The only foreign samurai hailed from Kent, but he only made it to his position after a series of mishaps. As the county celebrates the Will Adams Festival, Chris Price looks at one of Kent’s lesser-known heroes.

At the turn of the 17th century, weak and sick after more than 19 months at sea, Kent-born sailor Will Adams became the first Englishman to reach Japan.

His ship, the Liefde, was the only one of an initial fleet of five to make it to the shores of the Far East in April 1600. The 20 or so surviving crew out of an original 100 were promptly imprisoned at Osaka Castle on the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the future shogun. Yet within 15 years Ieyasu would make Adams the first and only officially recognised foreign samurai.

The achievements of the Medway-born navigator are celebrated at the annual Will Adams Festival, taking place at Gillingham Park this weekend.

Now in its 11th year, the free festival mixes Japanese culture and traditions with a taste of life in Tudor England.

Yet it was by accident that Adams arrived in Japan at all. The fleet’s mission was to sail for the west coast of South America, where they would sell their cargo for silver.

However, the fleet was scattered after bad weather not long after leaving the Netherlands in 1598. Adams’ ship waited for the other vessels off the coast of Ecuador but decided to sail across the Pacific in 1599 with fellow ship the Hoop, as they feared attack from the Spaniards who dominated South America at the time. The Hoop would eventually be claimed by a typhoon in February 1600.

Despite his capture after arriving in Japan, Adams’ knowledge of ships, shipbuilding and mathematics appealed to Ieyasu. He ordered him to build Japan’s first Western-style ship in 1604 and Adams eventually became his personal adviser on all things related to Western powers and civilization.

Soon he became the shogun’s official interpreter and was presented with two swords representing the authority of a samurai. The shogun decreed that William Adams the pilot was dead and that Miura Anjin, a samurai, was born.

Adams died in Japan in 1620, aged 55, making such an impact that Japan holds its own Will Adams Festival each year, releasing doves as a symbol of peace. Today, Medway is twinned with the cities of Ito and Yokosuka, where Adams spent a lot of his time.

In Gillingham Park, visitors will also see demonstrations and activities taking them through Tudor times in England, when Adams was a boy. There will be Tudor maritime history and sea adventure displays, representing his time as an apprentice to a shipyard owner at Limehouse in London.

Other activities will look at Japanese traditions and customs around the time that Adams would have arrived and look at how Far Eastern culture influences UK life today.

There’s even a chance to find out how you would have fared at navigating a Tudor ship.

Medway councillor Howard Doe said: “We’re very proud to mark Medway’s important cultural and historical connections with Japan with this wonderful free event, which really does offer something for everyone to enjoy and take part in.”

It is not a bad legacy for a sailor from Gillingham who ran away from the Spanish.

The Will Adams Festival takes place at Gillingham Park on Saturday, September 10, from 11am to 4.30pm. Admission and all activities are free. For details call 01634 843666.