Two filmmakers on a quest, to prove that Yasuke, the African samurai was not a slave and quite possibly a genius.

Written by Clarke Illmatical | @Masternever

Way back, when the decade was young, there was news in the air. There was a buzz about the RZA making his directorial debut with a Chinese period piece, called THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS.

In the wake of the news, I built with a friend who enjoyed kung fu flicks and occasionally some Bobby Digital. We discussed the proposed talent and the story which was based in feudal China. When it came to the RZA’s role in the film, my non-Black, yet person of color friend asked a startling question:

“If he was in China, wouldn’t he have been a slave?”

I was caught off guard, but I calmly explained that slavery was a very small portion of the African’s narrative on this planet.

He kinda-sort-of-got the point, but I realized, that his view of African history, it began with chains. In his mind, it would have been impossible for an African to be on his grind, swashbuckling behind The Great Wall.

Based on his mental, the RZA would have started his journey in bondage, quite possibly — THE MAN IN THE IRON CHAINS. But whatever.

Fast forward till now.

The decade is old and there is another story in the air. This time, it’s based in feudal Japan and it isn’t a kung fu fantasy flick. This buzz is based on a real person. An African named, Yasuke, who ventured to Japan and became the first foreign-born samurai. The world knows him as Yasuke.

Unfortunately, due to the narrative on the Internets, people who think they know anything about Yasuke’s, believe his journey started in slavery. There’s even a video game, that features Yasuke at the bottom of boat, mastering the iron chain technique.

But whatever.

As the Yasuke story makes its rounds in the entertainment industry, two filmmakers have deviated from the slave narrative, embarking on their own historical cinematic quest. They have every intention of setting the Yasuke story straight, and in the process, change the narrative associated with African history.

The focus and foundation of their Yasuke story — African genius.

These two filmmakers believe that Yasuke was a highly trained warrior who ventured to Japan by way of his intelligence and determination. Their story sidesteps, hurdles and on some Black samurai shit, slashes through the Eurocentric perspectives that have traditionally defined African history.  

Deborah DeSnoo and Floyd Webb, are the filmmakers who want to prove that Yasuke was never a slave, and quite possibly a prodigy.

What The ‘Internets’ Have Been Telling You

There was an African who traveled to Japan in 1579 and was promoted to the rank of samurai. Exactly who he was, and what his name was before then, is part of a larger historical puzzle. Your favorite American news network, even has an article saying that Yasuke mastered the iron chain technique and then turned “retainer.”

But whatever.

In 1581, Yasuke pronounced YAS-KAY, was promoted to the rank of samurai and he is recorded in historical samurai documentation. He survived the infamous Honno-Ji Incident, and there is no concrete information on what happened to him after.

To understanding who and what Yasuke’s was before he arrived in Japan, and what happened to him afterward, it requires a look at historical facts concerning his origin and his journey.

The Yasuke Puzzle

Deborah DeSnoo is an American filmmaker who has lived in Japan for over 20 years. She’s directed several successful films about Japanese culture and history, including SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET, JOURNEYS IN JAPAN and the highly successful documentary JAPAN: MEMOIRS OF A SECRET EMPIRE.

Floyd Webb is an American filmmaker who has spent a significant amount of time living in the motherland. He was the associate producer of the highly successful African American independent film, DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST. He’s also known in the martial arts entertainment world as the guy who has been working on the Count Dante documentary since forever.

The two filmmakers met 14 years ago in Los Angeles. Although Webb had heard about Yasuke while growing up in Chicago, his recent interest in the African was sparked when he stumbled onto the illustrated Yasuke children’s book, KURO-SUKE, which was published in 1968.

“I met Deborah in L.A, she was in the midst of working on JAPAN MEMOIRS OF A SECRET EMPIRE. She saw me talking about it [Kuro-suke] on Facebook. I bought the book in 2016 and decided to move forward with the documentary… Nobody had any idea of what this would look like” explained Webb.

The two created a website, documenting their findings. Their research was even noticed by associate professor Thomas Lockley who communicated with Webb and met with DeSnoo while working on his recently published book, AFRICAN SAMURAI.

“I found him [Webb] a copy of this book and I said ‘That’s a really interesting story.’ I had heard about Yasuke, but I had never seen the children’s book…” explained DeSnoo. “We read the children’s book and said ‘This is interesting’ and then it started to get more complicated. Then we wanted to get rid of the White man’s view because everything so far has been written by the White man. They’re not seeing the culture at all.”

