Yasuke is the first known African to appear in Japanese historical records. Yasuke served Oda Nobunaga between 1581 and 1582, during the Sengoku period. He arrived in Japan in the service of Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano in 1579. He was granted a sword, a house and a stipend as a samurai. He fought at the Honn?-ji Incident until the death of Nobutada in 1582.