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William Adams (sailor)
Encyclopedia
William Adams also known in Japanese as Anjin-sama (anjin, "pilot
"; sama, a Japanese honorific
) and Miura Anjin (三浦按針: "the pilot of Miura
"), was an English
navigator
who travelled to Japan
and is believed to be the first Englishman
ever to reach that country. He was the inspiration for the character of John Blackthorne
in James Clavell
's bestselling novel Shōgun
.
Soon after Adams' arrival in Japan, he became a key advisor to the shogun
Tokugawa Ieyasu
and built for him Japan's first Western-style ships. Adams was later the key player in the establishment of trading factories
by the Netherlands
and England
. He was also highly involved in Japan's Red Seal Asian trade, chartering and captaining several ships to Southeast Asia
. He died in Japan at age 55, and has been recognized as one of the most influential foreigners in Japan during this period.
, Kent
, England
. After losing his father at the age of twelve, he was apprenticed to shipyard owner Master Nicholas Diggins at Limehouse
for the seafaring life. He spent the next twelve years learning shipbuilding
, astronomy
, and navigation
before entering the Royal Navy
.
Adams served in the Royal Navy under Sir Francis Drake
and saw naval service against the Spanish Armada
in 1588 as master of the Richarde Dyffylde, a resupply ship.
Adams then became a pilot for the Barbary Company
. During this service, according to Jesuit sources, he took part in an expedition to the Arctic
that lasted about two years, in search of a Northeast Passage along the coast of Siberia
to the Far East
.
trade with India
, Adams, then 34 years old, shipped as pilot major with a five ship fleet dispatched from the isle of Texel
to the Far East
in 1598 by a company of Rotterdam
merchants (a voorcompagnie or predecessor of the Dutch East India Company
).
He set sail from Rotterdam in June 1598 on the Hoop and joined up with the rest of the fleet on June 24. The fleet consisted of:
Originally, the fleet's mission was to sail for the west coast of South America
, where they would sell their cargo for silver, and to head for Japan only if the first mission failed. In that case, they were supposed to obtain silver in Japan to buy spices in the Moluccas, before heading back to Europe
.
The vessels, ships ranging from 75 to 250 tons and crowded with men, were driven to the coast of Guinea
, West Africa
where the adventurers attacked the island of Annobón
for supplies, and then moved on for the Straits of Magellan. Scattered by stress of weather and after several disasters in the South Atlantic, only three ships out of five made it through the Magellan Straits. (The Blijde Boodschap was adrift after being disabled in bad weather and was captured by the Spanish, whereas the Geloof returned to Rotterdam in July 1600 with 36 of the original 109 crew.)
During the voyage, Adams had changed ships to the Liefde (originally named Erasmus and adorned by a wooden statue of Erasmus
on her stern. The Liefde waited for the other ships at Floreana Island
off the Ecuador
ean coast. However, only the Hoop had arrived by the spring of 1599 and the captains of both vessels, together with Adams's brother Thomas and twenty other men, lost their lives in an encounter with the natives
. The Trouw later turned up in Tidore
(Indonesia
) where the crew was eliminated by the Portuguese
in January 1601.
In fear of the Spaniards
, the remaining crews determined to sail across the Pacific
. It was late November 1599 when the two ships sailed westwardly for Japan. On their way, the two ships made landfall in "certain islands" (possibly the islands of Hawaii
) where eight sailors deserted the ships. Later during the voyage, a typhoon claimed the Hoop with all hands, in late February 1600.
In April 1600, after more than nineteen months at sea, the Liefde with a crew of about twenty sick and dying men (out of an initial crew of about 100) was brought to anchor off the island of Kyūshū
, Japan. Its cargo consisted of eleven chests of coarse woolen cloth, glass beads, mirrors, spectacles, nails, iron, hammers, nineteen bronze cannons, 5,000 cannonballs, 500 muskets, 300 chain-shot
and three chests filled with coats of mail.
When the nine crew members were strong enough to stand, they made landfall on April 19 off Bungo (present-day Usuki
, Ōita Prefecture
), they were met by locals and Portuguese
Jesuit
priests claiming that Adams' ship was a pirate vessel and that the crew should be crucified as pirates. The ship was seized and the sickly crew were imprisoned at Osaka Castle
on orders by Tokugawa Ieyasu
, the daimyo
of Mikawa
and future Shogun
. The nineteen bronze cannons of the Liefde were unloaded and according to Spanish accounts later employed at the decisive Battle of Sekigahara
on October 21, 1600.
Adams met Ieyasu in Osaka three times between May and June 1600. He was questioned by Ieyasu, then a guardian of the young son of the Taikō
, Toyotomi Hideyoshi
, the ruler who had just died. Adams' knowledge of ships, shipbuilding and nautical smattering of mathematics appealed to Ieyasu.
Adams further explained that Ieyasu finally denied the Jesuits' request for punishment on the ground that:
Ieyasu ordered the crew to sail the Liefde from Bungo to Edo
where, rotten and beyond repair, she sank.
In 1604, Tokugawa ordered Adams and his companions to help Mukai Shogen, who was commander in chief of the navy of Uraga
, build Japan's first Western-style ship. The sailing ship was built at the harbour of Ito
on the east coast of the Izu Peninsula
, with carpenters from the harbour supplying the manpower for the construction of an eighty-ton vessel which was employed to survey the Japanese coast. The Shogun then ordered a larger ship of 120 tons to be built the following year; (both were slightly smaller than the Liefde, which was 150 tons). According to Adams, Tokugawa "came aboard to see it, and the sight whereof gave him great content". In 1610, the 120-ton ship (later named San Buena Ventura
) was lent to shipwrecked Spanish sailors, who sailed back to Mexico
with it, accompanied by a mission of twenty-two Japanese led by Tanaka Shōsuke
.
Following the construction, Tokugawa invited Adams to visit his palace whenever he liked and "that always I must come in his presence" (Letters).
Other survivors of the Liefde were also rewarded with favours and even allowed to pursue foreign trade. Most of the original crew were able to leave Japan in 1605 with the help of the daimyo
of Hirado. Although Adams did not himself receive permission to leave Japan until 1613, Melchior van Santvoort
, together with another crewman, Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn
, engaged in trade between Japan and Southeast Asia and reportedly made a fortune. Both of them were reported by Dutch traders in Ayutthaya
, onboard richly cargoed junks, in early 1613.
Around 1608 Adams contacted the interim governor of the Philippines
, Rodrigo de Vivero y Velasco
on behalf of Tokugawa Ieyasu
, who wished to establish direct trade contacts with New Spain
. Friendly letters were exchanged, officially starting relations between Japan and New Spain.
Adams is also recorded as having chartered Red Seal Ships
during his later travels to Southeast Asia (the Ikoku Tokai Goshuinjō has a reference to Miura Anjin receiving a shuinjō, a document bearing a red Shogunal seal authorizing the holder to engage in foreign trade, in 1614).
The shogun took a liking to Adams and made him a revered diplomatic and trade advisor and bestowed great privileges upon him. Ultimately, Adams became his personal advisor on all things related to Western powers and civilization and, after a few years, Adams replaced the Jesuit Padre João Rodrigues as the Shogun's official interpreter. Padre Valentim Carvalho wrote: "After he had learned the language, he had access to Ieyasu and entered the palace at any time"; he also described him as "a great engineer and mathematician".
Adams had a wife and children in England but Ieyasu had forbidden the Englishman to leave Japan. He was presented with two swords representing the authority of a Samurai
. The Shogun decreed that William Adams the pilot was dead and that Miura Anjin (三浦按針), a samurai, was born. This made Adams's wife in England in effect a widow (although Adams managed to send regular support payments to her after 1613 via the English and Dutch companies) and "freed" Adams to serve the Shogunate on a permanent basis. Adams also received the title of hatamoto
(bannerman), a high-prestige position as a direct retainer in the Shogun's court.
He was provided with generous revenues: "For the services that I have done and do daily, being employed in the Emperor's service, the emperor has given me a living" (Letters). He was granted a fief in Hemi (Jpn: 逸見) within the boundaries of present-day Yokosuka City, "with eighty or ninety husbandmen, that be my slaves or servants" (Letters). His estate was valued at 250 koku
(a measure of the yearly income of the land in rice, with one koku defined as the quantity of rice sufficient to feed one person for one year). He finally wrote "God hath provided for me after my great misery" (Letters) by which he meant the disaster-ridden voyage that had initially brought him to Japan.
