OFH Throwback- Episode #171- Who Was the African Samurai? (Part I)

Our Fake History

In this throwback episode Sebastian was inspired by a recent controversy around the Assassin's Creed videogame series to revisit his series on Yasuke, the African Samurai. Near the end of Japan’s “Warring States” period a remarkable visitor arrived in the country with a group of European Jesuit missionaries. He was a soldier originally from East Africa acting as a bodyguard for the ranking Jesuit in Japan. The Japanese would come to know this man as Yasuke and through a surprising series of events he would go on to become the first non-Japanese person to be recognized as a Samurai. Unfortunately, sources concerning the life of Yasuke are few. With only a handful of primary sources and a few colorful legends how much can we know for sure about the African Samurai? Tune-in and find out how Indian slave-soldiers, brawling saints, and the Wu-Tang Clan all play a role in the story.