Samurai William is, of course the English navigator, William Adams, whose story was so effectively fictionalized by James Clavell in the novel "Shogun." Giles Milton has produced a historical narrative that is no less intriguing than Clavell's novel. Adams was navigator on the Dutch ship Liefde that departed from Rotterdam the spring of 1598 with a fleet of five ships bound for the unknown islands of Japan. It was the only ship to arrive in Japan, making landfall on Kyushu in April 1600.
The title of this book is, however, quite misleading. This is not about Adams; rather it is about the events that transpired during the period of his life in Japan. It was not Adams who opened Japan. On the contrary, he flourished during sakoku, the period leading up to the closing of Japan, which came about during the reign of Tokugawa Ieyasu and his heirs. The opening of Japan to the West did not occur until the latter half of the 19th century, nearly 200 years after Adams' death. Strangely, though, he was exactly the type of man who could have opened Japan: He learned how to act in accordance with Japanese customs, mastered the language and, in fact, made himself a person of respect and honor among the Japanese.
Adams' presence at historical events is always touched on, yet we learn very little about the Englishman's personal life and experiences such as his family (he had children by his Japanese wife) or his role in managing his estate in Hemi, near Edo. Rather "Samurai William" tells a gripping tale of the ordeal of sailing from England or Holland to Japan, and stories of the early traders who were attempting to establish relations with Japan. These men, the mariners and the traders, seemed driven by greed, yet their bravery and stamina defined them more as men of grand ambition. It was impossible to estimate the hardships involved in undertaking a voyage to the ends of the Earth with primitive navigational skills and no clear idea of what would be found should they survive to arrive in the uncharted, remote land. Indeed, astronauts of today have a much clearer picture of what they will face than did the voyagers of the 16th and 17th centuries charting paths to the Far East.