could 'hide' someone who towered about 40 cm above everyone else), and so on. 

This is just a theory that I have, but it's quite possible that the story of Yasuke combined the stories of several men from Africa who had found their way to Japan as slaves of the Europeans. There was a real Yasuke for sure, but maybe there were several other Yasuke-like characters too. Again, we don't know. 

The story of Yasuke has fascinated both historians and writers of fiction in Japan and elsewhere. There are several books about him, he appears in movies, and of course the new anime. 

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A couple of footnotes: 

The way the Nobunaga treated Yasuke might be surprising, unless you know about Nobunaga's character. Although he could be one tough SOB to work for apparently, who was prone to fits of rage if you angered him, he was also very good at finding talent. The prime example of this is the man who succeeded him as the top honcho in the land, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi started out as a farmer, a mere foot soldier in Nobunaga's army, but though hard work and talent and quite a lot of what you might call sucking up, he caught Nobunaga's eye and rose rapidly up the ranks, eventually becoming one his  top aides. For a lowly farmer to advance so high was unprecedented for the times. It could be that Nobunaga was one of those rare lords who was able to see beyond class and appearance (it's also said Hideyoshi was ugly and small, which accounted for the nickname used for him by Nobunaga, 'Saru' or 'Monkey') to see the true worth of a man.

The other thing is, we can't forget the presence of the Europeans, specifically at the time the Portuguese and the Spanish. For them, the Japanese were just as inherently inferior to themselves as the Africans like Yasuke were, and indeed by the time Nobunaga was killed, there was also a thriving trade in kidnapped Japanese slaves, sold to places like Macau and the Philippines. Indeed, the slave trade in Japanese people was one of the reasons why Hideyoshi clamped down on the activities of the Spanish and the Portuguese, which eventually lead decades later to the country being almost totally shut down to outside contact, especially with European nations with the exception of the Dutch, by the Tokugawa shogunate. I don't know if Nobunaga sensed this disdain that the European missionaries held him in, and if that made him feel sympathy for Yasuke. Again, you never know.

The man depicted on the left inside the lid of this writing box dating from the 1590s is thought to be Yasuke.