To everyone who came to my blog from overseas. First of all, thank you for coming to my blog. I know almost 100% of you came here because this blog have mentioned Studio Ghibli, but if you don't mind, please check out this article.
There is an issue that is currently confusing, angering, and saddened many Japanese people. It is a pernicious fabrication revealed by information about a character in a game called "Assassin's Creed Shadows," which is scheduled to be released in November 2024.
And what is worse, he had also made up an absurd fabrication that the medieval Japanese used black slaves and recommended them to the whites. It was too ridiculous. Black people rarely came to Japan during the Middle Ages. It was geographically impossible. Unless Westerners brought them to Japan as slaves, Japanese never saw black people. That is why Yasuke was so rare to the Japanese of that time that Nobunaga made him his personal subordinate.
The game will feature a character named Yasuke, a black samurai. Herein lies the problem. To the surprise of the Japanese, he is actually being promoted abroad as a real-life hero from medieval Japan.
Let me give you a simple answer. The black man Yasuke did exist and was a favored servant of Nobunaga Oda. This is what the documents say. However, it is unlikely that he was a samurai, and even more unlikely that he was a war hero.
How can we say that? It is because there are extremely few documents describing him at all. In all the reliable sources written about Yasuke, there is less than one page that mentions him. And there is nothing in there to confirm that he was a samurai.
He was brought to Japan as a slave by Jesuit missionaries and met Nobunaga while being made a spectacle in Japan. Nobunaga took a liking to him and invited him into his service, but he stayed with Nobunaga for only one year and four months. Why? Because Nobunaga was betrayed by Mitsuhide Akechi and committed suicide. Yasuke was then saved from being killed for "insulting reasons," which is not a word one would use against a samurai. And after that, his whereabouts are unknown.
Think about it, could a black man who was not fluent in Japanese, who was under Nobunaga's control for only one year and four months, and who was seen for the first time by many Japanese at the time, have been the "skilled swordsman" and "samurai" that you imagine him to be? And could a black man like him, who was new to the Japanese people at the time, be a Samurai and then disappear?
The answer should be NO. The way of the Samurai is not so easy.
There are a few Japanese who say he was a samurai. One historian recently said, “Yasuke was "definitely" a samurai." And unfortunately, this statement seems to have spread abroad. But he is now being criticized by many Japanese. The reason is that all the evidence for his claim is extremely unreliable, and he is making assumptions that cannot be considered the words of a historian. And so far, no historian fully agrees with his claims. To add to this, his definition of a samurai is not that of a “battle hero” as people overseas might think, but refers to a very lowly being as well. In other words, even the Japanese who say "Yasuke was a samurai" are referring to him as a samurai "in the very broadest sense of the word," and yet they are not referring to him as a high-ranking warrior.
The fact that Nobunaga offered him his house and sword shows that Nobunaga was very fond of Yasuke. But that does not mean he was a samurai. This is because Nobunaga usually gave away houses and swords to people he liked. On one occasion, he gave houses and swords to 14 sumo wrestlers who entertained him. So how can we say that these sumo wrestlers became Samurai through this reward?
So why is there a widespread misunderstanding of Yasuke abroad? Because an Englishman, Thomas Lockley, has spent years spreading lies about Yasuke abroad without the Japanese ever finding out. And the reason is that many media outlets believed his fabrication of "Yasuke, the Black Samurai." He gradually spread his delusion to the world, He spoke and wrote differently in front of the Japanese and in front of the overseas people, and crafted his despicable fabrications undetected for years. His fabrications are currently a big problem in Japan. This was gradually revealed by examining the "strange Japan" published by Assassin's Creed Shadows.
This is precisely the point that the Japanese are confused, angry, and saddened. There is a small chance that Yasuke was a samurai "in the broad sense of the word." that is a slight possibility, though. And the Japanese enjoyed and welcomed the fiction that depicts Yasuke as a "brave swordsman." It is a great honor to have people from overseas enjoy Japanese culture.
But as a result, Yasuke was presented abroad as if he was a samurai as a historical fact, and at the same time, the next is the real, true problem, problem is the outrageous fabrication of Japanese involvement in black slavery in connection with Yasuke. If this is the case, then the Japanese, unfortunately, have to deny all of this.
Let me repeat. It is highly unlikely that Yasuke was a samurai as "skilled swordsman" expected by people overseas, and the historian who have claimed "Yasuke was a samurai" have been denied and condemned for his imaginations by many Japanese. And it was geographically impossible for the medieval Japanese to use black people as slaves, and there is not a single reference to the use of black people as slaves.
I sincerely feel sorry for this situation that I have to write such a thing. We Japanese have seen countless "incorrect Japan". We laugh in dismay, but seldom protest when we see them. However, this time we strongly deny and protest. Yasuke, the first black samurai in Japan, is interesting to imagine. We wanted to welcome it. That's why we're really disappointed.
