The African Who Became a Samurai

In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan and rose from outsider to samurai under Oda Nobunaga, rewriting history in the process.

Alkebulanians,

As I take a step back into historical content. The ancient African history time forgot. There’s no better way than with a story that is truly fascinating in its uniqueness.

When you hear of Samurai warriors, you instinctively think of Japanese men with the classic curved swords. It’s unlikely anyone would ever imagine that once upon a time, there was an African Samurai.

This is his amazing story.

PAY ATTENTION

In 1579, when a Jesuit mission arrived in Japan, among the priests and traders stood a man the Japanese had never seen before. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with skin darker than anything they knew. He would be known as Yasuke.

History is full of characters who appear once, like flashes of lightning, and change the sky forever. For me, Yasuke is one of them.

Imagine the scene in Kyoto.

Crowds pressed around him, following him through the streets. They had never seen a man like this. Some thought his skin was covered in ink. They tried to wash it off. But this was no curiosity to be laughed at or dismissed. Yasuke carried himself with strength, and in a society obsessed with order, presence mattered.

Word reached Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful warlord in Japan, the man in the middle of unifying a fractured country.

Nobunaga summoned Yasuke.

He wanted to see this man with his own eyes. And when Yasuke entered his court, it wasn’t just his size that spoke; it was his composure.

Nobunaga tested him. He listened to him speak. He weighed his bearing. And then he made a decision that would echo through time: he gave Yasuke land, wealth, and most importantly, the title of samurai.

Understand what that meant.

Samurai weren’t servants. They weren’t entertainers.

They were warriors, bound by honour, trusted with life and death.

Nobunaga put Yasuke in his retinue. That’s how much confidence he had in him. Yasuke rode into battles, katana in hand, fighting alongside the most elite warriors of Japan. An African, standing shoulder to shoulder with generals and lords, not as an outsider, but as one of them.

This isn’t the Africa-as-passenger narrative we’re fed. This is Africa as participant, Africa as actor, Africa shaping global history in places far from its shores.

The thing is, by all accounts, Yasuke didn’t ask to be allowed in. His presence demanded the invitation. He shifted the imagination of an entire society just by being who he was and standing firm in that role.

This story is pertinent because, with the amount of division that exists today, how on earth did an African get to such a level in ancient Japan? In the 1500s, becoming part of Japan’s military elite was no small feat and something that couldn’t happen today.

It’s amazing how much the corrupting ideology of colonialism affected how we see each other with the advent of white supremacy.

When Nobunaga eventually fell, Yasuke’s fate is murky.

Some say he was taken by the Jesuits. Others believe he lived out his life in Japan. What’s certain is that he stood in those moments of decision, katana in hand, part of history where no one expected to see him.

And that’s why I tell his story. Not because it surprises Europe. Not because it proves anything to anyone else. But because it shows me, and it should show you, that Africans have always been everywhere, shaping history in ways still barely understood.

Yasuke now rests with the ancestors.