Adams's estate was located next to the harbour of Uraga
, the traditional point of entrance to Edo Bay
, where he is recorded to have dealt with the cargoes of foreign ships. John Saris
related that when he visited Edo in 1613, Adams was in possession of the reselling rights for the cargo of a Spanish ship at anchor in Uraga Bay.
Adams' position gave him the means to marry Oyuki (お雪), the daughter of Magome Kageyu, a highway official who was in charge of a packhorse exchange on one of the grand imperial roads that led out of Edo (roughly present day Tokyo
). Although Magome was important, Oyuki was not of noble birth, nor high social standing, so it was likely that Adams married out of true affection rather than for social reasons. Adams and Oyuki had a son called Joseph and a daughter named Susanna. Adams however found it hard to rest his feet and was constantly on the road. Initially, it was in the vain attempt to organize an expedition in search of the Arctic
passage that had eluded him previously.
Adams had a high regard for Japan, its people, and its civilization:
The Liefdes captain, Jacob Quaeckernaeck
, and the treasurer, Melchior van Santvoort
, were also sent by Ieyasu in 1604 on a shogun-licensed Red Seal Ship to Patani
in Southeast Asia
to contact the Dutch East India Company trading factory
which had just been established there in 1602, to bring more western trade to Japan and break the Portuguese monopoly on Japan's external trade. In 1605, Adams obtained a letter from Ieyasu formally inviting the Dutch to trade with Japan.
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Hampered by conflicts with the Portuguese and limited resources in Asia, the Dutch were not able to send ships until 1609. Two Dutch ships, commanded by Jacques Specx
, De Griffioen (the "Griffin", 19 cannons) and Roode Leeuw met Pijlen (the "Red lion with arrows", 400 tons, 26 cannons), were finally sent from Holland and arrived in Japan on July 2, 1609. The men of this Dutch expeditionary fleet established a trading base or "factory" on Hirado Island. Two Dutch envoys by the names of Puyck and van den Broek, were the official bearers of a letter from Prince Maurice of Nassau
to the court of Edo. Adams negotiated on behalf of these emissaries. The Dutch obtained free trading rights throughout Japan (in contrast, the Portuguese were only allowed to sell their goods in Nagasaki at fixed, negotiated prices) and to establish a trading factory there:
After obtaining this trading right through an edict of Tokugawa Ieyasu on August 24, 1609, the Dutch inaugurated a trading factory in Hirado
on September 20, 1609. The "trade pass" (Dutch: Handelspas) was kept preciously by the Dutch in Hirado and then Dejima
as a guarantee of their trading rights, during the following two centuries of their presence in Japan.
, Indonesia
, and he sent a letter asking them to give news of him to his family and friends in England and enticing them to engage in trade with Japan which "the Hollanders have here an Indies of money" (Adams's letter to Bantam).
In 1613, the English captain John Saris
arrived at Hirado in the ship Clove with the intent of establishing a trading factory for the British East India Company (Hirado was already a trading post for the Dutch East India Company
(the VOC)).
Adams met with Saris's ire over his praise of Japan and adoption of Japanese customs:
In Hirado, Adams refused to stay in English quarters and instead resided with a local Japanese magistrate. It was also commented that he was wearing Japanese dress and spoke Japanese fluently. Adams estimated the cargo of the Clove was of little value, essentially broadcloth
, tin
and clove
s (acquired in the Spice Islands
), saying that "such things as he had brought were not very vendible".
Adams travelled with Saris to Shizuoka
where they met with Ieyasu at his principal residence in September and then continued to Kamakura
where they visited the famous Buddha (the 1252 Daibutsu on which the sailors etched their names) before moving on to Edo where they met Ieyasu's son Hidetada
who was now nominally Shogun even though Ieyasu retained most of the actual decision-making powers. During that meeting, Hidetada gave Saris two varnish
ed suits of armour for King James I
, today housed in the Tower of London
. The suits were made by Iwai Yozaemon of Nambu
. They were part of a series of presentation armours of ancient 15th century Dō-maru
style.
On their way back, they again visited Tokugawa, who conferred trading privileges to the English through a Red Seal
permit giving them "free license to abide, buy, sell and barter" in Japan. The English party headed back to Hirado on October 9, 1613.
On this occasion, Adams asked for and obtained Tokugawa's authorization to return to his home country. However, he ultimately declined Saris' offer to bring him back to England: "I answered him I had spent in this country many years, through which I was poor... [and] desirous to get something before my return". His true reasons seem to lie rather with his profound antipathy for Saris: "The reason I would not go with him was for diverse injuries done against me, which were things to me very strange and unlooked for." (William Adams letters)
He accepted employment with the newly founded Hirado trading factory, signing a contract on November 24, 1613, becoming an employee of the East India Company
for the yearly salary of 100 English Pounds, more than double the regular salary of 40 Pounds earned by the other factors at Hirado. Adams was to take a leading part, under Richard Cocks
and together with six other compatriots (Tempest Peacock, Richard Wickham, William Eaton, Walter Carwarden, Edmund Sayers and William Nealson), in the organization of this new English settlement.
Adams had actually advised against the choice of Hirado, which was small and far away from the major markets in Osaka and Edo, and instead had recommended to Saris, in vain, that they should select Uraga
near Edo.
During the ten year activity of the company between 1613 and 1623, apart from the first ship (the Clove in 1613), only three other English ships brought cargoes directly from London to Japan, invariably described as poor value on the Japanese market. The only trade which helped support the factory was that organized between Japan and South-East Asia and mainly undertaken by Adams selling Chinese goods for Japanese silver:
Catholic priests insisted that he was using his influence on Ieyasu to discredit them:
Ieyasu, influenced by Adams' counsels and social trouble caused by the numerous Catholic converts, expelled the Jesuits from Japan in 1614 and demanded the Japanese Catholics abandon their faith.
Adams also apparently warned Ieyasu against Spanish approaches.
However, Cocks, the head of the Hirado factory, progressively came to appreciate Adams' character and distinctively Japanese self-control. In a letter to the East India Company:
Adams later engaged in various exploratory and commercial ventures. He tried to organize the exploration of the Northern Passage
from the East which would have greatly reduced the traveling distance between Japan and Europe. Ieyasu asked him if "our countrimen could not find the northwest passage" and Adams contacted the East India Company to organize manpower and supplies. The project however never materialized.
The latter part of his life was spent in the service of the English trading company. He undertook a number of voyages to Siam
in 1616 and Cochin China in 1617 and 1618, sometimes for the English East India Company, sometimes for his own account. He is recorded in Japanese sources as the owner of a Red Seal Ship of 500 tons.
Given the small number of ships coming from England (four ships in ten years: the Clove in 1613, the Hosiander in 1615, the Thomas and the Advice in 1616) and the poor value of their cargoes (broadcloth, knives, looking glasses, Indian cotton, etc.), William Adams played a key role in having the company participate in the Red Seal system by obtaining trading certificates from the Shogun. Altogether, seven junk voyages were made to Southeast Asia with mixed results, including four of them headed by William Adams himself as Captain. Adams acknowledged God as his personal Provider before all people by renaming the ship, which he had acquired, with the phrase "Gift of God", the ship that he used for his expedition to Cochinchina
.
The ship was to purchase raw silk, Chinese goods, sappan wood, deer skins and ray skins (the latter used for the handles of Japanese swords), essentially carrying only silver (£1250) and £175 of merchandise (Indian cottons, Japanese weapons and lacquerware).
The ship met with a typhoon near the Ryukyu Islands
(modern Okinawa) and had to stop there to repair from 27 December 1614 until May 1615 before returning to Japan in June 1615 without having been able to complete any trade.
for resale in Japan. Like the previous year, the cargo consisted mainly of silver (£600) and also the Japanese and Indian goods unsold from the previous voyage.
He managed to buy vast quantities of the profitable products, even buying two additional ships in Siam to transport everything. Adams sailed the Sea Adventure back to Japan with 143 tonnes of sappanwood and 3700 deer skins, returning to Hirado in 47 days, (the whole trip lasting between 5 June and 22 July 1616). Sayers, on a hired Chinese junk, reached Hirado in October 1616 with 44 tons of sappanwood. The third ship, a Japanese junk, brought 4,560 deer skins to Nagasaki in June 1617 after having missed the monsoon
.
