William Adams (samurai)

thumb|17th-century engraving. From left to right, Blijde Boodschap, Trouw, Geloof, Liefde and Hoop

Adams' fleet consisted of:

Hoop ("Hope"), led by Admiral Jacques Mahu (d. 1598), who was succeeded by Simon de Cordes (d. 1599) and Simon de Cordes Jr; this ship was lost near the Hawaiian Islands;
Liefde ("Love"), led by Simon de Cordes, second in command, succeeded by Gerrit van Beuningen, and finally under Jacob Quaeckernaeck; this was the only ship to reach Japan;
Geloof ("Faith"), led by Gerrit van Beuningen and in the end, Sebald de Weert; this was the only ship that returned to Rotterdam;
Trouw ("Loyalty"), led by Jurriaan van Boekhout (d. 1599) and finally, Baltazar de Cordes; this ship was captured in Tidore;
Blijde Boodschap ("Good Tiding" or "The Gospel"), led by Sebald de Weert, and later, Dirck Gerritz, was seized in Valparaiso.

Jacques Mahu and Simon de Cordes were the leaders of an expedition with the goal to reach Chile, Peru and other kingdoms in New Spain such as Nueva Galicia, the Captaincy General of Guatemala, Nueva Vizcaya, the New Kingdom of León and Santa Fe de Nuevo México. The fleet's original mission was to go to South America's western coast and trade their cargo for silver, then head to Japan only if the original mission failed. The crews were supposed to obtain silver in Japan and spices in Moluccas before returning home. Their goal was to sail through the Strait of Magellan to get to their destination, which scared many sailors because of the harsh weather conditions.

The first major expedition around South America was organised by a voorcompagnie, the Rotterdam or Magelhaen Company. It organised two fleets of five and four ships with 750 sailors and soldiers, including 30 English musicians.

thumb|Location of Annobón in the [[Gulf of Guinea]]

After leaving Goeree on 27 June 1598, the ships sailed to the Channel but anchored in the Downs until mid July. When the ships approached the shores of North Africa, Simon de Cordes realised his rations had been far too generous in the early weeks of the voyage and instituted a rationing policy. At the end of August, the ships landed at Santiago, Cape Verde and Mayo off the coast of Africa because of a lack of water and need for fresh fruit. They stayed around three weeks in the hope of buying some goats. Near Praia, the expedition succeeded in occupying a Portuguese castle on the top of a hill but came back without anything substantial. At Brava, Cape Verde, half of the crew of the Hoop caught fever and most of the men were sick, among them Admiral Jacques Mahu. After Mahu's death, leadership of the expedition was taken over by Simon de Cordes, with Van Beuningen as vice admiral. Because of contrary wind, the fleet was blown off course (northeast in the opposite direction) and arrived at Cape Lopez, Gabon, Central Africa. An outbreak of scurvy forced a landing on Annobón on 9 December. Several men became sick with dysentery. They stormed the island only to find that the Portuguese and their native allies had set fire to their houses and fled into the hills. The Dutch put all their sick men ashore to recover and left in early January. Because of starvation, the men fell into great weakness; some tried to eat leather. On 10 March 1599 they reached the Rio de la Plata in what is now Argentina.

By early April, the crew arrived at the Strait, long, wide at its narrowest point, with an inaccurate chart of the seabed.

Voyage to Pacific

thumb|Blue skies over Chiloe

thumb|Aerial view of La Mocha

thumb|Coast near Punta Lavapié

When the expedition finally reached the Pacific Ocean on 3 September 1599, the ships were caught in a storm and lost sight of each other. The Trouw and the Geloof were driven back into the strait. After more than a year, each ship went its own way.) The Liefde hit the island, but went on to Punta Lavapié near Concepción, Chile. A Spanish captain supplied the Trouw and Hoop with food; the Dutch helped him against the Araucans, who had killed 23 Dutch, including Thomas Adams (according to his brother in his second letter) and Gerrit van Beuningen. He was replaced by Jacob Quaeckernaeck.

thumb|upright|Wooden figure of [[Desiderius Erasmus which served as the stern ornament of the Liefde, now in the Tokyo National Museum.]]

The Trouw reached Tidore (Eastern Indonesia), where the crew were killed by the Portuguese in January 1601. In fear of the hostile Spaniards, the remaining crews determined to leave Floreana Island and sail across the Pacific. On 27 November 1599, when both ships sailed to Japan, the fleet was stranded on an isle which is believed to have been Hawaii.

