Kent Tonight Special: The Gillingham Samurai

KentOnline / KMTV

Follow the historic journey of Kent-born William Adams, who went from dockyard worker to the right-hand man of the Shogun of Japan.

Transcript

00:00Greenwich has Henry VIII, Oxfordshire has Sir Winston Churchill, and Stratford-upon-Avon

00:14has Shakespeare. But many might not know that Gillingham has a historical Hall of Famer

00:19all of its own.

00:20Back in the 1600s, Britain had begun its expeditions out to other countries, and one man from Gillingham

00:26was the pilot of one of them, before he landed his ship on the shores of Japan. He would

00:31go from a Japanese prisoner to the first Englishman to be granted the title of Samurai.

00:36He was born William Adams, but died as Miura Anjin, the right-hand man of the Shogun, one

00:41of the most powerful figures in that point of Japan's history. He was a skilled navigator

00:46and pilot, and by his own admission, a true man of Kent.

00:56Though he was born in Gillingham, it isn't clear how long William Adams really lived

01:05there, as by age 12 his father had died, and he was then an apprentice to a shipyard owner,

01:10Master Nicholas Diggins in Limehouse, which is now a district in Tower Hamlets in London.

01:16Though in a letter, written later in life, he refers to himself as being born in a town

01:20called Gillingham, two English miles from Rochester, one mile from Chatham, thanks to

01:24St Mary Magdalene's Church, dating back to medieval times, we can use their records

01:28to confirm the date of his baptism, which is commonly and incorrectly thought as being

01:33the day of his birth. This is quite rare, as normally church records don't last 460

01:39years. I visited the church in Gillingham in hopes of learning more about Adams as a

01:43child, but I didn't realise I'd find an object quite so personal to him.

01:48The font is medieval, very much like parts of the church, and it was used for the baptism

01:54of Will Adams when he was a tiny baby here. His parents came to this church, we know,

02:01but I don't think he came much as a boy, because he moved away.

02:04Now although they still do use the font, the very same one that William Adams used, they

02:09use this basin instead, because the inside is lined with lead, which, as we now know,

02:15is poisonous.

02:16So after his baptism and his childhood, where did he go next? To help me find out, I met

02:20with Sue Haydock at the Medway Archives in Shrewd. She's a former Mayor of Medway, Chairman

02:25of the Medway Japan Friendship Association, and even an Honorary Mayor of Yokosuka, a

02:30town in Japan now twinned with Gillingham.

02:33He became a pilot, a navigator, and he did, he captained a supply ship during the Spanish

02:40Armada, and he did on a couple of expeditions, one of which was trying to find the North-West

02:47Passage. He obviously had a wanderlust and a yearn for adventure. He heard about a Dutch

02:53expedition to the Far East, and he signed up for that as the navigator.

02:59William, along with his brother James, joined the Five Ships Strong Expedition as their

03:03chief navigator, but they set sail late into the trade winds, but that was the least of

03:07their worries for the trip ahead.

03:09Nowadays, thanks to GPS, travelling the world is a lot easier than it used to be. Back in

03:14the day, all you had to rely on were not particularly detailed maps, your wits, and the stars.

03:19And just to show how good of a navigator Adams was, he travelled through the Magellan Strait.

03:24You might know the name of another famous English navigator that did manage to make

03:27it through, Sir Francis Drake, and that just shows the level of navigator that William

03:32Adams was.

03:34Of the five ships, most were destroyed, some abandoned by their crew, others simply turned

03:39around, some slaughtered by natives, and one sunk by a typhoon. However, Leifder, meaning

03:45love, managed to make it to Japan, but with only several crew members left, and others

03:50in a very poor state.

03:52During this, many men were lost, including his own brother, Thomas, and then they were

03:57shipwrecked on Kyushu at a place called Bongo. And when the Jesuits found out about them,

04:03they tried to persuade the local warlord that they were pirates, and William Adams,

04:09of course, was only there to do trade.

04:11Now it's important to note that in Japan at the time, they had many warring factions,

04:15and at the head of one of these factions was Tokugawa Ieyasu, the daimyo, meaning feudal

04:21lord. Tokugawa liked what he saw with Will Adams, and refused to execute him or his crew.

04:26And from there, Adams knew he had to think fast. Making himself useful to Tokugawa, he

04:31quickly picked up the Japanese language, and even started to wear Japanese clothes,

04:36known then as going native. Eventually, he was given a Japanese name, Miura Anjin, meaning

04:41pilot of Miura, where he would one day live and even rule over parts of.

04:46Then Tokugawa became shogun of all Japan. But how did a pilot from the other side of

04:51the world manage to integrate himself with the man who would effectively become Japan's

04:56most powerful figure?

04:57Ieyasu, the shogun, wanted him to stay in Japan and to be his advisor because Ieyasu

05:05himself wanted to pursue an active international diplomacy. That's why Ieyasu really cared

05:14for him very much.

