William Adams: Story of the English Samurai in Japan

[Music] Japan at the turn of the 17th century was a mysterious land the enigmatic Lords of descent pyre allowed very few foreigners into their domain only out of necessity and even then with the grudging disdain this makes it all the more remarkable to look upon the stories of great individuals from foreign lands who defied the odds became favored friends to the great demos of Japan and shaped the history of the Land of the Rising Sun in our last video we talked about yes came a man from Africa who became a trusted warrior for Oda Nobunaga in this video we will tell the tale of William Adams and explain how an intrepid English navigator gained the rank of samurai and became an invaluable asset to Japan's greatest Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu a big thank you to the sponsor of this video Magellan T V Magellan is a new type of documentary streaming membership founded by filmmakers their team of producers and curators that's bring together premium content with a deeper dive with a subscription to Magellan TV you have access to features on reserve history space science nature as well as individual documentary movies and series Magellan even has different specific history playlists like the one on the early modern period this playlist has documentaries that cover topics ranging from the biographies of famous historical figures to the age of discovery to the inventions of the period our new favorite from the playlist is called instruments of death and it explores the history of weapons and their proliferation you can stream Magellan from anywhere on any device without any ads and with no limited access many new programs are added on a weekly basis and a wide selection is available in 4k we highly recommend you check out Magellan TV and the first 100 visitors can go to Magellan tv.com slash kings and Generals to get a one-month free trial william adams was born in the town of Gillingham in the county of Kent in England into a family of wealthy means and lived his early childhood in relative comfort this changed at the age of 12 when his father died in order for his family to make ends meet young william was apprenticed to the shipyard master Nicholas Dickens to learn the seafaring trade Adams spent the next decades under the strict tutelage of his master learning to build ships navigate open oceans and read the Stars at times Adams proves to be a rebellious pupil but a shrewd and fast learning one in 1588 a Catholic Armada of Spain had come to the shores of England with the intent to subdue the Protestant Britons and depose their Queen Elizabeth the first by this time Adams was 24 years old and as strong a pilot as anyone he served in the fleet of the daring Sir Francis Drake captaining a supply ship amidst the smoke and chaos of battle defending his Island home by the time Adams reached his 30s he was a master of the Seas and sought to make his fortune alert by the prospect of riches in the Orient Williams travels to the Netherlands along with his brother Thomas and signed on with a Dutch corporate merchant fleet the Dutch and the English were allies both wished to dismantle the maritime empires of Portugal and Spain so they could take their place as masters of the oceans the company's mission was to use a stolen portuguese sea chart and sailed through the pass of Magellan to the southwest coast of South America plundering any Spanish and Portuguese possessions on the way they were trade with the locals for silver returning back with spices from the east so in June of 1598 Adams fleet of five merchant warships set out from the fleet first made its way southward down the west coast of Africa there a fierce storm separated two of the ships from the main fleet not to be seen again the rest managed to continue across the Atlantic and made it through Magellan's pass by the time they reached the Ecuadorian Coast a third vessel had been blown off-course and lost only two vessels remained now Hoopa and leaf de which Adams piloted trade in the New World went poorly the crew did not endear themselves to the locals and were attacked 20 sailors were killed including Williams brother Thomas the survivors fled back to their ships the loss of his brother was hard on Adams but the stoic pilot was not one to give up on his mission realizing that their hope for survival in the new world was slim the Englishman convinced his remaining dutch compatriots to go west to japan and so they began the great crossing the journey across the Pacific Ocean was long and treacherous at some point Adams journal states that their ships made landfall on a chain of tropical islands which was most likely Hawaii according to him eight sailors deserted on these islands but were captured and eaten by the natives the rest of them sailed on in February a typhoon sunk the Hopa damming all aboard to a watery grave the crewmen of belief dirt were exhausted and afflicted with scurvy one poor soul was so deranged that during a storm he attempted to fire the ship's powder magazine to put them all out of their misery this attempt was foiled by Adams who berated his crew for their cowardice after a two-year voyage the leaf derp made landfall in eastern Kyushu in southern Japan in April of 1600 of 5 ships only one remained of over 500 crewmen only 23 survived among them only 9 strong enough to stand one of which was Adams at great cost of human lives and spirit he had made it and was the first Englishman to reach Japan at the time of Adams his arrival Japan was in a state of fragile delicate piece back in 1587 Japan was unified under Toyotomi Hideyoshi Hideo she began life as a lowborn thus could not be Shogun so he became the Kwan patrica Imperial regent for a time there was stability until Hideo she died in the year 1598 the Kwan pack who mandated that his young son be is only true heir however he appointed a Council of the five most influential daimyo to rule until his son was of age it was clear that tensions between the regions would soon escalate into war for they did not trust one another and all desired greater power of all five Tokugawa Ieyasu Lord of Edo was the most powerful and he was ready to strike meanwhile the Portuguese had had a presence in Japan for decades based in their trading port of Nagasaki they had made a fortune as intermediaries in the silk trade between Japan and China among them was the Society of Jesus also known as the Jesuits where Portuguese traders went they followed spreading the Catholic message Portugal's crucial role in the silk trade meant that the Lords of Japan were forced to tolerate this foreign religion spreading amongst its people but with Adams as a rival this was soon to change William Adams