Watch: Sao Paulo carnival champions tell the story of Mozambique’s Yasuke, who was a samurai in Japan

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Watch: Sao Paulo carnival champions tell the story of Mozambique’s Yasuke, who was a samurai in Japan

3:16 CAT | 23 Feb 2023

Screen grab: Novidades do Samba

The 2023 Champion Samba School of São Paulo was, for the 11th time, Mocidade Alegre, which presented ‘Yasuke’, the story of the first-ever black samurai.

Yasuke, born on the Island of Mozambique sometime between 1555 and 1566, was the first black person to arrive in Japan, and there became the first black samurai.

READ: Calane da Silva writing the story of first African Samurai, “first true Mozambican hero” – Yasuke

Dance and illustrations on the parade commemorated the greatness of Yasuke, who, arriving in Japan, met Oda Nobunaga, the most powerful Japanese samurai, who later made him his faithful bodyguard.

Amazed by Yasuke’s physical prowess, Nobunaga would later name him Yasuke Samurai, entitling him to wear the armour of the elite Japanese soldiers.

The single largest Japanese diaspora in any city is in São Paulo, Brazil.