Service under Shogunate

On 19 April 1600, when Adams and his Dutch colleague Jan Joosten arrived at Japan, they told Ieyasu about the world situation, including that there were many conflicts in Europe, and that the Jesuits and other Catholics (e.g. Portuguese, Spanish), who had been proselytizing Christianity in Japan, and the Protestants (e.g. Dutch, English) were on different sides and were in conflict with each other. Ieyasu reportedly took a liking to them for their frankness and regarded them as trustworthy. According to the record from Spanish envoy Diego de Santa Caterina, Adams was quick to convince Ieyasu that the Spanish had ulterior motive by sending missionaries to Japan.

thumb|upright=1.5|1707 map of Japan, with a [[cartouche (cartography)|cartouche representing the audience of William Adams with the shōgun. From Naaukeurige Versamelling der Gedenk-Waardigste Zee en Land-Reysen (a series of accounts of famous Sea and Land-Voyages). By Pieter van der Aa.]]

In 1604, he built the first shipbuilding dock in Japan in Ito. and gave him the name Miura Anjin. In the same year, Adams secured an authorisation letter from Ieyasu to invite the Dutch East India Company to trade with Japan. Adams also received generous revenues from his service under Ieyasu and was granted a domain in Hemi (:ja:逸見) within the frontier of present-day Yokosuka City, with nearly a hundred slaves and servants.

Also in 1607, Ieyasu gave order to Adams and his companions to assist Mukai Shōgen, a chief commander of Uraga naval forces, to build the shogunate's first Western-style vessel. The sailing ship was built at the harbour of Itō on the east coast of the Izu Peninsula. Carpenters from the harbour supplied the manpower to build an 80-ton ship, which would be used to patrol the coast of Japan.

The following year, Ieyasu ordered a larger ship of 120 tons to be built. This 120-ton ship was known as San Buena Ventura, which had ocean-crossing capabilities. In 1610, San Buena Ventura travelled to Mexico with Rodrigo de Vivero and Tanaka Shōsuke on board; Tanaka was the first recorded Japanese to have travelled to the Americas.

Diplomacy with Europe and New Spain

thumb|left|The "trade pass" (Dutch: ) issued in the name of [[Tokugawa Ieyasu. The text commands: "Dutch ships are allowed to travel to Japan, and they can disembark on any coast, without any reserve. From now on this regulation must be observed, and the Dutch left free to sail where they want throughout Japan. No offenses to them will be allowed, such as on previous occasions" – dated 24 August 1609 (Keichō 14, 25th day of the 7th month)]]

Until 1609, the Dutch were not able to send ships to Japan due to conflicts with the Portuguese and limited resources in Asia. Due to Adams immersion to the Japanese Culture, Saris even called him a "naturalized Japanese" in his journal. Tokugawa Ieyasu, influenced by Adams' anti-Catholic counsels and the increase in samurai and daimyos converting to Catholicism (as in the Okamoto Daihachi incident, for example), banished all Portuguese Jesuits from Japan in 1614. He also demanded that all Japanese Catholics abandon their new faith and launched what would become a centuries-long policy of religious persecution aimed at those who refused.

In the same year, Adams received permission from both Japan and England to return to England. John Saris disliked Adams for his insistence on following Japanese customs, while Adams himself had mutual feeling towards Saris for his perceived rude behavior. After the Clove left, Adams helped out at the English trading post in Japan, although he was paid less than he had been working at the Dutch trading post. On the eve of Siege of Osaka, Ieyasu prepared for the war effort by stockpiling ammunition. In May, a company of English merchants tried to sell lead in Hirado but failed to find a buyer until, with the help of Adams, the shogunate purchased their entire stock. In the same month, the shogunate bought lead from a Dutch trading company. Later in June, Adams acted as middleman while Tokugawa Ieyasu stockpiled cannons, gunpowder, and bullets purchased from English merchants. The prices agreed upon were 1 kan for cannons, 2.3 bun for gunpowder, and 1.6 bun for bullets. Later in the same year, Adams wanted to organise a trade expedition to Siam to bolster profits and help the company's situation, so he bought and upgraded a 200-ton Japanese junk ship, renamed it Sea Adventure, and hired a crew: around 120 Japanese sailors and merchants, several Chinese traders, an Italian, a Spanish trader and Richard Wickham and Edmund Sayers of the English factory's staff. The ship sailed from Hirado in November. The enterprise aimed to purchase raw silk, Chinese goods, Biancaea sappan, deer skins, and ray skins for the hilts of katana swords.

Service under Hidetada

In 1616, According to Frederik Cryns, a professor of International Research Center for Japanese Studies, as Adams lost his influence within the Shogunate, he failed to convince Hidetada about the importance of free trade for Japan, and eventually was removed from his position as a diplomatic advisor, a position which he enjoyed during Ieyasu's reign.

thumb|[[Topography as the study of place|Topographical map of the bay of Hirado in 1621. To the right on the shore-line, the Dutch East India Company trading post is marked with the red-white-blue flag of the Netherlands. To the far left, back from the shore-line is a white flag with red cross, the St George's Cross of England at the East India Company trading post.]]

