was a

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

of African origin who served

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Azuchi-Momoyama periods. He was the and regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. He is sometimes referred as the "Demon Daimyō" and "Demo ...

between 1581 and 1582, during the

Sengoku period The was the period in History of Japan, Japanese history in which civil wars and social upheavals took place almost continuously in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kyōtoku incident (1454), Ōnin War (1467), or (1493) are generally chosen as th ...

, until Nobunaga's death. According to historical accounts, Yasuke first arrived in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in the service of Italian Jesuit

Alessandro Valignano Alessandro Valignano, S.J., sometimes Valignani (Chinese: 范禮安 ''Fàn Lǐ’ān''; February 1539 – January 20, 1606), was an Italian Jesuit priest and missionary born in Chieti, part of the Kingdom of Naples, who helped supervise the i ...

. 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 A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...

. Yasuke accompanied Nobunaga until his death and fought at the

Honnō-ji Incident The was the assassination of Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga at Honnō-ji, a temple in Kyoto, on 21 June 1582 (2nd day of the sixth month, Tenshō 10). Nobunaga was on the verge of unifying the country, but died in the unexpected rebellion of ...

until the death of Oda Nobutada. Afterwards, Yasuke was sent back to the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. 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 The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionary Luís Fróis, , Matsudaira Ietada's ,

Jean Crasset Jean Crasset (b. at Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, Dieppe, France, 3 January 1618; d. at Paris, 4 January 1692) was a French Jesuit theologian, known as an ascetical writer. Life He entered the Society of Jesus in 1638, and became professor of humaniti ...

's ' and

François Solier François Solier (1558 – 16 October 1628) was a French Jesuit, head of the college of Limoges, preacher, translator of spiritual works into French and author of historical books. Biography François Solier was born in Brive in 1558. He ente ...

's '. 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

from "the

Indies The East Indies (or simply the Indies) is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The ''Indies'' broadly referred to various lands in the East or the Eastern Hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found i ...

", a term encompassing Portuguese overseas territories like Goa and Cochin (modern-day

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

and

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

in India) as well as

Portuguese Mozambique Portuguese Mozambique () or Portuguese East Africa () were the common terms by which Mozambique was designated during the period in which it was a Portuguese Empire, Portuguese overseas province. Portuguese Mozambique originally constituted a str ...

. Researcher Thomas Lockley has also proposed that Yasuke might have originated from the

Dinka people The Dinka people () are a Nilotes, Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Mangalla-Bor to Renk, South Sudan, Renk, in the region of Bahr el Ghazal (region of South Sudan), Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nil ...

of what is now

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

. A 1581 letter by Jesuit Lourenço Mexia and a later account from 1627 by

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 Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

Documented life in Japan

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

. Valignano had been appointed the Visitor (inspector) of the

missions in the

(which at that time meant

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

, and

East Asia East Asia is a geocultural region of Asia. It includes China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan, plus two special administrative regions of China, Hong Kong and Macau. The economies of Economy of China, China, Economy of Ja ...

). Valignano's party spent the first two years of their stay in Japan, mainly in

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's Japanese archipelago, four main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands (i.e. excluding Okinawa Island, Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands, Ryukyu (''Nansei'') Ryukyu Islands, Islands ...

. Entering 1581, Valignano decided to visit the capital

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

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 (1598), normally known simply as . 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, breaking down the door of a Jesuit residence in the process and ended in 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: Alessandro Valignano 2

Nobunaga was impressed by Yasuke and asked Valignano to give him over. He gave him the Japanese name ''Yasuke'', accepted him as 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 served as some sort of bodyguard. According to 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 archives states: According to historians this was the equivalent to "the bestowing of warrior or '

' 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: Yasuke next appears in historical records on 11 May 1582. ''The Ietada Diary'' of Matsudaira Ietada, a vassal of

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

, mentions that Yasuke accompanied Nobunaga on his inspection tour of the region after he destroyed his long-time arch-enemy, the

Takeda clan The was a Japanese samurai clan active from the late Heian period until the late 16th century. The clan was historically based in Kai Province in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture. The clan reached its greatest influence under the rule of Taked ...

of Kai. The description of 11 May 1582 states: According to Fujita, on 14 May 1581, Yasuke departed for

Echizen Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the area that is today the northern portion of Fukui Prefecture in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Echizen bordered on Kaga Province, Kaga, Wakasa Province, Wakasa, Hida Province, Hida, and Ōmi Provin ...

