Yasuke The Black Samurai Did He Really Exist

Hello noble ones, welcome back to my channel, this is the Metatron speaking. Hello, I'm Dario, nice to meet you. Today we're going to talk about the Black Samurai. Have you ever heard of the Black Samurai, Dario? No, I haven't. Well then, today we're going to have a lot of fun. Let's start with a reality check. To start off, as you know, on this channel I always try to bring you the unfiltered truth, the just cold facts. I don't care about agendas, I don't care about political correctness. Was Yasuke a real historical character and was he samurai? Let's answer these two questions. From the historical point of view, Yasuke existed, absolutely. We've got period records, we've got period images, multiple period records. So yes, there was an African man who was initially a slave, then a servant, then a warrior, a bodyguard that reached Japan at the end of the Sengoku period, and he did have an encounter with Oda Nobunaga, the current, at the time, warlord, and then he started working for Nobunaga. All of this, absolutely. But was he made samurai? Or should I say, just before people accuse me of not knowing how to pronounce Japanese, samurai. Okay, I've said it once the proper way in Japanese, now I'm just going to say it in English. On this video, I will tell you a little bit about the story of Yasuke, but most importantly, we are trying to answer the question, was he really a samurai, or is that just a legend? Now, on YouTube, there are three major videos that deal with the life of Yasuke in a very nice way, and one is made by kings and generals, one is made by the shogunate, and one is made by Weird History. I strongly suggest you to check out all of these videos, because I'm also responding to them. As I explain these things, I'm also going to have my friend Dario wear my samurai armor, so that we can have a visualization of who we are talking about. Also, because it just so happens that my friend Dario is the exact same height as the historical Yasuke was reported to be. All of these videos are great, my favorite being the one produced by the shogunate, but all three videos are fantastic to watch. But there is one thing that they say, and I know that they say it because they base it on this book, African Samurai, The True Story of Yasuke, A Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan, And that is the fact that all videos, and this book, state it as a matter of fact that he was samurai. Was it a matter of fact? No. I can't really blame these content creators though, because this is what the book says. And this person, Thomas Lockley, and again, max respect to him, he's a professional, he's a professor at the University of Tokyo, I believe. So obviously he knows his stuff. I owned the book, I read it, it was a great read. But one thing that is important to underline, and that's the reason why I particularly like the shogunate's video, because he does underline this, is the fact that the book is a mixture between a historical account and a novel. It's a romanticized story, which means it's filled with creative licenses. And the very statement that in the book you find this part where Oda Nobunaga gifts a house to Yasuke and tells him, now you are a samurai. You are an Oda samurai, you are my black samurai. All of that is completely made up. And I think it's important to underline, with this video I'm not trying to say Yasuke was definitely not samurai. All I'm saying is, we don't know if he was made samurai. The only thing we know is that he worked with Oda Nobunaga, for Oda Nobunaga, as a retainer. He was armed, he probably wore samurai armor, and he might have worked as a bodyguard. And I do strongly believe it did, because he had that kind of employment. Yasuke was a successful warrior. He was an imposing man. He was particularly strong. But we don't know if it means that he was made samurai. There is no official record stating in this period document, Oda Nobunaga, or someone who worked for him, specifically said, yes, this man was a samurai. If any of you in the comments can provide that, I will be happy to say I stand corrected. We know 100% that he was samurai, and that is so cool. But as far as I know, and believe me, I looked into this, like I really looked into this, there is nothing that tells us definitely he was a samurai. Starting with that fact, let me present you the historically documented things that happen to this man, that speak to him being a samurai, and those things that instead tell us maybe he wasn't. And after I have presented you with all the information we have, I will ask you to let me know in the comments below what you choose to believe, because no one knows if he actually was samurai. So after having given you all the information we have, you can tell me, hey Metatron, you know what? Considering what you told me, I really think he was samurai. I just see it. I think it happened. Instead, if by looking at the information I'm giving you, you think, you know what? I don't really think he was made samurai. Maybe he was just a retainer. Maybe it was just a armed man, but he now, he wasn't made samurai. Great. I mean, at the end of the day, I can respect both positions because we don't know. So Yasuke's story is partially clouded in mystery. We have no idea what his real name was. We don't know where in Africa he was from. The formerly mentioned professor believes that