Episode #171- Who Was The African Samurai? (Part I)

Our Fake History

PodcastOne

History, Education, Society & Culture

4.7 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2023

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Near the end of Japan's "Warring States" period a remarkable visitor arrived in the country with a group of European Jesuit missionaries. He was a soldier originally from East Africa acting as a bodyguard for the ranking Jesuit in Japan. The Japanese would come to know this man as Yasuke and through a surprising series of events he would go on to become the first non-Japanese person to be recognized as a Samurai. Unfortunately, sources concerning the life of Yasuke are few. With only a handful of primary sources and a few colorful legends how much can we know for sure about the African Samurai? Tune-in and find out how Indian slave-soldiers, brawling saints, and the Wu-Tang Clan all play a role in the story. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	When I was little, my father was famous.
0:13.3	He was the greatest samurai in the empire, and he was the showman's decapitated.
0:21.8	He cut off the heads of 131 lords. It was a bad time for the empire. The showman just
0:32.3	stayed inside his castle and he never came out. People said his brain was infected by
0:40.2	devils.
0:42.7	If you've heard that clip before, then you either love Japanese film or you love hip-hop.
0:50.9	Maybe your love of hip-hop led you to a love of Japanese film. Or perhaps an obsession
0:57.9	with gory samurai cinema got you curious about a certain group of statin island rap gods.
1:04.8	It's hard to say. But even if that clip is totally new to you, you have to admit it sets
1:11.5	a mood.
1:13.8	That little piece of voiceover was clipped from the 1980 film Shogun Assassin.
1:20.4	Shogun Assassin was the English language mashup of two popular Japanese films, 1972's
1:27.6	Lone Wolf and Cub Sword of Vengeance and Lone Wolf and Cub Baby Cart at the River Sticks.
1:35.1	The Lone Wolf and Cub series started off as a popular manga or graphic novel and was
1:41.2	eventually adapted into six wildly violent but super entertaining action films set in
1:48.5	the 18th century Aedo Era Japan.
1:52.6	This series follows the adventures of Ogami Ito, a wandering samurai or Ronin who once
1:59.7	worked as the Shogun's executioner. Through a series of misfortunes, Ido finds himself
2:06.1	disgraced and hunted by his former master. The fun twist is that as he wanders Japan cutting
2:13.9	down would be assassins with his blade, he is accompanied by his three year old son,
2:19.5	Daigoro. In some installments of the series, Daigoro rides in a tricked out baby stroller
2:26.0	fitted with hidden guns and other nasty surprises. The father and son samurai team are essentially
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from PodcastOne, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of PodcastOne and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.