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 , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period. Mitsuhide was originally a bodyguard of the last Ashikaga shogunate, Ashikaga ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later, one of ...

Honnō-ji is a temple of the Nichiren branch of Buddhism located in Kyoto, Japan. Honnō-ji incident Honnō-ji is most famous for the Honnō-ji incident, the assassination of the powerful warlord Oda Nobunaga, which occurred there on 21 June 1582. Nob ...

temple in

, an event known as the

Honnō-ji incident The was the assassination of Japanese daimyo Oda Nobunaga at Honnō-ji, a temple in Kyoto, on 21 June 1582 (2nd day of the sixth month, Tenshō 10). Nobunaga was on the verge of unifying the country, but died in the unexpected rebellion of ...

. 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 , also known as , is a form of Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment. It was originally reserved for samurai in their code of honor, but was also practiced by other Japanese people during the Shōwa era (particularly officers near ...

. 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. 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. 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.

Possible depictions of Yasuke

Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu The , 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 regarding the work: some believe that this samurai is Oda Nobunaga or

Toyotomi Hidetsugu was a during the Sengoku period of Japan. He was the nephew and retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the unifier and ruler of Japan from 1590 to 1598. Despite being Hideyoshi's closest adult, male relative, Hidetsugu was accused of atrocities and at ...

, while others believe that the dark-skinned man wrestling in the center is Yasuke and the one further to the right of the wrestlers (not depicted in the detailed image), playing the role of a

gyōji A is a referee employed by the Japan Sumo Association, responsible for a variety of activities which concern the organisation of the sport in general and the refereeing of matches, as well as the preservation of Sumo#Professional sumo, profess ...

(referee), is Oda Nobunaga. Rinpa Suzuri-bako An ink-stone box () made by a Rinpa artist in the 1590s, owned by , depicts a black man wearing Portuguese high-class clothing. Author Thomas Lockley argues that it could be Yasuke, as he does not appear to be subservient to the other Portuguese man in the work. Namban-17

Nanban byōbu A '' Nanban byōbu'' painted by Kanō Naizen, a painter active in the same period, depicts dark-skinned followers holding parasols over Europeans as well as a spear. It was not uncommon for individual Africans to be brought to Japan as attendants of Jesuit missionaries.

In popular culture

Literature

* In 1968, author Yoshio Kurusu and artist Genjirō Mita published a children's book about Yasuke titled . The following year, the book won the . * Yasuke inspired the 1971

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

novel by Shūsaku Endō. * Yasuke appears in the 2008 novel ' as one of the main characters. This novel was later made into a play in 2017.

Manga and anime

* Yasuke appears as Alessandro Valignano's servant in volume 29 of the ongoing manga series '' The Knife and the Sword'' by Takurō Kajikawa. *The ongoing time-travel manga series '' Nobunaga Concerto'' by Ayumi Ishii portrays Yasuke as a black baseball player from the present day. * Yasuke was the inspiration for Takashi Okazaki's ''

Afro Samurai is a Japanese '' seinen'' ''dōjinshi'' manga series written and illustrated by manga artist Takashi Okazaki. It was originally serialized irregularly in the avant-garde ''dōjinshi'' manga magazine '' Nou Nou Hau'' from November 1998 to ...

'' franchise. * Yasuke plays a minor role in the 2005 to 2017 manga series by Yoshihiro Yamada. * Yasuke is featured in the 2016 to 2020 manga series by Akechi Kenzaburō and Yutaka Tōdō. * Yasuke is the main protagonist in the 2021

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

anime series '' Yasuke'', created by LeSean Thomas and animated by

MAPPA is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Nakano, Tokyo (formerly in Suginami, Tokyo). Founded in 2011 by Madhouse co-founder and producer Masao Maruyama, it has produced anime works including '' Terror in Resonance'', '' Yuri!!! on I ...

