Foreign-Born Samurai: Yasuke, Adams, and Others in Japan's Warrior Class

A handful of foreigners became samurai in Japan despite its rigid caste system. Yasuke, an African brought by Italian missionary Alessandro Valignano, arrived in 1579 and caught the attention of warlord Oda Nobunaga in Kyoto in 1581. Nobunaga hired him as a personal bodyguard and weapon-bearer; Yasuke fought at the Honnō-ji Incident in June 1582. William Adams, an English navigator born in Gillingham in 1564, reached Japan in 1600 on the Dutch ship De Liefde. Tokugawa Ieyasu appointed him hatamoto, granted land in Hemi (now Yokosuka), a salary, and the Japanese name Miura Anjin. Adams served as an advisor until his death in 1620. Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn Yaesu, another De Liefde survivor, also became hatamoto under Ieyasu, working as translator and merchant; Tokyo's Yaesu district is named after him. He died in 1623. During Japan's invasions of Korea (1592–1598), captured Korean youth Kim Yeo-cheol was adopted into the Wakita family and became a samurai serving the Maeda clan. Historians recognize these individuals as samurai based on salaries, land, and formal rank granted by lords, including weapon privileges.