Yasuke: Difference between revisions

'''Yasuke''' ({{lang-ja|弥助}} / {{lang|ja|弥介}}, {{IPA|ja|jasɯ̥ke}}) was a man of African origin<ref name="ExcludedPresence" /><ref name="Hitotsubashi" /> who cameserved toas Japan witha [[Jesuitsamurai]] missionaries<!-- andPlease serveddo NOT alter this statement without discussing it in the talk page.--> to the Japanese [[Daimyo|daimyō]] [[Oda Nobunaga]] for a period of appoximately 15 months between 1581 and 1582, during the [[Sengoku period]], until Nobunaga's death in the [[Honnō-ji Incident]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=López-Vera |first=Jonathan |title=Toyotomi Hideyoshi y los europeos: portugueses y castellanos en el Japón samurái |publisher=Universitat de Barcelona |year=2020 |isbn=978-84-9168-759-7 |series=Transferències 1400-1800 |location=Barcelona |pages=176-177 |language=es |translator=MLT |trans-title=Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the Europeans: Portuguese and Castilians in Samurai Japan |quote=La crónica de Ota describe al esclavo como un joven de unos veintiséis o veintisiete años, de apariencia sana, muy fuerte, con todo el cuerpo de color negro «como un buey» y con la fuerza de diez hombres. Nobunaga quedó impresionado por su apariencia, hizo que se desvistiese y les ordenó a unas criadas que frotasen su piel con toda clase de jabones, aceites y ungúentos para comprobar que ese color era natural y no alguna clase de tinte o pintura. Una vez estuvo seguro de que el portento era real, pidió a los jesuitas que el joven se quedase con él, a lo que los religiosos accedieron, regalándoselo. El nombre que se le dio fue Yasuke (h. 1555-?), y desde ese momento acompañó siempre a Nobunaga como una especie de guardaespaldas. Cabe destacar que a partir de entonces dejó de ser un esclavo, puesto que al estar al servicio del daimyo recibió un estipendio como el resto de vasallos, obteniendo así la condición de samurái. |trans-quote=Ota's Chronicle describes the slave as a young man of about twenty-six or twenty-seven years of age, of healthy appearance, very strong, with his whole body black "like an ox" and with the strength of ten men. Nobunaga was impressed by his appearance, had him undress and commanded some servants to scrub his skin with all kinds of soaps, oils and ointments to check that this color was natural and not some kind of dye or paint. When he was sure that the color was real, he asked the Jesuits to keep the young man, to which the Jesuits agreed, giving him to him as a gift. The name given to him was Yasuke (ca. 1555-?), and from that moment on he always accompanied Nobunaga as a kind of bodyguard. It is worth noting that from that moment on he ceased to be a slave, since being in the service of the daimyo he was paid a stipend like the rest of the vassals, thus obtaining the status of samurai.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Atkins |first=E. Taylor |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LPySEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22%20height%20and%20strength%20(which%20%22surpassed%20that%20of%20ten%20men%22)%2C%20Nobunaga%20gave%20him%20a%20sword%20signifying%20bushi%20status.%20Yasuke%20served%20as%20Nobunaga%27s%20retainer%20and%20conversation%22&pg=PA72 |title=A History of Popular Culture in Japan: From the Seventeenth Century to the Present |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]] |year=2023 |edition=2nd |pages=72 |isbn=978-1-350-19592-9 |quote=Impressed with Yasuke's height and strength (which "surpassed that of ten men"), Nobunaga gave him a sword signifying bushi status. Yasuke served as Nobunaga's retainer and conversation partner for the last year of the warlord's life, defending Azuchi castle from the traitorous Akechi forces in 1582, where Nobunaga committed ritual suicide (seppuku). Although there are no known portraits of the "African samurai," there are some pictorial depictions of dark-skinned men (in one of which he is sumo wrestling) from the early Edo period that historians speculate could be Yasuke.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Germain |first=Jacquelyne |date=January 10, 2023 |title=Who Was Yasuke, Japan's First Black Samurai? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/who-was-yasuke-japans-first-black-samurai-180981416/ |access-date=2024-06-27 |website=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Moon |first=Kat |date=2021-04-30 |title=The True Story of Yasuke, the Legendary Black Samurai Behind Netflix's New Anime Series |url=https://time.com/6039381/yasuke-black-samurai-true-story/ |access-date=2024-06-27 |magazine=TIME |language=en}}</ref> Afterwards, Yasuke was sent back to the Jesuits.<ref name="huffingtonpostyasuke" /> There are no further records of his life afterward.