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African samurai: The enduring legacy of a black warrior in feudal Japan
- yhoneycomb 7y agoHoly shit I never knew Afro Samurai was based on a real story That’s so cool haha
- b_tterc_p 7y agoI think this is getting downvoted because it sounds racist but Afro Samurai is a real and fairly popular anime / manga which is indeed inspired by Yasuke. This is cool.
- deytempo 7y agoDefeating racism one downvote at a time
- yeahitslikethat 7y agoIronically, knowing about "Afro Samurai" in this case, would seem to indicate the poster is more culturally astute than someone who would down vote them as it indicates a willingness to consume content about both Japanese and black culture.
- bayareanative 7y agoSounds more like Japanese meets blacksploitation; a very narrow Netflix category.
- lightedman 7y agoYou've done a great job at easily demonstrating how ignorant the typical HN commenter/downvoter truly is. Note how all the downvoting cowards have said NOTHING regarding your correction, and just hide. Hey dang, stcb, you wonder why we have no respect for you? This shit which you refuse to rectify or even acknowledge is why. Your incompetence shows as brightly as the downvoters ignorance.
- luckydata 7y agoWhy would that sound racist? Honest question, as an immigrant I don't pick up 100% of all the things Americans perceive as racist.
- aphextim 7y agoIn America when people cannot cope with something that alters their worldview they simply call it racist so they don't have to deal with thinking about it further.
- yardie 7y agoTell me about it. When I mention that Andrew Jackson was a racist, genocidal maniac who has no business being on $5 bill some people get all upset saying we want to erase their heritage.
- JCSato 7y agoAndrew Jackson is on the $20 bill.
- Konnstann 7y agoIf we remove every racist from American history we won't have very many people to choose from. Andrew Jackson was not a great man, but his impact on the economic policy that shaped the country is undeniable, and is probably what earned him a place on the $20. Unfortunately history is full of terrible people who do great things, and great people who are less noteworthy.
- Chris_Chambers 7y agoIt’s more like mounting the head of your kill above the fireplace. Andrew Jackson was put on the $20 bill to mock him. He would have been the first to demand the destruction of the Federel Reserve.
- DoofusOfDeath 7y agoI think societal norms regarding virtues and vices also change over time. If nothing else, what's considered a minor vice in one century might be considered an unforgivable character flaw in another century. Given that, I'm a little skeptical of claims that a historically significant figure should have never appeared on money, in a statue, etc.
- crooked-v 7y agoAfro Samurai is inspired by Yasuke about as much as The Vampire Diaries is inspired by Vlad II Dracul.
- stcredzero 7y agoTrue, but it's still neat.
- duxup 7y agoI don't think it is about racism... more so as it is just not a great comment. I don't want to go too far down into the weeds on meta community stuff (it's endless man ...) but generally on HM 'super cool' and such comments are downvated, the idea being there isn't a lot of content there. It's not 100% consistent, but I'm guessing that has more to do with it than any perceived racism. Anyone who read the article already saw that term used.... it's also not something most folks think of as racist IMO.
- mikorym 7y agoSo I think the content here is "Afro Samurai is based on a real story." For anime fans that's useful and relevant.
- bertomartin 7y agoThe real last Samurai lol
- karmakaze 7y agoMovie? Yes please.
- willvarfar 7y agohttps://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/08/entertainment/chadwick-boseman-yasuke/index.html https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/08/entertainment/chadwick-bo...
- keiferski 7y agoRelated and interesting: a full list of foreign-born samurai. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign-born_samurai_in_Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foreign-born_samurai_i...
- algerhiss77 7y agoWE
- forthwall 7y agoSeriously who creates a HN account just to make a racist joke
- nixarian 7y agoI like how the word "WE" has become a racist joke
- mlevental 7y agoisn't it obvious? a racist
- dang 7y agoPlease just flag and move on, as the site guidelines ask. If you reply, you not only troll-feed, but leave off-topic subthreads dangling after we ban the accounts. In egregious cases, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com too, which guarantees we'll see it. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- nixarian 7y agoMight I inquire as to what is good, my african gentleman, and especially about such things as might be truly excellent.
- Tor3 7y agoI got interested in the story of Yasuke (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke) when I was visiting Gifu, Oda's seat of power. The Wikipedia article has generally more information than the CNN article, but is perhaps a bit more sober. At 188cm he would indeed have been a giant among the locals at the time. There's a possibility that maybe, just maybe, the person to the left in this picture is Yasuke: https://www.museu-caramulo.net/upload/photo/38-arte-japonesa-2-1419262043.jpg https://www.museu-caramulo.net/upload/photo/38-arte-japonesa...
- lettergram 7y agoI heard about this recently in the Kings and Generals YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/0RZaHgXEhJ4 https://youtu.be/0RZaHgXEhJ4 It’s a fairly interesting story, but does seem there is limited information.
- quadcore 7y agoDjango meet Kill Bill. Can't wait a good movie on that story.
- bayareanative 7y agoSMH. There's already Ghost Dog.
- bradenb 7y agoI learned about Yasuke from playing "Sekiro." There's a black samurai/ronin that you can interact with. I thought nothing of it, but others postulated that it might be a reference to Yasuke. I was fascinated to learn about his journey.
- mooseburger 7y agoJinzaemon is not black (that's who you meant right?): https://sekiroshadowsdietwice.wiki.fextralife.com/Jinzaemon+Kumano https://sekiroshadowsdietwice.wiki.fextralife.com/Jinzaemon+... From the wiki though: > (Japanese Default Language version) He has a Westernized Japanese accent, it may be a tribute to Yasuke (African Samurai) in 1579. Erm, ok, that's a weird reach the wiki is making. You can see closeups of his face right beneath that sentence.
- bradenb 7y agoYes that's who I'm referring to. On my first playthrough I didn't think he was black, but after having it pointed out I think it's likely he's a reference to Yasuke. Either way, this is how I learned about it.
- flohofwoe 7y agoNioh has an even more obvious reference with the "Obsidian Samurai": https://nioh.fandom.com/wiki/Obsidian_Samurai https://nioh.fandom.com/wiki/Obsidian_Samurai PS: the player character in Nioh is also a "Foreign Samurai", William Adams: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(sailor,_born_1564) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(sailor,_born_15...
- bradenb 7y agoGood point! I forgot about those ones. Also a really fun game.
- odd-stretch 7y agowe was samurai and sheeeit
- bayareanative 7y agoI hear Forest Whitaker may option a prequel. GD needs a reincarnation movie.
- sayusasugi 7y agoJapan and small parts of Europe not run by the EU are probably the only places left in the world that realize that as soon as you open the doors to mass immigration, you turn into America. A country with no identity and values apart from consumerism.