The ‘White man’s view’ that DeSnoo wants to discard, more particularly, is the view of racist White men who’ve written an abundance of the Yasuke stuff on the Internets, and in popular media. DeSnoo and Webb want to get rid of the narrative that keeps Yasuke bound in chains.

But really, is there any reason to doubt the Yasuke slave narrative?

Reasonable Doubt: Why Yasuke Could Not Have Been A Slave

The Jesuits, aka the Jesus Thugs, stormed into Japan in the mid 16th century.  While there isn’t an abundance of information on Yasuke, the is plenty of information on the man he accompanied — Alessandro Valignano.

What was the nature of their relationship? Was Yasuke Valignano’s slave? His servant? Hired bodyguard?

Valignano was one of the most powerful men in Asia. When he touched down in the Land of the Rising Sun, his title was VISITOR TO THE INDIES.

Valignano was kind-of-sort-of important. He ran the bible slinging business in Japan, China, and India. Most importantly, he was one of the most important men in Asia.

Would he have selected just anyone to accompany him?

Speaking of Valignano, DeSnoo said, “He’s going to be very careful about whom he works with!”

AFRICAN SAMURAI author Thomas Lockley suggest that Yasuke was a skilled bodyguard when he arrived in Japan and had picked up military training in India. Exactly how he came into Valignano’s service is unknown, but DeSnoo and Webb believe that Yasuke had to be highly skilled or recommended in order to work for Valignano from the jump.

Michigan State University professor Liam Brockley, is an expert on Jesuit history and assisted Martin Scorsese with the Jesuit film SILENCE, which is also set feudal Japan.

He shed light on the importance of Valignano’s title saying” Valignano was indeed the highest ranking Jesuit in Asia. His position as visitor was equivalent to inspector-general. That is, the Jesuits organized their work in Asia into provinces (one in India which originally encompassed all of their missions between East Africa and Japan, and later in V’s life, another province in Japan, including Southeast Asia, China, and Japan).

His position enabled him to coordinate all of the Jesuits in Asia, being the personal representative of the Superior General in Rome…”

Would a person of this stature have hired a mere slave or the most highly trained bodyguard they could find?

Beyond Valignano, there is Oda Nobunaga. One of the most powerful and influential lords in the history of feudal Japan. Instrumental in unifying the country during the Sengoku period.

According to Desnoo, he wasn’t the type of person who would have even considered Yasuke if he was just a slave.

“Where Floyd and I really connected was when I started to look into Yasuke. They kept saying he was a slave who became a samurai. I totally feel that is incorrect. I studied Oda Nobunaga. Nobunaga would not pick out a slave to work with him and put in his inner circle.

Any Japanese I talk to about this, I say ‘You know Oda Nobunaga would have never brought in Yasuke if he was a slave’ and they say ‘Of course, never!’

Every Japanese will say that. Oda Nobunaga would never hang out with a slave.”

So where did the slave narrative come from?

Yasuke was a servant of some kind, but this is not a big deal because, during the late 16th century, half of the people in the world were servants or had that title. Back then everyone had a lord or had some type of master. Just like the majority of people reading this article have a boss or manager.

The slave narrative may have started way back before the Internets, with the help of racist White men.

In the book THE CHRONICLE OF LORD NOBUNAGA, a quote is noted from the Jesuit Luis Frois, who described Yasuke’s features when he was first brought before Nobunaga. He referred to Yasuke as a “blackamoor,” a word that traditionally has racist overtones.  

“On the 23rd of the Second month, a blackamoor came from the Kirishitan Country. He appeared to be twenty-six or twenty-seven. Black over his whole 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… ”

In his book, Lockley also mentions that Yasuke was a “slave” of some kind, although emphasizing that this was not slavery comparable to the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.

Is the slave narrative even necessary?

“It’s time to change that narrative. Why does the Black man have to start off as a slave and become a hero?

It’s important to the story because it’s important to what is happening in the world right now. This kind of thinking has to change. We have to look at it again and really understand what happened. We can’t understand everything, but we tie things together…

The Japanese never promote him as a slave. Why? Because he’s a samurai!

But why does he need to be a slave before he becomes a superhero? Oda Nobunaga, any person like that, is never going to take a slave.

