 Yasuke arrived in Japan in 1579 in the service of the Italian Jesuit missionary Alessandro Valignano, who had been appointed the Visitor (inspector) of the Jesuit missions in the Indies (East Africa, South and East Asia).He accompanied Valignano when the latter came to the capital area in March 1581 and his appearance caused a lot of interest with the local people.When Yasuke was presented to Oda Nobunaga, the Japanese Daimyō thought that his skin must have been coloured with black ink.