‘YASUKE: WAY OF THE  BUTTERFLY’  TELLS  THE ORIGIN STORY OF  A  REAL LIFE AFRICAN SAMURAI

Yasuke  was a samurai of African origin who served Oda Nobunaga between 1581 and 1582, during the Sengoku period, until Nobunaga’s death.

According to historical accounts, Yasuke first arrived in Japan in the service of Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano. Nobunaga summoned him out of a desire to see a black man. Subsequently, Nobunaga took him into his service and gave him the name Yasuke. As a samurai, he was granted a sword, a house and a stipend. Yasuke accompanied Nobunaga until his death and fought at the Honnō-ji Incident until the death of Oda Nobutada. Afterwards, Yasuke was sent back to the Jesuits. There are no subsequent records of his life.

Rimpa-style suzuri-bako (detail) from 1590s possibly depicting Yasuke)

The Story of the First Black Samurai, who’s often wrongly purchased as a slave, is told from from an African perspective for the first time in South African Graphic Novel ‘Yasuke: Way Of The Butterfly’.

Yasuke is the first known African to appear in Japanese historical records. Much of what is known about him is found in fragmentary accounts in the letters of the Jesuit missionary Luís Fróis, Ōta Gyūichi’s Shinchō Kōki Nobunaga Official Chronicle), Matsudaira Ietada‘s Matsudaira Ietada Nikki Matsudaira Ietada Diary), Jean Crasset‘s Histoire de l’église du Japon and François Solier‘s Histoire Ecclesiastique des Isles et Royaumes du Japon.

The earliest record of Yasuke dates to 1581. He received his name from Oda Nobunaga. His birth name is unknown.

Based on Ōta Gyūichi’s biography of Nobunaga, Shinchō Kōki, Yasuke was estimated to be in his mid-twenties in 1581. Accounts from his time suggest Yasuke accompanied Alessandro Valignano from “the Indies“, a term encompassing Portuguese overseas territories like Goa and Cochin (modern-day Goa and Kochi in India) as well as Portuguese Mozambique. Researcher Thomas Lockley has also proposed that Yasuke might have originated from the Dinka people of what is now South Sudan. A 1581 letter by Jesuit Lourenço Mexia and a later account from 1627 by François Solier refer to Yasuke as a Cafre. Solier further described Yasuke as a More Cafre, which has been interpreted as “Moorish infidel”, and identified him as a servant from Mozambique. Due to these descriptions, some historians have suggested that Yasuke may have been Muslim.

Since the 1960s, the story of Yasuke, The First African SAMURAI, has been depicted in comic books, films and video games. While it is known that Yasuke is African and arrived in Japan in 1579, little is known about his early life, despite the fact that he ultimately served under Oda Nobunaga,  One of the Key Unifiers of feudal Japan.

We took control of the narrative about Yasuke, the 16th Century African Warrior who became Samurai. Through an imposed, western lack of imagination, perpetuation of narratives that diminish African agency , the only conclusion they could come up with to explain his rise in Japanese samurai culture was that he had to be a slave. History seldom speaks of the elite mystic warriors of African cultures. Warriors that would’ve been equal to any samurai having been trained from youth.

THE HISTORY

In the late 16th century a young warrior from East Africa, Yasuke (possibly Yusefe), arrived in Japan.  He became a trusted member and samurai in the inner circle of the Sengoku Period warlord Oda Nobunaga (1534 – 1582).

Nnobunaga_yasufe.jpg

The existing narrative that Yasuke was a “slave” is one Deborah DeSnoo and I challenge in the production of our docu-drama. The traditions of African warrior sword culture has seldom been explored in cinema. His story begins in Eastern Africa during the first century of the Portugese incursion to usurp the Afro-Asian Spice Trade. We examine a history that propels him as a warrior scholar, adept at war over two continents. Speculating that he was equal to any samurai when he arrived in Japan as a bodyguard of the Jesuit Visitor Valigniano. 

In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano. Valignano 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). Valignano’s party spent the first two years of their stay in Japan, mainly in Kyushu.