I hate the word ‘slave’ because it doesn’t mean the same thing it did in America. Everybody was a slave. It’s better to find a new word, the word ‘slave’ had such a strong meaning.

There was no work in those days for people. They were all looking for adventure.” explained Desnoo.

So, if Yasuke, wasn’t a slave, what was his background? Where was he from in the world and what training did he have when he left Africa?

Origins of Yasuke

To understand Yasuke’s genesis, it requires intimate knowledge of African history, specifically the East Coast.

“You have to remember, in the 16th century, every place was a city-state. When Yasuke leaves Africa, he’s already experienced the same kind of shit he’s going to experience in Japan. He experiences it in Africa and in India. When he gets to Japan, he’s good to go.

He can fit in anywhere. The other thing that people ignore are his probable Islamic influences, he was probably Islamic himself. He lived on the coast, and to be as sophisticated as he was, part of his military training would have come from those Arabic forces that were there.

The blend of the Bantu cultures and Arabic created Swahili. That’s were Swahili culture comes from. He’s coming from Swahili culture, which is Islamic culture. People are kind of ignoring that. Mozambique didn’t exist back then, it was Kilwa. Mozambique is a Portuguese name, it’s not an African name. He’s probably from Kilwa” explained Webb.

Beyond possible Islamic influences, Webb and DeSnoo believe Yasuke was a skilled warrior when he left Africa, or was born in a warrior culture, which enabled him to survive the perilous journey through India, and allowed him to enter seamlessly into Japanese court, as a skilled warrior.

“All we can do is find out the way African warriors do sword fighting. African warriors used to do stick fighting the same way Japanese samurai did stick fighting practice, which I find very interesting” explained DeSnoo.

Webb, took it even further, saying “We’re talking warrior culture. The world is at war. A sword is what you carry when you leave the house. The environment that he lived in required that he be able to assist in military campaigns. Some sort of trauma had him going to India to join this campaign. A lot of Black soldiers did that. These African soldiers took over an entire port.

I’m assuming that he was urban. There is a big difference. There were stone towns that were organized around the spice trade. Along the coast. These towns were little cities. These little cities were constantly at war with one another.

Mozambique is a Portuguese name, but there is a whole side of African history they never talk about. There’s an entire African population and civilization within the interior of East Africa that the Portuguese and the Indians don’t talk about because they didn’t really go there. The trade happens on the coast and went interior…

My thing is, Yasuke is a product of Swahili culture. Which is Islamic culture. It doesn’t matter that he was Islamic, he can still be a bodyguard!”

Coming of Age

In India, Yasuke’s blade was refined through warfare. In India, he was exposed to a multitude of languages and cultures. In India, Yasuke came in contact with more African genius.

According to Webb, by the time Yasuke touched the shores of Japan, he was a renaissance man. Definitely more sophisticated than any Jesuit the Japanese had encountered.

“He arrived in India around 1577. When he was about 17 years old. Malik Ambar is on the rise at this point. Malik Ambar is somebody from Ethiopia who was sold by his parents as a slave. He’s something you have to be real careful with. These people would sell their kids into service, because they were talented, they were smart and they wanted their kids to have a better life. When he [Ambar] gets there, these people recognize his intelligence and give him different jobs.

Malik Ambar is a military genius. Malik Ambar revolutionized warfare in India. He played a significant role in the Deccan region in India. I say he would have worked with Malik Ambar because Malik was young, brash and doing new shit that nobody else was doing.

The way I have this broken down, Malik Ambar is like an older brother, and then Nobunaga became like an uncle. Yasuke stays in Japan for three years, that’s a long time. He already spoke languages. He would have been in contact with all of the different groups. Every African I know on the East and West coast speaks four or five languages and maybe a couple of dialects. I got one friend that speaks 22 languages.

There was no China [name] at that time. China didn’t happen until the late 1800s when White people decided to call it China. Everything was much different then. There were small city domains.

Islam was very big in Africa and that isn’t talked about either by a lot of people. There were a lot of stone mosques that people have chosen to ignore. Part of me gets angry because so much has been ignored.

What was happening with the Portuguese, the Chinese and the Africans, they had a very strong relationship. China had the Silk Road and the Ottoman Empire came in, and they brought in a lot of things, there were a lot of goods going back and forth. They finally found a way to Japan and India.

The boats were made in India. Think about that.

