Sorry, but Yasuke was not a bodyguard, samurai, or advisor.

If anything, he was a "mascot." He was an oddity to Japan, and Nobunaga, ever one to be into exotica, acquired him from the fellow who OWNED him. Not to be saying anything racist, but putting Yasuke in Japanese clothing was little different to Nobunaga and Co. as putting a monkey in a clown suit or something like that today.

Yasuke was an amusement and a cultural oddity.

He was never a samurai -- nor, for that matter, was William Adams ever officially recognized as such.


Tony