He wanted to have an audience with Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful man in Japan, to ensure the Jesuits' missionary work before leaving Japan. Įntering 1581, Valignano decided to visit the capital as an envoy. Valignano's party spent the first two years of their stay in Japan, mainly in Kyushu. He had been appointed the Visitor (inspector) of the Jesuit missions in the Indies (which at that time meant East Africa, South, Southeast, and East Asia). In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano, Visitor of Missions in the Indies, in India. It is not clear whether Yasuke was a slave or a follower, but if he was enslaved he likely obtained his freedom before meeting Valignano. It is not certain where Valignano and Yasuke met, but it seems likely that it was either in Mozambique or India, as Valignano had made a stopover in Mozambique before coming to Japan, followed by a long stay in India. ![]() Jean Crasset's Histoire de l'eglise du Japon states that Yasuke was a servant brought from India when Alessandro Valignano came to Japan, while François Solier's Histoire Ecclesiastique Des Isles Et Royaumes Du Japon states that he was from Portuguese East Africa (now Mozambique). However, there seems to be no doubt that he had African roots, and Luís Fróis wrote of Yasuke as Cafre in his Letters. Few details are known about him, including his date of birth, family structure, place of birth, ethnicity and native language. His real name is unknown, and it is also unclear what he was called before that. The name Yasuke was given to him by Nobunaga. There are few historical documents on Yasuke, with only fragmentary accounts in the letters of the Jesuit missionary Luís Fróis, Ōta Gyūichi's Shinchō Kōki ( 信長公記, Nobunaga Official Chronicle), Matsudaira Ietada's Matsudaira Ietada Nikki ( 松平家忠日記, Matsudaira Ietada Diary), Jean Crasset's Histoire de l'église du Japon and François Solier's Histoire Ecclesiastique Des Isles Et Royaumes Du Japon. Birth and early life Īmong those whose names have been ascertained, he is the oldest African to appear in Japanese historical records, but his confirmed period of stay in Japan was very short - about three years, from 17 August 1579 to 21 June 1582. He was neither a menial nor an indentured servant, but a retainer who was given a stipend by Nobunaga. ![]() ![]() He was employed by the Japanese Sengoku daimyō Oda Nobunaga and served as a koshō ( 小姓, page or sword-bearer). Yasuke ( 弥助 or 弥介) was a man of African origin who came to Japan in the Sengoku period and became a retainer in the household of Oda Nobunaga.
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