A country in Europe would go all the way to India to make boats and it would take two years to get over there. The whole world is very different. If he was a slave on a ship, how many people died on those ships. There’s a whole world that history has chosen not to look at and pretend that didn’t exist”

History has also proved that Yasuke was not the first African to arrive in the country.

Before Yasuke: The African Presence in Japan

Webb and DeSnoo have not cosigned historian Ronoku Rashidi’s theory that one of the first shoguns in Japan, was a Black man named Sakanouye No Tamuramaro.

Tamuramaro existed, but his African origins are debatable.

However, both believe that prior to Yasuke, Africans had visited Japan. This is significant because neither believe the story of Yasuke causing hysteria in Japan due to the complexion of his skin and both believing that the African’s first meeting with Nobunaga was highly misinterpreted.

“Remember, a lot of the Buddha’s were black” explained Webb.

Beyond any black statues, the African presence in Japan is confirmed by Namban art from the Portuguese arrival in Japan in 1543.

The question remains if there were already Black men in Japan, why was everyone going kray when Yasuke arrived?

“I think they were going crazy because he was 6’2″ and all Japanese were 5’1.” In those days, no one was 6’2″ explained DeSnoo.” I’m 5’10,” twenty years ago when I first came here [Japan] I was the tallest person on the subway.

Most of the warriors were 5’1.” This guy is going to stand out and Valignano was also very tall. When they walk down the street, they would look stunning. He was kind of like a rockstar. It’s not just the skin color. The black Buddha had been here for quite a while.”

Homeboy in the Buttermilk

In addition to the slave narrative, there is the sensationalized account of Nobunaga and Yasuke’s first encounter. Racist White men and some Internets say that Nobunaga put Yasuke in a bathtub and had his servants try to wash the African’s black off.

DeSnoo and Webb don’t think so.

“Remember, White people, spread racism. Wherever you go and you see some racism, it has usually been taught to them by White people that are trying to curry favor… They might have brought a rag and wiped his arm to see if it [Black] came off” explained Webb.

But put him in a bathtub? A warrior? A warrior has to consent to you undressing him and scrubbing him down. Think Bushido, that’s an important factor is this that Americans don’t understand, how those power relationships work.

That’s a humiliating thing, to strip someone and bathe him in front of other people. It’s a story that’s told. I can choose to believe it or not. I choose not to believe it. I believe it’s an urban legend that had transmitted handed down and enhanced by the White people who’ve heard the story, in order to keep Black people in a subservient historical position.

This ain’t no game, this is what they do to Black people in history!”

Desnoo added on, suggesting that the skin washing story may have been associated with Japanese military customs, saying “When they heard about him, everybody was talking about him because he was dark. They had him take off his shirt and see if the color came off or not. Do you know that all samurai warriors wore makeup when they went to battle?

I don’t know what he was checking, whether it was warrior makeup. If you know that these men wore makeup before they go to battle, then you kind of think differently about things… ”

The recorded documentation concerning Yasuke could have contributed to the meeting between Nobunaga and Yasuke being misinterpreted.

Scholar Jeroen Lamers translated THE CHRONICLE OF LORD NOBUNAGA, and wrote the book JAPONIUS TYRANNUS: THE JAPANESE WARLORD ODA NOBUNAGA RECONSIDERED. In the latter text, Lamers reflects on the four sources that recorded events pertaining to the Japanese lord:

1. Nobunaga’s collected correspondence
2. Nobunaga’s biography written by Ota Gyuich (Nobunaga Chronicles)
3. Jesuit materials and correspondence
4. Samurai diaries

Lamers suggest that neither the Jesuit correspondence nor Nobunaga’s biography is “exhaustive or extensive.” In fact, when comparing writings by Gyuich and Jesuit correspondence, it appears that the events recorded by Jesuits were based on personal feelings.

If recorded data concerning Nobunaga conflicted or was misinterpreted, then it is quite possible that this could have happened with Yasuke.

The New Renaissance Man

Webb believes that Nobunaga was impressed by Yasuke’s intelligence, worldliness, and swag.

“Yasuke, probably spoke Chinese when he got there [Japan] as well as picking up Arabic, and Swahili. He probably picked up Japanese really quickly. When they see him and they speak to him, he’s carrying a sword. The fact that he speaks Japanese, he gets attention right away. The fact that he speaks it better than the Portuguese, he gets double attention.

