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lead=yes was a samurai of African origin who served Oda Nobunaga between 1581 and 1582, during the Sengoku period, until Nobunaga's death.
According to historical accounts, Yasuke first arrived in Japan in the service of Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano. Nobunaga summoned him out of a desire to see a black man. Subsequently, Nobunaga took him into his service and gave him the name Yasuke. As a samurai, he was granted a sword, a house and a stipend. Yasuke accompanied Nobunaga until his death and fought at the Honnō-ji Incident until the death of Oda Nobutada. Afterwards, Yasuke was sent back to the Jesuits. There are no subsequent records of his life.
The earliest record of Yasuke dates to 1581. He received his name from Oda Nobunaga. His birth name is unknown. (2023). 9781000880526, Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781000880526
Based on Shinchō Kōki, Yasuke was estimated to be in his mid-twenties in 1581. Accounts from his time suggest Yasuke accompanied Alessandro Valignano from "the East Indies", a term encompassing Portuguese overseas territories like Goa and Cochin (modern-day Goa and Kochi in India) as well as Portuguese Mozambique. Researcher Thomas Lockley has also proposed that Yasuke might have originated from the Dinka people of what is now South Sudan. A 1581 letter by Jesuit Lourenço Mexia and a later account from 1627 by François Solier refer to Yasuke as a Cafre. Solier further described Yasuke as a More Cafre, which has been interpreted as "Moorish infidel", and identified him as a servant from Mozambique. Due to these descriptions, some historians have suggested that Yasuke may have been Muslims. (2025). 9789004326835, BRILL. ISBN 9789004326835
Entering 1581, Valignano decided to visit the capital Kyoto as an envoy. He wanted to have an audience with Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful man in Japan, to ensure the Jesuits' missionary work before leaving Japan. These events are recorded in a 1581 letter Luís Fróis wrote to Lourenço Mexia, and in the 1582 Annual Report of the Jesuit Mission in Japan also by Fróis. 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.1581 letters of the Jesuits Luís Fróis and Lorenço Mexia On 27 March 1581, Valignano, together with Luís Fróis, who had arrived in Japan earlier, had an audience with Nobunaga, and Yasuke is said to have accompanied them as an attendant.
The Jesuit Luís Fróis wrote that while in the capital, a melee broke out among the local townsfolk who fought amongst themselves to catch a glimpse of Yasuke, breaking down the door of a Jesuit residence in the process and ended in a number of deaths and injuries among the Japanese. Luís Fróis's Annual Report on Japan states that Nobunaga also longed to see a black man, and summoned him. Fr. Organtino took Yasuke to Nobunaga, who upon seeing a black man for the first time, refused to believe that his skin color was natural and not applied later, and made him remove his clothes from the belt upwards. Suspecting that Yasuke might have ink on his body, Nobunaga made him undress and wash his body, but the more Yasuke was washed and scrubbed, the darker his skin became. Nobunaga's children attended the event and one of his nephews gave Yasuke money.
The Shinchō Kōki manuscript describes Yasuke as follows:
Nobunaga was impressed by Yasuke and asked Valignano to give him over. He gave him the Japanese name Yasuke, accepted him as attendant at his side and made him the first recorded foreigner to receive the rank of samurai. Nobunaga granted Yasuke the honor of being his weapon-bearer and served as some sort of bodyguard. According to Jonathan López-Vera, he was occasionally allowed to share meals with the warlord, a privilege extended to few other vassals.
The Shinchō Kōki of the 尊経閣文庫 archives states:
According to historians this was the equivalent to "the bestowing of warrior or 'samurai' rank" during this Sengoku period. According to Lockley, Yasuke was also granted servants.
Father Lourenço Mexía wrote in a letter to Father Pero da Fonseca dated 8 October 1581:
Yasuke next appears in historical records on 11 May 1582. The Ietada Diary of Matsudaira Ietada, a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu, mentions that Yasuke accompanied Nobunaga on his inspection tour of the region after he destroyed his long-time arch-enemy, the Takeda clan of Kai Province. The description of 11 May 1582 states:
According to Fujita, on 14 May 1581, Yasuke departed for Echizen Province with Fróis and the other Christians. They returned to Kyoto on May 30.
On the same day, after his lord's death, Yasuke joined the forces of Oda Nobutada, Nobunaga's eldest son and heir, who was garrisoned at the nearby Nijō-goshō imperial villa. They fought against the Akechi clan but were overwhelmed. Yasuke was captured by Mitsuhide's vassals, then sent to the Jesuits by Mitsuhide who suggested that because Yasuke was not Japanese, his life should be spared.
There are no historical documents to show the true meaning of Mitsuhide's statement, and it is not known whether it was a sign of his discriminatory mindset or an expedient to save Yasuke's life. It is certain that Yasuke did not die. Mitsuhide's vassals accompanied him to a Jesuit church, and Luís Fróis wrote five months after the Honnō-ji Incident thanking God that he did not lose his life. However, there are no historical sources about him since then and what happened to him afterwards is unknown.
The Sakai City Museum collection, drawn in 1605 by an anonymous artist, depicts a dark-skinned man wrestling a Japanese man in the presence of noble samurai. There are various theories regarding the work: some believe that this samurai is Oda Nobunaga or Toyotomi Hidetsugu, while others believe that the dark-skinned man wrestling in the center is Yasuke and the one further to the right of the wrestlers (not depicted in the detailed image), playing the role of a gyōji (referee), is Oda Nobunaga.
Rinpa Suzuri-bako
An ink-stone box () made by a Rinpa school artist in the 1590s, owned by , depicts a black man wearing Portuguese high-class clothing. Author Thomas Lockley argues that it could be Yasuke, as he does not appear to be subservient to the other Portuguese man in the work.
Nanban byōbu
A Nanban art painted by Kanō Naizen, a painter active in the same period, depicts dark-skinned followers holding parasols over Europeans as well as a spear. It was not uncommon for individual Africans to be brought to Japan as attendants of Jesuit missionaries.
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