Assassins Creed: Shadows (Japan) 2024+
- Thread starter Gizmo_Duck
- Start date
On Japanese Wiki, Yasuke is listed as a samurai, but on English Wiki, there’s an edit war going on, and Yasuke isn’t listed as one of the foreign samurai in Japan.
A lot of these dumb cacs don’t even know what a retainer means. A retainer is someone who serves as a bodyguard for the daimyo. Samurai often served as a bodyguard for the daimyo, which means a retainer can also be a samurai. During the Sengoku period, retainers were pretty much samurais.
A lot of these dumb cacs don’t even know what a retainer means. A retainer is someone who serves as a bodyguard for the daimyo. Samurai often served as a bodyguard for the daimyo, which means a retainer can also be a samurai. During the Sengoku period, retainers were pretty much samurais.
Last edited:
OneDeep
Superstar
The same franchise that, for the last 4 entries, has had literal boss fights against mummies, a minotaur, a cyclops, a werewolf, gods and giants, and genies? That Assassins Creed?
Historical accuracy
For the record Im still gonna cop off the strength of
but only at a steep discount, since I dont see any possible way this is on the level of Ghost of Tsuhsima/Rise of the Ronin
saw this comment and can't lie this is pretty much how i feel too:
>game set in the Holy Land, play as a Syrian man
>game set in Italy, play as an Italian man
>game set in the American Colonies, play as both a British and Native man
>game set in the Caribbean, play as a Welsh privateer
>game set in France, play as a French man
>game set in England, play as English twins
>game set in Egypt, play as an Egyptian man
>game set in Greece, play as a Greek man
>game set in Norway and Viking-invaded England, play as a Norwegian man
>game set in Iraq, play as an Arab man
...
>game set in Feudal Japan, play as an African man
I hate that they use us for diversity points. I have been wanting a AC in japan for so long but this just feels so forced.
And i know i'll get hate from the usual militants but i don't care. All i'm saying is they didn't do it for the right reasons thats what pisses me of. It's like they have a tickbox like disney
>game set in the Holy Land, play as a Syrian man
>game set in Italy, play as an Italian man
>game set in the American Colonies, play as both a British and Native man
>game set in the Caribbean, play as a Welsh privateer
>game set in France, play as a French man
>game set in England, play as English twins
>game set in Egypt, play as an Egyptian man
>game set in Greece, play as a Greek man
>game set in Norway and Viking-invaded England, play as a Norwegian man
>game set in Iraq, play as an Arab man
...
>game set in Feudal Japan, play as an African man
I hate that they use us for diversity points. I have been wanting a AC in japan for so long but this just feels so forced.
And i know i'll get hate from the usual militants but i don't care. All i'm saying is they didn't do it for the right reasons thats what pisses me of. It's like they have a tickbox like disney
Space Cowboy
Allahu Akbar
Seeing cacs mad about this pleases me. 
There’s will be a Japanese protagonist in the game as well. The only difference this time is that Yasuke is the first real historical person that is a playable character in the game.
OneDeep
Superstar
It not just an African man though
Female playable character in the game is Japanese
There’re trying to fact check history & culture that isn’t theirs to correct
Japanese people aren’t really upset about it
It’s just white people who’s upset
Nothing is forced about it
He could’ve been a NPC but they chose the more interesting route & made him a playable character
Space Cowboy
Allahu Akbar
The fact you play as two different characters is fantastic but I wish they made them opposing forces on some Suikoden III shyt.
All i'm saying is they did this to win some points. It's not like he was a major historic character.
There are enough big black historic characters in african history. All they need to do is create a african AC.
And i would be pissed if they made a AC in africa and the male character is white because he was the only one there at the time.
That's my main point the rather make the character black instead of making a African AC.
the game will be mind numbingly beautiful.
Space Cowboy
Allahu Akbar
There have been so many samurai games in the past few years: Sekiro, Nioh, Ghost of Tsushima. They have plenty of Japanese lead characters and one of the main characters in one of these games - Nioh - is white. But they can’t do anything different?