Entering 1581, Valignano decided to visit the capital Kyoto as an envoy. He wanted to have an audience with Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful man in Japan, to ensure the Jesuits’ missionary work before leaving Japan. These events are recorded in a 1581 letter Luís Fróis wrote to Lourenço Mexia, and in the 1582 Annual Report of the Jesuit Mission in Japan also by Fróis. These were published in Cartas que os padres e irmãos da Companhia de Jesus escreverão dos reynos de Japão e China II (1598), normally known simply as Cartas. On 27 March 1581, Valignano, together with Luís Fróis, who had arrived in Japan earlier, had an audience with Nobunaga, and Yasuke is said to have accompanied them as an attendant.

The Jesuit Luís Fróis wrote that while in the capital, a melee broke out among the local townsfolk who fought amongst themselves to catch a glimpse of Yasuke, breaking down the door of a Jesuit residence in the process and ended in a number of deaths and injuries among the Japanese. Luís Fróis’s Annual Report on Japan states that Nobunaga also longed to see a black man, and summoned him. Fr. Organtino took Yasuke to Nobunaga, who upon seeing a black man for the first time, refused to believe that his skin color was natural and not applied later, and made him remove his clothes from the belt upwards. Suspecting that Yasuke might have ink on his body, Nobunaga made him undress and wash his body, but the more Yasuke was washed and scrubbed, the darker his skin became. Nobunaga’s children attended the event and one of his nephews gave Yasuke money.

The Shinchō Kōki manuscript describes Yasuke as follows:

On the 23rd of the Second Month, a blackamoor came from the Kirishitan Country. He appeared to be twenty-six or twenty-seven years old. 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. The Bateren brought him along by way of paying his respects to Nobunaga. Indeed, it was owing to Nobunaga’s power and his glory that yet unheard-of treasures from the Three Countries and curiosities of this kind came to be seen here time and again, a blessing indeed.

Nobunaga was impressed by Yasuke and asked Valignano to give him over. He gave him the Japanese name Yasuke, accepted him as attendant at his side and made him the first recorded foreigner to receive the rank of samurai. Nobunaga granted Yasuke the honor of being his weapon-bearer and served as some sort of bodyguard According to Lopez-Vera, he was occasionally allowed to share meals with the warlord, a privilege extended to few other vassals.

The Shinchō Kōki of the Sonkeikaku Bunko  archives states:

It was ordered that the young black man be given a stipend (fuchi), named Yasuke, and provided with a sword (sayamaki), and a private residence. At times, he was also entrusted with carrying the master’s weapons.

According to historians this was the equivalent to “the bestowing of warrior or ‘samurai‘ rank” during this period. Yasuke was also granted servants according to Thomas Lockley.

Father Lourenço Mexía wrote in a letter to Father Pero da Fonseca dated 8 October 1581:

The black man understood a little Japanese, and Nobunaga never tired of talking with him. And because he was strong and had a few skills, Nobunaga took great pleasure in protecting him and had him roam around the city of Kyoto with an attendant. Some people in the town said that Nobunaga might make him as tono (“lord”).

Yasuke next appears in historical records on 11 May 1582. The Ietada Diary of Matsudaira Ietada, a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu, mentions that Yasuke accompanied Nobunaga on his inspection tour of the region after he destroyed his long-time arch-enemy, the Takeda clan of Kai. The description of 11 May 1582 states:

Nobunaga-sama was accompanied by a black man who was presented to him by the missionaries and to whom he gave a stipend. His body was black like ink and he was 6 shaku 2 bu [182.4 cm or near 6 feet] tall. His name was said to be Yasuke.

According to Fujita, on 14 May 1581, Yasuke departed for Echizen Province with Fróis and the other Christians. They returned to Kyoto on May 30.

DOCUMENTATION

It is clearly documented that he participated in the 1582 Battle of Tenmokuzan and the Honno-ji Incident, a decisive battle that lead to the unification of Japan.  He is also said to have manned a cannon at the Battle of Yamazaki, the incident in which the betrayal of Nobunaga was avenged, and his dream of a unified Japan was realized.

