Yasuke has now officially been added to the growing list of Netflix's original anime. Yasuke tells the story of a boatman, previously known as the Black Samurai, who returns to a life of violence in order to protect a girl with mystical powers. The series has been long-awaited by fans who have been asking for more Black representation in anime for a long time. Despite the sci-fi and fantasy elements, Yasuke is named for and based on the true story of one of the very few foreign Japanese samurai to ever exist. So what is the story of the true Yasuke, and what happened to him?
Yasuke's story unfolded during the Sengoku period of Japanese history, a period of about 150 years where Japan was in a constant state of civil war, upheaval, and strife thanks to the collapse of its feudal system in the mid-1400s. After that, samurai warlords and various clans fought for control of territory in the sudden power vacuum. Meanwhile, rebellious groups of Japanese citizens known as Ikkō-ikki cropped up to fight against samurai rule. When Europeans started arriving in Japan in the mid-1500s, it threw things into even further turmoil.
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Yasuke, voiced by Lakeith Stanfield of Judas and the Black Messiah, first arrived in Japan in 1579 with an Italian Jesuit named Alessandro Valignano. There is very little information on Yasuke's life before Japan, but it's speculated that he came from Mozambique, Ethiopia, or South Sudan. When he was presented to Oda Nobunaga, a Japanese damiyō (one of those powerful feudal samurai lords), Nobunaga was immediately enamored with Yasuke. Yasuke entered Nobunaga's service, likely as a bodyguard, and rose to the honored rank of samurai in 1581. Only a year later Nobunaga was forced to commit ritualistic suicide in the form of seppuku during a coup staged by his formerly trusted general, Akechi Mitsuhide. After Nobunaga's death, Yasuke continued to serve Nobunaga's son, Nobutada.
During his service to Nobutada, Yasuke served to defend the castle that Nobutada inherited from his father against Mitsuhide's forces. Unfortunately, their forces were eventually overwhelmed, and Nobutada committed seppuku just as his father had. Yasuke was captured by Mitsuhide, and that's where the historical records become speculative. There are multiple theories surrounding what ultimately happened to Yasuke after his capture.
Ultimately, Yasuke was exiled to the Jesuit mission in Kyoto by Mitsuhide. Because recordings of Yasuke's life end at this point, historians can only speculate on why. Some say he was exiled because he surrendered his sword instead of committing seppuku. Others theorize that Mitsuhide claimed that Yasuke was more beast than a man because of his origins and that he took pity on him because of this and spared his life, sending him to the Jesuits instead. Another running theory is that Mitsuhide feared killing Yasuke would tarnish his reputation with the Jesuits, so he sent Yasuke back to their church instead. Written records on this era of Japan are scant, which means we may never know for sure why Yasuke was exiled or what his post-samurai life was like.
While Yasuke is only loosely based on the true story (there are robots, after all) the anime serves to bring this nearly-forgotten historical figure back into the modern discourse. Fans are hopeful that Yasuke is only the beginning when it comes to Black representation in anime. So far, no official announcement has been made on a second season.
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