YASUKE - THE STORY OF AN AFRICAN SAMURAI IN JAPAN

Remember when as kids, we'd play with sticks and call them swords and ourselves, samurai? The Saturday morning cartoon show Samurai Jack further served as a muse turning every child within a five block radius into a turbocharged stick wielding menace. 

As we grew older however, we came to understand that samurai were indeed actual people and not fictitious characters as portrayed in kid's shows. This, along with the fact that, they were highly trained in the art of combat and thus accorded outmost respect in Japanese society.

Native to Japan of course, the way of the samurai was a closely guarded tradition and only a fraction of the population could truly become samurai. At its core, was a warrior's spirit and a deep sense of patriotism. It is as a result of such a rare cocktail of personal traits that samurai were not only considered military, but nobility as well. This is further cemented by their relentless pursuit of both literary and martial arts.

It hence follows, samurai were in the service of the rulers at the time -daimiyo (warlords) and therefore, enjoyed certain privileges such as owning land.

Close knit societies with deep rooted culture, customs and traditions like the Japanese would naturally, be last to assimilate or at the very least, tolerate foreigners weaseling into their way of life. This, was for the first time in Japanese history, about to change!