Jonathan Randall
03-19-2007, 03:48 AM
The Real Captain John Blackthorn of "Shogun":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_%28sailor%29
William Adams (September 24 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_24), 1564 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1564)–May 16 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_16), 1620 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1620)), also known in Japanese as Anjin-sama (anjin, "pilot"; sama, a Japanese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language) social title (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title) or honorific (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific) more or less equivalent to lord (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord)) and Miura Anjin (三浦按針: "the pilot of Miura (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miura_Peninsula)"), was an English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England) navigator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigator) who traveled to Japan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan) and is believed to be the first Briton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briton) ever to reach that country. He was the inspiration for the character of John Blackthorne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Blackthorne) in James Clavell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clavell)'s bestselling novel Shogun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogun).
Soon after Adams' arrival in Japan, he became a key advisor to the shogun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogun) Tokugawa Ieyasu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Ieyasu) and built for him Japan's first Western-style ships. Adams was later the key protagonist in the establishment of trading factories by the Netherlands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands) and England (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England). He was also highly involved in Japan's Red Seal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Seal) Asian trade, chartering and captaining several sailboats to Southeast Asia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia). He died in Japan at the age of fifty-six, and is recognized to this day as one of the most influential foreigners during Japan's first period of opening to the West (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_World).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_%28sailor%29
William Adams (September 24 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_24), 1564 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1564)–May 16 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_16), 1620 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1620)), also known in Japanese as Anjin-sama (anjin, "pilot"; sama, a Japanese (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_language) social title (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title) or honorific (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorific) more or less equivalent to lord (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord)) and Miura Anjin (三浦按針: "the pilot of Miura (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miura_Peninsula)"), was an English (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England) navigator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navigator) who traveled to Japan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan) and is believed to be the first Briton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Briton) ever to reach that country. He was the inspiration for the character of John Blackthorne (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Blackthorne) in James Clavell (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clavell)'s bestselling novel Shogun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogun).
Soon after Adams' arrival in Japan, he became a key advisor to the shogun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shogun) Tokugawa Ieyasu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Ieyasu) and built for him Japan's first Western-style ships. Adams was later the key protagonist in the establishment of trading factories by the Netherlands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands) and England (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England). He was also highly involved in Japan's Red Seal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Seal) Asian trade, chartering and captaining several sailboats to Southeast Asia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia). He died in Japan at the age of fifty-six, and is recognized to this day as one of the most influential foreigners during Japan's first period of opening to the West (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_World).