What does Anjin-cho mean?
Have you ever seen the old American TV series “Shogun?”
Or have you ever imagined what it would be like if you, a foreigner, were a samurai in feudal Japan? Continue reading What does Anjin-cho mean?
Tag: foreign samurai
What does Yaesu mean?
八重洲Yaesu (corruption of the Dutch personal name Jan Joosten, itself a shortening of Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn) A Foreign Samurai There were only a handful of “foreign samurai” and so Jan Joosten has a unique place in the history of foreigners in Japan. In 1600, he arrived in Japan and was eventually made an advisor of foreigner affairs and translator for the new shōgun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and his court at Edo Castle. He was granted permission to marry a Japanese woman and given a mansion with the inner moat of Edo Caste (丸ﾉ内). He was also given samurai rank and … Continue reading What does Yaesu mean?