Adams returned to Japan less than a week after the death of Ieyasu and accompanied Cocks and Eaton to court to offer presents to the new ruler Hidetada. Although the death of Ieyasu in 1616 seems to have weakened Adams' political influence, Hidetada agreed to maintain the trading privileges of the English and issued a new Red Seal permit (Shuinjō) to Adams allowing him to continue trade activities overseas under the Shogun's protection. His position as hatamoto
was also renewed.
On this occasion, Adams and Cocks also visited the Japanese Admiral Mukai Shogen Tadakatsu
who lived near Adams' estate and they discussed plans about a possible invasion of the Catholic Philippines.
The ship also sold a small cargo of broadcloth, Indian piece goods and ivory for the modest amount of £351.
(modern Vietnam
), the last expedition of the English Hirado Factory to Southeast Asia. The ship, a chartered Chinese junk, left Hirado on 11 March 1618 but met with bad weather that forced it to stop at Ōshima
in the northern Ryukyus
. The ship sailed back to Hirado in May.
Those expeditions to Southeast Asia helped the English factory survive for some time—during that period, sappanwood resold in Japan with a 200% profit—until the factory fell into bankruptcy due to high expenditures.
Adams died at Hirado, north of Nagasaki, on May 16, 1620, aged 55 and was buried in Nagasaki-ken where his grave marker may still be seen to this day, alongside a memorial to Saint Francis Xavier
. The English factory was dissolved three years later due to its unprofitability.
In his will, he left his townhouse in Edo, his fief in Hemi, and 500 British pounds to be divided evenly between his family in England and his family in Japan.
Cocks wrote: "I cannot but be sorrowfull for the loss of such a man as Capt William Adams, he having been in such favour with two Emperors of Japan as never any Christian in these part of the world." (Cocks's Diary)
Cocks remained in contact with Adams' family sending gifts and in March 1622, offering silks for Joseph and Susanna. He handed to Joseph his father's sword and dagger on the Christmas following Adams' death. Cocks also records that Hidetada transferred the lordship from William Adams to his son Joseph Adams with the attendant rights to the estate at Hemi:
Cocks was also in charge of using Adams' trading rights (the shuinjō
) for the benefit of Adams' children, Joseph and Susanna, a task he performed conscientiously and which was handled by the Dutch after 1623.
By 1629, only two of Adams's shipmates were still surviving, living privately in Nagasaki: Melchior van Santvoort
and Vincent Romeyn.
Adams' son also kept the title of Miura Anjin and was a successful trader until the closure of the country in 1635 when he disappeared from historical records.
Adams's memory is preserved in the naming of a town in Edo
(modern Tokyo
), Anjin-chō (in modern-day Nihonbashi), where he had a house, and by an annual celebration on June 15 in his honour.
A village and a railroad station
in his fiefdom, Anjinzuka (安針塚, "Burial mound of the Pilot"), in modern Yokosuka, bears his name.
In the city of Itō
, Shizuoka
, the Miura Anjin Festival is held all day on August 10. Adams' birth town of Gillingham has held a Will Adams Festival every September since 2000. Today, both Itō and Yokosuka are sister cities of Adams' birth town of Gillingham.
On the seafront at Itō is a monument to Adams. Alongside it stands a plaque inscribed with Edmund Blunden
's poem, "To the Citizens of Ito", which commemorates Adams' achievement.
The life of William Adams inspired James Clavell
's best-selling novel Shōgun
(1975), which was adapted to the very popular TV miniseries Shōgun
(1980), the Broadway production Shogun: The Musical
(1990) and the computer game James Clavell's Shōgun
(1989). Throughout these works, the fictional heroics of John Blackthorne are loosely based on Adams' adventures in the first few years after his arrival in Japan.
Clavell was not the first author to novelize the story of Will Adams, in fact there many earlier though less successful attempts. The first was by William Dalton
called Will Adams, The First Englishman in Japan: A Romantic Biography published in London 1861. Dalton had never been to Japan and his book accurately reflects romanticized Victorian British notions of the exotic Asian. Richard Blaker's The Needlewatcher (London, 1932) is the least romantic of the novels, he consciously attempted to de-mythologize Adams and write a careful historical work of fiction. James Scherer's Pilot and Shōgun is less a novel than a series of incidents in Adams life. American Robert Lund wrote Daishi-san (New York, 1960). Finally Christopher Nicole
's Lord of the Golden Fan was published just two years before Shōgun, in 1973. Adams is portrayed as sexually frustrated by the mores of his time and seeks freedom in the east where he has numerous encounters. The work is considered light pornography.
Maritime pilot
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. With the exception of the Panama Canal, the pilot is only an advisor, as the captain remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel....
"; sama, a Japanese honorific
Japanese honorifics
The Japanese language has many honorifics, parts of speech which show respect, and their use is mandatory in many social situations. Honorifics in Japanese may be used to emphasize social distance or disparity in rank, or to emphasize social intimacy or similarity in rank.The system of honorifics...
) and Miura Anjin (三浦按針: "the pilot of Miura
Miura Peninsula
is a peninsula located in Kanagawa, Japan. It lies south of Yokohama and Tokyo and divides Tokyo Bay, to the east, from Sagami Bay, to the west. Cities and towns on the Miura Peninsula include Yokosuka, Miura, Hayama, Zushi, and Kamakura....
"), was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
navigator
Navigator
A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation. The navigator's primary responsibility is to be aware of ship or aircraft position at all times. Responsibilities include planning the journey, advising the Captain or aircraft Commander of estimated timing to...
who travelled to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and is believed to be the first Englishman
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
ever to reach that country. He was the inspiration for the character of John Blackthorne
John Blackthorne
John Blackthorne is the hero of James Clavell's 1975 novel Shōgun, and is loosely based on the life of the 17th century British trader William Adams, who was the first Briton to visit Japan...
in James Clavell
James Clavell
James Clavell, born Charles Edmund DuMaresq Clavell was an Australian-born, British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II veteran and prisoner of war...
's bestselling novel Shōgun
Shogun (novel)
Shōgun is a 1975 novel by James Clavell. It is the first novel of the author's Asian Saga. A major bestseller, by 1990 the book had sold 15 million copies worldwide...
.
Soon after Adams' arrival in Japan, he became a key advisor to the shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...
and built for him Japan's first Western-style ships. Adams was later the key player in the establishment of trading factories
Factory (trading post)
Factory was the English term for the trading posts system originally established by Europeans in foreign territories, first within different states of medieval Europe, and later in their colonial possessions...
by the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. He was also highly involved in Japan's Red Seal Asian trade, chartering and captaining several ships to Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
. He died in Japan at age 55, and has been recognized as one of the most influential foreigners in Japan during this period.
Early life
Adams was born in GillinghamGillingham, Kent
Gillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark and Twydall....
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. After losing his father at the age of twelve, he was apprenticed to shipyard owner Master Nicholas Diggins at Limehouse
Limehouse
Limehouse is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is on the northern bank of the River Thames opposite Rotherhithe and between Ratcliff to the west and Millwall to the east....
for the seafaring life. He spent the next twelve years learning shipbuilding
Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to before recorded history.Shipbuilding and ship repairs, both...
, astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, and navigation
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
before entering the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
.
Adams served in the Royal Navy under Sir Francis Drake
Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake, Vice Admiral was an English sea captain, privateer, navigator, slaver, and politician of the Elizabethan era. Elizabeth I of England awarded Drake a knighthood in 1581. He was second-in-command of the English fleet against the Spanish Armada in 1588. He also carried out the...
and saw naval service against the Spanish Armada
Spanish Armada
This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
in 1588 as master of the Richarde Dyffylde, a resupply ship.
Adams then became a pilot for the Barbary Company
Barbary Company
The Barbary Company or Marocco Company was a trading company established by Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1585 through a patent granted to the Earls of Warwick and Leicester, as well as forty others. When she wrote the patents, Elizabeth emphasized the value of the region's "divers Marchandize.....
. During this service, according to Jesuit sources, he took part in an expedition to the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
that lasted about two years, in search of a Northeast Passage along the coast of Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
to the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
.
