Description

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A gripping biography of the English ship pilot who would become one of the most influential Westerners in feudal Japan.
 
In 1600, English helmsman William Adams washed ashore in Japan and was interrogated by Tokugawa Ieyasu, Japan’s most powerful warlord and soon-to-be shogun. Far from executing Adams as a pirate, Ieyasu made him one of his most trusted advisers. This biography traces Adams’s rise from a humble pilot to a position of immense influence in Japan’s foreign relations. It unravels the subsequent diplomatic maneuvers of the Western powers in the Shogun’s empire and Adams’s eventual downfall. The first full biography of Adams based on original Dutch, English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese sources, In the Service of the Shogun includes much previously unknown information. Frederik Cryns tells the authentic story of Adams’s checkered life in its historical context, taking us on a compelling journey into Adams’s complex inner feelings and cosmopolitan heart.

About the Author

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Frederik Cryns is professor of Japanese history at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies, Kyoto, Japan. He is the author of several bestselling books in Japanese on the early interaction of the Western world with Japan. In addition to his academic work, Cryns appears regularly on Japanese television history programs and supervised the historical aspects of the new television series Shōgun.

Praise For…

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"Cryns is a master of detail. What separates this well-researched history from so much else is his unyielding pursuit of a truth far beneath the surface of mere facts. Reading Cryns’s work is as close as we might ever come not just to living in feudal Japan, but to feeling the human heartbeat at its centre."
— Justin Marks, creator and showrunner of the miniseries "Shogun" (2024)

"William Adams, an English seafarer, found himself in Japan amidst monumental shifts. Cryns masterfully brings Adams's narrative to life, drawing from an unparalleled depth of primary sources and meticulous research. His laudable book sheds light not only on the life of this extraordinary individual but on its wider historical context. Through Adams’s remarkable experience, the reader uncovers the dawning global age and Japan's transformative journey into modernity, making this book an indispensable read for enthusiasts of history and cultural exchange."
— Rotem Kowner, University of Haifa, author of "From White to Yellow: The Japanese in European Racial Thought, 1300–1735"

"William Adams, the real-life figure who inspired James Clavell’s novel Shogun,was a fascinating man, and Cryns’s new book explores his life in vivid terms, using untapped sources in English, Dutch, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese. This book is destined to become a classic, combining vivid prose with exemplary research, but it’s not just for people interested in imperial Japan. Anyone who wishes to understand the birth of our interconnected, global world will find much to enjoy and ponder."
— Tonio Andrade, professor of Chinese and global history, Emory University