In March 1617, Adams set sail to Cochinchina on a junk ship which he had purchased and brought from Siam and renamed Gift of God. He intended to find two English sailors, Tempest Peacock and Walter Carwarden. Once in Cochinchina, however, Adams learned that Peacock, a drunk, had committed murder. Adams killed Peacock and chased after Carwarden, who was waiting downstream with a boat. Realizing that Adams had killed his companion, Carwarden panicked, capsized his boat, and drowned.

Death

Adams died at Hirado, north of Nagasaki, on 16 May 1620, at the age of 55. In his will, he left his residence in Edo, his domain in Hemi (in Yokosuka).

Cocks wrote: "I cannot but be sorrowful for the loss of such a man as Capt William Adams, he having been in such favour with two Emperors of Japan as never any Christian in these part of the world."

According to American author and literature expert Susan Wise Bauer, William Adams was a fervent Protestant who detested Catholics.

Family

Adams was recorded to have married Mary Hyn in the parish church of St Dunstan's, Stepney, and a daughter Deliverance.

After settling in Japan, Adams married a Japanese woman, although there is no clear evidence of her name and background in either Japanese or European historical records. The family link to Magome is shown in Japanese historical accounts written in the 1800s, while the first known reference to the name "Oyuki" is from a fictional work in 1973, and earlier fictional accounts refer to Adams' wife by names such as Mary, Tsu, Bikuni, Tae, and Chrysanthemum.

In 1635, Hidetada's successor Tokugawa Iemitsu enforced the Sakoku Edict for Japan to be closed against foreign trading; both Joseph and Susanna disappear from historical records at that time. The subsequent mtDNA analysis had indicated that Adams' mitochondrial DNA likely belongs to haplogroup H. The analysis also showed aspects such as the dietary habits and burial style that matched with Adams. In April 2020, the University of Tokyo conducted conclusive forensic tests on the bones and confirmed it was William Adams' grave.

French literary critic Michel Foucault retold Adams' tale in The Discourse on Language. According to Foucault, the story embodies one of the "great myths of European culture," and the idea that a mere sailor could teach mathematics to the Japanese shōgun shows the difference between the open exchange of knowledge in Europe, as opposed to the secretive control of knowledge under "oriental tyranny". In fact, Adams was not a mere sailor but the chief navigator of the fleet, and his value to the shōgun was in his practical knowledge of shipbuilding.

Posthumous honours

A town in Edo (modern Tokyo), Anjin-chō (in modern-day Nihonbashi) was named after Adams, who had a house there. Anjin-chō no longer exists and the town is now known as Nihonbashi Muromachi 1-Chōme. However within Muromachi 1-Chōme a street, Anjin-dori, remains named after Adams.
Anjinzuka railroad station in his former fiefdom, Hemi, in modern Yokosuka was named for him.
Adams' birth town, Gillingham, held a Will Adams Festival every September from 2000 up to 2019, after which it was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. Since the late 20th century, both Itō and Yokosuka have become sister cities of Gillingham.
A monument to Adams was installed in Watling Street, Gillingham, Kent, opposite Darland Avenue.
The townhouse of Will Adams still exists in Hirado. It is currently a sweet shop called Tsutaya at 431 Kihikidacho. It is known as Anjin no Yakata (Anjin's House).
Adams has a second memorial monument at the location of his residence in Hemi. Consisting of a pair of hōkyōintō, the tuff memorial on the right is that of Adams, and the andesite one of the left is for his wife. The monuments were erected by his family in accordance with his will, and the site was designated as a National Historic Site in 1923.

Popular culture

There are numerous works of fiction and non-fiction based on Adams:

James Clavell based his best-selling novel Shōgun (1975) on Adams' life and changed the name of his protagonist to "John Blackthorne". It has been adapted in various forms:
1980, as the NBC miniseries, Shōgun
1989, as a video game James Clavell's Shōgun
1990, as a Broadway production, Shōgun: The Musical
2024, as the Emmy award winning FX series, Shōgun
Murasame Tatsumasa, better known by his birth name Jakob Sebastian Björk, a Swedish actor with Japanese citizenship, played the role of William Adams in the 2023 Jidaigeki historical television drama What Will You Do, Ieyasu?.
A semi-historical fiction novel by Hiromi Rogers titled Anjin - The Life and Times of Samurai William Adams, 1564-1620: A Japanese Perspective retells the story of William Adams, where she brought references from another Historical fiction book - the work of Japanese novelist Oshima Masahiro.
William Dalton wrote Will Adams, The First Englishman in Japan: A Romantic Biography (London, 1861).
Richard Blaker's The Needlewatcher (London, 1932) is the least romantic of the novels; he consciously attempted to de-mythologise Adams and write a careful historical work of fiction.
Adams also serves as the template for the protagonist in the PlayStation 4 and PC video game series Nioh (2017) and non-playable character in its prequel/sequel hybrid game (2020), but with supernatural and historical fiction elements. Unlike the historical William Adams, the game portrays him as an Irishman.

