African samurai: The enduring legacy of a black warrior in feudal Japan | Hacker News Reader

African samurai: The enduring legacy of a black warrior in feudal Japan

edition.cnn.com

185 pointschirau40 comments

Related and interesting: a full list of foreign-born samurai.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign-born_samurai_i...

I got interested in the story of Yasuke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke) when I was visiting Gifu, Oda's seat of power. The Wikipedia article has generally more information than the CNN article, but is perhaps a bit more sober. At 188cm he would indeed have been a giant among the locals at the time. There's a possibility that maybe, just maybe, the person to the left in this picture is Yasuke: https://www.museu-caramulo.net/upload/photo/38-arte-japonesa...

Holy shit I never knew Afro Samurai was based on a real story

That’s so cool haha

I think this is getting downvoted because it sounds racist but Afro Samurai is a real and fairly popular anime / manga which is indeed inspired by Yasuke. This is cool.

You've done a great job at easily demonstrating how ignorant the typical HN commenter/downvoter truly is. Note how all the downvoting cowards have said NOTHING regarding your correction, and just hide.

Hey dang, stcb, you wonder why we have no respect for you? This shit which you refuse to rectify or even acknowledge is why. Your incompetence shows as brightly as the downvoters ignorance.

Why would that sound racist? Honest question, as an immigrant I don't pick up 100% of all the things Americans perceive as racist.

Because "afro" was a hair style worn by primarily black people a few decades ago when racial tensions were higher.

It's an old term and as such is considered to be used by people who don't care enough to adopt more modern language to refer to people of the race and their culture.

In this case, it's the title of a real show and the protagonist is very respectfully portrayed in the anime. Recommended.

Afro Samurai is inspired by Yasuke about as much as The Vampire Diaries is inspired by Vlad II Dracul.

True, but it's still neat.

I don't think it is about racism... more so as it is just not a great comment.

I don't want to go too far down into the weeds on meta community stuff (it's endless man ...) but generally on HM 'super cool' and such comments are downvated, the idea being there isn't a lot of content there.

It's not 100% consistent, but I'm guessing that has more to do with it than any perceived racism. Anyone who read the article already saw that term used.... it's also not something most folks think of as racist IMO.

So I think the content here is "Afro Samurai is based on a real story." For anime fans that's useful and relevant.

I learned about Yasuke from playing "Sekiro." There's a black samurai/ronin that you can interact with. I thought nothing of it, but others postulated that it might be a reference to Yasuke. I was fascinated to learn about his journey.

Jinzaemon is not black (that's who you meant right?):

https://sekiroshadowsdietwice.wiki.fextralife.com/Jinzaemon+...

From the wiki though: > (Japanese Default Language version) He has a Westernized Japanese accent, it may be a tribute to Yasuke (African Samurai) in 1579.

Erm, ok, that's a weird reach the wiki is making. You can see closeups of his face right beneath that sentence.

Yes that's who I'm referring to. On my first playthrough I didn't think he was black, but after having it pointed out I think it's likely he's a reference to Yasuke. Either way, this is how I learned about it.

Nioh has an even more obvious reference with the "Obsidian Samurai":

https://nioh.fandom.com/wiki/Obsidian_Samurai

PS: the player character in Nioh is also a "Foreign Samurai", William Adams: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(sailor,_born_15...

Good point! I forgot about those ones. Also a really fun game.

Movie? Yes please.

https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/08/entertainment/chadwick-bo...

I heard about this recently in the Kings and Generals YouTube channel:

https://youtu.be/0RZaHgXEhJ4

It’s a fairly interesting story, but does seem there is limited information.

I hear Forest Whitaker may option a prequel. GD needs a reincarnation movie.

Django meet Kill Bill. Can't wait a good movie on that story.

SMH. There's already Ghost Dog.

The real last Samurai lol

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