![]() ![]() Nobunaga's nephew gave him a sum of money at this first meeting." On 14 May, Yasuke departed for Echizen Province with Fróis and the other Christians. The man was described as robust, black as a bull, and of fine character. It describes the meeting thus: "On the 23rd of the 2nd month, a black page ( 黒坊主, kuro-bōzu) came from the Christian countries. The Lord Nobunaga Chronicle ( 信長公記, Shinchō Kōki ) corroborates Fróis's account. When Nobunaga realized that the African's skin was indeed black, he took an interest in him. 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. 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. Nobunaga had him strip from the waist up and made him scrub his skin. When Yasuke was presented to Oda Nobunaga, the Japanese daimyō thought that his skin must have been colored with black ink. He accompanied Valignano when the latter came to the capital area in March 1581 and his appearance caused much interest with the local people. Yasuke arrived in Japan in 1579 in service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano, who 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). Yasufe was also used as a surname in Ethiopia. According to this theory, his original name might be the Amharic name Yisake or the Portuguese name Isaque, derived from Isaac. Beta Israel), Christian, or Muslim were often sold into slavery and called cafre by the Portuguese they were well‐built and skilled soldiers. Like Yasuke, Ethiopians who were not Jewish (i.e. Thomas Lockley suggested that this theory is most convincing. Ethiopian claims Īccording to another theory, Yasuke was from Ethiopia. Adult Dinka men had a ritual custom of drawing decorative patterns on their faces by tattooing, but no account of Yasuke having a face pattern was recorded. The Dinka people are among the tallest in Africa, and have significantly darker skin compared to Ethiopians, Eritreans, or Somalis for example. He was famous for his height and extremely dark skin color. Valignano employed him as bodyguard and valet.Īnother claim suggests that Yasuke was a Dinka from South Sudan. Thomas Lockley acknowledges it is possible that Yasuke was enslaved as a child and sent to India, where he could have been employed as a military slave or an indentured soldier, but that he likely obtained his freedom before meeting Valignano. Yao people were just coming into contact with the Portuguese at the time, which might account for his name: that is, Yao added to the common Japanese male name suffix of suke produces Yao-suke. Yasuke may have been a member of the Yao people, or from the more inland area of Mozambique. The Makua are not documented as having had any significant contact with the Portuguese based in Mozambique until 1585. However, the program provided little evidence for its conclusions. This name seems to be derived from the more popular Mozambican name Issufo. 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. They reached Japan in 1546 as shipmates or slaves who served Portuguese captain Jorge Álvares (not to be confused with another explorer of the same name who died in 1521). According to Fujita Midori, the first African people who came to Japan were Mozambican. This would be consistent with other accounts of Africans from Mozambique in Japan. Theories about early life Īccording to Histoire ecclésiastique des isles et royaumes du Japon, written by Jesuit priest François Solier of the Society of Jesus in 1627, Yasuke was likely from Mozambique. ![]() He was also present during the Honnō-ji Incident, the forced suicide of Nobunaga at the hands of his general Akechi Mitsuhide on 21 June 1582. Yasuke was one of the several Africans to have come with the Portuguese to Japan during the Nanban trade and is thought by some to have been the first African that Nobunaga had ever seen. In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano, Visitor of Missions in the Indies, in India. ![]() ![]() Yasuke ( 弥助 or 弥介) was a man of African origin who served as a retainer and weapon-bearer to the Japanese daimyō Oda Nobunaga. ![]()
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