Among those whose names have been ascertained, he is the oldest African to appear in Japanese historical records, but his confirmed period of stay in Japan was very short - about three years, from 17 August 1579 to 21 June 1582.[6]
There are few historical documents on Yasuke, with only fragmentary accounts in the letters of the Jesuit missionaryLuís Fróis, Ōta Gyūichi's Shinchō Kōki (信長公記, Nobunaga Official Chronicle),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.[5]
The name Yasuke was given to him by Nobunaga. His real name is unknown, and it is also unclear what he was called before that.[a] Few details are known about him, including his date of birth, family structure, place of birth, ethnicity and native language.[6]
However, there seems to be no doubt that he had African roots, and Luís Fróis wrote of Yasuke as Cafre[b] in his Letters.[5] Jean Crasset's Histoire de l'eglise du Japon states that Yasuke was a servant brought from India when Alessandro Valignano came to Japan, while François Solier's Histoire Ecclesiastique Des Isles Et Royaumes Du Japon states that he was from Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique).[1][9][10][11] It is not certain where Valignano and Yasuke met, but it seems likely that it was either in Mozambique or India, as Valignano had made a stopover in Mozambique before coming to Japan, followed by a long stay in India.[c][6][12][13] It is not clear whether Yasuke was a slave or a follower, but if he was enslaved he likely obtained his freedom before meeting Valignano.[14][15]
In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano, Visitor of Missions in the Indies, in India.[6][9]
He 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.[5]
Entering 1581, Valignano decided to visit the capital 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.[5] These events are recorded in a 1581 letter of the Jesuit Luís Fróis 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.[16][17] 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.[6][13][4]
Luís Fróis's Annual Report on Japan states that Nobunaga also longed to see a black man, and summoned him, and Fr. Organtino took him to him and that Nobunaga, seeing a black man for the first time, refused to believe that his skin colour was natural and not applied later, and made him remove his clothes from the belt upwards. Valignano describes how Nobunaga, thinking that he might have ink on his body, made him take off his clothes and wash his body, but the more he washed and scrubbed, the darker his skin became.[4][18]
The Shinchō Kōki manuscript of the Sonkeikaku Bunko [ja] archives describes him as follows:
A black bōzu (黒坊主, kuro-bōzu)[d] from the Christian country has arrived. He appears to be 26 or 7 years old. The blackness of his body is like that of a bull, and he is healthy and of fine physique. Moreover, he has the strength of more than ten men. The padres came with him and thanked Lord Nobunaga for his permission to proselytise.[3][5][19]
After this Nobunaga took a great liking to him and asked Valignano to give him over.[6][20]
He gave him the Japanese name Yasuke,[e] made him a retainer at his side.[5][13] Nobunaga's nephew gave him a sum of money at this first meeting.[21]
The Shinchō Kōki states:
A black man was taken on as a vassal by Nobunaga-sama and received a stipend. His name was decided to be Yasuke. He was also given a short sword and a house. He was sometimes made to carry Nobunaga-sama's tools.[4]
Fróis wrote in the annual report of the Jesuits:
The black man understood a little Japanese, and Nobunaga never tired of talking with him. And because he was strong and could do a few tricks, Nobunaga took great pleasure in protecting him and had him roam around the city of Kyoto with an attendant. Some people in the town thought that Nobunaga might make him as tono ("lord").[f]
After becoming a vassal of the Oda clan, Yasuke followed Nobunaga to Azuchi in Omi Province, where he was appointed a koshō (page).[5][22]
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.[4][5] 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 sun (188 cm or 6 feet, 2 inches) tall. His name was said to be Yasuke.
On 14 May, Yasuke departed for Echizen Province with Fróis and the other Christians.[g][23] They returned to Kyoto on 30 May.[24]
The Honnō-ji Incident
On 21 June 1582, Oda Nobunaga was betrayed and attacked by his senior vassal Akechi Mitsuhide in the Honnō-ji Incident and Yasuke was serving near Nobunaga at this time.[20]
After his lord committed suicide, he went to Nijō Shin-gosho, the residence of Nobunaga's heir, Nobutada, where he engaged the Akechi forces.[13][20]
Luís Fróis's Annual Report on Japan contains the following statements:
A black man whom the visitor [Valignano] sent to Nobunaga went to the house of Nobunaga's son after his death and was fighting for quite a long time, when a vassal of Akechi approached him and said, 'Do not be afraid, give me that sword', so he gave him the sword. The vassal asked Akechi what should be done with the black man, and he said, 'A black slave is an animal (bestial) and knows nothing, nor is he Japanese, so do not kill him, and place him in the custody at the cathedral of Padre in India.[4][22]
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.[4][25]
As a result, Yasuke was sent to the Nanban-ji and treated by Jesuit missionaries.[4][5]
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.[5]
However, there are no historical sources about him since then and it is not clear what happened to him afterwards.[4][22]
Information rumoured to be Yasuke
Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu, drawn in 1605.
Rimpa-style suzuri-bako, depicting a dark-skinned man in Portuguese clothing.
Nanban byōbu (painted by Kano Naizen), Europeans and their African followers.
