Yasuke (born c. 1555, Eastern Africa) was a valet and bodyguard of the Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano who rose to become a member of the inner circle of the warlord Oda Nobunaga, Japan’s first “great unifier.” Due to his favor with Nobunaga and presence at his side in at least one battle, Yasuke is commonly held by Japanese historians to be the first recorded “samurai” of foreign birth, although this has been disputed by some people.

Historical evidence of Yasuke

The primary source documents pertaining to Yasuke’s life are Portuguese-language Jesuit reports from the late 16th century (originally published in 1598) and works of the Japanese chroniclers Ōta Gyūichi and Matsudaira Ietada. A few additional documents are thought to pertain to Yasuke, such as a letter from Mozambique discovered in 2021 by Oka Mihoko, a professor at the University of Tokyo, but, as the subjects are not directly named, it is possible that they refer to other people. Furthermore, it is possible that other references to Yasuke have been lost or remain to be discovered in the future.

There is also some pictorial evidence thought to depict Yasuke on a range of lacquerware accessories such as chests, writing boxes, and gunpowder containers, although authenticating these pieces as genuine portraiture has not yet proved possible.

*Sumō yūrakuzu byōbu* (“Sumo Amusements Screen”)
Dating to approximately the early 17th century, this folding screen is thought by some historians to depict Yasuke wrestling with a Japanese man, surrounded by spectators—one of whom appears to be Oda Nobunaga, to the right, judging the wrestling match. The artwork is housed in Sakai City Museum in Ōsaka prefecture.

Sakai City Museum in Ōsaka prefecture holds a folding screen thought to have been created in the early 17th century by an unknown artist. It depicts an African person, thought by historians to be Yasuke, wrestling a Japanese man while surrounded by onlookers, many of whom are awaiting their turn to wrestle. One of the spectators appears to be Nobunaga. Artworks such as these show that Yasuke’s memory lived on in the Japanese popular consciousness for decades after the events for which he is remembered occurred.

Background and early years

Yasuke was born in Africa, possibly among the Dinka people of what is now South Sudan based on contemporaneous physical descriptions by Ōta and Matsudaira, though some secondary sources from the 17th century suggest the vicinity of modern-day Mozambique. The only report of Yasuke’s age is from Ōta’s Shinchōkōki (“The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga”), a biography of Nobunaga, which describes Yasuke in 1581 as being in his mid-20s, suggesting that his birth year was about 1555.

Yasuke first enters the historical record in 1581 as an attendant bodyguard of the Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano, who had been dispatched by Pope Gregory XIII to inspect the new Roman Catholic missions in Asia. Many sources say that Yasuke came with Valignano from “the Indies,” indicating that they probably met in Portuguese-controlled Goa or Cochin (modern-day Goa and Kochi in India), although in contemporary terms the Portuguese-held Island of Mozambique could also conceivably have been classed as “the Indies.”

Arrival in Japan

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Yasuke would have traveled with Valignano from Cochin to Malacca (modern-day Melaka in Malaysia), and from there to Macau (today a special administrative region of China), arriving in Japan at the port of Kuchinotsu, in modern-day Nagasaki prefecture, in May 1579.

Valignano spent his first two years in Japan inspecting the Jesuit mission facilities in the region of Kyūshū, establishing new rules and regulations and an economic basis for the continuation of the mission. As his bodyguard in a part of the world that was embroiled in civil war, Yasuke would have been with him for protection during these two years.

In service to Oda Nobunaga

Statue of Oda Nobunaga at Gifu station, Japan
Oda Nobunaga was a pivotal figure in Japanese history and is remembered as the country's first “great unifier.”

In the early months of 1581, Valignano was preparing to leave Japan to return west to Macau and the Indian subcontinent but required the permission of Japan’s most powerful warlord, Oda Nobunaga, to depart. Valignano, with Yasuke and a large entourage, traveled to the imperial capital, Miyako (modern-day Kyōto), for an audience with Nobunaga. En route, Yasuke enters the written historical record for the first time as the Jesuit procession was mobbed when leaving Sakai (in modern-day Ōsaka) prefecture and then on entry to Miyako. The Jesuit Luís Fróis, in a letter dated April 14, 1581, reported that buildings in Sakai were damaged by the sheer number of onlookers climbing them to catch a glimpse of Yasuke. Furthermore, in Miyako, the crowd’s jostling caused people to be crushed to death and nearly destroyed a brand-new Jesuit church.

