Yasuke

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

According to historical accounts, Yasuke first arrived in Japan in the service of Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano. Nobunaga summoned him out of a desire to see a black man. Subsequently, Nobunaga took him into his service and gave him the name Yasuke. As a samurai, he was granted a sword, a house, and a stipend. Yasuke accompanied Nobunaga until his death and fought at the Honnō-ji Incident until the death of Oda Nobutada. Afterwards, Yasuke was sent back to the Jesuits. 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.

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

Based on Shinchō Kōki, Yasuke was estimated to be in his mid-twenties in 1581. 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. Researcher Thomas Lockley has also proposed that Yasuke might have originated from the Dinka people of what is now South Sudan. A 1581 letter by Jesuit Lourenço Mexia and a later account from 1627 by François Solier refer to Yasuke as a Cafre. 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.

Documented life in Japan

In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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, which resulted in the breaking down of the door of a Jesuit residence and a number of deaths and injuries among the Japanese. Luís Fróis's Annual Report on Japan states that Nobunaga also longed to see a black man, and summoned him. 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. 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. Nobunaga's children attended the event and one of his nephews gave Yasuke money.

The Shinchō Kōki manuscript describes Yasuke as follows:

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.

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

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), and a private residence. At times, he was also entrusted with carrying the master's weapons.

According to historians this was the equivalent to "the bestowing of warrior or 'samurai' rank" during this period. According to Lockley, Yasuke was also granted servants.

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

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. 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 approximately 5'10"] 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. They returned to Kyoto on May 30.

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.

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.

Japanese historians Midori Fujita and Ōwada Yasutsune speculate that Mitsuhide may have made this statement out of an inclination toward mercy, while Lockley suggests that it may have been an expedient to help Mitsuhide win over the Jesuits and Japanese Christians; there are no historical documents, however, to show definitively whether either was the case, or if statement was otherwise motivated (e.g. by disdain for foreigners, or for Yasuke in particular). It is certain that Yasuke did not die. Mitsuhide's vassals accompanied him to a Jesuit church, and Luís Fróis wrote five months after the Honnō-ji Incident thanking God that he did not lose his life. However, there are no historical sources about him since then and what happened to him afterwards is unknown.