African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke by Thomas Lockley

I spent a good portion of my teen years really, really obsessed with Japan and Japanese culture. I'm still at least somewhat interested so when my roommate/bestie/ex-girlfriend let me go through a bunch of ARCs she had, this was among the ones I was most interested to read. African Samurai had really scratched my Japan itch. I had never heard of Yasuke, but it was fun to learn about him.

African Samurai tells Yasuke's story both without fictionalizing a lot or relying on quotes from historical documents. It's not a particularly dry text, but there were certain parts I though dragged... mainly explaining Valignano and the ending with all the speculation. That said, I didn't have any trouble getting through African Samurai. I didn't find myself particularly bored at any point and, surprisingly to me at least, didn't really skim much until the end.

I did have a slight nit-pick from early on in the story. The Europeans not bathing thing. Really, really wish this wasn't even mentioned. Like, why? Pretty sure it's supposed to convey how "weird" Japanese customs are to the Portuguese, but I just roll my eyes every time this comes up. Sure, Europeans might not have bathed every day, but they bathed and I doubt it would have been that weird to have been expected to for special occasions. Just... why we gotta keep perpetuating this myth?

There's also discussion surrounding global slavery here. Unavoidable, I think, especially given Yasuke's more-than-probable backstory. It wasn't the most enjoyable bit to read, but I believe it is definitely necessary to address and keep addressing. Slavery was, and in some places still is, a thing that we as humans have done to each other and we need to remember that, even if it's uncomfortable.

We also need to remember that views on sexuality aren't as homogeneous and hetero as certain people would like us to believe. The warrior class' homosexual practices are addressed here as well. The fact that it wasn't just a Japanese thing is also mentioned. Good. Remind people that this is also a part of our history.

Yasuke himself doesn't exactly get much characterization, which makes sense, as his actual mention in historical documents is sparse. That's largely why this review doesn't focus on him, so much. To be fair, the book doesn't exactly focus on him either, though it doesn't not focus on him, if that makes sense. There's just a lot about what Valignano and Nobunaga are doing and the sociopolitical stuff around them. Yasuke doesn't actually do much. Not a bad thing, exactly, but yeah. It's a thing.

I would definitely recommend African Samurai to anyone who's interested in Japan, specifically in the historical context. A+ in that regard.