…I am a KentKentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
ish man, born in a town called GillinghamGillingham, KentGillingham is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Rainham, Rainham Mark and Twydall....
, two English miles from Rochester, one mile from Chatham, where the King's ships do lie: from the age of twelve years old, I was brought up in LimehouseLimehouseLimehouse is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is on the northern bank of the River Thames opposite Rotherhithe and between Ratcliff to the west and Millwall to the east....
near LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, being Apprentice twelve years to Master Nicholas Diggins; and myself have served for Master and Pilot in her Majesty's ships; and about eleven or twelve years have served the Worshipfull Company of the Barbary Merchants, until the Indish traffic from HollandNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
began, in which Indish traffic I was desirous to make a little experience of the small knowledge which God had given me. So, in the year of our Lord 1598, I was hired for Pilot Major of a fleet of five sails, which was made ready by the Dutch Indish CompanyDutch East India CompanyThe Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
…. (1611 Letter, William Adams)
Expedition to the Far East
Attracted by the DutchDutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
trade with India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Adams, then 34 years old, shipped as pilot major with a five ship fleet dispatched from the isle of Texel
Texel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
to the Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
in 1598 by a company of Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...
merchants (a voorcompagnie or predecessor of the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
).
- the Hoop ("Hope"), under Jacques MahuJacques MahuJacob Mahu was a Dutch Explorer and leader of an expedition of five ships to IndiaThe first expedition, which was organised by Pieter van der Hagen and Johan van der Veeken, consisted of a fleet of five ships and about 500 men.The ships with their initial captains were:* The Hoop, captained by...
(†1598), expedition leader, succeeded by Simon de Cordes (†1599), and finally, Jan Huidekoper, - the Liefde ("Love" or "Charity"), under Simon de Cordes, 2nd in command, succeeded by Gerrit van Beuningen and finally under Jacob KwakernaakJacob QuaeckernaeckJacob Jansz. Quaeckernaeck was a Dutch seaman and Captain of the Liefde, the ship which transported William Adams to Japan in 1600....
, - the Geloof ("Faith"), under Gerrit van Beuningen, and in the end: Sebald de WeertSebald de WeertSebald or Sebalt de Weert was a Dutch captain and vice-admiral of the Dutch East India Company...
, - the Trouw ("Loyalty"), under Jurriaan van Boekhout (†1599), and finally, Baltazar de CordesBaltazar de CordesBaltazar de Cordes , the brother of Simon de Cordez, was a Dutch corsair who fought against the Spanish during the early 17th Century....
, - the Blijde Boodschap ("Good Tiding" or "The Gospel"), under Sebald de Weert, and later, Dirck GerritzDirck Gerritz PompDirck Gerritszoon Pomp, alias Dirck China was a Dutch sailor of the 16th-17th century, and the first known Dutchman to visit Japan....
.
Originally, the fleet's mission was to sail for the west coast of South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, where they would sell their cargo for silver, and to head for Japan only if the first mission failed. In that case, they were supposed to obtain silver in Japan to buy spices in the Moluccas, before heading back to Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
The vessels, ships ranging from 75 to 250 tons and crowded with men, were driven to the coast of Guinea
Guinea
Guinea , officially the Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa. Formerly known as French Guinea , it is today sometimes called Guinea-Conakry to distinguish it from its neighbour Guinea-Bissau. Guinea is divided into eight administrative regions and subdivided into thirty-three prefectures...
, West Africa
West Africa
West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the UN definition of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries and an area of approximately 5 million square km:-Flags of West Africa:...
where the adventurers attacked the island of Annobón
Annobón
Annobón may refer to:* Annobón Province* Annobonese language* Annobon people...
for supplies, and then moved on for the Straits of Magellan. Scattered by stress of weather and after several disasters in the South Atlantic, only three ships out of five made it through the Magellan Straits. (The Blijde Boodschap was adrift after being disabled in bad weather and was captured by the Spanish, whereas the Geloof returned to Rotterdam in July 1600 with 36 of the original 109 crew.)
During the voyage, Adams had changed ships to the Liefde (originally named Erasmus and adorned by a wooden statue of Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus , known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, and a theologian....
on her stern. The Liefde waited for the other ships at Floreana Island
Floreana Island
Floreana Island is an island of the Galápagos Islands. It was named after Juan José Flores, the first president of Ecuador, during whose administration the government of Ecuador took possession of the archipelago, having previously been called Charles Island...
off the Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
ean coast. However, only the Hoop had arrived by the spring of 1599 and the captains of both vessels, together with Adams's brother Thomas and twenty other men, lost their lives in an encounter with the natives
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
. The Trouw later turned up in Tidore
Tidore
Tidore is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. In the pre-colonial era, the kingdom of Tidore was a major regional political and economic power, and a fierce rival of nearby Ternate, just to the north.-Geography:Tidor...
(Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
) where the crew was eliminated by the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
in January 1601.
In fear of the Spaniards
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, the remaining crews determined to sail across the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. It was late November 1599 when the two ships sailed westwardly for Japan. On their way, the two ships made landfall in "certain islands" (possibly the islands of Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
) where eight sailors deserted the ships. Later during the voyage, a typhoon claimed the Hoop with all hands, in late February 1600.
Arrival in Japan
Kyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
, Japan. Its cargo consisted of eleven chests of coarse woolen cloth, glass beads, mirrors, spectacles, nails, iron, hammers, nineteen bronze cannons, 5,000 cannonballs, 500 muskets, 300 chain-shot
Chain-shot
In artillery, a chain-shot is an obsolete type of naval ammunition formed of two sub-calibre balls, or half-balls, chained together. Bar shot is similar, but joined by a solid bar...
and three chests filled with coats of mail.
When the nine crew members were strong enough to stand, they made landfall on April 19 off Bungo (present-day Usuki
Usuki, Oita
is a city located on the east coast of Ōita Prefecture, Japan. It is famous for its Usuki Stone Buddhas, a national treasure, and its soy sauce production. Recently it has become known for having the look and feel of a Japanese castle town...
, Ōita Prefecture
Oita Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan on Kyūshū Island. The prefectural capital is the city of Ōita.- History :Around the 6th century Kyushu consisted of four regions: Tsukushi-no-kuni 筑紫国, Hi-no-kuni 肥国, and Toyo no kuni...
), they were met by locals and Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Jesuit
Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
priests claiming that Adams' ship was a pirate vessel and that the crew should be crucified as pirates. The ship was seized and the sickly crew were imprisoned at Osaka Castle
Osaka Castle
is a Japanese castle in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan.Originally called Ozakajō, it is one of Japan's most famous castles, and played a major role in the unification of Japan during the sixteenth century of the Azuchi-Momoyama period.-Description:...
on orders by Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...
, the daimyo
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of Mikawa
Mikawa Province
is an old province in the area that today forms the eastern half of Aichi Prefecture. It was sometimes called . Mikawa bordered on Owari, Mino, Shinano, and Tōtōmi Provinces....
and future Shogun
Shogun
A was one of the hereditary military dictators of Japan from 1192 to 1867. In this period, the shoguns, or their shikken regents , were the de facto rulers of Japan though they were nominally appointed by the emperor...
. The nineteen bronze cannons of the Liefde were unloaded and according to Spanish accounts later employed at the decisive Battle of Sekigahara
Battle of Sekigahara
The , popularly known as the , was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 which cleared the path to the Shogunate for Tokugawa Ieyasu...
on October 21, 1600.
Adams met Ieyasu in Osaka three times between May and June 1600. He was questioned by Ieyasu, then a guardian of the young son of the Taikō
Taiko
means "drum" in Japanese . Outside Japan, the word is often used to refer to any of the various Japanese drums and to the relatively recent art-form of ensemble taiko drumming...
, Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
was a daimyo warrior, general and politician of the Sengoku period. He unified the political factions of Japan. He succeeded his former liege lord, Oda Nobunaga, and brought an end to the Sengoku period. The period of his rule is often called the Momoyama period, named after Hideyoshi's castle...
, the ruler who had just died. Adams' knowledge of ships, shipbuilding and nautical smattering of mathematics appealed to Ieyasu.