he was probably from Northeast Africa, probably from Sudan, but there are people that do believe that he was from Mozambique. At the end of the day, we don't know. We do know that he was sold as a slave. We know that he impressed whoever bought him because of the fact that he was already taller, even as a child. And as he grows up, he lives in India. He is trained as a warrior. He experienced war, he experienced battle, and then eventually starts working for the Jesuits. We are in the late 15th century, so when it comes to Europe, it's a great time for exploration and trade. And when it comes to Japan, we are towards the end of the very famous Sengoku Jidai, the period of war and turmoil in Japan. And this is the time when the Jesuits are trying their very best to preach, and because they believe they can turn the Japanese into Christians, and they are relatively successful. Yasuke at this time was working as the personal bodyguard of Alessandro Valignano, who was a Jesuit priest and missionary originally from Kieti in the Kingdom of Naples. The Jesuits at this time had established a very profitable connection with Oda Nobunaga in Kyoto. And understand that you don't have one central figure of power in Japan. The Sengoku period is characterized by many different clans fighting for power. Oda Nobunaga was a very particular one because he was very favorable towards the West. He was favorable towards Christianity. In fact, he even gifted a whole piece of land in front of his main city to the Jesuits so that they could build a Western-style church. And then at the end of the day, he even enlarged it, vacating some houses so that he could give more territory to the Jesuits. The Jesuits at the end of the day give Yasuke to Nobunaga. And Nobunaga was clearly impressed by Yasuke. We do have this interesting description of Nobunaga not believing that Yasuke really had black skin, so much so that he had his servants rubbed and cleaned because he believed that he had specifically put ink on his skin. And after realizing that he was actually born that way, he was probably amazed. This is when Yasuke starts to work as a retainer for Oda Nobunaga. Now, does it make sense that Oda Nobunaga made him one of his bodyguards considering how big the guy was? Absolutely. I mean, just to give you again another visualization, here is my mother standing right next to my friend Dario. My mother has the average height of a Japanese of the feudal era, so no wonder the Japanese freaked out when they saw him walking around, and no wonder Oda Nobunaga thought, hey, I'm making this guy one of my retainers. I am walking around with this guy. Although, again, the romanticized version wants us to believe that they became great friends, some people say even lovers, and all of this, I mean, it's pure speculation. It is reported that Oda Nobunaga appreciated talking to the guy, but we don't know up to what extent he felt that he was a friend with him, or he just felt that he owned him. One of the characteristics of Oda Nobunaga that I have to say you still find in Japan today, and I'd like to underline, I have lived in Japan almost four years, so I know what I'm talking about here, is the fact that Oda Nobunaga loved owning western stuff, and he loved showing it off. So, the fact that he brought Yasuke with him, it probably also had to do with the fact that he enjoyed showing off, check this out, look what I've got, I'm the guy with the black warrior. Did you see that, Takeda? Do you have one of these? No, you don't, so I'm cool, and you're not. Japanese people love rare things. Again, as I say, it still happens to this day. Whenever I had Japanese friends, they enjoyed showing me off as their Italian friend to their other friends. They don't do it maliciously, it's just that Japanese people like rare things, particularly when you live in a small village, and not in a very cosmopolitan city, which is exactly where I lived. There is another book that I'd like to mention that I think is worth the read. It's quite expensive, so I'll just tell you what I think is important to take from this book, then if you want to just order it. The Chronicles of Lord Nobunaga. This is a 530 pages long book that tells us exactly what happened around Nobunaga based on actual historically documented statements. Does this entire book ever mention Yasuke? Yes, it does, but here is what it says. On the 23rd of the second month, a black Amur came from the Christian country. He appeared to be 26 or 27 years old, black over his old body, just like an ox. This man looked robust and had a good demeanor. What is more, his formidable strength surpassed that of ten men. The baton brought him along by way of paying his respects to Nobunaga. Indeed, it was owing to Nobunaga's power and his glory that yet unheard of treasures from the three countries and curiosities of this kind came to be seen here time and again. A blessing indeed. This is the only mention. He was strong and he was a curiosity. He was exotic. And these are the reasons why Oda Nobunaga wanted him. If Oda Nobunaga made him samurai, wouldn't you think that they would mention it? So this is one of those things that kind of speaks against the idea of Yasuke being samurai. Another one is the fact that we don't know of any surname and there is no samurai without a surname. So you need to be given a surname to be a samurai. And the third problem we have with