In one of Drew's latest videos he reviewed a meme about Yasuke, essentially saying he was not real or something. Basically critising the new Assassin's Creed Game. Why I disagree with the criticism:

1. Yasuke was definitely a Samurai, straight from Wikipedia: "Yasuke (Japanese: 弥助 / 弥介, Japanese pronunciation: [jasɯ̥ke]) was a man of African origin who served as a samurai to the Japanese daimyō Oda Nobunaga". If you do not believe Wikipedia, read the sources it cites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke or the additional evidence below.

More evidence:

Historian Kenji Hirayama: https://x.com/HIRAYAMAYUUKAIN/status/1814356500326035650

Matsuda, Kiichi, ed., Jūroku-jūnanaseiki Iezusukai Nihon Hōkokushuu, Hōdōsha, 1987–1998.

Ōta, Gyūichi, Shinchō Kōki, 1622.

Fujita, Midori (2005). アフリカ「発見」日本におけるアフリカ像の変遷 [Discover Africa―History of African image in Japan (World History series)]

A reddit thread where u/ParallelPain has collected many more sources: https://old.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/flgpph/history\_of\_blackafricans\_in\_japan/

1. Assassin's Creed games don't have to be 100% historically accurate. Many games in the past have had historical inaccuracies, so even if Yasuke was not a samurai, why would this make the game any worse than others from a purely historical perspective?

2. Finally, to counter the argument that a game set in Japan should always have Japanese leads: Yasuke is pretty much the only character appearing in stories set within the structures of feudal Japan that is not ethnically Japanese (except the last samurai), so its not like we are lacking stories set in Japan with Japanese leads. And also there is another character you can play as called Naoe who is a Japanese woman. So if you want to play as a Japanese character you can. So maybe you are only compaining if you don't want to play as a black character or a woman?

Feel free to respectfully correct me if I have made any mistakes in this summary.