In the Service of the Shogun: The Real Story of William Adams

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

In 1600, English helmsman William Adams washed ashore in Japan, and was interrogated by Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japan's most powerful warlord and soon-to-be shogun. Far from executing Adams as a pirate, Ieyasu made him one of his most trusted advisers. This biography traces Adams's rise from humble pilot to a position of immense influence in Japan's foreign relations. It unravels the subsequent diplomatic manoeuvres of the Western powers in the shogun's empire, and Adams's eventual downfall. This is the first full biography of Adams based on original Dutch, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese sources, and includes much previously unknown information. Frederik Cryns tells the authentic story of Adams's chequered life in its historical context, taking us on a compelling journey into Adams's complex inner feelings and cosmopolitan heart.

Reviews

"William Adams, the real-life figure who inspired James Clavell's novel Shogun, was a fascinating man, and Cryns's new book explores his life in vivid terms, using untapped sources in English, Dutch, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese. This book is destined to become a classic, combining vivid prose with exemplary research, but it's not just for people interested in imperial Japan. Anyone who wishes to understand the birth of our interconnected, global world will find much to enjoy and ponder."--Tonio Andrade, professor of Chinese and global history, Emory University

Author Bio

Frederik Cryns is professor of Japanese history at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan. He is the author of several bestselling books in Japanese on the early interaction of the Western world with Japan. In addition to his academic work, Cryns appears regularly on Japanese television history programs and supervised the historical aspects of the new television series Shogun.