What explorer was known as ‘The Western Samurai’?

William Adams, a well-trained shipbuilder who worked in the Royal Navy, was born on 24th September 1564, in Britain. His most important adventure was to Japan.

Adams was sailing from Europe to East Indies when his fleet got caught in a storm, and the ships lost sight of each other. Adams’s ship managed to reach the shores of the island of Kyushu in southern Japan, thus becoming the first European ship to reach Japan.

In Japan, William Adams met shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu, and soon became one of his key advisors. There, the shogun asked William Adams to help in the construction of Japan's first western style ship.

As time passed, the shogun became very impressed with the British explorer. Therefore, William Adams became a diplomat in Japan, and was also crowned as a samurai.

Adams died at Hirado, north of Nagasaki, on 16 May 1620, at the age of 55.