From Mozambique to the inner circle of Oda Nobunaga. The African warrior of Sengoku Japan — a document of the world's interconnectedness in the sixteenth century.
Origins of Yasuke
Arrival in Japan
In Nobunaga's Service
Battle, Betrayal & Disappearance
Legacy & Memory
Yasuke's life is evidence that the African-Asian-European entanglement was a lived reality. He stands at the intersection of three continents in the century when the modern world was being made.
His story reaches us through Jesuit letters, Japanese chronicles, and a single diary entry. All were written by others. None speak in his voice. The archive is silent where we most wish for detail.
Yasuke received the functional and symbolic attributes of a warrior in Nobunaga's direct service. Whether the later Edo-period definition of "samurai" applies is a legitimate scholarly debate.