. He is voiced by Jun Soejima in Japanese and

LaKeith Stanfield LaKeith Lee Stanfield (born August 12, 1991) is an American actor. He made his feature film debut in '' Short Term 12'' (2013), for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. He received further recognition for his roles in the fil ...

in English.

Film

* In March 2017,

Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...

announced plans for a live-action film about Yasuke titled ''Black Samurai''. In May 2019, '' Deadline'' reported that the film, retitled ''Yasuke'', had left Lionsgate for Picturestart.

Chadwick Boseman Chadwick Aaron Boseman (; November 29, 1976August 28, 2020) was an American actor. Through his two-decade career, he appeared in a number of projects spanning both blockbuster and independent films, and received various accolades, including ...

signed on to portray Yasuke. The project appears to have been cancelled after Boseman's death on August 28, 2020. As of May 2025, Picturestart's official website states that the film is "in development". * In April 2019,

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

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. The script was included in The Black List of most liked unproduced scripts for 2021. *In the 2023 historical drama film '' Kubi'' directed by

Takeshi Kitano , also known as in Japan, is a Japanese comedian, actor, and filmmaker. While he is known primarily as a comedian and TV host in his native Japan, he is better known abroad for his work as a filmmaker and actor as well as TV host. During hi ...

, Yasuke, in another portrayal by Jun Soejima, served as a retainer to Oda Nobunaga. *In April 2024, a new feature film

spec script A spec script, also known as a speculative screenplay, is a non-commissioned and unsolicited screenplay. It is usually written by a screenwriter who hopes to have the script optioned and eventually purchased by a producer, production company, or ...

titled ''Black Samurai'' written by Blitz Bazawule was acquired by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

for Bazawule to direct.

Video games

* Yasuke is a recurring minor character in

Koei Tecmo is a Japanese video game, amusement and anime holding company created in 2009 by the merger of Koei and Tecmo. Koei Tecmo Holdings owns several companies, the biggest one of those being its flagship video game developer and publisher Koei Tecmo ...

's ''

Nobunaga's Ambition is a series of turn-based grand strategy role-playing simulation video games developed and published by Koei (now Koei Tecmo). The original game was one of the first in its genre, being released in March 1983 in Japan. ''Nobunaga's Ambitio ...

'' series, appearing in the 1992 video game ''Nobunaga's Ambition: Tales of the Conquerors'' as a character added in the expansion pack, and returning in 2013's ''Nobunaga's Ambition: Sphere of Influence'' as a recruitable officer. *

's 2017 video game '' Nioh'' and its 2020 sequel features a portrayal of Yasuke as a

boss fight In video games, a boss is a significantly powerful non-player character and computer-controlled enemy created as an opponent to players. A fight with a boss character is referred to as a boss battle or boss fight. Bosses are generally far stro ...

, voiced by Richie Campbell. *

's 2021 video game '' Samurai Warriors 5'' includes Yasuke as a playable character, voiced by Paddy Ryan. * A black samurai inspired by Yasuke, named Nagoriyuki, appears in

Arc System Works , commonly referred to as ArcSys, is a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher located in Yokohama. Founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, the company is known for arcade 2D fighting game franchises, including ''Guilty Gear ...

' 2021 fighting game '' Guilty Gear Strive''. * Yasuke is one of the protagonists of

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

's video game ''

Assassin's Creed Shadows ''Assassin's Creed Shadows'' is a 2025 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft. The game is the fourteenth major installment in the ''Assassin's Creed'' series and the successor to '' Assassin's Creed Mirage'' ...

'', voiced by Tongayi Chirisa.

Board games

* ''Senjutsu: Battle for Japan'' features Yasuke as a playable character in the "When Two Worlds Collide" character pack.

Music

* In February 2023, the Brazilian samba school Mocidade Alegre of the São Paulo city carnival performed a samba song about Yasuke, winning that year's competition.