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William Adams (September 24, 1564 – May 16, 1620), also known in Japanese as Anjin-sama (anjin, "pilot"; sama, a Japanese honorific) and Miura Anjin, was an English navigator who travelled to Japan and is believed to be the first Englishman ever to reach that country. He was the inspiration for the character of John Blackthorne in James Clavell's bestselling novel Shōgun. Soon after Adams' arrival in Japan, he became a key adviser to the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu and built for him Japan's first Western-style ships. Adams was later the key player in the establishment of trading factories by the Netherlands and England. He was also highly involved in Japan's Red Seal Asian trade, chartering and captaining several ships to Southeast Asia. He died in Japan at age 55, and has been recognized as one of the most influential foreigners in Japan during this period.
Commissioned as a pilot for a Dutch fleet in 1598, William Adams sailed to the East Indies [Indonesia] via Cape Horn in South America. The expedition was prior to those of the Dutch and British East India companies, but the objective was similar—to trade their cargo for silver in South America, which was to be exchanged for nutmeg, mace, pepper and cloves in the Moluccas. A secondary option was to obtain silver in Japan.<br/><br/> Blighted severely by mutiny, scurvy, starvation and murder, Adams' fleet was much diminished when it reached Kyushu in April 1600. The Portuguese Jesuits did their best to dissuade the shogun from trading with the Dutch, but Ieyasu ignored their pleas and welcomed Adams into the fold, allowing him to trade, and inviting him to work as a naval architect.<br/><br/> Adams married a local woman and never returned to Europe. He died in Japan aged 55 in 1620. Fondly remembered in Japan as 'Anjin-sama', Adams was the inspiration for the character of John Blackthorne in James Clavell's bestselling novel 'Shogun'.