Origins of Western mythology

thumb|upright=.5|Imaginary depiction of Adams from the 1934 dedication booklet for a memorial clock in Gillingham

According to Professor Derek Massarella of Chuo University in Tokyo, Adams was largely forgotten in England until the 1872 discovery of his alleged tomb in Japan led to a proliferation of myths and hyperbolic stories. Soon the public in England became embarrassed by the lack of their own monument or memorial to Adams in England. After years of lobbying, a memorial clock in Adams' honour was erected in Gillingham in 1934. The dedication pamphlet for this event includes an artist's depiction of Adams which Massarella dismisses as a complete fabrication. As for the tomb that sparked the frenzy, Massarella, writing two decades before the forensic mtDNA study, concludes that it likely has nothing to do with Adams.

Gallery

File:William-Adams-with-Daimyo-and-Attendants.png|William Adams with a daimyo (feudal lord) and their attendants

File:William adams vanderaa.png|William Adams meets Tokugawa Ieyasu, in an idealised depiction of 1707.

file:WilliamAdamsMonument.JPG|Right: "Monument at the site of William Adams' (written as Miura Anjin) residence," Chuo Ward, Tokyo.

File:MiuraJapan-Hemi-KashimaJinja-WilliamAdamsMansionSite.jpg|The location of William Adams' mansion (now Kashima Jinja Shrine) in Hemi, Miura, Japan

File:MiuraJapan-Hemi-KashimaJinja-WilliamAdamsMansionSite-Sign.jpg|Descriptive sign of William Adams' mansion (now Kashima Jinja Shrine) in Hemi, Miura, Japan. It mentions the 2024 TV series Shogun.

File:William Adams Memorial Site Descriptive Sign.jpg|Sign in Japanese about Miura Anjin and his life at the memorial site.

File:William Adams Memorial Site Descriptive Bilingual Sign.jpg|Sign in English and Japanese about Miura Anjin

File:William Adams Memorial Site Ocean View, Miura, Japan.jpg|View of the ocean from the memorial site of William Adams, Miura, Japan. Adams wished that after he died, the winds from his homeland, England, could blow over him.

</gallery>

Appendix

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

De Lange, William, Pars Japonica: The First Dutch Expedition to Reach the Shores of Japan (2006)
England's Earliest Intercourse with Japan, by C. W. Hillary (1905)
Letters written by the English Residents in Japan, ed. by N. Murakami (1900, containing Adams' Letters reprinted from Memorials of the Empire of Japan, ed. by T. Rundall, Hakluyt Society, 1850)
Diary of Richard Cocks, with preface by N. Murakami (1899, reprinted from the Hakluyt Society ed. 1883)
Hildreth, Richard, Japan as it was and is (1855)
John Harris, Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca (1764), i. 856
Voyage of John Saris, edited by Sir Ernest M. Satow (Hakluyt Society, 1900)
Asiatic Society of Japan Transactions, xxvi. (sec. 1898) pp. I and 194, where four formerly unpublished letters of Adams are printed;
Collection of State Papers; East Indies, China and Japan. The MS. of his logs written during his voyages to Siam and China is in the Bodleian Library at Oxford.
William Adams and Early English Enterprise in Japan, by Anthony Farrington and Derek Massarella [https://archive.today/20050307173341/http://netec.mcc.ac.uk/WoPEc/data/Papers/cepstiisp394.html]
Adams the Pilot: The Life and Times of Captain William Adams: 1564–1620, by William Corr, Curzon Press, 1995
The English Factory in Japan 1613–1623, ed. by Anthony Farrington, British Library, 1991. (Includes all of William Adams' extant letters, as well as his will.)
A World Elsewhere. Europe's Encounter with Japan in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, by Derek Massarella, Yale University Press, 1990.
Recollections of Japan, Hendrik Doeff,

Hardcopy

The Needle-Watcher: The Will Adams Story, British Samurai by Richard Blaker
Servant of the Shogun by Richard Tames. Paul Norbury Publications, Tenterden, Kent, England..
Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan, by Giles Milton; ; December 2003

External links

Williams Adams- Blue Eyed Samurai, Meeting Anjin
"Learning from Shogun. Japanese history and Western fantasy"
William Adams and Early English enterprise in Japan
William Adams – The First Englishman In Japan, full text online, Internet Archive
Will Adams Memorial
https://williamadamsclub.org/