List of foreign-born samurai in Japan

This is a list of foreign-born people who became samurai in Japan.

In this list, Japan means the Japanese Archipelago. The word samurai has had a variety of meanings historically; here it is taken to mean "those who serve in close attendance to the nobility". This list includes the following people.

• Foreign soldiers and generals who served daimyō directly during the Sengoku period (1467–1615) and Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568–1600) before the unification of Japan by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The definition of samurai was obscure in those periods.
• Foreign-born people who served the Tokugawa shogun and were granted a status of Hatamoto or higher.^[1]
• In the Edo period (1603–1867), foreign-born people who served daimyō and granted a status higher than koshō (小姓 [ja],^[2] page).^[1]
• In the Edo period, foreign-born people who served daimyō and were given salary of koku.

The following people are treated as "people who could be foreign-born samurai".

• "Foreign-born samurai" whose existence is uncertain.
• Foreign-born people who were given territory or rice as salary by lords, whose occupations were unclear.

This list excludes the following people.

• Samurai of foreign ancestry born in Japan.
• Foreign-born people who served samurai and were allowed to wear two swords but were not given territory or a salary of koku.^[3] All men from samurai class were permitted to wear daishō. However, people from other social classes were sometimes allowed to wear swords. For example, Hijikata Toshizō, the famous swordsman and vice-commander of Shinsengumi was born the son of a farmer. Even though he wore daishō and engaged in police activity, he could not gain the title of official retainer of bakufu until 1867.
• Foreign-born people who served samurai in other occupations, for example as Confucian or medical doctor.
• Foreign-born people who served samurai as oyatoi gaikokujin, not Japanese-style soldiers.

During the Edo period (1603-1868), some foreigners in Japan were granted special privileges, including fiefs or stipends and the right to carry two swords, a status typically associated with samurai. Even earlier, during the Azuchi–Momoyama period (1568-1600), certain foreigners received similar benefits. However, whether these individuals should be considered as members of the warrior class (bushi) remains a subject of debate among historians.^[4]

Before the Edo period, an African man, possibly from Portuguese Mozambique, became notable for his service to a Japanese daimyo. Yasuke (弥助) arrived in Japan in 1579 in the service of the head of the Jesuit mission and attracted attention in Kyoto for his unusual appearance, which led Oda Nobunaga to take him into service as his weapon bearer. Nobunaga elevated him to samurai status, granting him a sword, a house, and a stipend.^[5] Yasuke fought in the Honnō-ji incident (1582), when Nobunaga was betrayed and attacked by his vassal Akechi Mitsuhide. Being a foreigner, Yasuke was spared from execution and released by Mitsuhide.^[4][6]

After Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) many people born in the Joseon dynasty were brought to Japan as prisoners or cooperators. Some of them served daimyōs as retainers. One of the most prominent figures among them was Gim Yeocheol, who was given the Japanese name Wakita Naokata and served as Commissioner of Kanazawa city.

The English sailor and adventurer William Adams (1564–1620) was among the first Westerners to receive the dignity of samurai. The shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu presented him with two swords representing the authority of a samurai, and decreed that William Adams the sailor was dead and that Anjin Miura (三浦按針), a samurai, was born. Adams also received the title of hatamoto (bannerman), a high-prestige position as a direct retainer in the shōgun's court. He was provided with generous revenues: "For the services that I have done and do daily, being employed in the Emperor's service, the Emperor has given me a living". (Letters)^[who?] He was granted a fief in Hemi (逸見) within the boundaries of present-day Yokosuka City, "with eighty or ninety husbandmen, that be my servants". (Letters)^[who?] His estate was valued at 250 koku. He finally wrote "God hath provided for me after my great misery", (Letters)^[who?] by which he meant the disaster-ridden voyage that initially brought him to Japan.

Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn, a Dutch colleague of Adams on their ill-fated voyage to Japan in the ship De Liefde, was also given similar privileges by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Joosten likewise became a hatamoto samurai^[7] and was given a residence within Ieyasu's castle at Edo. Today, this area at the east exit of Tokyo Station is known as Yaesu (八重洲). Yaesu is a corruption of the Dutchman's Japanese name, Yayousu (耶楊子). Joosten was given a Red Seal Ship (朱印船) allowing him to trade between Japan and Indo-China. On a return journey from Batavia, Joosten drowned after his ship ran aground.

Birthplace	Original name	Occupation before arrival in Japan	Year of arrival in Japan	Name in Japan	Lord	Occupation and achievements in Japan
Portuguese Mozambique?[8]	unknown	Servant of Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano[9]	1579[9]	Yasuke 弥助	Oda Nobunaga	He was given a salary by Nobunaga. He served in the Honnō-ji incident.[10]He participated in the inspection tour of Koshu following its conquest.[11]
Hanseong, Joseon[12] (now  South Korea)	Kim Yeo-cheol (Kanji: 金如鐵)[13]	Son of 金時省, civil officer of Joseon[13]	1592[12]	Wakita Naokata 脇田直賢[12]	Maeda Toshinaga→ Maeda Toshitsune[12]→ Maeda Mitsutaka→ Maeda Tsunanori	240 koku later increased to 1,000 koku. On-Koshōgashira (Head of pages). Kanazawa machi-bugyō (Commissioner of Kanazawa city). He served in the Summer Campaign of the Siege of Osaka.[12]
Joseon[14]	unknown[14]	Son of 曽清官, commanding officer of Joseon[14]	1598[14]	Soga Seikan 曾我清官[14]	Nakagawa Hidenari[14]	150 koku. Page of Hidenari.[14]
Joseon[15]	(Kanji:李聖賢)[15]	Son of Yi Bok-nam, commander of Joseon[15]	1598[15]	Rinoie Motohiro 李家元宥[15]	Mōri Terumoto→ Mōri Hidenari[15]	100 koku. Adviser of Mori clan. He was the swordsman who received menkyo of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū.[15]
Delft, Spanish Netherlands	Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn	Mate of De Liefde, Dutch ship[16]	1600[16]	Yayōsu 耶楊子	Tokugawa Ieyasu→ Tokugawa Hidetada	100 koku. He was given the rank of Hatamoto and 50 servants.[16][17] Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, he chartered several Red Seal Ships.
Gillingham, Kent, Kingdom of England	William Adams	Pilot of De Liefde, Dutch ship[18]	1600[18]	Miura Anjin (the pilot of Miura) 三浦按針	Tokugawa Ieyasu→ Tokugawa Hidetada	250 koku.[16][19] He was granted the rank of Hatamoto, a fief and 80-90 servants. Interpreter and shipwright of Tokugawa Shogunate. (Adams was the model for the character John Blackthorne in James Clavell's novel Shōgun (1975).)
Joseon[20][21]	unknown	unknown	unknown	Yagyū Shume 柳生主馬[20]	Yagyū Munenori[20]→ Yagyū "Jūbei" Mitsuyoshi→ Yagyū Munefuyu	Retainer of Yagyū clan. 200 koku?[21] He married the sister of Yagyū "Hyōgonosuke" Toshitoshi.[15]
Henan, Ming Dynasty (now  China)[22][23]	(Kanji:藍會榮)[23]	The member of the inner circle of Ming dynasty[23]	After 1624[23]	Kawaminami Genbei (First) 河南源兵衛[23]	Shimazu Iehisa[23]	300 koku. He was political refugee from Ming. Tōtsūji (Chinese translator) of Satsuma domain. He was given right to wear swords.[23]
Kingdom of Prussia	Henry Schnell[24]	Soldier and arms dealer	1860s	Hiramatsu Buhei 平松武兵衛	Matsudaira Katamori	Served the Aizu domain as a military instructor and procurer of weapons. Given the right to wear swords, a mansion in the castle town of Wakamatsu and retainers.

• French military mission to Japan (1867–68)
• Denrinbō Raikei

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (January 2016)