Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan

Giles Milton

2002 • 368 pages

Ratings5

Average rating3.4

The true story behind James Clavell's best-selling Shogun, Samurai William is the incredible tale of a man who tried to bridge two very different cultures during one of the earliest and most fascinating encounters between East and West. In 1611, the merchants of London's East India Company received a startling letter from Japan, written by a marooned English mariner named William Adams. Even though foreigners had been denied access to this unknown land for centuries, Adams had been living there for years. He had taken a Japanese name, risen to the highest levels in the ruling shogun's court, and was now offering his services as adviser and interpreter. Seven adventurers were sent to Japan with orders to find and befriend Adams in the belief that he held the key to exploiting the riches to be discovered there. But, overwhelmed by the exotic attractions of this new and forbidden country, and failing to grasp the intricacies of a culture so different from their own, the Englishmen quickly found themselves at odds with the ruling shogun. For more than a decade, the English, helped by Adams, attempted trade with the shogun. Faced with the difficulties of communicating, and hounded by scheming Jesuit monks and fearsome Dutch assassins, they eventually found themselves in a desperate battle for their lives. - Jacket flap.

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eHead

Awesome book! Kept me engaged and interested. Perfect bit of adventure for these times.

December 2, 2021

Daren

Perhaps misleading with the title, this book is more than the story of William Adams. He fills a large part of the book, but it goes further, exploring the Portuguese and Spanish contacts with Japan, as well as the Dutch and English approaches. It seemed a lot less about Adams and his personal life in Japan - he was after all given a title hatamoto, a vast estate, and many retainers and labourers were his to ‘own' living on his estate, and he remained a close adviser to the Shogun.

What was obvious to Adams, but was not so to the other Englishmen was Japan's reliance on protocols and traditions, on good moral appearances and behaviour and building of relationships. Ultimately they did this less well that the Dutch, although it could be argued that neither the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch or the English were successful enough to prevent Japan moving into the period known as sakoku the closed country, when she closed her windows on the world and denied foreigners contact for more than 200 years.

I didn't mind the style of writing, which was almost fictionalising (but wasn't) the telling, but more importantly it was nice not to have hundreds of footnotes interrupting the narrative. There was also plenty of source information contained in a separate section at the end of the book, so the lack of reference didn't effect the legitimacy of the book. Overall though it was probably slightly broader than it should have been (on subject) and contained less personal detail on the main man in my opinion, and I found my interest waning in the middle. It did improve and build to the conclusion, and overall an enjoyable enough read.

August 7, 2015