2 Up 2 Down
Veteran
Omitted Liberation and Freedom Cry where you black as a black woman and a black man
Some history on Yasuke:
Who was Yasuke?
Not much is known about Yasuke’s early life. Some historians speculate he was born in Mozambique, Ethiopia or Nigeria. Thomas Lockley, co-author of African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan, says it’s possible Yasuke was enslaved and trafficked as a child but believes he was a free man by the time he met Alessandro Valignano, an Italian Jesuit missionary. The duo traveled from India to Japan in 1579, with Yasuke essentially serving as Valignano’s bodyguard.
Yasuke “was employed as muscle because missionaries aren’t allowed to have weapons,” Lockley says. “Japan at the time was in the middle of a brutal century of civil war, and therefore [Valignano] needed somebody to look after him.”
The civil war in question began in 1467 with the collapse of the Ashikaga shogunate, which left rival feudal lords vying for control of Japan. These clashes continued through the mid-1500s, when Nobunaga consolidated power by unifying half of the island nation under his ruthless regime.
Yasuke first crossed paths with Nobunaga in 1581, when Valignano requested permission from the warlord to leave the country—a customary practice in an era before passports, according to Lockley. Nobunaga was fascinated by the color of Yasuke’s skin, which he initially believed to be covered in black paint. As Lockley explains, the daimyo ordered Yasuke to be washed, but his skin color remained unchanged. Nobunaga threw a welcome party for his visitor, who officially entered his service soon after.
The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga, a 17th-century book written by one of Nobunaga’s followers, describes Yasuke as “[appearing] to be 26 or 27 years old. … This man looked robust and had a good demeanor. What is more, his formidable strength surpassed that of ten men.” Other chronicles characterize the samurai as an intelligent, imposing figure who stood more than six feet tall. Though Yasuke was already a skilled warrior, he likely underwent additional martial arts training upon joining Nobunaga’s army.
In 16th-century Japan, the title of samurai spoke to rank and was loosely defined as a warrior in the service of a lord or another warrior. By 1581, Nobunaga employed thousands of samurai—yet Yasuke was the first foreign-born warrior to enter their ranks. He belonged to “the very small entourage around Nobunaga, which [was] probably around 30 to 50 [warriors], mainly young men, many of [whom were Nobunaga’s] lovers as well,” Lockley says. Traditionally, older warriors like Nobunaga, then in his early 50s, mentored younger warriors and developed sexual relationships with them. No evidence indicates that Yasuke and Nobunaga were lovers.
Though Yasuke was the only Black samurai in Nobunaga’s army, he was by no means the only African present in Japan at the time. “Several hundred African people lived in Japan during the 16th century,” says Doan. “[They] worked as interpreters, soldiers, entertainers” and more. She says that Kyoto’s Japanese residents would have been surprised by Yasuke’s “foreignness” but likely wouldn’t have exhibited prejudice based on his skin color. According to Lockley, Nobunaga was a powerful man whom few were willing to challenge, so his decision to employ Yasuke wasn’t controversial. In fact, the samurai proved to be quite popular among locals, who flocked to catch a glimpse of him.
Yasuke’s final stand
Yasuke joined Nobunaga during the last months of the feudal lord’s unification campaign. “His strategy was to impose peace by force of arms,” Lockley says. “He would quite happily wipe out 10,000 people if he thought it would forward the aims of peace.” Though Nobunaga was close to completing his goal of consolidating control of Japan, his efforts came to an abrupt close after one of his trusted generals, Akechi Mitsuhide, betrayed him.
On June 21, 1582, Mitsuhide ambushed Nobunaga in Kyoto while they were en route to a battle. Mitsuhide had thousands of troops under his command; Nobunaga was accompanied by just 30 or so men from his inner circle, including Yasuke. “[Mitsuhide] brings 13,000 troops into Kyoto [and] surrounds the temple where [Nobunaga is] staying,” says Lockley. “[It’s] a foregone conclusion. It’s 13,000 against 30.”
