# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/william-adams
# Generated: 2026-09-01T19:06:52.571Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/william-adams"
name: "William Adams"
slug: "william-adams"
description: "An English navigator who washed ashore in Japan in 1600 and never left — except he rose to samurai, advised the shogun, and helped shape the isolationist policy that would lock the country away from the world for centuries."
tagline: "English navigator who travelled to Japan"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/William-Adams-before-Shogun-Tokugawa-Ieyasu.png"
gender: "male"
country:
  name: "United Kingdom"
  isoCode: "GB"
category:
  name: "Historical Figures"
  slug: "historical-figures"
profileType:
  name: "Historical Figure"
  slug: "historical-figure"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2798645"
birthDate: "1564-09-24"
deathDate: "1620-05-16"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           56.89
  momentum:             0
  historical:           23.58282666666667
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  70
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Historical Figures"
    slug: "historical-figures"
  - name: "Scientist"
    slug: "scientist"
  - name: "Chemistry"
    slug: "chemistry"
  - name: "Early Modern Era"
    slug: "early-modern-era"
sources:
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q313866"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams"
    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pantheon.world/profile/person/William%20Adams"
    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
    type:  "DATABASE"
  - url: "https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilyam_Adams_(%C5%9Fturman)"
    title: "Vilyam Adams (şturman)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ban.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(samurai)"
    title: "William Adams (samurai)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://bg.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A3%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8F%D0%BC_%D0%90%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BC%D1%81"
    title: "Уилям Адамс"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams"
    title: "William Adams"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(Weltreisender)"
    title: "William Adams (Weltreisender)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CE%93%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%AF%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%B1%CE%BC_%CE%86%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1%CE%BC%CF%82"
    title: "Γουίλιαμ Άνταμς"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(samurai)"
    title: "William Adams (samurai)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eo.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams"
    title: "William Adams"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(marino)"
    title: "William Adams (marino)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%DB%8C%D9%84%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A2%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B2_(%D8%AF%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%AF)"
    title: "ویلیام آدامز (دریانورد)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(merimies)"
    title: "William Adams (merimies)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(navigateur_anglais)"
    title: "William Adams (navigateur anglais)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%95%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%90%D7%9D_%D7%90%D7%93%D7%9E%D7%A1"
    title: "ויליאם אדמס"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams"
    title: "William Adams"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%88%D6%82%D5%AB%D5%AC%D5%B5%D5%A1%D5%B4_%D4%B1%D5%A4%D5%A1%D5%B4%D5%BD"
    title: "Ուիլյամ Ադամս"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(pelaut)"
    title: "William Adams (pelaut)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams"
    title: "William Adams"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A6%E3%82%A3%E3%83%AA%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A0%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A2%E3%83%80%E3%83%A0%E3%82%B9"
    title: "ウィリアム・アダムス"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%9C%8C%EB%A6%AC%EC%97%84_%EC%95%A0%EB%8D%A4%EC%8A%A4"
    title: "윌리엄 애덤스"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams"
    title: "William Adams"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams"
    title: "William Adams"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams_(%C5%BCeglarz)"
    title: "William Adams (żeglarz)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Adams"
    title: "William Adams"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ar.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A2%D8%AF%D9%85%D8%B2"
    title: "ويليام آدمز"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ary.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%88%D9%8A%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%85_%D8%A3%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B2_(%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%8A)"
    title: "ويليام أدامز (ساموراي)"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  William Adams arrived in Japan on 24 September 1600 as one of the few survivors of the Dutch ship Liefde, the sole vessel from a doomed five-ship expedition to reach Japanese waters. Soon after landing, he and second mate Jan Joosten caught the attention of shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu, who appointed both men as hatamoto — samurai advisors. For over a decade the Tokugawa authorities refused to let Adams leave, and his counsel during those years influenced Japan's sakoku policy, the severe isolationism that would bar foreigners and trap commoners inside for generations. Eventually granted permission to return to England, Adams chose to stay. He died in Japan on 16 May 1620 at fifty-five, and his Japan-born children Joseph and Susanna likely vanished into Batavia in 1635 when the country sealed itself shut for good.