Recognizing the significance of cross-cultural exchange across newly established frontiers, this edited volume explores the purpose and relevance of non-Japanese individuals who operated with or within the samurai class and their role in constructing and communicating identity in early modern Japan.

The volume proposes a largely unexplored methodological lens through which to examine Japanese engagement with foreign others: the samurai class. These essays locate instances of cross-cultural influence, by non-Japanese who conformed to Japanese society or by Japanese people who adopted foreign practices, and identify those individuals responsible for creating such fusion – and, at times, confusion – of values, loyalties, and traditions. This project serves as an examination of foreigners within the warrior class, gathering such studies in a singular volume, to yield vital and timely insight into power dynamics, the performance of identity, and the transmission and translation of cultural ideologies in the early modern world. Topics explored include samurai and the Japanese military class; Portuguese, Dutch, and English merchants in eastern Asia; Jesuit activity in Japan; Japan’s invasions of Korea; the reopening of Japan to western contact; European travel accounts; artistic and textual representation of Japan; and the Boshin War.

This volume appeals to a range of scholars, both those from European and eastern Asian studies and of the 16th-19th centuries. The collection is well suited for graduate students of Japanese history, identity in the early modern period, or global exploration and commercial enterprise.