The people of the region had never seen an African before and were astonished. The researcher Thomas Lockley (the author of this article) speculates that they may have seen him as a form of divine visitor due to the fact that the Buddha and other holy figures were often portrayed as black-skinned in Japan at this time.

Close to the Jesuit church where Yasuke had taken refuge was Honnō-ji, a temple which Nobunaga had established as his residence in Miyako. The sound of the riot reached Nobunaga’s ears, and he ordered its cause, Yasuke, to be brought before him. Ōta Gyūichi, present at the audience, reported that Yasuke had the “strength of ten men” and a good demeanor, but Nobunaga could not trust the color of his skin and had his retainers scrub him, suspecting that the black pigment was artificial. Realizing that Yasuke’s skin color was natural, Nobunaga called for three of his sons who happened to be nearby and held a banquet to welcome this astonishing visitor, finally rewarding Yasuke with a large sum of money.

In an unpublished but extant document from about this time, 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. This is where the claim that Yasuke was a samurai originates.

The Jesuit Lourenço Mexia, who was later with Yasuke in Nobunaga’s capital city, Azuchi (in modern-day Shiga prefecture), wrote that Nobunaga was very fond of and often talked with Yasuke. Mexia even reported rumors that Yasuke would be made tonō, or lord, which has been interpreted as meaning that he might have been in line for the bestowal of a fief.

From April to May 1582, the Oda clan launched an expedition against Takeda Katsuyori in the Kōshū region. The Oda army was led by Nobunaga’s eldest son, Nobutada, and upon victory Nobunaga—with Yasuke at his side—toured the new territory under his control. This is reported in the diary of Tokugawa Ieyasu vassal Matsudaira Ietada. Matsudaira observed Yasuke as Nobunaga traversed Tokugawa lands on his return to Azuchi. He recorded Yasuke’s name and height (6 shaku 2 sun, approximately 6 feet 2 inches [1.88 meters]) and furthermore confirmed that Yasuke had been granted a stipend.

The Honnō-ji Incident

On the eve of the Honnō-ji Incident of June 21, 1582, Nobunaga was traveling to another major front against the Mori clan in what is now Okayama prefecture with about 30 close followers, one of whom was Yasuke. The group ended up staying at Honnō-ji, the same temple where Yasuke and Nobunaga had met the previous year.

Early the next morning, the group woke to the smell of smoke and gunshots. Akechi Mitsuhide, a senior Nobunaga vassal, had suddenly rebelled and attacked his liege lord with an army of about 13,000 men. Nobunaga and his entourage, including Yasuke, fought bravely, but when the temple was engulfed in flames, Nobunaga had no choice but to perform seppuku.

Instead of escaping, Yasuke rushed to the Oda clan’s new lord, Nobunaga’s eldest son, Nobutada, who was barricaded inside the nearby Nijō-goshō imperial villa. Yasuke and the remaining Oda men fought to the last, but their efforts were in vain as they were mercilessly bombarded with volleys of fire from the roof of an adjacent residence. Yasuke was captured by Mitsuhide’s vassals, but Mitsuhide saw him and released him, describing him in bestial terms. Mitsuhide suggested that because Yasuke wasn’t Japanese, his life should be spared; he was not expected to perform seppuku as had Nobutada and the other defeated samurai.

Yasuke was accompanied by Mitsuhide’s vassals to the Jesuit church, and it is reported that the missionaries gave thanks to God for his deliverance. This is the last confirmed record of Yasuke.

Legacy and modern-day pop culture

The Jesuit reports from Japan were translated into Japanese by the renowned scholar Murakami Naojiro and published in 1943/44. In the second half of the 20th century his life slowly started to become better known, first in postwar Japan and then globally.

Starting in 1968 with Kurusu Yoshio’s prizewinning children’s historical fiction book, Kurosuke, Yasuke has increasingly become the inspiration for fictional characters in novels, plays, works of art, anime, and manga based upon his life story. These include the protagonist of Okazaki Takashi’s Afro Samurai series of manga and anime and a number of other characters of African Japanese or African American origin.

In 2021 Netflix released an anime series titled Yasuke, created by LeSean Thomas, and since 2019, there have been persistent rumors that a Hollywood studio will make a full-length movie.

The world of video games has seen a resurgence of interest in Yasuke, starting in 2013 with Nobunaga’s Ambition (Koei Tecmo). Yasuke also featured prominently in Nioh (Koei Tecmo, 2017) and inspired the character of Nagoriyuki in Guilty Gear Strive (Arc System Works, 2021). Notably, his role as a protagonist in Assassin’s Creed Shadows (Ubisoft, expected release November 2024) has caused significant controversy due to debate about historical accuracy.