05:17While primarily Tokugawa was a clever man, and wanted to know more about the West, especially

05:22their military tactics, up until Adams arrived, their only real source of information on the

05:27rest of the world came from Portuguese priests, who were more interested in Christianity than

05:32combat. Adams was also highly intelligent, making the correct choice to go native and

05:37ingratiate himself into the culture, and was smart enough to pick up the language fairly

05:41quickly. And most importantly, he was skilled. Managing to pass through the Magellan Strait

05:46showed his navigational prowess, he could construct ships, and his ability to advise

05:51on strategy were all things that Tokugawa needed in his efforts to become the shogun.

05:56And Adams, or Anjin, proved his worth, and in 1605 he was granted the title of samurai,

06:02specifically as Jikatatori Hatamoto, a vassal of Tokugawa's court, to be given land and

06:08power in exchange for sworn loyalty. Adams would live out the rest of his days in Japan

06:13even after the death of Tokugawa, as the shogun knew that even if Adams wanted to return to

06:17England, he would be losing his power, his land, and his new life. He would become far

06:22less influential, as the new shogun, Hidetata, Tokugawa's son, cared far less for foreign

06:28affairs. He died in Hirado, north of Nagasaki, on the 16th of May, 1620, aged 55. His memorial

06:36engrave still remains well-maintained in Hirado to this day.

06:40Now into the modern day, and Will Adams is only known by some in Gillingham, but not

06:44all of them know why he's important.

06:52With the release of Shogun, a series on Disney Plus that went online in 2024 based on Will

07:02Adams, it pushed him back into some public interest. And it was, in fact, Frederick,

07:08who was the historical advisor for the show.

07:22I wanted to know how well-known he was on the other side of the world compared to here

07:28in England.

07:47In Gillingham, there are some nods to him, namely the William Adams Memorial on Sovereign

07:51Boulevard, which shows the official twinning of the town to the Japanese towns of Yokosuka

07:55and Ito, as well as a roundabout and several roads. And, of course, the best honour you

08:00could get in a British high street, a pub.

08:03As a school kid, I'd learnt about William Adams. And I thought, you know, apart from

08:10the clock, there's nothing named to do with Will Adams. So I thought, once you have a

08:16pub named Will Adams, then, you know, it puts his name out there. And yeah, it's good

08:24because the history of William Adams is pretty fantastic.

08:28But starting back in the 2000s, there was an entire festival to celebrate Gillingham's

08:32Japanese connection called the Will Adams Festival. While the festival stopped after

08:37COVID, there are still celebrations that continue in Japan to this day.

08:41All the mayors of towns and cities that have an association with William Adams congregate.

08:47And our students, Medway students, who go out there on the Medway Exchange, read at

08:55this ceremony, they read a message from our mayor. One year, we even managed to get a

09:01student to read in Japanese.

09:03The links between Gillingham, Ito and Yokosuka are also kept alive with an exchange programme

09:08that was started back in 2006.

09:10Every year, we have an exchange programme going on. It's more like a cultural exchange

09:15as well as an educational programme. Like, you know, it really supports our young ambassadors

09:21from Medway.

09:23While all of these do help William Adams' story stay relevant and stay alive, is it

09:27enough? Why isn't Will Adams more known? There's a few reasons.

09:31Despite him seemingly having a heroic rags to riches story, he was 34 when he left England,

09:37leaving behind a wife and two children he would never see again.

09:41Also, because of him, Japan made technological leaps and bounds, especially in their seafaring

09:46ability that they may not have gotten so easily at that time.

09:50And with Japan being a part of the Axis powers during World War II and having a large naval

09:55force in keeping with the rest of the world, as his story became more known in the UK,

10:00it's unlikely this would have done him any favours.

10:02Like we've mentioned, over 9,000 kilometres east of here, in Japan, he's celebrated

10:08like a hero. Parades, fireworks, a ceremony with all mayors with towns connected to Adams.

10:14But here in Gilliam, we don't really celebrate him like we used to with the festival. So

10:18when the Japanese students arrive here and they look around and see quite a nice pub

10:22that they can't drink at yet, a roundabout and a couple of street signs, do they think

10:27we even care about William Adams?

10:30So what's next? Well, some want the festival to come back, but are unsure of exactly what

10:34it would look like and how it would be paid for.

10:37But I think this is a huge shame. Despite what flaws he might have had as a character,

10:42he still has such an interesting story. He didn't just navigate all the way to Japan.

10:47He navigated the social and political climate of a world that most people at that time would

10:52have had no idea how to deal with.

10:56As I looked across the water, I thought about how we live in one of the most international

11:00and interconnected times. But back then, when Adams would have sailed across these waters

11:05towards the Far East, he would have been almost completely isolated. He left his family, saw

11:10his brother die at sea, and ended up in a world completely alien to him, that he couldn't

11:15even speak the language of. But he went on to become a respected, powerful figure, especially

11:20during a time where foreigners were ostracised in Japan. I think all those years of having

11:24to learn the language and acclimate to the culture meant he might have been a bit lonely.

11:29So knowing now that people in the town of his birth do remember him, make entertainment

11:32based on him, drink in a pub named after him, and celebrate him in Gillingham, Gerardo,

11:37Yokosuka, Ito, and across the world would have made him quite happy.

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