Mitsuhide’s men slaughtered many of the soldiers in Nobunaga’s entourage during the initial ambush. Eventually, Nobunaga, Yasuke and an attendant named Mori Ranmaru—the feudal lord’s lover at the time—retreated to one of the temple’s chambers. It was here that Nobunaga performed seppuku, using a sword to slice open his abdomen before Ranmaru beheaded him. Ranmaru then also performed seppuku, asking Yasuke, in turn, to decapitate him.
“If you’re going to die anyway, you might as well die quicker, by your own hand, and retain some honor,” says Lockley. Once both Nobunaga and Ranmaru were dead, Yasuke escaped from the temple with his lord’s head in tow. By protecting Nobunaga’s remains, Yasuke denied Mitsuhide the chance to seize his enemy’s head and display it as a way of establishing legitimacy and power.
“The reason behind Mitsuhide’s betrayal of Nobunaga is one of the great mysteries of Japanese history,” Doan says. “There are many stories—not all of them historically verifiable—of what could have led to the Honnoji Incident.”
Not much is known about Yasuke’s fate after the ambush. According to Lockley, he may have been badly wounded and captured as one of the last survivors of Nobunaga’s inner circle. The last known record of Yasuke describes him being escorted to a Jesuit mission by Mitsuhide’s warriors. “What we do know,” says Doan, “is that Mitsuhide did not execute Yasuke.”
Lockley speculates that Mitsuhide spared Yasuke to gain the support of the Jesuit missionaries. The usurping general lacked allies and only survived Nobunaga by a few days. On July 2, one of Nobunaga’s retainers, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, defeated Mitsuhide at the Battle of Yamazaki. Hideyoshi went on to become Japan’s second “Great Unifier,” uniting the entire country by 1590.
Source:
Who Was Yasuke, Japan's First Black Samurai?
You don't know why they did it because you haven't even played the game. You're just running with a bunch of assumptions and getting angry over those assumptions.
Who was Yasuke?
Not much is known about Yasuke’s early life. Some historians speculate he was born in Mozambique, Ethiopia or Nigeria. Thomas Lockley, co-author of African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan, says it’s possible Yasuke was enslaved and trafficked as a child but believes he was a free man by the time he met Alessandro Valignano, an Italian Jesuit missionary. The duo traveled from India to Japan in 1579, with Yasuke essentially serving as Valignano’s bodyguard.
Yasuke “was employed as muscle because missionaries aren’t allowed to have weapons,” Lockley says. “Japan at the time was in the middle of a brutal century of civil war, and therefore [Valignano] needed somebody to look after him.”
The civil war in question began in 1467 with the collapse of the Ashikaga shogunate, which left rival feudal lords vying for control of Japan. These clashes continued through the mid-1500s, when Nobunaga consolidated power by unifying half of the island nation under his ruthless regime.
Yasuke first crossed paths with Nobunaga in 1581, when Valignano requested permission from the warlord to leave the country—a customary practice in an era before passports, according to Lockley. Nobunaga was fascinated by the color of Yasuke’s skin, which he initially believed to be covered in black paint. As Lockley explains, the daimyo ordered Yasuke to be washed, but his skin color remained unchanged. Nobunaga threw a welcome party for his visitor, who officially entered his service soon after.
The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga, a 17th-century book written by one of Nobunaga’s followers, describes Yasuke as “[appearing] to be 26 or 27 years old. … This man looked robust and had a good demeanor. What is more, his formidable strength surpassed that of ten men.” Other chronicles characterize the samurai as an intelligent, imposing figure who stood more than six feet tall. Though Yasuke was already a skilled warrior, he likely underwent additional martial arts training upon joining Nobunaga’s army.