Coming before the king, he viewed me well, and seemed to be wonderfully favorable. He made many signs unto me, some of which I understood, and some I did not. In the end, there came one that could speak Portuguese. By him, the king demanded of me, of what land I was, and what moved us to come to his land, being so far off. I showed unto him the name of our country, and that our land had long sought out the East IndiesEast IndiesEast Indies is a term used by Europeans from the 16th century onwards to identify what is now known as Indian subcontinent or South Asia, Southeastern Asia, and the islands of Oceania, including the Malay Archipelago and the Philippines...
, and desired friendship with all kinds and potentates in way of merchandise, having in our land diverse commodities, which these lands had not … Then he asked whether our country had wars? I answered him yea, with the Spaniards and Portugals, being in peace with all other nations. Further, he asked me, in what I did believe? I said, in God, that made heaven and earth. He asked me diverse other questions of things of religion, and many other things: as what way we came to the country. Having a chart of the whole world, I showed him, through the Strait of MagellanStrait of MagellanThe Strait of Magellan comprises a navigable sea route immediately south of mainland South America and north of Tierra del Fuego...
. At which he wondered, and thought me to lie. Thus, from one thing to another, I abode with him till midnight. (William Adams's letter to his wife)
Adams further explained that Ieyasu finally denied the Jesuits' request for punishment on the ground that:
we as yet had not done to him nor to none of his land any harm or damage; therefore against Reason or Justice to put us to death. If our country had wars the one with the other, that was no cause that he should put us to death; with which they were out of heart that their cruel pretence failed them. For which God be forever praised. (William Adams's letter to his wife)
Ieyasu ordered the crew to sail the Liefde from Bungo to Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
where, rotten and beyond repair, she sank.
Japan's first western-style sailing ships
Uraga
is a subdivision of the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located on the south eastern side of the Miura Peninsula, at the northern end of the Uraga Channel, at the entrance of Tokyo Bay.-History:...
, build Japan's first Western-style ship. The sailing ship was built at the harbour of Ito
Ito, Shizuoka
is a city located on the eastern shore of the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 71,400 and the density of 578 persons per km². The total area was...
on the east coast of the Izu Peninsula
Izu Peninsula
The is a large mountainous peninsula with deeply indented coasts to the west of Tokyo on the Pacific coast of the island of Honshū, Japan. Formerly the eponymous Izu Province, Izu peninsula is now a part of Shizuoka Prefecture...
, with carpenters from the harbour supplying the manpower for the construction of an eighty-ton vessel which was employed to survey the Japanese coast. The Shogun then ordered a larger ship of 120 tons to be built the following year; (both were slightly smaller than the Liefde, which was 150 tons). According to Adams, Tokugawa "came aboard to see it, and the sight whereof gave him great content". In 1610, the 120-ton ship (later named San Buena Ventura
Japanese warship San Buena Ventura
San Buena Ventura was a 120 ton ship built in Japan under the direction of the English navigator and adventurer William Adams for the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu....
) was lent to shipwrecked Spanish sailors, who sailed back to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
with it, accompanied by a mission of twenty-two Japanese led by Tanaka Shōsuke
Tanaka Shosuke
Tanaka Shōsuke was an important Japanese technician and trader in metals from Kyoto during the beginning of the 17th century.According to Japanese archives he was a representative of the great Osaka merchant Gotō Shōsaburō...
.
Following the construction, Tokugawa invited Adams to visit his palace whenever he liked and "that always I must come in his presence" (Letters).
Other survivors of the Liefde were also rewarded with favours and even allowed to pursue foreign trade. Most of the original crew were able to leave Japan in 1605 with the help of the daimyo
Daimyo
is a generic term referring to the powerful territorial lords in pre-modern Japan who ruled most of the country from their vast, hereditary land holdings...
of Hirado. Although Adams did not himself receive permission to leave Japan until 1613, Melchior van Santvoort
Melchior van Santvoort
Melchior van Santvoort was a Dutch seaman and surviving crew of the Liefde, the ship which transported William Adams to Japan in 1600....
, together with another crewman, Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn
Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn
Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn , or simply Jan Joosten, was a native of Delft and one of the first Dutchmen in Japan, arriving as one of William Adams's shipmates on the De Liefde, which was disabled on the coast of Kyūshū in 1600.-Early life in Japan:The De Liefde departed Rotterdam in 1598, on a...
, engaged in trade between Japan and Southeast Asia and reportedly made a fortune. Both of them were reported by Dutch traders in Ayutthaya
Ayutthaya kingdom
Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...
, onboard richly cargoed junks, in early 1613.
Around 1608 Adams contacted the interim governor of the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Rodrigo de Vivero y Velasco
Rodrigo de Vivero y Velasco
Rodrigo de Vivero y Velasco was a Spanish colonial officer from New Spain. In 1563 he married Melchora de Aberrucia, who was Alonso Valiente's widow, and thereby disposed the encomienda of Tecamachalco...
on behalf of Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu
was the founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan , which ruled from the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. Ieyasu seized power in 1600, received appointment as shogun in 1603, abdicated from office in 1605, but...
, who wished to establish direct trade contacts with New Spain
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
. Friendly letters were exchanged, officially starting relations between Japan and New Spain.
Adams is also recorded as having chartered Red Seal Ships
Red seal ships
were Japanese armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asian ports with a red-sealed patent issued by the early Tokugawa shogunate in the first half of the 17th century...
during his later travels to Southeast Asia (the Ikoku Tokai Goshuinjō has a reference to Miura Anjin receiving a shuinjō, a document bearing a red Shogunal seal authorizing the holder to engage in foreign trade, in 1614).
First foreign samurai
William Adams is known as the first and only officially-recognised foreign samurai. It is possible that some Korean or Chinese might have served a Daimyo during Sengoku period and earlier. William Adams is, however, a likely candidate for being the first recorded.The shogun took a liking to Adams and made him a revered diplomatic and trade advisor and bestowed great privileges upon him. Ultimately, Adams became his personal advisor on all things related to Western powers and civilization and, after a few years, Adams replaced the Jesuit Padre João Rodrigues as the Shogun's official interpreter. Padre Valentim Carvalho wrote: "After he had learned the language, he had access to Ieyasu and entered the palace at any time"; he also described him as "a great engineer and mathematician".
Adams had a wife and children in England but Ieyasu had forbidden the Englishman to leave Japan. He was presented with two swords representing the authority of a Samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
. The Shogun decreed that William Adams the pilot was dead and that Miura Anjin (三浦按針), a samurai, was born. This made Adams's wife in England in effect a widow (although Adams managed to send regular support payments to her after 1613 via the English and Dutch companies) and "freed" Adams to serve the Shogunate on a permanent basis. Adams also received the title of hatamoto
Hatamoto
A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...
(bannerman), a high-prestige position as a direct retainer in the Shogun's court.
He was provided with generous revenues: "For the services that I have done and do daily, being employed in the Emperor's service, the emperor has given me a living" (Letters). He was granted a fief in Hemi (Jpn: 逸見) within the boundaries of present-day Yokosuka City, "with eighty or ninety husbandmen, that be my slaves or servants" (Letters). His estate was valued at 250 koku
Koku
The is a Japanese unit of volume, equal to ten cubic shaku. In this definition, 3.5937 koku equal one cubic metre, i.e. 1 koku is approximately 278.3 litres. The koku was originally defined as a quantity of rice, historically defined as enough rice to feed one person for one year...
(a measure of the yearly income of the land in rice, with one koku defined as the quantity of rice sufficient to feed one person for one year). He finally wrote "God hath provided for me after my great misery" (Letters) by which he meant the disaster-ridden voyage that had initially brought him to Japan.
Adams's estate was located next to the harbour of Uraga
Uraga
is a subdivision of the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located on the south eastern side of the Miura Peninsula, at the northern end of the Uraga Channel, at the entrance of Tokyo Bay.-History:...
, the traditional point of entrance to Edo Bay
Tokyo Bay
is a bay in the southern Kantō region of Japan. Its old name was .-Geography:Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Bōsō Peninsula to the east and the Miura Peninsula to the west. In a narrow sense, Tokyo Bay is the area north of the straight line formed by the on the Miura Peninsula on one end and on...
, where he is recorded to have dealt with the cargoes of foreign ships. John Saris
John Saris
John Saris was the captain of the first English voyage to Japan, in 1613, on board The Clove. As chief factor of the British East India Company's trading post in Java, Saris' mission was primarily one of seeking trade....
related that when he visited Edo in 1613, Adams was in possession of the reselling rights for the cargo of a Spanish ship at anchor in Uraga Bay.