him being samurai is the fact that after Oda Nobunaga is forced to perform seppuku, they do the same for all of his other samurai, but they don't have Yasuke do that. Yasuke is not reported to have committed seppuku, is in fact reported to have left the area and tried to preserve the life and defend the life of one of Nobunaga's sons. That fails too. And yet Akechi Mitsuhide, the traitor, does not have him commit seppuku. If he was samurai, that's what should have happened. Now let's talk about the things that instead speak favorably about him being samurai. Well, first of all, if he really was samurai, yes, he would be the first historically documented case of a non-Japanese becoming samurai, but he wouldn't be the only case. We know about the English samurai, so it's not like it's impossible for a foreigner to become samurai. It would just be rare, but it could happen. Secondly, it is true that in this period, even when you started as just a footman, like an ashigaru, you could be promoted to half samurai. And in some, again, rare cases, you could be promoted to full samurai. I mean, look at Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Yet it wasn't easy, and the majority of the population wasn't samurai. You have to understand that there is a difference between being bushi and being samurai. The two things are not always interchangeable. You can be a bushi and a samurai, but you can also be a bushi and not a samurai. I have heard people saying, if you have a weapon, it means you're a samurai, but that's not true. Still, this does speak in favor of the idea that it wouldn't have been considered completely crazy for someone who isn't samurai, but is good with his weapons and means bearing arms for his lord, to be promoted to samurai. That could happen. And last but not least, let's speak about Oda Nobunaga. Now, Oda Nobunaga is not the complete psychotic sociopath that is represented in the Netflix series Samurai War for Japan, but he wasn't all there either. And he was a kind of man who enjoyed defying tradition. So if one warlord would have done something like this, it would probably be him. I wouldn't put him beyond him. The idea of, hey, I like this guy, I'm going to make him samurai. It's not like he didn't have the power to do it. So again, I wouldn't put it beyond him to do it. It's just that we don't know if he did. Some information that speaks favorably towards Yasuke being a samurai is the fact that he was given a stipend, he was given a sword, he was given a servant, and he was given a house. In fact, beforehand, when I said that the incident with Nobunaga telling him that he is his black samurai and all of that part even says that he was his black angel, I said that that was completely made up, meaning that we don't know how that conversation went. We don't know if that conversation ever existed. I didn't mean that the fact that he was given the house was made up, just clarifying here. And thanks to this information, the fact that he was given these things, of course, speaks favorably. Maybe he was samurai. But again, the CNN is giving a statement where they say that technically at the time, anyone who was bearing arms could technically call himself samurai. That's just not true. Because if it were the case, then every single Ashigaru would be samurai. And we know that that's not true. And again, I say I have nothing against the professor. His book is fantastic. You will find a link in the description. And professor, if you're watching this video, please reach out. This is not meant as an insult towards you or your work. I'm just saying it kind of sounds like we know 100% that he was a samurai. And in my opinion, we don't. Now back with Dario. Okay, Dario. So first time for you to try the samurai armor. Yes? Yes, yes. Do you like it? Yeah, I love it. I love it. That's good. I think it suits you. I think it suits you really, really well. And so what do you think? How difficult is it to move? Oh, it's easy. It's easy to move. I think it's more heavy to move. Yes. But it really is easy. It's not so bad. Yeah, it's not so bad. Yeah. Also, you have to imagine that the armor is made for me. So clearly I'm smaller than Dario, which means and significantly shorter, which means that it's not even the best comfort that he would have if the armor was made for him, then it would be a completely different kettle of fish, of course. But generally speaking, I mean, the arms are a bit of a problem. As you can see, it was impossible to fasten the arms, but it still gives us an idea, a visualization of what the black samurai would have looked like. And I think it really looks really, really cool. Luckily, I think the helmet is the best fitting one. The helmet look, you know, it fits well. Me too, me too. I like it too much. Yeah. If you went to war in this armor, would you wear the mask or would you not? Yes. I think I wear the mask because it's more scary. Good point. I mean, I think you're plenty scary already, but yeah, why not? Get a little extra, get a little extra. Fantastic. Okay. Thank you, Dario. Yeah, you're welcome. All right, noble ones. I hope that you enjoyed this video. If you did, please remember, thumbs up. And if you're not yet members of this community, become a noble one. Subscribe to my channel for more content from the Metatron. Thank you very much for watching. And remember, the Metatron has spread his wings. Goodbye. Bye.