This is a list of foreign-born people who became samurai in Japan.

Definition

In this list, Japan means the Japanese Archipelago. The word samurai has had a variety of meanings historically; here it is taken to mean "those who serve in close attendance to the nobility". This list includes the following people.

• Foreign soldiers and generals who served daimyō directly during the Sengoku period (1467–1615) and Azuchi-Momoyama period (1568–1600) before the unification of Japan by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. In this period, many emerging forces like Jizamurai call themselves samurai. Hideyoshi himself was born as a son of a peasant-ashigaru. The definition of samurai was obscure in those periods.
• The Tokugawa shogunate did not confiscate swords from farmers and townspeople, who could continue to wear daisho until 1683. Many would keep wearing wakizashi on a daily basis after then. After the middle of the 18th century, they were still worn during special events such as travel, weddings, and funerals. This lasted until the Meiji Restoration.
• Foreign-born people who served the Tokugawa shogun and were granted a status higher than Hatamoto.
• In the Edo period (1603–1867), foreign-born people who served daimyō and granted a status higher than koshō (ja:小姓, page).
• In the Edo period, foreign-born people who served daimyō and were given salary of koku.

The following people are treated as "people who could be foreign-born samurai".

• "Foreign-born samurai" whose existence is uncertain.
• Foreign-born people who were given territory or rice as salary by lords, whose occupations were unclear.

This list excludes the following people.

• Samurai of foreign ancestry born in Japan.
• Foreign-born people who served samurai and allowed to wear two swords but was not given territory or salary of koku. All men from samurai class were permitted to wear daishō. However, people from other social classes were sometimes allowed to wear swords. For example, Hijikata Toshizō, the famous swordsman and vice-commander of Shinsengumi was born as a son of a farmer. Even though he wore daishō and engaged in police activity, he couldn't gain the title of the official retainer of bakufu until 1867.
• Foreign-born people who served samurai in other occupations, for example Confucian or medical doctor.
• Foreign-born people who served samurai as oyatoi gaikokujin, not Japanese-style soldiers.

Foreign-born samurai

Birthplace	Original name	Occupation before arrival in Japan	Year of arrival in Japan	Name in Japan	Lord	Occupation and achievements in Japan
Portuguese Mozambique? (now  Mozambique)	unknown	Servant of Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano	1579	Yasuke 弥助	Oda Nobunaga	He was given a salary by Nobunaga. He participated in the Conquest of Koshu [ja]. He served in the Honnō-ji incident.
Hanseong, Joseon (now  South Korea)	Kim Yeo-cheol (Kanji: 金如鐵)	Son of 金時省, civil officer of Joseon	1592	Wakita Naokata 脇田直賢	Maeda Toshinaga→ Maeda Toshitsune→ Maeda Mitsutaka→ Maeda Tsunanori	240 koku later increased to 1,000 koku. On-Koshōgashira (Head of pages). Kanazawa machi-bugyō (Commissioner of Kanazawa city). He served in the Summer Campaign of the Siege of Osaka.
Joseon	unknown	Son of 曽清官, commanding officer of Joseon	1598	Soga Seikan 曾我清官	Nakagawa Hidenari	150 koku. Page of Hidenari.
Joseon	(Kanji:李聖賢)	Son of Yi Bok-nam, commander of Joseon	1598	Rinoie Motohiro 李家元宥	Mōri Terumoto→ Mōri Hidenari	100 koku. Adviser of Mori clan. He was the swordsman who received menkyo of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū.
Delft, Spanish Netherlands	Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn	Mate of De Liefde, Dutch ship	1600	Yayōsu 耶楊子	Tokugawa Ieyasu→ Tokugawa Hidetada	100 koku. He was given the rank of Hatamoto and 50 servants. Under the Tokugawa Shogunate, he chartered several Red Seal Ships.
Gillingham, Kent, Kingdom of England	William Adams	Pilot of De Liefde, Dutch ship	1600	Miura Anjin (the pilot of Miura) 三浦按針	Tokugawa Ieyasu→ Tokugawa Hidetada	250 koku. He was granted the rank of Hatamoto, a fief and 80-90 servants. Interpreter and shipwright of Tokugawa Shogunate. (Adams was the model for the character John Blackthorne in James Clavell's novel Shōgun (1975).)
Joseon	unknown	unknown	unknown	Yagyū Shume 柳生主馬	Yagyū Munenori→ Yagyū "Jūbei" Mitsuyoshi→ Yagyū Munefuyu	Retainer of Yagyū clan. 200 koku? He married the sister of Yagyū "Hyōgonosuke" Toshitoshi.
Henan, Ming Dynasty (now  China)	(Kanji:藍會榮)	The member of the inner circle of Ming dynasty	After 1624	Kawaminami Genbei (First) 河南源兵衛	Shimazu Iehisa	300 koku. He was political refugee from Ming. Tōtsūji (Chinese translator) of Satsuma domain. He was given right to wear swords.
Kingdom of Prussia	Henry Schnell	Soldier and arms dealer	1860s	Hiramatsu Buhei 平松武兵衛	Matsudaira Katamori	Served the Aizu domain as a military instructor and procurer of weapons. Given the right to wear swords, a mansion in the castle town of Wakamatsu and retainers.

See also

• French military mission to Japan (1867–68)
• Denrinbō Raikei