Thomas Lockley

Oda Nobunaga

Japanese warrior

Also known as: Kichihōshi, Saburō

Written byArimichi Ebisawa

Fact-checked byThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Quick Facts

Original name:: Kichihōshi

Later:: Saburō

Born:: 1534, Owari province, Japan

Died:: June 21, 1582, Kyōto (aged 48)

House / Dynasty:: Fujiwara family

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What was Oda Nobunaga’s early life like?

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How did Oda Nobunaga die?

Oda Nobunaga (born 1534, Owari province, Japan—died June 21, 1582, Kyōto) was a Japanese warrior and government official who overthrew the Ashikaga (or Muromachi) shogunate (1338–1573) and ended a long period of feudal wars by unifying half of the provinces in Japan under his rule. Nobunaga, as virtual dictator, restored stable government and established the conditions that led to the unification of the entire country in the years following his death.

Rise to prominence

Nobunaga was the son of Oda Nobuhide, a minor daimyo (feudal lord) in Owari province (now part of Aichi prefecture) in central Honshu. Nobuhide controlled the area around the city of Nagoya and amassed wealth and a respectable force of military retainers. He died in 1551, and Nobunaga succeeded to his father’s estate and soon overpowered his relatives and the principal family of the province. By 1560 he had proved his brilliant strategic gifts by bringing all of Owari under his sway. In that same year he astonished all of Japan by defeating the huge forces of Imagawa Yoshimoto, one of the major daimyo in the provinces bordering Owari. This was his first step toward unification of the country.

Stouthearted, audacious, and autocratic, Nobunaga was quick to seize on any promising new invention. He was the first of the daimyo to organize units equipped with muskets. He also brought under his control the agricultural production of the fertile Owari plain, as well as the rising merchant class of Nagoya in the centre of the plain. With an economic base thus assured, he planned to advance on the Kinki district, the prosperous area to the west that included Kyōto, Japan’s capital and long the centre of power in the country, and the port city of Ōsaka to the southwest of the capital.

In 1562 he entered into an alliance with Tokugawa Ieyasu, a capable daimyo of the neighbouring province of Mikawa (also now in Aichi), and in 1567 Nobunaga, feeling that he had secured his rear flank, moved his base of operations north to the city of Gifu. In the following year he supported Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who hoped to become shogun (military dictator) after the assassination of his elder brother, the former shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru. Nobunaga marched on Kyōto and made Yoshiaki shogun. Soon, however, he fell out with Yoshiaki, and at last in 1573 he deposed him.

That event marked the end of the Ashikaga shogunate, even though it nominally lasted until Yoshiaki’s death in 1597. In 1576, in order to consolidate his hold on the area, Nobunaga built for his headquarters a magnificent castle at Azuchi on the shore of Lake Biwa near the capital. That castle and the district of Kyōto called Momoyama, where another stunning edifice was later built by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Nobunaga’s protégé and successor, lent their names to the brief but culturally brilliant Azuchi-Momoyama period (1573–1600) of Japanese history.

Consolidation of power

Oda Nobunaga
Oda Nobunaga, woodblock print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, late 19th century.

Meanwhile, Nobunaga promoted a new economic policy by abolishing the collection of tolls on the roads and from the guilds, both of which had been privileged sources of income for the local daimyo. He also strengthened his military forces, and in 1571 he destroyed the monasteries of Enryaku Temple on Mount Hiei outside of Kyōto, the headquarters of the Tendai (Chinese Tiantai) sect of Japanese Buddhism. The sect had been a traditional power in politics and religion since the beginning of the Heian period in the 8th century.

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In the meantime, the fanatically religious Ikkō sect held out against Nobunaga’s attempts to unify the country by retaining the loyalty of minor local lords, extending its secular power, by aiding Yoshiaki, and by allying its members with the powerful daimyo of many provinces. In all, Nobunaga fought the Ikkō sect directly and indirectly for more than 10 years. It was only through the mediation of the imperial court at Kyōto that Nobunaga in 1580 finally achieved the surrender of the fortress-monastery of Hongan Temple at Ōsaka, the most important political and military centre of the Ikkō. After capturing a great number of manors and temple estates, Nobunaga established his hold on the samurai and the wealthier farmers by investing them with the newly won estates. He thus gained a firm political and economic basis, which he strengthened by reducing even further the traditional influence of the Buddhist temples.

