Japanese people in Somalia during the Sengoku period (Tenshō embassy)

[Waryaamus]

I saw this tweet claiming the Tenshō embassy stopped in Mogadishu. Pretty cool if it’s true.

 

[Rayaale]

Fun fact :
The word "giraffe" in Japanese, "kirin, derived from the Somali word Giri for Giraffe has its roots in a historical connection between Somalia and Japan, stemming from the presentation of a giraffe to China (and subsequently to Japan) by Somali emissaries. The giraffe was initially mistaken for a mythical creature called a Qilin in China, and this name, "Kirin," was adopted into Japanese and Korean.

 

[noname_]

The biggest mystery is how the Muslims tapped in China, Central Asia and the sub continent in the medieval times but not Japan next door that had virtually no connection to the caliphates and local sultanates?

Surely that’s the biggest blunder considering old Japan would co-exist due to their similiar honor culture.

It was too late for the Ottomans who withdrew territories to save their homeland in WWI but could you imagine if the dawah happened 500+ years earlier?

 

[Nur_]

This makes me think of how Somalis needs their own Meiji period to save it .

 

[Barkhadle1520]

Fun fact :
The word "giraffe" in Japanese, "kirin, derived from the Somali word Giri for Giraffe has its roots in a historical connection between Somalia and Japan, stemming from the presentation of a giraffe to China (and subsequently to Japan) by Somali emissaries. The giraffe was initially mistaken for a mythical creature called a Qilin in China, and this name, "Kirin," was adopted into Japanese and Korean.

This is false the earliest mention of the Qilin in Chinese litterature is in the 7th century BCE, the word has no somali roots.

Here is a Qilin statue from the 4th century ce

The Chinese just slapped the word on the Giraffe because they thought it was that mythical beast, also I found no evidence of Somalis sending Giraffes to China, that one famous drawing depicted a Giraffe from Malindi

 

[Keep it a boqol]

SOMALIA MENTIONED

 

[Barkhadle1520]

The biggest mystery is how the Muslims tapped in China, Central Asia and the sub continent in the medieval times but not Japan next door that had virtually no connection to the caliphates and local sultanates?

It was too far away and too big of a hastle for Muslim traders to sail all the way there

Also, people think Japan was only cut off from the world during the Edo period but they were also partially cut off from world trade during the Kamakura and Muromachi period, only some Chinese and Korean traders would sail there with goods, Japan didnt even have any major international trading ports

Japan would never rise to be what we know today if they didnt have a big population that kept fighting each others

 

[Diophantus]

Fun fact :
The word "giraffe" in Japanese, "kirin, derived from the Somali word Giri for Giraffe has its roots in a historical connection between Somalia and Japan, stemming from the presentation of a giraffe to China (and subsequently to Japan) by Somali emissaries. The giraffe was initially mistaken for a mythical creature called a Qilin in China, and this name, "Kirin," was adopted into Japanese and Korean.

been baad naftaada u sheegtay. Giri kulaha lmfao.

 

[queasyian]

Damn I just bought assassins creed shadows set in Japan yesterday.
Now it’s time to play as Sharmarke Kobayashi

 

[MacrobianPrince]

The Chinese just slapped the word on the Giraffe because they thought it was that mythical beast, also I found no evidence of Somalis sending Giraffes to China, that one famous drawing depicted a Giraffe from Malindi

Zheng He expedition to the Somali Coast is documented in his Book - which is a primary source
This is direct proof of the Somali introduction of the Giraffe to the Chinese - Cope harder bro

 

[MacrobianPrince]

Nevermind reading that excerpt again I realized I was mistaken, however the introduction of Zebras to the Chinese can definitely be attributed to us considering this text

 

[MacrobianPrince]

Also do you guys know the status of Malindi at the time was it owned by a foreign entity perhaps Somalis or Omanis, or it was it an independent City state ran locally by the Bantu speaking people there?