William Adams English Samurai Advisor

William Adams, a shipwrecked 17th-century English captain, arrived in Japan in 1600 when his ship, Liefde, drifted ashore and authorities imprisoned him as a suspected pirate. Japanese leaders questioned him closely, but Tokugawa Ieyasu recognized his navigational and shipbuilding expertise and decided he could be useful. Ieyasu eventually promoted Adams to the status of samurai, granted him a fief at Hemi in present-day Yokosuka, and gave him the Japanese name Miura Anjin. Adams remained in Japan for about 20 years as an advisor to the Tokugawa government until his death in 1620.

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