The Saga of Tamuramaro, the Great Black Japanese Shogun

Here's the scenario. It's the eighth century AD. Japan is a mishmash of feuding factions. Seems like the whole country is going down the tearai. When, suddenly, a figure comes riding out of the sun. He's tall, wields a sword of serious dimensions, and there's a look in his eye that says you'd better start running. Who is he? Sakanoue No Tamuramaro, of course, Japan's legendary Black Shogun.

Shogun Son of Mother Africa

A black shogun? In Japan? Well, yes, actually. You may not find him described as such in Japanese text books. He may not be venerated in national history museums. But he existed all the same. Not only that, he rose to the highest ranks in Japanese military. And he played a crucial role in unifying the war-ridden island of Honshu.

He was, in other words, a kind of premedieval General Colin Powell, at least according to a posse of African-American historians, for whom Tamuramaro has become something of a cause celebre. Citing contemporary descriptions, Howard University Professor, Lois Jones claims that "One of the most prominent characters in Japanese history was a Negro warrior called Tamuramaro". For Temple University's graduate Dr. Mark Hyman, "The fact remains that Tamuramaro was an African." And so on. The questions is; what was he doing in Japan?

U.S. cultural historian Runoko Rashidi suggests a possible answer. In his bestseller, The African Presence in Early Asia, Rashidi describes a tribe of people known as the "Aoshima" who lived in Japan in prehistoric times. Legend has it their physical features were dark-skinned and "negroid". In Rashidi's view, Tamuramaro was a descendant of these prototype Afro-Asians.

Ancient Japanese proverb: "For a samurai to be brave, he must have a bit of Black blood."

Other evidence appears to support the curious claim that Africans "emigrated" to China in prehistoric times. Surviving accounts of Fu Hsi, first emperor of the ancient Xia Dynasty in southeastern China, for example, describe him as "Black skinned and woolly-haired". During the Shang Dynasty, its people were known as Nakhi (Black Men). They also made their home in southeastern China. Even today, Chinese with unmistakable African features can be found in and around the southern Chinese city of their birth, Canton, Beijing and Shanghai.

So if Africans were in China thousands of years ago, how did they get there? Two clues. Historian Rashidi says Africans are believed to have first inhabited Asia and later Africa. Another theory suggests that they migrated across land bridges that have since disappeared beneath ocean waves, just as Native Americans crossed by foot from Asia to North America in the pre-Ice Age era. These prehistoric migrants settled first in south China then moved northwards through Mongolia and central China before finally arriving in Japan via Korea.

Shogun for Hire

Whatever their route to Japan, "Black men" were reportedly prominent in Japan's elite "Azumabito (Men from the East)" warrior class by 8th century, among them Tamuramaro's father and uncle who came to Japan from China via Korea. Based near Kyoto, the Azumabito were renowned for their professionalism, and for a code of knightly ethics that would not have been out of place at the Court of King Arthur of England.

They were, in short, the only well organized military group in 8th century Japan who could be relied on to "get the job done". So back in 764 when Fujiwara No Nakamaro rebelled against the Empress Kokenoko, her imperiousness wasted little time calling in the Azumabito to whip the insurgents into line. The crackdown, led by Tamuramaro's father, Karitamaro, was brutal and typically thorough. Once the rebellion was crushed, the Empress awarded him the rank of Chinjuku Shogun in recognition of faithful services rendered.

It was during the Yebisu tribal-crushing campaign that young Tamuramaro got his first taste of battle, serving as an "apprentice" under his father's tutelage. A natural soldier, Tamuramaro worked his way up through the ranks, first as a lieutenant in the imperial palace guard, later as captain, and finally as shogun-in-chief of the Azumabito.

In 783, the fierce Yebisu fighters rebelled again, routing imperial troops and forcing Kokenoko's successor, Emperor Kanmu, to call on Tamuramaro to help him out. As an incentive, he awarded Tamuramaro (who was already being feted by chroniclers of the time) a new and impressive-sounding title: Envoy of the Pacification of the East.

A Clint of Steel

In a series of bloody campaigns between 795 and 803, Tamuramaro lived up to his title, smashing Yebisu resistance once and for all. On his triumphant return to the palace in Kyoto, the grateful emperor rewarded him with yet another grand-sounding title: Sai-i Tai-Shogun (Barbarian-Subduing Generalissimo).

Pagoda and adjacent building at the Kiyomizu Temple. Famous Temple in Kyoto founded by Sakanoue Tamuramaro.

Meanwhile, Tamuramaro moved onto his next objective: unifying the entire island of Honshu. He applied himself to the task with characteristic vigor. According to contemporary accounts, he was very much your hands-on shogun, whether mucking in with his frontline foot soldiers and archers or galloping into the heat of battle at the head of his troops. We can imagine him astride his jet-black stallion, Midnight, sword cutting swiftly and savagely, blood spurting from flailing victims in a fountain of technicolor. "My sword is itching for some cutting action," he might have murmured with a taut, Clint Eastwood-like smirk. "Do you feel lucky, punk rebel warrior?" Twenty-odd campaigns later, with the unification of Honshu Tamuramaro returns to Kyoto to a grateful emperor. He gets more awards and has a final court plot against the emperor to set straight.

Not least among his non-military achievements was the founding of Kyoto's famous Kiyomizu Temple. Curiously, modern-day visitors are denied accesss to the Tamura-do (founder's hall, named after Tamuramaro), which has been renamed Kaizen-do in what some claim is a blatant attempt to rewrite history. According to at least one pre-closure account, the hall contains a rare portrait of Tamuramaro and his wife. There is also mention of a stature of him. However, as the hall has been closed for over 35 years and left to the fate of the elements, and most likely as an excuse to tear it down, independent corroborations has proved difficult if not impossible. Certainly, this writer was (rudely) denied access. Likewise, modern guide books to Kiyomizu Temple make no mention of the legendary Black shogun whose past connection to the temple has been persona non grata in spoken words and literature. As far as temple officials are concerned he simply didn't exist. But we know he did and should express our disapproval by insisting that we who pay temple fees be allowed to see what remains of this fallen hero. Send in your letters of protests. He's a vital part of Japanese history, deny it or not!

by Michael Hooser, Ph.D.