kyopojin
11-17-2007, 10:35 PM
An interesting TV report about Japanese who were owned as slaves by the Portuguese.
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1717
As the report mentions, slavery was legal in Japan at the time, and the Portuguese were buying slaves offered to them by Japanese traders. However, the fact that some Japanese were being used as slaves by foreigners made some Japanese quite angry, including Hideyoshi, who eventually outlawed the slave trade when he came to power.
Slavery in Japan fun fact: Jesuit priests in Japan once presented the great warlord Oda Nobunaga with an African slave. Nobunaga supposedly gave the man the name “Yasuke,” and some claim that he was later freed and given a samurai rank
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=1717
As the report mentions, slavery was legal in Japan at the time, and the Portuguese were buying slaves offered to them by Japanese traders. However, the fact that some Japanese were being used as slaves by foreigners made some Japanese quite angry, including Hideyoshi, who eventually outlawed the slave trade when he came to power.
Slavery in Japan fun fact: Jesuit priests in Japan once presented the great warlord Oda Nobunaga with an African slave. Nobunaga supposedly gave the man the name “Yasuke,” and some claim that he was later freed and given a samurai rank