Yes, I agree that most people are just throwing made up nonsense at ubisoft, no doubt there.
However, the sengoku period is one of the most interesting periods of japanese history, and ubisoft could’ve EASIELY chosen an actual japanese samurai from that time, like hattori hanzo or sanado yukimura, both extremely well known throughout japanese history. Ubisoft choosing the only (recorded) black person in japan during that time just leaves a bad aftertaste in my opinion. The main character of the AC series always represented the area where he’s from - ezio for italy, connor for america, etc, you get the point.
Maybe a bodyguard could be called a samurai depending on how important and trusted he was, and Yasuke was trusted by Nobunaga
Maybe, however, personally, I don’t think so. I obviously have no solid proof, but an “outsider” earning the highest title a normal person can earn in feudal japan seems very outlandish. Public pressure would’ve probably prevented nobunaga from gifting him that title. No doubt he trusted him and received a lot of stuff, but putting him near the top of the social order … nah. I don’t think that happened. But then again, no proof.
but an “outsider” earning the highest title a normal person can earn in feudal japan seems very outlandish.
William Adams was specifically known to have been granted the title of samurai by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and that’s precisely in the period immediately at the end of the Sengoku where the title of samurai begins to change as a status (in the sense of being more restricted and codified). And there’s zero way that “public pressure” would have pushed Oda Nobunaga to change shit about something he decided to like, he’s the last guy of that era on which public pressure did anything. No one from Oda’s circle would have called him out on that.
Again, a samurai wasn’t necessarily “at the top of social order”, there are places where ashigaru, the lowest rung on the ladder, were called samurai. It’s a misconception.
As for chosing an actual Japanese person from the time - there is a second playable character who is the fictional daughter of one of those famous real people from that time and an actual ninja from Iga. You play as her for the first 10 hours or so before Yasuke even becomes playable (except for the introduction mission). This argument is ridiculous and just plain bad faith.
Yes, I agree that most people are just throwing made up nonsense at ubisoft, no doubt there.
However, the sengoku period is one of the most interesting periods of japanese history, and ubisoft could’ve EASIELY chosen an actual japanese samurai from that time, like hattori hanzo or sanado yukimura, both extremely well known throughout japanese history. Ubisoft choosing the only (recorded) black person in japan during that time just leaves a bad aftertaste in my opinion. The main character of the AC series always represented the area where he’s from - ezio for italy, connor for america, etc, you get the point.
Maybe, however, personally, I don’t think so. I obviously have no solid proof, but an “outsider” earning the highest title a normal person can earn in feudal japan seems very outlandish. Public pressure would’ve probably prevented nobunaga from gifting him that title. No doubt he trusted him and received a lot of stuff, but putting him near the top of the social order … nah. I don’t think that happened. But then again, no proof.
William Adams was specifically known to have been granted the title of samurai by Tokugawa Ieyasu, and that’s precisely in the period immediately at the end of the Sengoku where the title of samurai begins to change as a status (in the sense of being more restricted and codified). And there’s zero way that “public pressure” would have pushed Oda Nobunaga to change shit about something he decided to like, he’s the last guy of that era on which public pressure did anything. No one from Oda’s circle would have called him out on that.
Again, a samurai wasn’t necessarily “at the top of social order”, there are places where ashigaru, the lowest rung on the ladder, were called samurai. It’s a misconception.
As for chosing an actual Japanese person from the time - there is a second playable character who is the fictional daughter of one of those famous real people from that time and an actual ninja from Iga. You play as her for the first 10 hours or so before Yasuke even becomes playable (except for the introduction mission). This argument is ridiculous and just plain bad faith.