This year the Animus, Ubisoft’s memory-hopping time machine, is taking us back to 16th century Japan in Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Naturally that means we’ll be exploring the life of a Japanese character – the daughter of famed ninja master Fujibayashi Nagato. But Shadows has a second protagonist: an African samurai. If you’re surprised to see a man of such origins wielding a katana, you may not know his fascinating true story. This is Yasuke, Japan’s first Black samurai, and the first real historical person to be a playable protagonist in an Assassin’s Creed game.
Origins
You may have come across Yasuke before, as he’s been depicted in Netflix’s Yasuke anime series, as well as made an appearance in the Nioh games, but little is known about his life before his days as a samurai, including his original name - ‘Yasuke’ was bestowed on him during his stay in Japan. But historians believe he was born in West Africa. Thomas Lockley, co-author of ‘African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan’, theories he was enslaved and trafficked as a child.
The historical details of his departure from Africa are equally unclear, but some scholars believe that he left his homeland as a mercenary. Later, he met Alessandro Valignano – an Italian Jesuit missionary who would employ Yasuke as something of a bodyguard. Valignano planned to travel to Japan, which at the time was locked in a civil war, and so would need protection.
The two arrived in Japan in 1579 (the year Assassin’s Creed Shadows begins), and the tall African mercenary stunned the Japanese locals. In a diary from that year, the samurai Matsudaira Ietada wrote "His height was 6 shaku 2 sun [roughly 6 feet, 2 inches]... he was black, and his skin was like charcoal."
For two years Yasuke aided Valignano with his Jesuit missions. But In 1581, on a trip to Kyoto, the African mercenary’s life would be changed forever.
Nobunaga’s Black Samurai
Valignano visited Kyoto for an audience with daimyō Oda Nobunaga, the feudal lord who had recently unified half of Japan. Valignano sought Nobunaga to ask permission to leave the country, but during their meeting the daimyō became fascinated by the Jesuit’s African bodyguard.
A chronicle of Nobunaga written in Japan’s Edo period, The Shinchō kōki, describes the meeting: “On the 23rd of the 2nd, a black page came from the Christian countries. The man was healthy with a good demeanour and Nobunaga praised Yasuke’s strength. Nobunaga’s nephew gave him a sum of money at this first meeting.”
While many African people lived in Japan in the 16th century, working as interpreters, soldiers, and other professions, it may be that Nobunaga had never encountered someone with dark skin before. “Yasuke was brought before Nobunaga and he didn’t believe Yasuke’s true skin color was black,” said Thomas Lockley in an interview with Time. The daimyō apparently ordered him to be scrubbed, believing his colour was due to paint or dirt. When learning the truth, Nobunaga threw a welcome party.
In the 1582 Annual Report of the Jesuit Mission in Japan, Portuguese missionary Luís Fróis wrote that, “The black man understood a little Japanese, and Nobunaga never tired of talking with him,” and that “Some people in the town thought that Nobunaga might make him as tono [a high-ranking samurai].”
Yasuke was reportedly incredibly strong, and thus an ideal candidate for a samurai. In The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga, written by one of the lord’s followers in the 17th century, Yasuke is described as “[appearing] to be 26 or 27 years old. … This man looked robust and had a good demeanor. What is more, his formidable strength surpassed that of ten men.” Smithsonian Magazine notes that other historic reports compliment his intelligence and imposing stature.
While Nobunaga employed thousands of samurai, Yasuke was his first foreign-born warrior. According to Lockley, he was part of the lord’s “very small entourage.”
Nobunaga’s Downfall
Yasuke’s career in service of Nobunaga was short-lived. In the year following their first meeting, the daimyō was betrayed by one of his own generals. On June 21, 1582, Akechi Mitsuhide ambushed Nobunaga in Kyoto with thousands of troops. At the Honnō-ji temple, Nobunaga performed seppuku, the ritual suicide in which a person disembowls themself. While it’s believed that Nobunaga’s lover, Mori Ranmaru, acted as his second – cutting off the lord’s head to complete the ritual – tradition claims that Yasuke was tasked with taking Nobunaga’s head so that it wouldn’t fall into the hands of the enemy.
With his lord gone, Yasuke is said to have sought out Nobunaga’s son, Oda Nobutada, who was nearby. He fought with Nobutada’s men against Mitsuhide, but they were completely outnumbered. Lockley believes Yasuke was likely left wounded on the battlefield. The last historical record of Yasuke states he was escorted by Akechi’s troops to a Jesuit mission house. “What we do know is that Mitsuhide did not execute Yasuke,” explained historian Natalia Doan to Smithsonian Magazine.
Pop-Culture Legacy
Talking to IGN, Sachi Schmidt-Hori – a Professor of Japanese Literature and Culture working with Ubisoft on Assassin’s Creed Shadows – says “Yasuke has been featured in many creative writings and media. If you go to Wikipedia for Yasuke's page, there's a long, long list of novels, TV series, dramas that have been inspired by him, he as a historical character or somebody who was inspired by him. I think people in Japan really, really embrace him as a character, and we really like to see him representing the samurai spirit.”
In Japan, one of the most famous stories influenced by his life is Kuro-suke by Kurusu Yoshio, which received the Japanese Association of Writers for Children Prize in 1969. In 1971, Shūsaku Endō published the satirical novel Kuronbō, which was also inspired by Yasuke.
A number of Japanese period dramas about Yasuke have been produced, and he has appeared as a character in the manga series Hyouge Mono, The Man Who Killed Nobunaga, and Nobunaga's Chef. He’s also a side character in Team Ninja’s Nioh games (the first of which also focuses on a foreign samurai, William Adams.)
In more recent years, the legendary warrior has featured as the protagonist of the Netflix anime series Yasuke, voiced by LaKeith Stanfield. He was also set to be the central figure of a Lionsgate-produced live action movie called Black Samurai, with the late Chadwick Boseman planned to portray him. Earlier this year, a spec script written by Ghanaian filmmaker Blitz “the Ambassador” Bazawule, also called Black Samurai, was acquired by Warner Bros. Bazawule is set to direct.
Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor.
