The formidable Oda Nobunaga lived in 1500s Japan, and was on his way to conquering and uniting all of Japan. He took advantage of the Portuguese Jesuit presence in Japan. The Jesuit wanted to convert the entire country to Catholism, and a prominent member of their order, Alessandro Valignano, arrived in Japan with his well-travelled African-born bodyguard, whom Valignano eventually gifted to Nobunaga. This man came to be known as Yasuke, and became a retainer of Nobunaga, until the feudal lord's betrayal and death three years later. Yasuke soon afterwards falls out of historical records.

While the story of Yasuke is fascinating, including all the brutal politics and battles Nobunaga fought against other lords, this book felt a bit strange. The author takes certain facts about Yasuke and his possible actions for Nobunaga, and then gives us phrases like "Yasuke felt/thought". These made me uncomfortable, in that we'll never know exactly what this skilled fighter and bodyguard felt or thought, as these aren't captured.