The African Samurai

"The African Samurai" is a historical novel based on true events about Yasuke, the first Japanese samurai of foreign origin.
In 1579, a Portuguese merchant ship arrived in Japan. On board was Alessandro Valignano, an Italian Jesuit missionary, and his bodyguard, a tall East African who had been sold into slavery as a child, a young but experienced soldier.
Circumstances lead the bodyguard to the most famous warlord, Oda Nobunaga, who seeks to unite Japan, torn apart by centuries of war. Valignano "gifts" his bodyguard to Nobunaga, and he once again realizes that he is not so much a person as a bargaining chip.
The former slave swears allegiance to the legendary warlord, for which he makes him a samurai. Not all Japanese nobles are pleased with the rise of the foreigner Yasuke. But everything will depend on his ability to protect his lord from threats, both military and political, as well as from enemies both external and internal.
"The African Samurai" is a magnificent reconstruction and a moving story about a forgotten historical figure, a fragment of the path of Japan's formation, to which the hero was unexpectedly drawn.