    william adams (24 september 1564 â 16 may 1620), known in japanese as anjin miura (ä¸æµ¦æé: "the pilot of miura"), was an english navigator who travelled to japan becoming the first ever western samurai. adams was also to be the first englishman ever to reach that country and was the inspiration for the character of john blackthorne in james clavell's best-selling novel shÅgun. soon after adams' arrival in japan, he became a key advisor to the shogun tokugawa ieyasu and built japan's first western-style ships for him. 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 recognised as one of the most influential foreigners in japan during this period."so it was that this outspoken english seaman, rather than the wily jesuits who had looked with jaundiced eyes upon all new-comers to japan, became the medium through whom ieyasu learned of the western world and maintained those slender ties which bound his empire to europe. adam's influence grew steadily, but, even more remarkable, there developed between the englishman and the japanese a friendship which was to endure until ieyasu's death." in eastward ho! the first english adventurers to the orient, 1931, by foster rhea dulles p.127  ==early life== adams was born in gillingham, kent, england. after losing his father at the age of twelve, he was apprenticed to shipyard owner master nicholas diggins at limehouse for the seafaring life.william dalton, will adams, the first englishman in japan, (1861) preface, page vii he spent the next twelve years learning shipbuilding,giles milton, samurai william: the adventurer who unlocked japan, publ. 2011, hachette uk, isbn 1-4447-3177-7, isbn 978-1-4447-3177-4, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jzqnl1gnkoyc&lpg=pt35&dq=william%20adams%20d
1564_births 1620_deaths 16th-century_English_people 16th-century_Japanese_people 17th-century_English_people 17th-century_Japanese_people Advisors_to_Tokugawa_shoguns British_emigrants_to_Japan English_Anglicans English_sailors Hatamoto JapanaUnited_Kingdom_relations People_from_Gillingham,_Kent People_of_the_Tudor_period Royal_Navy_officers Samurai