Yasuke’s presence is also noted in the 1581 letters of the Jesuits Luis Frois and Lorenço Mexia.  Additionally, he appears in the 1582 Annual Report of the Jesuit Mission in Japan.

Honnō-ji Incident

On 21 June 1582, Oda Nobunaga was betrayed and attacked by his senior vassal Akechi Mitsuhide at Honnō-ji temple in Kyoto, an event known as the Honnō-ji incident. At the time of the attack, Nobunaga was accompanied by a retinue of about 30 followers, including Yasuke. They fought but were defeated by the Akechi‘s forces, and Nobunaga committed seppuku.

On the same day, after his lord’s death, Yasuke joined the forces of Nobutada, Nobunaga’s eldest son and heir, who was garrisoned at the nearby Nijō-goshō imperial villa. They fought against the Akechi clan but were overwhelmed. Yasuke was captured by Mitsuhide’s vassals, then sent to the Jesuits by Mitsuhide who suggested that because Yasuke was not Japanese, his life should be spared.

There are no historical documents to show the true meaning of Mitsuhide’s statement, and it is not known whether it was a sign of his discriminatory mindset or an expedient to save Yasuke’s life. It is certain that Yasuke did not die. Mitsuhide’s vassals accompanied him to a Jesuit church, and Luís Fróis wrote five months after the Honnō-ji Incident thanking God that he did not lose his life. However, there are no historical sources about him since then and what happened to him afterwards is unknown.

The “Lord Nobunaga Chronicle” (Shinchōkōki) has a description of Yasuke’s first meeting with Nobunaga. The compiled chronicle consists of 16 volumes and is considered “mostly factual” and “reliable”.

Possible depictions of Yasuke

Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu

The Sumō Yūrakuzu Byōbu (Sakai City Museum collection), drawn in 1605 by an anonymous artist, depicts a dark-skinned man wrestling a Japanese man in the presence of noble samurai. There are various theories regarding the work: some believe that this samurai is Oda Nobunaga or Toyotomi Hidetsugu, while others believe that the dark-skinned man wrestling in the center is Yasuke and the one further to the right of the wrestlers (not depicted in the detailed image), playing the role of a gyōji (referee), is Oda Nobunaga.

Rinpa Suzuri-bako

An ink-stone box (suzuri-bako) made by a Rinpa artist in the 1590s, owned by Museu do Caramulo [pt], depicts a black man wearing Portuguese high-class clothing. Author Thomas Lockley argues that it could be Yasuke, as he does not appear to be subservient to the other Portuguese man in the work.

Nanban byōbu

A Nanban byōbu painted by Kanō Naizen, a painter active in the same period, depicts dark-skinned followers holding parasols over Europeans as well as a spear. It was not uncommon for individual Africans to be brought to Japan as attendants of Jesuit missionaries.

A June, 2013 investigative report by Mariko Miyaji (Mariko Miyachi) for the Japanese program Discovery of the World’s Mysteries  yielded information that bolstered the legend and Yasuke and confirmed the depth of trust and friendship between he and Nobunaga.

Ongoing  research into the world of 16th century East Africa and the Spice Trade allows us to reconstruct his past. New data will illuminate the background and preparation  propelling this young warrior into the inner circle Japan’s greatest warlord.

An elite mystic warrior of the Monomutapa Empire was far more likely to be a symbol of power and spiritual authority than a person subjected to enslavement. Their training, societal value, and cultural significance made them indispensable to the functioning and protection of the empire, positioning them as leaders and protectors, not subjugated individuals. This context aligns with the historical role Yasuke played in Japan, suggesting his African warrior heritage was recognized and respected rather than diminished.

A new gravic novel series, ‘Yasuke: Way Of The Butterfly’ , is bringing this chapter to life. Written by Kenyan-born, South Africa-Based author Fidel Namisi, and illustrated by South African Visual Artist Loyiso Mkhize, it tells the story how YASUKE  became a Samurai  highlighting it’s key message that , “Contrary to popular belief, Yasuke was never a Slave”.

