This is one of those books that leave a deep impression upon the reader; it is non-fiction at its best. The depth of learning about cultures, times, and samurai, in particular, was both enlightening and entertaining. The fight scenes were as good as any fiction I've read. From starving slave to soldier to warrior to samurai, it was a journey that required authors to lift the man out of the forgotten dust into the modern consciousness, and it was done with aplomb. Yes, the end was unsatisfying but that is the difference between 500-year-old fiction and real life. The authors turned over many stones remarking on the possibilities of that path or this, which broadened not only the story, but my breadth of history.

This work follows the life of Yasuke, a sixteenth-century retainer and Samurai of African origin.

This book touches on the presence of Africans employed in Japan and other parts of Asia during the same age. How Africans, in particular, and Black people, in general, have been viewed in Japanese culture is also covered. There has been a resurgence of Yasuke's story in modern Japan, and it can found presented through things like Manga.

This is a fascinating read and another one of my recommendations.

A book that turned what should have been a fascinating topic into an odd example of 'narrative non-fiction'. The book provides a fascinating insight into the life of Yasuke and his journey from Africa to Japan and become the first (and possibly only) African Samurai. There is varying amounts of information on the central character and because of this the author say "Yasuke might have done this..." which makes you pause and wonder what he actually knows. Part of me would have liked the author to have done a historical novel which means that dialogue could have been used, internal monologue could have been indicated, motivations could have been highlighted. But it seems to plod along and the history of this person unfolds in a rather bland way.

This book has it all. Complex Japanese feudal politics. Sword fights. Multilingual international intrigue. Lots of surprising facts about Japanese society. An attack by the dead.
It bothered me that while the book is "history" so much of it is clearly invented. There's no way that our authors knew exactly what Yasuke thought or how he acted on a moment by moment basis. That made it hard to determined what was fact and what was invention. Despite that, I just enjoyed the book so much that it made up for itself. It even mentioned the suburbs of Philly, always a plus.

Thomas Lockley, an English scholar of Japanese history, collaborating with Geoffrey Girard, a novelist, wrote a dramatic biography about a real African Samurai named Yasuke in the sixteenth century. It was reminiscent of James Clavell’s masterpiece novel "Shōgun"(1975).

"Yasuke" begins with his escape from a burning Honno-ji Temple under siege. Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful feudal lord who was about to reunify Japan, was killed there by the Judas of Japan, Akechi Mitsuhide, Nobunaga's right hand. He was at the greatest turning point in Japanese history.

Yasuke was taken as a slave from Africa as a child and sent to Europe. He served various masters. He fought as a mercenary in India for a while, and also spent time in China too. In 1579, he came to Japan as a bodyguard to Alessandro Valignano, the head of Jesuits in Asia.

Yasuke had such a great physique that he was able to wrestle with four samurai. He was trained to be a bodyguard and obtained a lot of experience in the field. On top of that, he was equipped with global awareness and rich knowledge about foreign countries.

Japanese in the sixteenth century was surprised by a giant African man they hadn't seen. Wherever Yasuke went, he drew an excited crowd. Nobunaga had heard he was a servant of Alessandro Valignano and he was interested in his character, later met them both. Valignano offered Yasuke to Nobunaga as a present when he left Japan.

Competent, affable Yasuke earned a Nobunaga's special favor, and he joined the inner circle of Nobunaga, not as a mere bodyguard, but one of his close advisers. He was treated as a "hatamoto" class samurai and given his own mansion and personal pages. The common people would prostrate before him on the street. The information he brought might have affected Nobunaga's political decisions.

Lockley blends the historical facts and Yasuke's subjective viewpoint to great effect, making the book dramatic and informative. The explanations written by the foreign researcher gives Japanese readers many discoveries about Japanese history and culture.

Yasuke was the only African samurai in Japanese history. I believe that Yasuke's success story is quite encouraging for all the expatriates and foreign students, who are fighting their own battles in Japan.

DNF. Too much of a speculative reconstruction, without tying that back to specific evidence.