Here is a fascinating article about the life of William Adams, better known in Japan as Miura Anjin. Adams lived to age 55, from 24 September 24th, 1564 – May 16th, 1620.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(pilot)
Yah, William Adams (1564-1620) really had a fascinating life.
And yah, the book/show is BASED on him and doesn't follow every step he made.
Another person probably held an even more important position in Japan than Adams.
Jan Joosten van Lodensteyn (1556-1623) 🇳🇱
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Joosten_van_Lodensteijn
Van Lodensteyn was the second mate and also navigator "pilot" on the Netherlandic ship with which they were stranded in Japan. That means van Lodensteyn was 3rd in rank on the ship (after the captain and the first mate) and a higher rank than Adams.
The higher age and rank alone wouldn't make him more important in Japan than Adams.
But van Lodensteyn became Samurai around the same time as Adams.
That makes it doubtful that Adams was the very first European Samurai (claimed on german Wiki).
And certainly van Lodensteyn was never Adams' second mate (as it's now written in Adams' English Wiki), because a second mate has a higher rank than a 'simple' navigator.
However, there's an even more interesting real character.
Tenjiku Tokubei (1612-1692) 🇯🇵
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenjiku_Tokubei
According to the german Wiki he's referred to as the Japanese Marco Polo (1254-1324).
Tokubei travelled on one of van Lodensteyn's ships (not just this one) and became rich. ⛵💰
And if I continue like that I'll never start to watch the show. 😳
Thanks. There is an interesting history here. For most of my life Asia has been portrayed as backwards barbarians when really the truth was quite the opposite. I think the book "Shogun" contributed a lot to humanizing the Japanese and showing that their culture was different and brutal but in some ways a lot more civilized, or at least as civilized as ours.
They were smart as hell and within a short time had Western technology and little shame in accepting other better ways to do things.
Aside from their Imperialist system I've admired the Japanese culture since I was a kid. There art and technology and design is second to none.
"For most of my life Asia has been portrayed as backwards barbarians..."
This may apply to your culture (USA?).
For us Asia (and Egypt) always was presented differently.
However, it was also common here to see our ancestors as underdeveloped idiots.
The more they dig up and interpret correctly, the more the perspective changes in this regard too.
Egypt is pretty barbaric. The Muslim Brotherhood originated there.
Did you miss the Arab Spring violence, murder and terrorism?
And by the way, until Western influence permeated a lot of the East, China/Japan, they were pretty barbaric, even if they did have some civilized cultural developments. Japan was Hamas level brutality in China and around Southeast Asia.
People are cruel, worldwide.
But that doesn't change the cultural achievements of the Asians and Egyptians.
During the Arab Spring, did you also notice how young Egyptians formed a human chain around their museum in Cairo and successfully protected it?
"You can destroy everything, but don't destroy our culture!"
Great respect for the Egyptian youngsters, Bravo! 👏👏👏
I look at it in a Marxian way ... from the dawn of time our wars and misery have usually resulted from "class struggle", and I believe the only was worth fighting is the "class war".
shareOh no, I won't discuss communism with you now.
That would inevitably end in a collision. 💥
I like to discuss with you, because you're one of the few well-educated lefties and you don't just have your head for cutting hair.
So, to distract from that (political) topic....
"Pilot" is in my language only used for a person who flies an airplane.
Wouldn't it be amazing if they found a 17th century airplane?! 🛩️
Ok ok, that's silly.
But many other mistranslated ancient info need to be reclassified (e.g. Bible, David and Goliath...Goliath wasn't THAT huge).
Maybe the Japanese did exactly the right thing by throwing out all the Europeans (though the details were unfair and brutal)...they were warned by the seamen.
By sealing off their territory the Japanese may've been spared the fate of the Native Americans.
Off-topic (to correct my mistake elsewhere):
The domain ending ".to" stands for Tonga, not Togo. ☺