Adams' position gave him the means to marry Oyuki (お雪), the daughter of Magome Kageyu, a highway official who was in charge of a packhorse exchange on one of the grand imperial roads that led out of Edo (roughly present day Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
). Although Magome was important, Oyuki was not of noble birth, nor high social standing, so it was likely that Adams married out of true affection rather than for social reasons. Adams and Oyuki had a son called Joseph and a daughter named Susanna. Adams however found it hard to rest his feet and was constantly on the road. Initially, it was in the vain attempt to organize an expedition in search of the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
passage that had eluded him previously.
Adams had a high regard for Japan, its people, and its civilization:
The people of this Land of Japan are good of nature, curteous above measure, and valiant in war: their justice is severely executed without any partiality upon transgressors of the law. They are governed in great civility. I mean, not a land better governed in the world by civil policy. The people be very superstitious in their religion, and are of diverse opinions. (William Adams's letter to Bantam, 1612)
Establishment of the Dutch East India Company in Japan
The Liefdes captain, Jacob Quaeckernaeck
Jacob Quaeckernaeck
Jacob Jansz. Quaeckernaeck was a Dutch seaman and Captain of the Liefde, the ship which transported William Adams to Japan in 1600....
, and the treasurer, Melchior van Santvoort
Melchior van Santvoort
Melchior van Santvoort was a Dutch seaman and surviving crew of the Liefde, the ship which transported William Adams to Japan in 1600....
, were also sent by Ieyasu in 1604 on a shogun-licensed Red Seal Ship to Patani
Pattani kingdom
Pattani or Sultanate of Pattani was a Malay sultanate that covered approximately the area of the modern Thai provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and much of the northern part of modern Malaysia. The King of Patani is believed to have converted to Islam some time during the 11th century...
in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
to contact the Dutch East India Company trading factory
Factory (trading post)
Factory was the English term for the trading posts system originally established by Europeans in foreign territories, first within different states of medieval Europe, and later in their colonial possessions...
which had just been established there in 1602, to bring more western trade to Japan and break the Portuguese monopoly on Japan's external trade. In 1605, Adams obtained a letter from Ieyasu formally inviting the Dutch to trade with Japan.
Jacques Specx
Jacques Specx was a Dutch merchant, who founded the trade on Japan and Korea in 1609. Jacques Specx received the support of William Adams to obtain extensive trading rights from the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu on August 24, 1609, which allowed him to establish a trading factory in Hirado on September...
, De Griffioen (the "Griffin", 19 cannons) and Roode Leeuw met Pijlen (the "Red lion with arrows", 400 tons, 26 cannons), were finally sent from Holland and arrived in Japan on July 2, 1609. The men of this Dutch expeditionary fleet established a trading base or "factory" on Hirado Island. Two Dutch envoys by the names of Puyck and van den Broek, were the official bearers of a letter from Prince Maurice of Nassau
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange was sovereign Prince of Orange from 1618, on the death of his eldest half brother, Philip William, Prince of Orange,...
to the court of Edo. Adams negotiated on behalf of these emissaries. The Dutch obtained free trading rights throughout Japan (in contrast, the Portuguese were only allowed to sell their goods in Nagasaki at fixed, negotiated prices) and to establish a trading factory there:
The Hollandes be now settled (in Japan) and I have got them that privilege as the Spaniards and Portingals could never get in this 50 or 60 years in Japan. (William Adams letter to Bantam).
Hirado, Nagasaki
is a city in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The part historically named Hirado is located on the island of the same name. With recent mergers, the city's boundaries have expanded, and Hirado now occupies parts of the main island of Kyūshū...
on September 20, 1609. The "trade pass" (Dutch: Handelspas) was kept preciously by the Dutch in Hirado and then Dejima
Dejima
was a small fan-shaped artificial island built in the bay of Nagasaki in 1634. This island, which was formed by digging a canal through a small peninsula, remained as the single place of direct trade and exchange between Japan and the outside world during the Edo period. Dejima was built to...
as a guarantee of their trading rights, during the following two centuries of their presence in Japan.
Establishment of an English trading factory
In 1611, news came to Adams of an English settlement in BantamBantam (city)
Bantam in Banten province near the western end of Java was a strategically important site and formerly a major trading city, with a secure harbor on the Sunda Strait through which all ocean-going traffic passed, at the mouth of Banten River that provided a navigable passage for light craft into...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
, and he sent a letter asking them to give news of him to his family and friends in England and enticing them to engage in trade with Japan which "the Hollanders have here an Indies of money" (Adams's letter to Bantam).
John Saris
John Saris was the captain of the first English voyage to Japan, in 1613, on board The Clove. As chief factor of the British East India Company's trading post in Java, Saris' mission was primarily one of seeking trade....
arrived at Hirado in the ship Clove with the intent of establishing a trading factory for the British East India Company (Hirado was already a trading post for the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
(the VOC)).
Adams met with Saris's ire over his praise of Japan and adoption of Japanese customs:
He persists in giving "admirable and affectionated commendations of Japan. It is generally thought amongst us that he is a naturalized Japaner." (John Saris)
In Hirado, Adams refused to stay in English quarters and instead resided with a local Japanese magistrate. It was also commented that he was wearing Japanese dress and spoke Japanese fluently. Adams estimated the cargo of the Clove was of little value, essentially broadcloth
Broadcloth
Broadcloth is a dense woollen cloth. Modern broadcloth can be composed of cotton, silk, or polyester, but traditionally broadcloth was made solely of wool. The dense weave lends sturdiness to the material....
, tin
Tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...
and clove
Clove
Cloves are the aromatic dried flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae. Cloves are native to the Maluku islands in Indonesia and used as a spice in cuisines all over the world...
s (acquired in the Spice Islands
Maluku Islands
The Maluku Islands are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asia region. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone...
), saying that "such things as he had brought were not very vendible".
Shizuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...
where they met with Ieyasu at his principal residence in September and then continued to Kamakura
Kamakura, Kanagawa
is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...
where they visited the famous Buddha (the 1252 Daibutsu on which the sailors etched their names) before moving on to Edo where they met Ieyasu's son Hidetada
Tokugawa Hidetada
was the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate.-Early life :...
who was now nominally Shogun even though Ieyasu retained most of the actual decision-making powers. During that meeting, Hidetada gave Saris two varnish
Varnish
Varnish is a transparent, hard, protective finish or film primarily used in wood finishing but also for other materials. Varnish is traditionally a combination of a drying oil, a resin, and a thinner or solvent. Varnish finishes are usually glossy but may be designed to produce satin or semi-gloss...
ed suits of armour for King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, today housed in the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
. The suits were made by Iwai Yozaemon of Nambu
Nambu
Nanbu may refer to:* Nanbu, Aomori, Japan* Nanbu, Tottori, Japan* Nanbu, Wakayama, in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan* Nanbu, Yamanashi, Japan* Nanbu County, Sichuan Province, China...
. They were part of a series of presentation armours of ancient 15th century Dō-maru
Do-maru
Dō-maru , or "body wrap", was a type of chest armour worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. Dō-maru first started to appear in the 11th century as an armour for lesser samurai and retainers.Like the O-yoroi style it became more common in the Genpei War at the end of the 12th...
style.
On their way back, they again visited Tokugawa, who conferred trading privileges to the English through a Red Seal
Red seal ships
were Japanese armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asian ports with a red-sealed patent issued by the early Tokugawa shogunate in the first half of the 17th century...
permit giving them "free license to abide, buy, sell and barter" in Japan. The English party headed back to Hirado on October 9, 1613.
On this occasion, Adams asked for and obtained Tokugawa's authorization to return to his home country. However, he ultimately declined Saris' offer to bring him back to England: "I answered him I had spent in this country many years, through which I was poor... [and] desirous to get something before my return". His true reasons seem to lie rather with his profound antipathy for Saris: "The reason I would not go with him was for diverse injuries done against me, which were things to me very strange and unlooked for." (William Adams letters)
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
for the yearly salary of 100 English Pounds, more than double the regular salary of 40 Pounds earned by the other factors at Hirado. Adams was to take a leading part, under Richard Cocks
Richard Cocks
Richard Cocks was the head of the British East India Company trading post in Hirado, Japan, between 1613 and 1623, from its creation, and lasting to its closure due to bankruptcy....
and together with six other compatriots (Tempest Peacock, Richard Wickham, William Eaton, Walter Carwarden, Edmund Sayers and William Nealson), in the organization of this new English settlement.