Sculptor Nicolas Roos, known for her   life -sized sculptures of YASUKE, empathizes that the importance of telling his story from an African Perspective. Roos, part of the team behind the graphic novel, first encountered Yasuke’s story in 2015 while researching marginalized historical figures. “I couldn’t believe it’s a story no one was telling from an African perspective”, She says.

That is no longer the case, as two volumes of the graphic novel series have been launched at Comic Con Africa (CCA) in Cape Town, Johannesburg, with Volumes Three and Four scheduled for release at next year’s CCA editions.

DEVELOPMENT AND WRITINGS

Yasuke: Way Of The Butterfly is the “brain child” of the Filmmaker and Producer Mandla Dube (Silverton seige, Heart Of the Hunter) and the founder of Pambili Media, the series publisher. Dube found out about Yasuke from one Ohio colleague who happened to be a Cinematographer, Tommy Maddox-Upshaw, shortly after wrapping up the film Kalushi: The Story Of Solomon Mahlangu(2016).

“He sent me this one-line African SAMURAI Story, and he said, “Hey, i know you like the “Presence Of Africans in Asia”, Dube recalls. “I’m a student of History; I majored in Radio, TV and Film and I minored in African History. So the Presence of Africans has always been of interest to me”.

Dube immediately reached out to every African History professor he knew, and one of the recommended readings was They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America. Other Key Research materials include The Sculptors Of Mapungubwe by Zakes Mda and 1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies. After hearing of Dube’s plan, Chicago Based-Producer and Filmmaker Floydd Webb, who was working on a documentary about Yasuke, Shared his research with Dube and his team to help in the development.

The project gained momentum when NETFLIX Vice President Of Content for the Middle East and Africa, an Edo-Named Ben Amadasun, expressed interest and got into a development deal with Pambili Media. But, after a year in development, NETFLIX shifted focus. Despite this, the streamer granted Pambili Media the IP Rights, which in turn laid the foundation for the emergence of the graphic Novel.

With the materials in hand, Namisi, whose works often explores African Superheroes, began to fill in the gaps of YASUKE’S Undocumented life in Africa. “That was an Advantage because the difference between Fiction and History is that History answers the Questions: like “What could have Happened? And so my work as a writer is to answer the last question”, he adds.

Namisi continues, “And when when you have too many historical facts sometimes they can bog you down and make the story  boring. Because many times, history is boring. So, I was pleased that we just had enough information to locate this character in a very intriguing historical epoch and civilization, which was the Mwenemetapa empire before he went to the Far East”.

Mkhize, known for his work on Supa Strikas And Khwezi, drew from the compiled research and was inspired by Japanese Manga like The Vagabond. “It’s like creating or imagining African heroes and what they look like and how that translates into the medium of comics”, Mkhize says. “But with Yasuke” Mkhize says “there’s factual information, and I have to stay true to it”. He adds, “This was a living human being, a historical figure. How do you translate that but still keep the edge of a hero intact because this is somebody that you want to inspire[the reader]?”.

THE STORY SO FAR

YASUKE: Way Of The Butterfly  mixes historical facts and Folklore, and as a result, consist of complex web of clans, characters and places Yasuke encounters in his quest. Yasuke is imagined as an elite Barwe Tonga warrior of the Mwenemetapa/Mutapa empire borderedby the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers of Southern Africa in present-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

In his quest to recover the Ngoma Lungundu – his his people’s rainmaking drum believed to have been stolen  by the Butua Clan – Yasuke is also searching for the meaning. There’s nothing he wants more than to be fully inducted into the Order Of the Barwe Tonga Knights. “My Life has no meaning except to protect that drum and return it to it’s rightful owners”, Yasuke says in Volume 2.

Meanwhile Pressure is mounting for Yasuke to recover the Ngoma Lungundu– which Dube says is the Mac–Guffin in the Narrative – as it’s the main requirement for an important ceremony for the King.

