The year is 1600. It is April and Japan’s iconic cherry trees are in full flower. A battered ship drifts on the tide into Usuki Bay in southern Japan. On board, barely able to stand, are twenty-three Dutchmen and one Englishman, the remnants of a fleet of five ships and 500 men that had set out from Rotterdam in 1598. The Englishman was William Adams, later to be known as Anjin Miura by the Japanese, whose subsequent transformation from wretched prisoner to one of the Shogun’s closest advisers is the centrepiece of this book. As a native of Japan, and a scholar of seventeenth-century Japanese history, the author delves deep into the cultural context facing Adams in what is one of the great examples of assimilation into the highest reaches of a foreign culture. Her access to Japanese sources, including contemporary accounts – some not previously seen by Western scholars researching the subject – offers us a fuller understanding of the life lived by William Adams as a high-ranking samurai and his grandstand view of the collision of cultures that led to Japan’s self-imposed isolation, lasting over two centuries. This is a highly readable account of Adams’ voyage to and twenty years in Japan and that is supported by detailed observations of Japanese culture and society at this time. New light is shed on Adams’ relations with the Dutch and his countrymen, including the disastrous relationship with Captain John Saris, the key role likely to have been played by the munitions, including cannon, removed from Adams’ ship De Liefde in the great battle of Sekigahara (September 1600), the shipbuilding skills that enabled Japan to advance its international maritime ambitions, as well as the scientific and technical support Adams was able to provide in the refining process of Japan’s gold and silver. “A most readable account….enriched by detailed observations of Japanese culture and society of the time… Her writing is immediate and highly engaging and the reader is at once drawn into the story. The novel-like approach to telling her tale is extremely effective, and what a tale there is to tell.” Ian de Stains OBE, Acumen, British Chamber of Commerce in Japan Journal “I knew the outline of this extraordinary story, but Hiromi Rogers puts authentic detail and colour into the story and makes you care about the man…The ship-building, the battles, the rivalry between Adams and the Portuguese Jesuits over trade….I found it all gripping.” Christine Skipsey , Kent Messenger “Hiromi Rogers reveals a far more detailed and complex picture of Adams as a man and of the turbulent times he lived in………many fascinating nuggets of information……highly readable and can be strongly recommended… A most entertainingly written book and a rattling good yarn, not to be missed.” Nicolas Maclean CMG , Japan Society Journal. “Hiromi Rogers has produced a riveting account, based on contemporary sources, of the relationship between Adams and [Shogun] Ieyasu. The narrative is fast paced and exciting…..Rogers’ research is meticulous…..it’s hard to put this book down... A gripping story and vivid historical reconstruction….deeply absorbing…..astonishing detail….very powerful narrative line. The writing is clear and illuminating… What I most enjoyed were the psychological insights…..more than justify her claim that the reasons for Adams’ success in Japan benefit from being analysed and explained by an historian embodying both English and Japanese sensibilities.” Edmund Marsden "This marvellous book… the author’s studied gentleness and a notable deference to her readers inform every word." Thumbtom "A gem of a story… A gem of a read. At last an insightful, absorbing and definitive telling of William Adams." Steve Murphy "A rip-roaring yarn… marvellous eye for detail… a fabulous sense of Edo Japan its rituals, warriors … ground-breaking new facts… highly recommended." Rebecca Newman “The book is exceptional. Born from meticulous research and written with remarkable elegance. Congratulations to the author!” Emelia “The best story of William Adams I have seen. The author is able to fill in the blanks in history due to her understanding of Japanese culture. Highly readable.” Pfennig-san Hiromi T. Rogers was born in the Shiba district of central Tokyo into a family of steel manufacturers, headed, unusually in those days, by her redoubtable grandmother. Her ancestors were samurai and from an early age she immersed herself in samurai films and literature. Graduating from Hosei University in 1983, she left Japan for the UK in 1989, initially to improve her English but ultimately obtaining a PhD at the University of Exeter. Hiromi lives in Devon, with her husband a former diplomat. She is also a prize-winning calligrapher and botanical artist. Anjin The Life and Times of Samurai William Adams As Seen Through Japanese Eyes By Hiromi T. Rogers Global Books Ltd Copyright © 2016 Hiromi T. Rogers All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-898823-22-3 Contents Pr