logo
episode-header-image
May 2024
29m 30s

Yasuke: The First African Samurai

History Hit & Assassin's Creed
About this episode

Yasuke is one of the most captivating and yet mysterious figures within Japanese history. In 1581, at the height of the civil war, he crossed paths with the country’s most powerful warlord, Oda Nobunaga. Their meeting bound the two men together and set Yasuke on a path to becoming the first known samurai of African descent in Japan.


Delving into the history behind one of the two main characters in the latest Assassin’s Creed game, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Matt Lewis and Thomas Lockley examine the few surviving historical sources to reveal what we know about Yasuke, Japan’s first African samurai.


Echoes of History is a Ubisoft podcast, brought to you by History Hit. 


Hosted by: Matt Lewis

Edited by: Anisha Deva

Produced by: Joseph Knight, Peta Stamper, Matt Lewis

Production Coordinator: Beth Donaldson

Executive Producers: Etienne Bouvier, Julien Fabre, Steve Lanham, Jen Bennett


If you liked this podcast please subscribe, share, rate & review.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Up next
Jul 7
Crusader Queens of Jerusalem
The very first Assassin's Creed video game takes us back to the Third Crusade, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. As Saladin's Islamic armies tried to reconquer the Holy Land, the Christian rulers of Jerusalem faced as many threats from within as without - perhaps none moreso than Syb ... Show More
54m 4s
Jun 30
Assassin's Creed Writer Reveals How They Brought The French-Indian War To Life
Assassin’s Creed Rogue lets players explore the frozen world of the Arctic coastline of North America. Players inhabit the memories of Shay Cormac, an Irish Assassin who switches sides to join the Templars, against the backdrop of the Seven Years’ War, or as its American theatre ... Show More
53m 42s
Jun 23
The Northwest Passage: Doom of Arctic Explorers
Assassin's Creed Rogue and Assassin's Creed III let us sail through the frozen waters of the Northwest Passage at the most dangerous time in history.From Hudson Bay to Hawaii, the coasts of Canada and the USA were mapped as an unintended consequence of history’s greatest explorer ... Show More
39m 22s
Recommended Episodes
Jan 2023
Episode #171- Who Was The African Samurai? (Part I)
Near the end of Japan's "Warring States" period a remarkable visitor arrived in the country with a group of European Jesuit missionaries. He was a soldier originally from East Africa acting as a bodyguard for the ranking Jesuit in Japan. The Japanese would come to know this man a ... Show More
1h 8m
Feb 2021
G. Girard and T. Lockley, "African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan" (Hanover Square Press, 2021)
The remarkable life of history's first foreign-born samurai and his astonishing journey from Northern Africa to the heights of Japanese society. When Yasuke arrived in Japan in the late 1500s, he had already traveled much of the known world. Kidnapped as a child, and trained into ... Show More
50m 43s
Jun 2019
Yasuke, the African Samurai
Japanese Daimyo Oda Nobunaga was fascinated by the mysterious, towering slave of a visiting Jesuit missionary, and soon this man, Yasuke, joined Nobunaga's court, eventually becoming a full-on samurai. Join the guys as they explore the strange life of the African-born samurai, Ya ... Show More
28m 25s
Nov 2021
The Samurai
After a bloody battle on September 22nd, 1877, Saigo Takamori and his loyal warriors pause on a hillside overlooking Kagoshima. They’ll never surrender, but they’re wounded, exhausted, and massively outnumbered, and Saigo already knows how this will end. Because his noble Samurai ... Show More
54m 45s
Sep 2021
Part One: The Slavery Loving Fascist who Built Modern Japan
Mia Wong is joined by Robert Evans to discuss Nobusuke Kishi. FOOTNOTES: Machiavelli’s Children Leaders and Their Legacies in Italy and Japan by Richard J. Samuels Chinese Comfort Women Testimonies from Imperial Japan’s Sex Slaves by Peipei Qiu, with Su Zhiliang and Chen Lifei Ya ... Show More
1h 2m
Dec 2009
The Samurai
Melvyn Bragg and guests Gregory Irvine, Nicola Liscutin and Angus Lockyer discuss the history of the Samurai and the role of their myth in Japanese national identity.The Samurai have a fearsome historical reputation as a suicidally brave caste of Japanese warriors. During World W ... Show More
42m 5s
Nov 2023
EPISODE 103: The Lone Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi (Part 2)
Ever since I started History on Fire, one topic has been the most consistently requested by listeners. Over the years, I received hundreds of messages asking me to cover the life of Miyamoto Musashi. That time has come. Here we go. Musashi has been the subject of one of the great ... Show More
2h 12m
Oct 2023
EPISODE 102: The Lone Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi (Part 1)
Ever since I started History on Fire, one topic has been the most consistently requested by listeners. Over the years, I received hundreds of messages asking me to cover the life of Miyamoto Musashi. That time has come. Here we go. Musashi has been the subject of one of the great ... Show More
1h 45m
Apr 2024
The Original Kamikaze: The Mongol Invasions of Japan
At the height of the Mongol Empire, Kublai Khan set his sights on the island of Japan. He launched two enormous invasions of that nation in 1274 and 1281 - but both of them were defeated, aided by sudden and disastrous storms that tore his fleets apart. The story of these kamikaz ... Show More
29m 44s