By the End Of Volume 2, Yasuke is still far from reaching the Far East and there are no signs that he will end up there. While details about the upcoming volumes remains under wraps, the focus is beautifully captured in the series opening line: “Before a Boy became a Warrior, before he became a Man, he first had to meet his ancestors”.

THE FILMMAKERS

Chicago-based producer Floyd Webb and Tokyo-based producer Deborah Ann DeSnoo (Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire, 2004) have formed a partnership to re-capture the lost histories of global cross-cultural interaction in the 200 year old trade culture of East Africa, India, Asia and Japan, the 16th century encroachment of Jesuit missionaries and their imperial designs, and the forging of a unified Japanese nation.

In Popular Culture

Literature

• In 1968, author Yoshio Kurusu and artist Genjirō Mita published a children’s book about Yasuke titled Kurosuke ). The following year, the book won the Japanese Association of Writers for Children Prize (Nihon Jidō Bungakusha Kyōkai-shō).
• Yasuke inspired the 1971 satirical novel Kuronbō  by Shūsaku Endō.
• Yasuke appears in the 2008 novel Momoyama Beat Tribe  as one of the main characters. This novel was later made into a play in 2017.

Manga and anime

• Yasuke appears as Alessandro Valignano’s servant in volume 29 of the ongoing manga series The Knife and the Sword by Takurō Kajikawa.
• The ongoing time-travel manga series Nobunaga Concerto by Ayumi Ishii portrays Yasuke as a black baseball player from the present day.
• Yasuke was the inspiration for Takashi Okazaki‘s Afro Samurai franchise.
• Yasuke plays a minor role in the 2005 to 2017 manga series Hyouge Mono by Yoshihiro Yamada.
• Yasuke is featured in the 2016 to 2020 manga series Nobunaga o Koroshita Otoko (“The Man Who Killed Nobunaga”) by Akechi Kenzaburō and Yutaka Tōdō.
• Yasuke is the main protagonist in the 2021 Netflix anime series Yasuke, created by LeSean Thomas and animated by MAPPA. He is voiced by Jun Soejima in Japanese and LaKeith Stanfield in English.

Film

• In March 2017, Lionsgate announced plans for a live-action film about Yasuke titled Black Samurai.^[46] In May 2019, Deadline reported that the film, retitled Yasuke, had left Lionsgate for Picturestart. Chadwick Boseman signed on to portray Yasuke. As of September 2021, Picturestart’s official website states that the film is “in development”.
• In April 2019, MGM announced plans for their own live-action film about Yasuke, to be produced by Andrew Mittman and Lloyd Braun of Whalerock Industries, with a script written by Stuart C. Paul.
• In the 2023 historical drama film Kubi directed by Takeshi Kitano, Yasuke, in another portrayal by Jun Soejima, served as a retainer to Oda Nobunaga.
• In April 2024, a new feature film spec script titled Black Samurai written by Blitz Bazawule was acquired by Warner Bros. for Bazawule to direct.

Video games

• Yasuke is a recurring minor character in Koei Tecmo‘s Nobunaga’s Ambition series, appearing in the 1992 video game Nobunaga’s Ambition: Tales of the Conquerors as a character added in the expansion pack, and returning in 2013’s Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence as a recruitable officer.
• The 2017 video game Nioh and its 2020 sequel feature a portrayal of Yasuke, voiced by Richie Campbell.
• Koei Tecmo‘s 2021 video game Samurai Warriors 5 includes Yasuke as a playable character, voiced by Paddy Ryan.
• A black samurai inspired by Yasuke, named Nagoriyuki, appears in Arc System Works‘ 2021 fighting game Guilty Gear Strive.
• Yasuke is one of the protagonists of Ubisoft‘s video game Assassin’s Creed Shadows, voiced by Tongayi Chirisa.

Music

• In February 2023, the Brazilian samba school Mocidade Alegre of the São Paulo city carnival performed a samba song about Yasuke, winning that year’s competition.