William Adams was born in 1564 in Gillingham, Kent, in southeastern England. Apprenticed to a shipwright at age 12, he mastered both shipbuilding and navigation. He is believed to have served in the English navy and participated in the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. In 1598, he set sail for the East as pilot of the Dutch vessel Liefde. Battered by storms and scurvy that killed most of the crew, the ship drifted ashore at Bungo (present-day Usuki, Ōita Prefecture) on April 19, 1600, with only 24 survivors. Jesuit missionaries urged that Adams be executed as a pirate, but Tokugawa Ieyasu summoned him to Osaka Castle for a personal audience and was deeply impressed by his knowledge of navigation, mathematics, and shipbuilding. Adams thereafter became Ieyasu's trusted advisor on Western affairs, counseling him on European politics and the rivalries among Christian denominations. On Ieyasu's orders, Adams built two Western-style sailing ships at Itō (Shizuoka Prefecture)—Japan's first—of 80 and 120 tons respectively, both of which completed successful trial voyages, delighting Ieyasu. Around 1604, Adams was granted samurai status and a fief of 250 koku at Hemi on the Miura Peninsula (present-day Yokosuka). He received the Japanese name Miura Anjin—"anjin" meaning "pilot" or "needle-guide," honoring his navigational skill. He married a Japanese woman and raised children, living between two cultures. After Ieyasu's death his influence waned, and he died at Hirado in 1620 at the age of 56. Adams inspired the character of John Blackthorne in James Clavell's novel Shōgun, and the 2024 television adaptation became a worldwide hit.