He was given an exalted place in Nobunaga’s inner circle. Not because he was a slave, but because he was a smart motherfucker!” explained Webb.

An African, with a wallet that said SMART MOTHERFUCKER on it?

Is it possible that Yasuke already had training and intelligence that enabled him to endure the perilous voyages at sea? Training that enabled him to survive military campaigns in India? Education, that enabled him to talk to people from different countries?

“He’s a man who has visited all of these continents, he’s a highly cultural person, and he’s the new renaissance man. He has a very attractive personality” explained DeSnoo.

To be given the rank of samurai was no small accomplishment, but beyond that, Yasuke had special privileges, which may have been given to him because he was able to relate with Japanese warrior culture.

I was scratching my head around this until Webb explained, saying “To get into the samurai inner circle, first off all, you have to navigate all of the hubris that exist in that circle. You gonna step over everybody else to curry favor with the boss? You can believe he had to fight his way into that shit. He probably had a challenge every day. Nobunaga had to see his fighting skills, to see if he was qualified to carry his sword. To be the sword bearer you have to be a bad motherfucker!

One, he was smart, number two, he was tough, three he was artistic, the same way that the samurai were. He was a poet. As a soldier, he would have known Utenzi poetry.

Utenzi poetry is epic battle poetry. The story of great battles, like freestyling. They would sit around, get drunk and recite poets. Yasuke was able to fit into that, whereas the Portuguese would have never been able to fit into that. There were similarities in cultures.”

The Brilliant Daiymo

Nobunaga had a history of noticing talent. He had promoted another servant to the rank of samurai. An individual who would go on to play a significant role in unifying Japan.

“The people in his entourage, everyone was a really good warrior. Everything Nobunaga does is very political. He’s a very strange and wacky guy.

He’s mercurial and he changes. He was very intense. The more you research him, you understand the whole cast of Japan at that time. What he was doing was quite incredible” explained DeSnoo.

“That’s why I say, you have to understand the story of Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Because I researched samurai and Oda Nobunaga, you just go from the logical. You go from Hideyoshi Toyotomi, his father was what they call ‘Ashigaru.’

That’s what they call a foot soldier. His father was a very low-level peasant. Ashigaru means he held his hand out and his daiymo put his foot on his hand when he stepped off the horse.

Hidyeoshi became one of the three unifiers of Japan. Oda Nobunaga, Hideyoshi and then Tokugawa Ieyasu. They created and unified Japan.

In Japan, a peasant like him [Hideyoshi] could never, ever, ever become a samurai. Except for Oda Nobunaga.

Hideyoshi was only allowed to rise to an upper position because he was creative, smart and clever. He rose up out of nothing. Because he was so amazingly adroit. So good at fighting. He wasn’t a great warrior but he was good at winning battles. Oda Nobunaga rewarded people like him.

Nobunaga is fascinated by what is going on in the world. There were lots of slaves, he could have had as many slaves as he wanted. He wasn’t looking for slaves, he was looking for something else. He would never have made a slave his sword bearer. Ever!

It’s not so easy. It’s not given easily, so it’s not like, ‘Hey, I kind of like you, let’s make you into samurai!’

He didn’t need to do that. If he becomes Oda Nobunaga samurai, he becomes part of the family. He wears the Mon for the Oda Nobunaga family.

One guy was joking that Yasuke was making more than him” explained DeSnoo.

That “One guy” who complained was a samurai of note. Matsudaira Ietada wrote about Yasuke in his diary, known as “Letada Nikki (家忠日記).” In the diary, he described Yasuke’s physical characteristics and mentioned that the African had rank similar to his own.

Yasuke’s Love Life

In the book AFRICAN SAMURAI, author Thomas Lockley suggests that Yasuke may have been intimately involved with Oda Nobunaga, which was one of the reasons he was promoted so quickly to the rank of samurai.

The nature of the relations between male samurai is discussed in the book THE LOVE OF THE SAMURAI: A THOUSAND YEARS OF JAPANESE HOMOSEXUALITY and in the film GOHATTO.

When it comes to Nobunaga and Yasuke being intimate, DeSnoo does not envision it, saying  “I don’t think so. He was not lovers with Hideyoshi. The more you read about him, he’s so interesting because he’s out of control, but he’s interested in people who are clever and really good at what they do.”

