Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan

When I was gathering material to complete my review on Mr. James Clavell's "Shogun" I saw a reference to this book and can't resist the temptation to bought it and read it. After finishing reading it I was amazed by how deeply Mr. Clavell has grasped this exotic environment in his novel. Mr. Milton has thoroughly researched the contemporary European sources to build this book. He took into account the diary & letters from William Adams (the historical character on which Clavell's book was based), Richard Cock, the chief English Factor at Hirado (Japan), Captain John Saris and other Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese sources. As other reviewers have pointed out, Japanese sources are omitted. This in my opinion, is not a great setback, because the author is telling the story of the hundred year relationship between Europeans and Japanese from the Europeans stand point of view, and he doesn't claim otherwise. The amazement and shock, that such a different culture generated on these seamen and merchants is shown in their own words. In one hand the higher cultural level, reflected in the cleanness, sophistication and demeanor of the Japanese, seduce them. In the other hand the harsh justices applied: deaths for minor and major faults, without appellation or mercy, appall them. The spicy language used by William Adams and his fellow merchants is shown, with minor standardization in order to render it intelligibly for modern readers, recreating their environment and mindset. The book is very entreatingly and provides a colorful sight of that historical period and place. Enjoy this reading! Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Milton presents an easy-to-read account of early European ventures in Japan. The key figure which holds this book together is William Adams (of Shogun fame). Adams is an English pilot who finds himself in Japan after a particularly perilous journey. Being a stranger in a strange land, he faces many difficulties, but through luck and skill in adaptation, he becomes someone of importance in his new home country. Years later, a group of Englishmen from the East India Company come to set up a factory (trading post).Even though the title of this book is Samurai William, it would be more accurate to describe this book as a history of the East India Company trading post in Japan. Throughout most of this book, Adams appears only as a supporting character.This book is useful for it's descriptions of Japan in the early 1600's. It's interesting to read about the reations the English and the Japanese had to each other. For example, the English reacted to the violence and strict justice in Japanese society, and the Japanese reacted to the uncleanliness of the English. It's definitely worth reading.

The story of William Adams is a very well known subject in Japan, as is also stated at the end of the present book. The way, however, in which the author writes about the leading character (Adams) as well as events of significance around him in connection with the world, as it was perceived in that age, and travel in that world is according to my opinion phenomenal. Aside from some factual errors, which by the way can only be found by the knowledgable (and it's part fiction, so what does it matter anyhow?), the book's story is a gripping and at times moving tale of heroism in an age when travel towards distant places in the orient was still a true adventure. I have been traveling to and from Japan during the last six years, whilst actually living in Japan for about three of those years, having made it my profession to study things Japanese. I still have to learn so much, that I cannot claim to be a specialist in the true sense of the word yet, but I believe that I can tell a good story concerning Japan when I see it, and this is such a story. I would recommend it wholeheartily to anyone with an interest in Japan as well as Europe and relations between those two in that specific period of time. Even people who are not interested in any of the above could find pleasure in reading this book and maybe even should, since I believe it will widen their horizon.

Giles Milton seems to be making a good career out of gutsy little histories related to Britain's Tudor and Stuart trading history, and he does them very well. This latest offering is the well known but little examined history of British trading in Japan. I say well known - but really only in its most skeleton of detail - until now. William Adams, who was wrecked on the shores of Japan in the very eary seventeenth century has been written about at least in passing in a number of other histories before - and turned into a historical fiction for James Clavells' novel. However a full blown history, in a historical context has been a long time coming.Milton's great talent is for his blending of period documents within the text of the book, to bring the past directly to us in all its archaic, but usually very clear details. Its fascinating reading and provides a light, humourous tone to the book which at times could get very bogged down in minutiae.Essentially this is a clash of cultures - that of the insulated Japanese who did not wish to have contact withe the outside world, the British who essentially did not choose to understand the Japanese culture or the types of goods which they valued, and the Jesuits who had insinuated their way into the Japanese court and were very anti-British.William Adams provided a junction for all three parties, but it was a narrow line he was forced to take and his negotiations and diplomacy against the competing interests was often taken in bad part or very often ignored. But Adams is only part of the story, Giles Milton is very good at building up a picture of the time and creating a living history in which British trading with Japan is explored in all its details and all its main characters.I don't think this is his best book so far - Big Chief Elizabeth (which examines the history of America's first colony) has my vote for best - however this book is a great demonstration of how these small histories are best written. If you like this then try Big Chief Elizabeth and Nathaniel's Nutmeg (about the South East Asian Spice trade in Nutmeg) all set in the same approximate period.

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