Thomas Lockley - African Samurai: The True Story of a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan

Warrior.

Samurai.

Legend.

The remarkable life of historys first foreign-born samurai, and his astonishing journey from Northeast Africa to the heights of Japanese society.

When Yasuke arrived in Japan in the late 1500s, he had already traveled much of the known world. Kidnapped as a child, he had ended up a servant and bodyguard to the head of the Jesuits in Asia, with whom he traversed India and China learning multiple languages as he went. His arrival in Kyoto, however, literally caused a riot. Most Japanese people had never seen an African man before, and many of them saw him as the embodiment of the black-skinned (in local tradition) Buddha. Among those who were drawn to his presence was Lord Nobunaga, head of the most powerful clan in Japan, who made Yasuke a samurai in his court. Soon, he was learning the traditions of Japans martial arts and ascending the upper echelons of Japanese society.

In the four hundred years since, Yasuke has been known in Japan largely as a legendary, perhaps mythical figure. Now African Samurai presents the never-before-told biography of this unique figure of the sixteenth century, one whose travels between countries, cultures and classes offers a new perspective on race in world history and a vivid portrait of life in medieval Japan.

Advance Praise for African Samurai

The time has come for history to embrace the amazing story of Yasuke. In African Samurai words flex their muscles and pay tribute to a man of physical strength and combat skills. The writing is seductive and the reader sees the world through Yasukes eyes. There is much to learn about the wonder of his life, and his story is a sharp blade cutting into invisibility.

E. Ethelbert Miller

This book is not only the best account in English of Yasuke, the famous African samurai. Its also a delightful introduction to the vibrant and multicultural world of Asian maritime history. Written novelistically, with a light scholarly touch... Exciting and informative!

Tonio Andrade, author of The Gunpowder Age

Rarely do I read a book that challenges my worldview of history, but African Samurai certainly alters my understanding of African and Japanese history. African Samurai gripped me from the opening sentencea unique story of a unique man, and yet someone with whom we can all identify.

Jack Weatherford, author of Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

A frican Samurai sounds like a novel, a freaking amazing novel. But Yasuke is real, and Lockley and Girard bring him and his world to life with incredible research and style. Yasuke may have lived in the 1500s, but he is a hero for our modern world. Seriously...when is the movie?

Bret Witter, #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of The Monuments Men

Thomas Lockley is an associate professor at Nihon University College of Law in Tokyo, where he teaches courses about the international and multicultural history of Japan and East Asia. He has published several dozen research papers and articles, including the first in the world regarding the life of Yasuke. At the time of writing, 2018, he was Visiting Scholar at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He and his family live in Chiba, Japan.

Geoffrey Girard is the author of more than a dozen books. Born in Germany and shaped in New Jersey, he currently teaches in Ohio. He was selected for a Writers of the Future prize in 2003, and his debut novel was nominated for a Stoker Award. He has an MFA from Miami University.

African Samurai

The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan

Thomas Lockley
and
Geoffrey Girard

For my mother, Ruth,
who gave me a lifelong love of books,
and David, her husband and stalwart.

T.L.

Contents

An orphaned blossom
returning to its bough, somehow?
No, a solitary butterfly.

Arakida Moritake

When a lion runs and looks back,
its not that he is afraid.
Rather, he is trying to see
the distance he has covered.

African proverb

Prelude

Yasuke de gozaru

June 21, 1582

B efore daybreak, the Honn-ji Temple already glowed brightly. Flames engulfed its roof and walls in climbing waves of gold and crimson. Scattered around the main temple, another half-dozen smaller structures crackled and sparked like festival bonfires as thick smoke spread over Kyoto.

Deep within the growing fires, Lord Nobunaga and his small entourage had clustered together to fight it out. They only delayed the inevitable. They were outnumbered a hundred to one, surrounded by multiple lines of gunmen and archers. Their only defenses burning. The gunfire had paused and the traitor Akechi now ordered the advance of his veteran samurai from all sides into the smoke, wielding swords and spears. The vengeful lord would not let the fire complete his retribution.

Yasuke emerged from the inferno to face them. Hed managed to escape out the side of the burning temple. Lost within the confusion of the flames and smoke, he now faced only three men in the tightening circle of hundreds. With the blaze raging behind him, hed hoped to cut through them quickly. To somehow escape before another three, or thirty, blocked his escape.

The Japanese proverb gossip about a man and his shadow will appear was proving far too literal for the traitorous Akechi soldiers frozen before the foreign warrior. They knew Yasuke only from camp rumors. Nobunagas black man. The African samurai.

In person, they had never before seen a shadow so tall, a man so dark. Nobunagas bodyguard stood above them like an adult over children, their helmets barely reaching his chest. And his half-concealed face was more than dark-skinnedit was freshly smeared with ash and blood from the battle to appear more terrifying. He also, perhaps most daunting of all, clutched a samurais sword, its blade already lacquered in blood.

The three warriors had not expected this. Theyd imagined only vanquished foes, a few mortally wounded survivors ready for the final blow, or perhaps a cowering maiden fleeing the blaze. This was no terrified servant girl.

Yasuke loomed over them focused, undaunted. Wrathful.

One of the soldiers glanced at the sword in his own trembling hand and his look revealed all: it was not weapon enough to fell such a man.

Yasuke smiled grimly. Fear was a much-needed ally this night. This would be the last mission for his lord. The cloth bundle cinched at his hip sat heavily against Yasukes upper thigh as if urging him onward. Moments before, he had vowed to carry Nobunagas mortal remains to his lords heir, and hed not journeyed halfway across the world to break such vows.

The three soldiers remained spellbound, unable to move. Even words failed them.

Yasuke de gozaru, the African samurai challenged, stepping forward into attack position.

I am Yasuke.

PART ONE

Warrior

Chapter One

A Welcome to Japan

Y asuke arrived in late July. Even at sea, the air was warm and heavy and a steady, hot offshore wind drifted off the bordering coastline. He traveled on a