Rattibha

YASUKE, THE WORLD’S FIRST BLACK SAMURAI.
THREAD 🧵

Yasuke was in the service of the Japanese warlord Nobunaga Oda for a while.
His real name was "Yasufe" and hailed from the Makua tribe of Mozambique. He arrived in Japan in 1579 as a servant of the Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano.

Alessandro had been appointed the Visitor (inspector) of the Jesuit missions to South and East Asia, an extremely high position, so Yasuke must have been quite trustworthy.
He accompanied Valignano when he came to the capital area in 1581 and caused something of a sensation.

In one event, several people were crushed to death while clamouring to get a look at him, the black samurai. Nobunaga heard about him and expressed a desire to see him.

He suspected the black color of his skin to be paint so he had him strip from the waist up and made him scrub his skin.

Later that year, Yasuke accompanied a group of Jesuits on a short trip to the province of Echizen. Yasuke could speak some Japanese, Nobunaga was also impressed by his strength.

Yasuke was the world’s first Black samurai. When a 6-foot-tall African slave landed in Japan, he stuck out like a sore thumb. People lost all modesty and nearly caused a stampede trying to get a closer look. Such a sight was so foreign in Kyoto.

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he was one of the first Africans to ever arrive on the island that a powerful Japanese warlord ordered him to remove his clothes while a flock of servants tried to scrub the “black ink” off his skin.

At Nobunaga's request, Valignano left Yasuke with Nobunaga before Valignano left central Japan later that year. Nobunaga treated Yasuke with such great favor that people in Azuchi even said he would probably be made a 'tono' (lord).

This did not happen, but he was given the position of samurai (shikan). In June 1582, Nobunaga was attacked and killed in Honnō-ji in Kyoto by the army of Akechi Mitsuhide. Yasuke was also there at the time.

Immediately after Nobunaga's death, Yasuke went to the lodging of Nobunaga's heir Oda Nobutada and withdrew with him to Nijō Castle. When that too was attacked by Akechi, Yasuke fought alongside the Nobutada forces for a long time.

Yasuke reached the elite rank quicker than most due to his highly skilled fighting ability. Finally Yasuke surrendered his sword to Akechi's men. They asked Akechi himself what to do with him.

Akechi said that the black man was a beast and did not know anything, and also he wasnt Japanese, so they should not kill him but take him to the church [in Kyoto]