Yasuke accompanied Nobunaga until his death and fought at the Honno-ji Incident until the death of Oda Nobutada.
11 Facts About Yasuke
1.
2.
Yasuke is the first known African to appear in Japanese historical records.
3.
Accounts from his time suggest Yasuke accompanied Alessandro Valignano from "the Indies", a term encompassing Portuguese overseas territories like Goa and Cochin as well as Portuguese Mozambique.
4.
Researcher Thomas Lockley has proposed that Yasuke might have originated from the Dinka people of what is South Sudan.
5.
In 1579, Yasuke arrived in Japan in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano.
6.
Yasuke wanted to have an audience with Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful man in Japan, to ensure the Jesuits' missionary work before leaving Japan.
7.
The Jesuit Luis Frois 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.
8.
Nobunaga was impressed by Yasuke and asked Valignano to give him over.
9.
Yasuke 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.
10.
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.
11.
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.