Adams had actually advised against the choice of Hirado, which was small and far away from the major markets in Osaka and Edo, and instead had recommended to Saris, in vain, that they should select Uraga
Uraga
is a subdivision of the city of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located on the south eastern side of the Miura Peninsula, at the northern end of the Uraga Channel, at the entrance of Tokyo Bay.-History:...
near Edo.
During the ten year activity of the company between 1613 and 1623, apart from the first ship (the Clove in 1613), only three other English ships brought cargoes directly from London to Japan, invariably described as poor value on the Japanese market. The only trade which helped support the factory was that organized between Japan and South-East Asia and mainly undertaken by Adams selling Chinese goods for Japanese silver:
Were it not for hope of trade into China, or procuring some benefit from Siam, Pattania and Cochin China, it were no staying in Japon, yet it is certen here is silver enough & may be carried out at pleasure, but then we must bring them commodities to their liking. (Richard Cocks Diary, 1617)
Religious rivalries
Adams, a Protestant, was seen as a rival by the Portuguese and other Catholic religious orders in Japan. After Adams' power had grown, the Jesuits attempted first to convert him, then offered to secretly bear him away from Japan on a Portuguese ship. The fact that the Jesuits were willing to disobey the orders set down by Ieyasu—that Adams might not leave Japan—betray the degree to which they feared his influence—for good reason.Catholic priests insisted that he was using his influence on Ieyasu to discredit them:
"In his character of heretic, he constantly endeavoured to discredit our church as well as its ministers".. He and others "by false accusation ... have rendered our preachers such objects of suspicion that Ieyasu fears and readily believes that they are rather spies than sowers of the Holy Faith in his kingdoms." (Padre Valentim Carvalho).
Ieyasu, influenced by Adams' counsels and social trouble caused by the numerous Catholic converts, expelled the Jesuits from Japan in 1614 and demanded the Japanese Catholics abandon their faith.
Adams also apparently warned Ieyasu against Spanish approaches.
Character
After fifteen years spent in Japan, Adams' relations with his compatriots were not the easiest. He initially shunned the company of the newly arrived English sailors in 1613 and could not get on good terms with Saris.However, Cocks, the head of the Hirado factory, progressively came to appreciate Adams' character and distinctively Japanese self-control. In a letter to the East India Company:
"I find the man tractable and willing to do your worships the best service he may... I am persuaded I could live with him seven years before any extraordinary speeches should happen between us." (Cocks' Diary)
Participation in Asian trade
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
from the East which would have greatly reduced the traveling distance between Japan and Europe. Ieyasu asked him if "our countrimen could not find the northwest passage" and Adams contacted the East India Company to organize manpower and supplies. The project however never materialized.
The latter part of his life was spent in the service of the English trading company. He undertook a number of voyages to Siam
Ayutthaya kingdom
Ayutthaya was a Siamese kingdom that existed from 1350 to 1767. Ayutthaya was friendly towards foreign traders, including the Chinese, Vietnamese , Indians, Japanese and Persians, and later the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and French, permitting them to set up villages outside the walls of the...
in 1616 and Cochin China in 1617 and 1618, sometimes for the English East India Company, sometimes for his own account. He is recorded in Japanese sources as the owner of a Red Seal Ship of 500 tons.
Given the small number of ships coming from England (four ships in ten years: the Clove in 1613, the Hosiander in 1615, the Thomas and the Advice in 1616) and the poor value of their cargoes (broadcloth, knives, looking glasses, Indian cotton, etc.), William Adams played a key role in having the company participate in the Red Seal system by obtaining trading certificates from the Shogun. Altogether, seven junk voyages were made to Southeast Asia with mixed results, including four of them headed by William Adams himself as Captain. Adams acknowledged God as his personal Provider before all people by renaming the ship, which he had acquired, with the phrase "Gift of God", the ship that he used for his expedition to Cochinchina
Cochinchina
Cochinchina is a region encompassing the southern third of Vietnam whose principal city is Saigon. It was a French colony from 1862 to 1954. The later state of South Vietnam was created in 1954 by combining Cochinchina with southern Annam. In Vietnamese, the region is called Nam Bộ...
.
1614 Siam expedition
In 1614, Adams wished to organize a trade expedition to Siam in hope of bolstering the factory's activities and cash situation. He bought for the factory and upgraded a 200-ton Japanese junk, renamed her the Sea Adventure, hired about 120 Japanese sailors and merchants as well as several Chinese traders, an Italian and a Castillan trader and the heavily laden ship left on November 1614, during the typhoon season. The merchants Richard Wickham and Edmund Sayers of the English factory's staff also participated in the voyage.The ship was to purchase raw silk, Chinese goods, sappan wood, deer skins and ray skins (the latter used for the handles of Japanese swords), essentially carrying only silver (£1250) and £175 of merchandise (Indian cottons, Japanese weapons and lacquerware).
The ship met with a typhoon near the Ryukyu Islands
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...
(modern Okinawa) and had to stop there to repair from 27 December 1614 until May 1615 before returning to Japan in June 1615 without having been able to complete any trade.
1615 Siam expedition
Adams again left Hirado in November 1615 for Ayutthaya in Siam on the refitted Sea Adventure intent on bringing sappanwoodSappanwood
Caesalpinia sappan is a species of flowering tree in the legume family, Fabaceae, that is native to Southeast Asia and the Malay archipelago. Common names include Sappanwood, Sapanwood, and Suou . Sappanwood belongs to the same genus as Brazilwood , and was originally called "brezel wood" in...
for resale in Japan. Like the previous year, the cargo consisted mainly of silver (£600) and also the Japanese and Indian goods unsold from the previous voyage.
He managed to buy vast quantities of the profitable products, even buying two additional ships in Siam to transport everything. Adams sailed the Sea Adventure back to Japan with 143 tonnes of sappanwood and 3700 deer skins, returning to Hirado in 47 days, (the whole trip lasting between 5 June and 22 July 1616). Sayers, on a hired Chinese junk, reached Hirado in October 1616 with 44 tons of sappanwood. The third ship, a Japanese junk, brought 4,560 deer skins to Nagasaki in June 1617 after having missed the monsoon
Monsoon
Monsoon is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation, but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with the asymmetric heating of land and sea...
.
Adams returned to Japan less than a week after the death of Ieyasu and accompanied Cocks and Eaton to court to offer presents to the new ruler Hidetada. Although the death of Ieyasu in 1616 seems to have weakened Adams' political influence, Hidetada agreed to maintain the trading privileges of the English and issued a new Red Seal permit (Shuinjō) to Adams allowing him to continue trade activities overseas under the Shogun's protection. His position as hatamoto
Hatamoto
A was a samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as gokenin. However, in the Edo period, hatamoto were the upper vassals of the Tokugawa...
was also renewed.
On this occasion, Adams and Cocks also visited the Japanese Admiral Mukai Shogen Tadakatsu
Mukai Shogen Tadakatsu
Mukai Tadakatsu , more generally known as Mukai Shōgen , was the Admiral of the fleet for the Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu during the beginning of the Edo period, in the early 17th century....
who lived near Adams' estate and they discussed plans about a possible invasion of the Catholic Philippines.
1617 Cochinchina expedition
In March 1617, Adams set sail for Cochinchina having purchased the junk Sayers had brought from Siam and renamed it the Gift of God. He intended to find two English factors, Tempest Peacock and Walter Carwarden, that had left Hirado two years before to explore commercial opportunities (the first voyage to South East Asia by the Hirado English Factory). After demanding information from a tight-lipped local, Adams discovered that Peacock had been plied with drink, and when sufficiently drunk, had been set upon and killed for his silver. Carwarden, who was waiting in a boat downstream, realised the fate that had befallen Peacock and hastily sailed away. However, the boat overturned and he drowned.The ship also sold a small cargo of broadcloth, Indian piece goods and ivory for the modest amount of £351.
