The first ever account of Japanese overseas mercenaries including
material never before translated into English, written by a renowned and
highly respected expert on the subject.
The Lost Samurai reveals the greatest untold story of Japan's
legendary warrior class, which is that for almost a hundred years
Japanese samurai were employed as mercenaries in the service of the
kings of Siam, Cambodia, Burma, Spain and Portugal, as well as by the
directors of the Dutch East India Company.
The Japanese samurai were used in dramatic assault parties, as royal
bodyguards, as staunch garrisons and as willing executioners. As a
result, a stereotypical image of the fierce Japanese warrior developed
that had a profound influence on the way they were regarded by their
employers.
While the Southeast Asian kings tended to employ samurai on a long-term
basis as palace guards, their European employers usually hired them on a
temporary basis for specific campaigns. Also, whereas the Southeast
Asian monarchs tended to trust their well-established units of Japanese
mercenaries, the Europeans, whilst admiring them, also feared them. In
every European example a progressive shift in attitude may be discerned
from initial enthusiasm to great suspicion that the Japanese might one
day turn against them, as illustrated by the long-standing Spanish fear
of an invasion of the Philippines by Japan accompanied by a local
uprising.
It also suggested that if, during the 1630s, Japan had chosen engagement
with Southeast Asia rather than isolation from it, the established
presence of Japanese communities overseas may have had a profound
influence on the subsequent development of international relations
within the area, perhaps even seeing the early creation of an overseas
Japanese empire that would have provided a rival to Great Britain.
Instead Japan closed its doors, leaving these fierce mercenaries
stranded in distant countries never to return: lost samurai indeed!