and his nine fit crew members first disembarked at a village called bingo they were given charity there by the local towns folk and fed food and sack a the Lord of bungo a minor daimyo soon arrived in the village with an interpreter in tow a jesuit priest who was naturally dismayed to see his english and dutch enemies on Japanese soil the priest implored the daimyo to have Adam's executed for piracy Adams rebuked the priests resulting in a bout of hostilities that was put down by the Japanese Lord who then had Adams detained soon news spread far and wide of the arrival of strange barbarians with golden hair and blue eyes who came from the eastern sea these were not the dark-haired Portuguese that they were used to in fact they and the Portuguese seemed to hate one another word inevitably reached Tokugawa Ieyasu who immediately realized the value of these foreigners and requested that they be sent to him Adams and his crew were escorted up the Japanese coastline into the harbor of Osaka the Englishmen marveled at the splendor and scale of this thriving City and metropolis that Dorf to the cities of Christendom upon arrival they were kept imprisoned within Osaka Castle for AAS who wanted these peculiar foreigners safe and out of the clutches of his rivals who surely would also try to exploit them for valuable information in May of 1600 Adams was brought before Tokugawa Ieyasu and this meeting changed Adams life forever through a Portuguese interpreter the daimyo pressed the Englishman hard for information on the outside world Adams taught a iesson of his country as well as the walls it was embroiled in with Portugal and Spain when asked of religion Adams declared himself a follower of God who created heaven and earth here is who learned of Protestantism and realized there were Europeans hostile to the Pope in Rome which the Jesuits had told him was the ultimate and only Christian Authority Adams met a US is several more times between May and August of 1600 impressing him with his knowledge of mathematics navigation and shipbuilding the more the daimyo spoke to the Englishman the more he realized that Adams may be the key to smashing the Portuguese monopoly upon Japan and getting rid of Christianity's troubling influence for good two months later tensions between Yasu and his rivals came to a boil and culminated in the great battle of sekigahara where EAS who destroyed his rival Ishida Mitsunari European sources claimed that he is who employs the use of the muskets and bronze cannons found aboard the lifter to break the enemy ranks in his victory EAS who destroyed the last semblance of support for the quantities ere the Tokugawa clan was now the sole power and Yasu assumed a title that had not been used in 30 years shogun a title that would passed through his descendants for 250 years as he was now Shogun of all Japan Tokugawa Ieyasu returned his attentions to William Adams Adams wanted to return home to England for he had a wife and child there but EA a suit refused to allow him to leave Japanese shores as he was simply too valuable the Shogun needed the Englishman's loyalty and thus gave him the status of samurai Adams was bestowed to the rank of hat Emoto a high prestige bannermen he was given two ceremonial katanas a tea loyal servants and his own fief a plot of land in the mirror a peninsula said to encompass 100 farms Adams served the Shogun weld from 1604 he helped construct Japan's first western-style warships an 80 pound and a 120 pound of vessel the English navigator became ieyasu's chief advisor on all things Western and replaced the Jesuit priests as the Shogun's official interpreter to the Japanese Adams became known as Miura Anjan the pilot from Miura he became an invaluable asset wanting to ensure that Adams would never leave Ieyasu officially declared william adams is dead the samurai Miura Anjan is born and so the pilot began a new life taking a Japanese wife named Oh Yuki and creating a new family with her in 1609 Adams negotiated on behalf of the Dutch East India Company to set up the first Dutch trading Factory in Japan helping to break the Portuguese monopoly and remove the Shogun's dependence on them das who preferred the Dutch for they divorced religion and trade and did not try to convert the Japanese like the Portuguese did in 1614 das who banished all Portuguese Jesuits from Japan and ordered all Catholics in his country to abandon their faith this decision was made upon Adams East correct counsel the Englishman had finally managed to expel his enemies from his new homeland Adams died in the year 16 27th and Japan both receiving a share of his wealth in his will in 1633 the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu he amid soon closed the borders of Japan to all foreigners only the Dutch were permitted to trade at the port of Dejima largely due to Adams his earlier efforts there is no telling what may have happened if William Adams and his crew of Dutchman never landed on Japanese Shores it's possible that the Portuguese trade monopoly may never have been broken and that's the Catholic faith may have spread further and deeper into Japanese territory it is possible the Tokugawa Shogunate may never have closed the country either way the story of william adams has a lasting legacy in the modern era in the west his story was made popular by the author James Clavell who wrote a fictionalized version of his tale in a book titled Shogun in the east a version of Adams is the main character in team ninjas triple a franchise near the brave English adventurer who landed in Japan as a fish out of water and died there as a noble Lord is a tale that will endure for years to come we have more stories to tell about Japan so make sure you are subscribed to our Channel and have pressed the bell button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise by the link in the description this is the kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 936,173

Rating: 4.9403296 out of 5

Keywords: Yasuke, Samurai, Black Samurai, Afro Samurai, African Samurai in Japan, sengoku, sengoku jidai, missionaries, Nobunaga, history of japan, shogun, first black samurai, the real afro samurai, black japanese, kings and generals, history lesson, animated documentary, full documentary, decisive battles, documentary film, historia civilis, world history, military history, history channel, history documentary, animated historical documentary, william adams, english samurai, discovery

Id: 2aVshthzRuk

Length: 15min 13sec (913 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 29 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Maurichio1]

Wow, didn't know he was actually a historical figure. Guess you do learn something every day.

Thanks for sharing.