1618 Cochinchina expedition
In 1618, Adams is recorded as having organized his last Red Seal trade expedition to Cochinchina and TonkinTonkin
Tonkin , also spelled Tongkin, Tonquin or Tongking, is the northernmost part of Vietnam, south of China's Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces, east of northern Laos, and west of the Gulf of Tonkin. Locally, it is known as Bắc Kỳ, meaning "Northern Region"...
(modern Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
), the last expedition of the English Hirado Factory to Southeast Asia. The ship, a chartered Chinese junk, left Hirado on 11 March 1618 but met with bad weather that forced it to stop at Ōshima
Amami Oshima
is a semi-tropical island in the Amami Islands, which is part of the larger Nansei Islands in Japan. Ōshima literally means big island, and it is the largest of the Amami Islands. It lies roughly halfway between the islands of Okinawa and Kyūshū. Briefly part of the Ryūkyū Kingdom, in 1624 it was...
in the northern Ryukyus
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the , is a chain of islands in the western Pacific, on the eastern limit of the East China Sea and to the southwest of the island of Kyushu in Japan. From about 1829 until the mid 20th century, they were alternately called Luchu, Loochoo, or Lewchew, akin to the Mandarin...
. The ship sailed back to Hirado in May.
Those expeditions to Southeast Asia helped the English factory survive for some time—during that period, sappanwood resold in Japan with a 200% profit—until the factory fell into bankruptcy due to high expenditures.
Adams's legacy
Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta was a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary born in the Kingdom of Navarre and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534...
. The English factory was dissolved three years later due to its unprofitability.
In his will, he left his townhouse in Edo, his fief in Hemi, and 500 British pounds to be divided evenly between his family in England and his family in Japan.
Cocks wrote: "I cannot but be sorrowfull for the loss of such a man as Capt William Adams, he having been in such favour with two Emperors of Japan as never any Christian in these part of the world." (Cocks's Diary)
Cocks remained in contact with Adams' family sending gifts and in March 1622, offering silks for Joseph and Susanna. He handed to Joseph his father's sword and dagger on the Christmas following Adams' death. Cocks also records that Hidetada transferred the lordship from William Adams to his son Joseph Adams with the attendant rights to the estate at Hemi:
He (Hidetada) has confirmed the lordship to his son, which the other emperor (Ieyasu) gave to the father. (Cocks's Diary)
Cocks was also in charge of using Adams' trading rights (the shuinjō
Red seal ships
were Japanese armed merchant sailing ships bound for Southeast Asian ports with a red-sealed patent issued by the early Tokugawa shogunate in the first half of the 17th century...
) for the benefit of Adams' children, Joseph and Susanna, a task he performed conscientiously and which was handled by the Dutch after 1623.
By 1629, only two of Adams's shipmates were still surviving, living privately in Nagasaki: Melchior van Santvoort
Melchior van Santvoort
Melchior van Santvoort was a Dutch seaman and surviving crew of the Liefde, the ship which transported William Adams to Japan in 1600....
and Vincent Romeyn.
Adams's memory is preserved in the naming of a town in Edo
Edo
, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...
(modern Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
), Anjin-chō (in modern-day Nihonbashi), where he had a house, and by an annual celebration on June 15 in his honour.
A village and a railroad station
Anjinzuka Station
is a railway station operated by the Keikyū Main Line located in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is located 47.2 rail kilometers from the northern terminus of the Keikyū Main Line at Shinagawa Station, in Tokyo.-History:...
in his fiefdom, Anjinzuka (安針塚, "Burial mound of the Pilot"), in modern Yokosuka, bears his name.
In the city of Itō
Ito, Shizuoka
is a city located on the eastern shore of the Izu Peninsula in Shizuoka, Japan. As of 2010, the city had an estimated population of 71,400 and the density of 578 persons per km². The total area was...
, Shizuoka
Shizuoka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Shizuoka.- History :Shizuoka prefecture was formed from the former Tōtōmi, Suruga and Izu provinces.The area was the home of the first Tokugawa Shogun...
, the Miura Anjin Festival is held all day on August 10. Adams' birth town of Gillingham has held a Will Adams Festival every September since 2000. Today, both Itō and Yokosuka are sister cities of Adams' birth town of Gillingham.
On the seafront at Itō is a monument to Adams. Alongside it stands a plaque inscribed with Edmund Blunden
Edmund Blunden
Edmund Charles Blunden, MC was an English poet, author and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was also a reviewer for English publications and an academic in Tokyo and later Hong Kong...
's poem, "To the Citizens of Ito", which commemorates Adams' achievement.
The life of William Adams inspired James Clavell
James Clavell
James Clavell, born Charles Edmund DuMaresq Clavell was an Australian-born, British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II veteran and prisoner of war...
's best-selling novel Shōgun
Shogun (novel)
Shōgun is a 1975 novel by James Clavell. It is the first novel of the author's Asian Saga. A major bestseller, by 1990 the book had sold 15 million copies worldwide...
(1975), which was adapted to the very popular TV miniseries Shōgun
Shogun (TV miniseries)
Shōgun is an American television miniseries based on the namesake novel by James Clavell. As with the novel, the title is often shown as Shōgun in order to conform to Hepburn romanization. The miniseries was broadcast over five nights, between September 15 and September 19, 1980 on NBC in the...
(1980), the Broadway production Shogun: The Musical
Shogun: The Musical
Shōgun: The Musical is a musical with a book and lyrics by John Driver and music by Paul Chihara.Based on James Clavell's 1976 epic novel and the 1980 television mini-series of the same name it spawned, it centers on shipwrecked English sea captain John Blackthorne, who finds himself drawn into a...
(1990) and the computer game James Clavell's Shōgun
James Clavell's Shogun
James Clavell's Shōgun is an interactive fiction computer game written by Dave Lebling and released by Infocom in 1989. Like most of Infocom's games, it was released for several popular computer platforms of the time, such as the Apple II and PC. As the title indicates, the game is based on the...
(1989). Throughout these works, the fictional heroics of John Blackthorne are loosely based on Adams' adventures in the first few years after his arrival in Japan.
Clavell was not the first author to novelize the story of Will Adams, in fact there many earlier though less successful attempts. The first was by William Dalton
William Dalton (author)
William Dalton was a Victorian-era British author of adventure stories for youth set in exotic locations such as China, Japan and Peru. He wrote most of his books during a seven-year period between about 1857 to 1864...
called Will Adams, The First Englishman in Japan: A Romantic Biography published in London 1861. Dalton had never been to Japan and his book accurately reflects romanticized Victorian British notions of the exotic Asian. Richard Blaker's The Needlewatcher (London, 1932) is the least romantic of the novels, he consciously attempted to de-mythologize Adams and write a careful historical work of fiction. James Scherer's Pilot and Shōgun is less a novel than a series of incidents in Adams life. American Robert Lund wrote Daishi-san (New York, 1960). Finally Christopher Nicole
Christopher Nicole
Christopher Robin Nicole is a prolific British writer of over 200 novels and non-fiction books since 1957. He wrote as Christopher Nicole under several pseudonyms including Peter Grange, Andrew York, Robin Cade, Mark Logan, Christina Nicholson, Alison York, Leslie Arlen, Robin Nicholson, C.R...
's Lord of the Golden Fan was published just two years before Shōgun, in 1973. Adams is portrayed as sexually frustrated by the mores of his time and seeks freedom in the east where he has numerous encounters. The work is considered light pornography.
See also
- Anglo-Japanese relationsAnglo-Japanese relationsThe history of the relationship between Britain and Japan began in 1600 with the arrival of William Adams on the shores of Kyūshū at Usuki in Ōita Prefecture...
- Sir Ernest Satow
- Hendrick HamelHendrick HamelHendrick Hamel was the first Westerner to write and experience first-hand in the Joseon Dynasty era in Korea . He later wrote "Hamel's Journal and a Description of the Kingdom of Korea, 1653-1666", published after his return to the Netherlands.Hendrick Hamel was born and died in Gorinchem...
Hardcopy
- The Needle-Watcher: The Will Adams Story, British Samurai by Richard Blaker
- Servant of the Shogun by Richard Tames. Paul Norbury Publications Tenterden Kent England.ISBN 0 904404 39 0.
- Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan, by Giles Milton; ISBN 978-0142003787; Published December 2003