- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd; First UK Edition edition (13 Jun 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340794674
- ISBN-13: 978-0340794678
- Product Dimensions: 20 x 13 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
49,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4 in Books > Biography > Political > Countries & Regions > Japan
- #8 in Books > Biography > Historical > Countries & Regions > Japan
- #28 in Books > History > Countries & Regions > Asia > East Asia > Japan
Samurai William: The Adventurer Who Unlocked Japan
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Other writers have produced biographies of the great adventurers of the Elizabethan and Jacobean age--Drake, Raleigh and their peers--but in Samurai William, as he has done previously, Giles Milton has specialised in rescuing someone who has slipped through the net of history into anonymity. In Nathaniel's Nutmeg and Big Chief Elizabeth he drew attention to minor, but intriguing, figures in the story of England's earliest expansion both eastwards and westwards, bringing them out of dusty archives and into the light of day. In Samurai William he has done the same for William Adams of Limehouse and the book is just as gripping as its predecessors.
Fate carried William Adams a long way from the East London docks amid which he grew up. He joined a voyage to the East, which went disastrously wrong and, in 1600, he was washed up on the shores of Japan, one of the few survivors of the journey and the first Englishman to set foot in the country. Adams was clearly a remarkable man. In a few years he had progressed from shipwrecked castaway to honorary samurai and close advisor to the Shogun, the effective ruler of Japan. When the East India Company, alerted by a letter Adams managed to send, despatched merchants to trade with the Japanese, it was the English samurai who made their mission possible. Adams never returned to England and died in Japan in 1620.
This is an extraordinary story and Milton tells it well. His great gift is that he knows how to highlight those details from the archives that bring both Adams and the long-dead merchant venturers back to life. The secret of Adams's survival was that he adapted readily to Japanese life; the traders did not, as Milton shows us. He records their responses to the wonders of the new civilisation they were encountering but he also quotes the laddish jokes about Japanese women they swapped in letters, the details of their epic boozing and their increasingly desperate attempts to make enough money to keep afloat. It is little wonder that the trading station could not survive without Adams and folded less than three years after his death. Japan was to be a country closed to Europeans for the next two hundred years. The story of Adams and the first contact between England and Japan was forgotten for centuries but, as told in Samurai William, it's one well worth recovering from oblivion. --Nick Rennison
Economist
'Giles Milton again expertly navigating the eastern seas'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
When William Adams and his dying crew arrived in Japan in 1600, after nineteen months at sea, they became the first Englishmen ever to set foot on what was, for them, a completely uncharted, unknown land. The duplicitous Portuguese, who had already set up a trading post there, informed the Japanese that Adams and his men were pirates, and the Japanese imprisoned Adams for six weeks, but they did not crucify him, a common punishment in those days. Tokugawa Ieyasu, the most important ruler of the country, had been impressed, both with Adams's navigational skills and with his frank admission of dislike of the Portuguese and Jesuits, who were undermining the political and military stability of the Ieyasu's domain.
After learning the Japanese language, adopting Japanese customs and dress, and maintaining an unfailingly respectful demeanor, Adams became Ieyasu's interpreter, becoming so valuable to him that he was accorded samurai status and rewarded with a large country estate. Stranded in Japan with no means of escape, Adams became "Japanese." When English ships finally arrived more than ten years later, Adams helped them establish bases and become trusted trading partners, but he never returned "home," living his remaining 23 years in Japan, an honored and much respected man.
In this extremely fast-paced historical narrative, Milton uses primary sources to show how Japan came to be "discovered," what its values and culture were, and why the intrusion of the Europeans and the lure of trade were eventually rebuffed and the country "closed" in 1637. Though he clearly does not agree with the sense of quick justice, the immediate executions, and the brutality carried out by the Japanese in the name of justice, Milton graphically illustrates his admiration and appreciation of their courage and sense of honor, their loyalty and respect for authority, their diligence, their beautifully constructed and aesthetically pleasing gardens, and the grandeur of the palace in Edo (now the Imperial Palace in Tokyo), along with more mundane characteristics, such as their concern for hygiene and bathing and their medical practices (including acupuncture).
He sets up dramatic contrasts with the mores of the Europeans, clearly illustrating the much higher level of "civilization" that existed in Japan without the influence of the west, and it is easy to see why Ieyasu's grandson eventually banned all westerners in order to preserve his own society. Though Samurai William Adams is the real-life role model for James Clavell's Shogun, I found him far more true to life and interesting in this book. Neither romanticized nor idealized, he exists here as a man with flaws, often speaking in his own voice. His life as a seaman and his life in Japan are fascinatingly portrayed, attesting both to Milton's scholarship and his imagination as he recreates successfully the two cultures and societies in which Adams lived two very different lives. Mary Whipple
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Giles Milton has produced a compelling book on a unique piece of history. He uses original archive information to produce a 'novel' type of history about a remarkable man, who reached great heights in the pecking order of Japan. Mr Milton's writing style is easy on the brain, yet is full of information and emotion. A first class read, and quite un-put-downable!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A gripping, well-written account of Willaim Adams, the first Englishman to reach Japan, and the short-lived attempt by the English to expand its burgeoning Empire to this most unique country. Milton does and excellent job of piecing together the various extent contemporary accounts--including those left behind by Adams himself--into a facinating story. One will be disappointed, however, if one expects this to be a detailed account of Williams Adams himself--as far as I know, an impossibility given the amount of material that he left behind. A considerable amount of the narrative deals with trade in East Asia, the workings of the Jesuits in Japan, and the English factory established at Hirado.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
WELL RESEARCHED YET UNFULFILLING
Once a month, my wife organizes a thematic weekend around a favorite TV or movie series of ours. November is usually Shogun month. Read more
Published 5 months ago by NeuroSplicer
Samurai William: The Adventurer Who Unlocked Japan.
`Samurai William' recounts the life story of William Adams who was an English mariner who sailed to Japan and who became enraptured with the culture and customs of this intriguing... Read more
Published 24 months ago by Spider Monkey
a very good read
Fantastic book, favourite quote from the book "The English did not take well to Japanese customs except their love of drinking, at this the English excelled. Read more
Published on 13 Feb 2010 by J. Cooper
Superb read
I bought this book for my daughter who now lives in Japan and is an avid - and highly critical - reader, and she loved it. Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2009 by Stitchingirl
A very different culture
Milton writes well and makes little known history come alive. In this case it is the European exploration of the Far East for trade with the first Englishman, William Adams, in... Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2008 by G. J. Weeks
Interesting, well written and inaccurate.
Giles Milton's book is certainly a well written piece of pop history and very entertaining. However, if you are looking for accuracy and veracity, this isn't the book to read. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2004
Engagingly written history
Giles Milton writes engagingly and knowlegably about an episode of English history which sheds light upon Japanese society in the 1600's. Read more
Published on 13 Mar 2003 by slarti112
Late night reader
When you wake up in the middle of the night having a weird dream or a nightmare and sit bolt upright, gasping for air, groping around in the dark for the water mug this is the book... Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2003 by iain potts
Samurai Shipping!
The title of this book is misleading. There is very little information in here about William Adams himself. Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2002
Superifical and glib
Oh dear. Another formulaic Renaissance history book from Giles Milton. Ingredients: take well-known stories from standard printed editions of 16th/17th century travel collections... Read more
Published on 23 Aug 2002
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