Starz is moving forward on an action-drama series called Black Samurai, which is based on the novels of the same name. In brief, it is centered around a black man named Robert Sand, who happens to be an American Army Ranger who is invited to train with a well-respected Japanese martial arts master. However, when both his master and his fellow students are massacred by mercenaries. Sand heads out on a worldwide search for not just revenge but also personal understanding. Summed up, it should come as no surprise to learn that Black Samurai will be a mix of both the spy genre and the martial arts genre, particularly since it is being backed by Wu Films, Jerry Bruckheimer Television, and Freedom Road Productions.
Currently, Black Samurai is being headed by the co-showrunners Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, who were responsible for Bad Boys II as well as the National Treasure movies. Furthermore, executive producers range from Jerry Bruckheimer to the hip-hop artists Common and RZA, the latter of whom should be familiar to a lot of people as the leader of the Wu-Tang Clan. It is interesting to note that Common will be playing the titular role of Robert Sand. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that RZA has stated that he was a fan of the character in his childhood, meaning that there will be plenty of passion behind this effort to introduce an old franchise to a new generation.
The Real Black Samurai
Black Samurai makes little sense from a historical perspective and is not intended to make much sense from said perspective. After all, the samurai were abolished as a class because of the Meiji Restoration in the late 19th century. However, it is interesting to note that there seems to have been at least one example of a black samurai in real history, who is most often remembered as Yasuke.
Yasuke had come to Warring States Japan as either a slave or a servant to a Jesuit before entering the service of Oda Nobunaga, a Japanese warlord who was famous for his eccentricities but had nonetheless managed to secure a significant portion of Honshu. It is recorded that Nobunaga presented Yasuke with a stipend, a ceremonial sword as an indication of his new position, and the position of his personal weapon-bearer, which might seem menial to us but was a huge show of trust in a time when numerous families turned their swords upon their own.
Furthermore, it is known that Yasuke participated in not just Nobunaga’s last stand but also Nobunaga’s son Nobutada’s last stand when one of Nobunaga’s most trusted commanders launched a surprise attack on them. In spite of the odds, Yasuke managed to survive when captured because said commander spared him by claiming that he was nothing but a beast, which has sometimes been explained as a pretext for sparing him. Regardless, Yasuke was returned to the Jesuits who are recorded as having rejoiced at news of his survival, but nothing is known of him from that point on. However, it is interesting to note that he is not the sole black person to be found in Japan during the Warring States era, seeing as how the Jesuits mention another black man serving as a gunner for another Japanese warlord on the island of Kyushu at around the same time.
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