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: some believe that this samurai is Oda Nobunaga or Toyotomi Hidetsugu, while others believe that the dark-skinned man wrestling in the centre is Yasuke and the one to his right, playing the role of a gyōji, is Oda Nobunaga.[22][25][26]
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 high-class clothing. Thomas Lockley argues that it could be Yasuke, as he does not appear to be subservient to the Portuguese in his Portuguese costume.[27]
However, there is no hard evidence for them and they are all speculation. Therefore, it is not possible to determine whether the person in those byōbu and historical documents is Yasuke or not.[22]
Human trafficking was rampant in the world at the time, and it was not uncommon for Africans and other people from European colonial areas to come to Japan as followers and slaves of Jesuit missionaries and visitors.[4][6]Nanban Byōbu (南蛮屏風) painted by Kanō Naizen, a painter active in the same period, depicts dark-skinned followers holding parasols over Europeans.[20]
Other references to people who appear to be African can be found in various records from other parts of Japan relating to this period, such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi rewarding the Cafre[b] for their dancing.[3][22]
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).[28][29][30]
Since the late 20th century, various Japanese "period drama" (jidaigeki) television series and manga series have been produced about Yasuke.[28]
Yasuke appears in the 2008 novel Momoyama Beat Tribe (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.[33]
Yasuke plays a minor role in the 2005 to 2017 manga series Hyouge Mono by Yoshihiro Yamada.[34]
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.[34]
Yasuke appears as Alessandro Valignano's servant in volume 29 of the ongoing manga series Nobunaga no Shefu (信長のシェフ, "Nobunaga's Chef") by Takurō Kajikawa.[34]
The ongoing time-travel manga series Nobunaga Concerto by Ayumi Ishii portrays Yasuke as a Black baseball player from the present day.[34]
In March 2017, Lionsgate announced plans for a live-action film about Yasuke titled Black Samurai. Michael De Luca and Stephen L'Heureux would serve as producers in a co-production between De Luca Productions and Solipsist Films, with Gregory Widen as the screenwriter.[36] In May 2019, Deadline reported that the film, retitled Yasuke, had left Lionsgate for Picturestart, with Doug Miro replacing Widen as the screenwriter. Chadwick Boseman signed on to portray Yasuke in the film and to serve as a co-producer through his production company, Xception Content.[37][38] In August 2020, Boseman died of colon cancer.[39] As of September 2021, Picturestart's official website states that the film is "in development".[40]
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.[41]
^Thomas Lockley suggests that Nobunaga may have heard Valignano's group pronounce his name Isake (Jewish name Isaac) and named him Yasuke, or that Nobunaga may have learnt that Yasuke was from the Yao tribe of northern Mozambique and added suke, a common Japanese male name, to his name, making it Yaosuke (Yasuke). In 2013, a Japanese TBS television program titled Sekai Fushigi Hakken! (世界ふしぎ発見!, "Discovery of the World's Mysteries!") suggested that Yasuke was a Makua named Yasufe.[7] However, these are their speculations and have no basis.[8]
^ abCafre is a word of Arabic origin and referred to the inhabitants of the area around the east coast of Africa (Swahili Coast) at the time.
^At the time, ships from Europe to India often stopped in Mozambique when passing the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of Africa to buy slaves there, in addition to supplying food and drinking water.[4]
^Murakami, Naojiro; Yanagitani, Takeo (2002). イエズス会日本年報 上 [Society of Jesus – Japan Annual Report, First Volume]. New Foreign Country (in Japanese). Maruzen-Yushodo. ISBN978-4-8419-1000-1.
^ abcdefg"戦国時代にアフリカから日本へ? 織田信長に仕えた黒人従者「弥助」とは【前編】" [Did he come to Japan from Africa during the Sengoku period? Who is Yasuke, a black servant who served Oda Nobunaga? [Part 1]]. excite news (in Japanese). Excite Japan. 27 September 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
^Crasset 1925, pp. 427–430 (number of frames 228–230)
^ abcd"日本初の黒人武士・弥助〜信長に仕え本能寺で巻き込まれたその後は?" [Japan's first black warrior, Yasuke-What happened after he served Nobunaga and got caught up in Honnoji?]. Busho Japan (in Japanese). Tokyosha. 22 February 2023. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
^ abcdWatanabe, Daimon (19 May 2021). "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" [Who was Yasuke, the black warlord promoted by Oda Nobunaga?]. Yahoo! News (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
^ abcdef"戦国時代にアフリカから日本へ? 織田信長に仕えた黒人従者「弥助」とは【後編】" [Did he come to Japan from Africa during the Sengoku period? Who is Yasuke, a black servant who served Oda Nobunaga? [Part 2]]. excite news (in Japanese). Excite Japan. 29 September 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
^ abAyukawa, Tetsuya (4 October 2020). "信長に仕え本能寺の変を生き延びた"黒人侍"" [Black Samurai who served Nobunaga and survived the Honnoji Incident]. Aera (in Japanese). The Asahi Shimbun Company. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
^"Yasuke Voice - Nioh (Video Game)". behindthevoiceactors.com. Retrieved 30 May 2022. Check mark indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources.((cite web)): CS1 maint: postscript (link)
Fujita, Midori (2005). アフリカ「発見」日本におけるアフリカ像の変遷 [Discover Africa―History of African image in Japan (World History series)] (in Japanese). Iwanami Shoten. ISBN978-4-00-026853-0.
Oda clan, Oda Nobunaga