Taking Yasuke’s possible Islamic upbringing and culture into the equation would rule out any homosexual relationships. In addition, if his rank was equivalent to Matsudaira Ietada, as noted in the diaries, then Yasuke would have probably had a wife. However, there are no official records mentioned, nor is there any mention of any Blasian babies.

Nobunaga’s Death and What Probably Happened to Yasuke

Yasuke campaigned briefly as samurai and his time serving as samurai was cut short due to Nobunaga’s death, when he performed seppuku, during the Honnō-Ji incident.

Confronted with imminent death, instead of facing the humiliation of being captured and also having his head used disrespectfully during a customary tea ceremony, Nobunaga performed seppuku and gave Yasuke another mission.

Yasuke of all people was given the task of taking Nobunaga’s head to his son.

Somehow, the African escaped a burning temple with the head and made it to Nijo Palace, where he presented it to Nobunaga’s son, Nobutada, who also performed seppuku.

Yasuke was captured and presented to Akechi Mitsuhide, the samurai who betrayed Nobunaga and organized the coup. Mitsuhide dismissed Yasuke, and in the book African Samurai, there is speculation that the traitor referred to Yasuke as a ‘black beast.’

DeSnoo does not believe this statement was made, and there were political reasons why Yasuke was not allowed to perform seppuku and was returned to the Jesuits.

“He basically said ‘You’re not a person, you’re a beast on four legs’ and called him an animal. The seppuku thing becomes difficult because if Yasuke kills himself, he became a hero… The Jesuits were also there, do you know how much they were controlling and bringing things into Japan?

The racism wasn’t about skin color in those days, that’s more recent and came from America I think…

It also gave a way for Akechi to let him go back to the Jesuits. It could be a way to allow Yasuke to live because the Jesuits were there waiting. If he killed him, it’s a political situation.

I don’t think he [Mitsuhide] cared if he was a good warrior. I think he might have been very jealous of him. Look into the history of Oda Nobunaga and him. Oda Nobunaga was probably going to have gotten rid of him [Mitsuhide] soon” explained DeSnoo.

Mitsuhide was killed a few days after the uprising. What happened to Yasuke after his return to the Jesuits is unknown.

Thomas Lockley believes that Yasuke was involved in the Battle of Okitanawate. Webb believes this person mentioned was an African marksman, but not Yasuke.

So where did Yasuke go?

“Sometimes these people disappear into history. You can have one great adventure and go off and be a farmer. That’s what soldiers did, they got their loot and went off and started a family someplace else. Apparently, Yasuke got his loot. Once you’ve been through the stuff he went through, sometimes that’s all you want. The end sequel is a farm and family, and being buried next to the house” explained Webb.

Genius Warrior, Never A Slave

Regardless of where he was from in the world and how he got there, an African named Yasuke made history as the first foreign-born samurai.

His promotion influenced Tokugawa Ieyasu, who had served as a retainer for Nobunaga and later selected foreigner William Adams to the rank of samurai.

The world is familiar with Adams’s story. He’s portrayed as John Blackthorne from James Clavell’s Shogun. There’s a very strong possibility, that if there was no Yasuke, Adams would have never become samurai. But whatever.

Webb notes, that after Yasuke, more African warriors came to Japan, saying “There was more than one Black warrior brought in. The Southern daiymo down there, the Shimabara incident, they did have Black warriors involved. There was also a Black samurai that went to Korea and fought with the Japanese.”

Webb and DeSnoo’s docudrama has the potential to propel a change in the narratives of world history, especially when it comes to Africans. Forcing the masses to understand, that Black people have a history that did not start in bondage and in chains.

Centuries later here comes Yasuke’s story, slashing through racism and oppression, forcing the world to think differently him and about his people.

Yasuke was more than a samurai. He was more than a fantasy character with iron fists.

When you reflect on Yasuke, know that he, through skill and intelligence, became history’s first foreign born samurai, and most importantly — he was not a slave.

~Illmatical 無敵將軍

Clarke Illmatical (@masternever) is a writer from Queens, NY. He is the creator of the martial arts fantasy story, MASTERNEVER AND THE FLOW OF DEATH.  His writing has appeared in The Amsterdam News, The Norwood News, Harlem Community News, and Queens Politics in New York City. In Asia, his work has been featured in The South China Morning Post, China Global Daily, TimeOut Hong Kong, The Phnom Penh Post, and E-China Cities.

To learn more about Yasuke, the first black samurai, follow our journey to unravel his mysterious but true story:

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