In 16th-century Japan, the title of samurai spoke to rank and was loosely defined as a warrior in the service of a lord or another warrior. By 1581, Nobunaga employed thousands of samurai—yet Yasuke was the first foreign-born warrior to enter their ranks. He belonged to “the very small entourage around Nobunaga, which [was] probably around 30 to 50 [warriors], mainly young men, many of [whom were Nobunaga’s] lovers as well,” Lockley says. Traditionally, older warriors like Nobunaga, then in his early 50s, mentored younger warriors and developed sexual relationships with them. No evidence indicates that Yasuke and Nobunaga were lovers.
Though Yasuke was the only Black samurai in Nobunaga’s army, he was by no means the only African present in Japan at the time. “Several hundred African people lived in Japan during the 16th century,” says Doan. “[They] worked as interpreters, soldiers, entertainers” and more. She says that Kyoto’s Japanese residents would have been surprised by Yasuke’s “foreignness” but likely wouldn’t have exhibited prejudice based on his skin color. According to Lockley, Nobunaga was a powerful man whom few were willing to challenge, so his decision to employ Yasuke wasn’t controversial. In fact, the samurai proved to be quite popular among locals, who flocked to catch a glimpse of him.
Yasuke’s final stand
Yasuke joined Nobunaga during the last months of the feudal lord’s unification campaign. “His strategy was to impose peace by force of arms,” Lockley says. “He would quite happily wipe out 10,000 people if he thought it would forward the aims of peace.” Though Nobunaga was close to completing his goal of consolidating control of Japan, his efforts came to an abrupt close after one of his trusted generals, Akechi Mitsuhide, betrayed him.
On June 21, 1582, Mitsuhide ambushed Nobunaga in Kyoto while they were en route to a battle. Mitsuhide had thousands of troops under his command; Nobunaga was accompanied by just 30 or so men from his inner circle, including Yasuke. “[Mitsuhide] brings 13,000 troops into Kyoto [and] surrounds the temple where [Nobunaga is] staying,” says Lockley. “[It’s] a foregone conclusion. It’s 13,000 against 30.”
Mitsuhide’s men slaughtered many of the soldiers in Nobunaga’s entourage during the initial ambush. Eventually, Nobunaga, Yasuke and an attendant named Mori Ranmaru—the feudal lord’s lover at the time—retreated to one of the temple’s chambers. It was here that Nobunaga performed seppuku, using a sword to slice open his abdomen before Ranmaru beheaded him. Ranmaru then also performed seppuku, asking Yasuke, in turn, to decapitate him.
“If you’re going to die anyway, you might as well die quicker, by your own hand, and retain some honor,” says Lockley. Once both Nobunaga and Ranmaru were dead, Yasuke escaped from the temple with his lord’s head in tow. By protecting Nobunaga’s remains, Yasuke denied Mitsuhide the chance to seize his enemy’s head and display it as a way of establishing legitimacy and power.
“The reason behind Mitsuhide’s betrayal of Nobunaga is one of the great mysteries of Japanese history,” Doan says. “There are many stories—not all of them historically verifiable—of what could have led to the Honnoji Incident.”
Not much is known about Yasuke’s fate after the ambush. According to Lockley, he may have been badly wounded and captured as one of the last survivors of Nobunaga’s inner circle. The last known record of Yasuke describes him being escorted to a Jesuit mission by Mitsuhide’s warriors. “What we do know,” says Doan, “is that Mitsuhide did not execute Yasuke.”
Lockley speculates that Mitsuhide spared Yasuke to gain the support of the Jesuit missionaries. The usurping general lacked allies and only survived Nobunaga by a few days. On July 2, one of Nobunaga’s retainers, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, defeated Mitsuhide at the Battle of Yamazaki. Hideyoshi went on to become Japan’s second “Great Unifier,” uniting the entire country by 1590.
Source:
Who Was Yasuke, Japan's First Black Samurai?
You don't know why they did it because you haven't even played the game. You're just running with a bunch of assumptions and getting angry over those assumptions.