The Portrayal of Black Samurai Yasuke in Video Games

Image Credit: Charlize Du Preez

As recent media attention has emerged about Yasuke, the supposed ‘black samurai’ of feudal Japan, there ought to be a detailed analysis of Yasuke in the realm of video games.

This analysis will concern firstly his various portrayals throughout the years, before analysing why he has reached modern notoriety.

Yasuke was not a particularly noteworthy figure in Japanese history. Most accounts claim he was likely born in around 1555 AD in Eastern Africa, most likely Portuguese Mozambique. Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano had brought Yasuke as a bodyguard on his missionary work in Japan which lasted two years. In 1581 Valignano needed the permission of Oda Nobunaga to depart, but in the process of departing the local Japanese were shocked at Yasuke’s appearance. A substantial crowd eventually formed, resulting in the deaths of many who were crushed by the crowd. Nobunaga heard of this incident and requested the presence of Yasuke. On his arrival, Nobunaga was shocked by his appearance and requested Yasuke to be cleaned, believing that his skin colour was artificial. When Nobunaga learned it was real he bestowed Yasuke with a sword and a stipend. In 1582, one of Nobunaga’s vassals, Akechi Mitsuhide, rebelled and attacked him and his entourage. Nobunaga did not survive this attack; this is known as the Honno-ji Incident. After this, Yasuke –as a historical figure– fades from written record.

An important question to ask is whether Yasuke is famous on his own merit or if there are more underlying aspects at play. The Sengoku period has seen countless adaptations in media from books: James Clavell’s Shogun, Shusaku Endo’s Silence and Lian Hearn’s Tales of the Otori alongside various video games based on the period. The series such as Nioh, Sengoku Basara, Samurai Warriors, Onishuma, Shogun: Total War, Nobunga’s Ambition and the upcoming  Assassin's Creed Shadows all covered the Sengoku period. Throughout all the media coverage of the Sengoku period, Yasuke has appeared in relatively few pieces of them. Yasuke appears as a minor character in the fifth Nobunga’s Ambition game, Nobunaga's Ambition: Tales of the Conquerors, in a DLC pack that was released in 1993. His next appearance would be in 2001 in Basara 2 as a mid-boss character. As these were Japanese-only releases and currently without English translations, Western audiences would have first seen Yasuke in a video game in 2013 with the release of Nobunaga’s Ambition: Sphere of Influence followed by Nioh in 2017, Samurai Warriors 5 in 2021 and the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows. This reaffirms the role of Yasuke as relatively minor in both history as in media, showing up in cameos or minor roles in content relating to Oda Nobunaga who is viewed very highly in Japanese history as a ‘great unifier’. 

After a string of relatively unimportant appearances, Yasukes gets a bigger role in Nioh, noting his ambition of becoming a samurai under Nobunaga and his immense desire to help the antagonist, Edward Kelley, in his attempt to resurrect Nobunaga and thus becoming a boss to the protagonist of the game. His next appearance in Samurai Warriors 5 portrays Yasuke less as a loyal vassal to Nobunaga and more of a right-hand man who tries to protect Nobunaga during the Honno-ji Incident and depending on the ending Yasuke either becomes a ronin or sides with Mitsuhide; both of these endings make Yasuke into an important figure rather than a sidekick of Nobunaga. The upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows explores this evolution further by making Yasuke a primary character and his relation to Oda Nobunaga less prominent. Shadows also seems to take inspiration from Nioh in that Yasuke is fully kitted in samurai armour but yet the boss fight in Nioh argues Yasuke is not a ‘true samurai’ and that can be inferred by the use of a two-handed battle-axe instead of the katana that Yasuke uses in Shadows. In contrast, Samurai Warriors 5 has Yasuke use knuckles as his weapon of choice rather than samurai weaponry that Shadows aims for. 

So what conclusions can we draw? The Sengoku period was already well represented in media and Yasuke plays a very small part in that representation through minor cameos and appearances. However, with recent representations of the Sengoku in video games, Yasuke has received more prominence starting from being interminably connected with Nobunaga to only having a small connection with Nobunaga.