William Adams washed up in Japan aboard a disease-ridden and semi-derelict Dutch ship. However, being both resourceful and adaptable, he took to this strange and fabled new world and soon found himself being used as a powerful counter-weight to the influential Portuguese Catholics. Too valuable to lose, he became advisor, samurai and window on the outside world, eventually assisting with an embryonic English Trading Factory whose records provide much of the detail to this fascinating history.
(Clive Yelf - bwl 71 Winter 2014 ) |