Once established in Kyōto, he extended his protection to the Jesuit missionaries and assisted them in building a church in the capital and a seminary in Azuchi. He did so not only because of his interest in European culture but because he regarded the encouragement of Christianity as a further means of restraining the influence of the Buddhist temples. Nobunaga was a nonbeliever; his attitude toward Christianity was frankly political. It was also through a Jesuit missionary that, in 1581, Nobunaga met the man whom he would give the name Yasuke and grant the status of samurai, making Yasuke the first recorded foreigner to achieve that status.

By the spring of 1582 Nobunaga had conquered central Japan and was attempting to extend his hegemony over western Japan. In June of that year, however, while he was at Honnō Temple in Kyōto, Akechi Mitsuhide, one of his vassals, rebelled against him. Nobunaga was wounded during the attack, and, with no chance of escape, he committed seppuku (ritual self-disembowelment). By the time of his death Nobunaga had succeeded in bringing nearly half of the provinces of Japan under his control. He had overthrown the old order of fractionalized power held by the daimyo and had paved the way for the political and economic unification of the country, which was completed by Hideyoshi by the 1590s and formalized by Ieyasu at the beginning of the 16th century with the establishment of the Edo (Tokugawa) shogunate (1603–1867).

Arimichi Ebisawa The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

samurai

Japanese warrior

Also known as: buke, bushi

Written and fact-checked byThe Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Article History

Samurai with sword

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Key People:: Saigō Takamori; Ōkubo Toshimichi; Maebara Issei

Related Topics:: Japan; seppuku; shogunate; Bushidō; rōnin

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What does samurai mean?

When did samurai exist?

Why did samurai commit seppuku?

seppuku
Gen. Akashi Gidayu preparing to commit seppuku in *Akashi Gidayu*, print no. 83 in the *Aspect of the Moon* series by Yoshitoshi Tsukioka, c. 1890.

samurai, member of the Japanese warrior caste. The term samurai was originally used to denote the aristocratic warriors (bushi), but it came to apply to all the members of the warrior class that rose to power in the 12th century and dominated the Japanese government until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.

Kusakabe Kimbei: *Samurai in Armour*
*Samurai in Armour*, hand-coloured albumen silver print by Kusakabe Kimbei, c. 1870s–90s; in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Emerging from provincial warrior bands, the samurai of the Kamakura period (1192–1333), with their military skills and deep pride in their stoicism, developed a disciplined culture distinct from the earlier, quiet refinement of the imperial court. During the Muromachi period (1338–1573) under the growing influence of Zen Buddhism, the samurai culture produced many such uniquely Japanese arts as the tea ceremony and flower arranging that continue today. The ideal samurai was supposed to be a stoic warrior who followed an unwritten code of conduct, later formalized as Bushidō, which held bravery, honour, and personal loyalty above life itself; ritual suicide by disembowelment (seppuku, also called hara-kiri) was institutionalized as a respected alternative to dishonour or defeat.

samurai in full armour
A samurai in full armour depicted on a Japanese plate, 1850–75; in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

People in a gym in martial arts training exercising Taekwondo, the trainer has a black belt.

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In the early part of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), the samurai, who accounted for less than 10 percent of the population, were made a closed caste as part of a larger effort to freeze the social order and stabilize society. Although still allowed to wear the two swords emblematic of their social position, most samurai were forced to become civil bureaucrats or take up some trade during the 250 years of peace that prevailed under the Tokugawa shogunate (military dictatorship). Moreover, the rise of the cities and the expansion of a merchant economy during early 18th-century Japan led to the flowering of a vibrant urban culture, which eventually superseded the austere life-style of the samurai. At the same time, the economic position of the samurai, who lived primarily on fixed stipends, was being eroded. In spite of their high social rank, a growing number of samurai families suffered impoverishment by the end of the Tokugawa period.

Samurai
Samurai on horseback, drawing, late 19th century.

Lower-ranking samurai, eager for advancement and realizing a new sense of national purpose in the face of encroachment by the Western powers during the mid-19th century, took part in the movement against the Tokugawa regime that resulted in the Meiji Restoration of 1868. The samurai class lost its privileged position when feudalism was officially abolished in 1871. Discontented former samurai rose in rebellion several times during the 1870s, but these revolts were quickly suppressed by the newly established national army.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Michael Ray.

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