‘Assassin’s Creed: Shadows’ Backlash Prompts Academic Thomas Lockley To Defend His ‘Black Samurai’ Narrative: “Yasuke Was A Hero In Japan”
In response to the growing backlash to his role in inspiring Assassin’s Creed: Shadows’ narrative, academic Thomas Lockley is standing behind his claim that the historical Yasuke was not just a retainer to Oda Nobunaga, but a full-on Samurai.
An English-born scholar currently employed as an associate law professor at Japan’s Nihon University, Lockley is perhaps best known as the author of the 2019 book African Samurai: The True Story of Yasuke, a Legendary Black Warrior in Feudal Japan, wherein he puts forth the claim, based on his own “informed research based assumptions” rather than any factual historical documents, that the historical Yasuke was not a mere retainer to Oda Nobunaga, but a full-blown Samurai in his own right.
In light of Ubisoft’s recent decision to base their next Assassin’s Creed title partly on Lockley’s narrative, the academic has recently found himself under fire from not Japanese players, but the nation’s politicians as well, with some having even gone so far as to call for an official cultural investigation into his claims.
To this end, Lockley was pressed for his thoughts on the backlash to both his work and Shadows‘ decision to take inspiration from it by the eponymous host of the Lance E. Lee Podcast In Tokyo during an appearance on the 364th episode of the Japanese culture-centric show.
“I’ve had some nasty comments on my Facebook page,” said the academic. “I’ve decided to take down all my family photos from my Facebook page.”
[Time Stamp: 48:57]
Asked by Lee whether any of these comments had come from anyone actually from Japan, Lockley admitted, “To be honest with you, yes, a few from Japanese, though this is the first time ever that I’ve had anything controversial from Japanese people about Yasuke. Yasuke is seen as a hero in Japan. Even in the 70s he was a hero and he’s only gotten bigger.”
“I’m not gonna say what some of these comments are, but they’re not very nice,” he explained to his host. “And it’s English, almost all of these comments, or blog postings, or massive amounts of stuff on YouTube, some of them are not necessarily directed at me, per se, it’s the idea that it. And I’ve decided not to give them credence by watching. But I get reports from some people. I’ve got some beautiful messages on Instagram and things from people I don’t know, saying, you know, ‘You must be having a hard time at the moment. Keep fighting the good fight’, kind of thing. And I’m not fighting any fight, but it’s lovely to have people just random strangers [showing support].”
RELATED: ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ To Reportedly Feature Same-Sex Romance Options For Both Yasuke And Naoe
Continuing, Lockley affirmed, “Personally, I think Yasuke was a man, and he deserves to be given respect for what he did, which was absolutely amazing.”
“To come from the other side of the world, in difficult circumstances that we’re not exactly sure were, and to rise to the top of another country’s culture, and be at the side of the greatest ruler of the time, at his death, fighting at his death, loyal to the end,” he added. “It’s an amazing story and I think we should give somebody like that the credit they deserve.”
Turning back to the specific topic of Shadows, the African Samurai author then asserted, “I don’t know whether the game Assassin’s Creed should have him as the main character or it should have somebody else as the main character. Quite frankly, I don’t care. I have nothing to do with it! Don’t attack Yasuke.”
Asked by Lee “You see no royalties, or anything?”, the academic ultimately affirmed, “No, though my book’s starting to sell well again, which is nice.”
(However, it should be noted that Lockley’s denial regarding his involvement with Assassin’s Creed: Shadows is categorically false, as he was previously featured as a subject-matter expert on the Yasuke: The First African Samurai episode of Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed-centric history podcast, Echoes of History.)
Assasssin’s Creed: Shadows is currently set to slice-and-dice its way through Feudal Japan on November 12th.
More About:Video Games
