I’ve heard this the first time on Tariq Nasheed’s documentary, “Hidden Colours”.
The second I heard this was in a Facebook post. The OP of that post wrote: “half the blood in one’s veins must be black in order to make a good samurai (Japanese proverb). Also stated as for a samurai to be brave, he must have a bit of black blood. These words attributed to Japan’s first shogun warrior Sakanouye Tamuramaro — Japan’s first shogun warrior, a black man 785-811 A.D.”
Is any of this true?
Edit: to whoever is downvoting this — why? I’m asking for validation of a claim, so please be cool.
No
Claims of Sakanouye-no Tamuramaro's blackness began in the early 20th century. Besides what /u/towedcart says, someone (unknown, or a story made up by authors Beatrice Fleming and Marion J. Pryde in Distinguished Negroes Abroad published in 1946) says Sakanouye-no Tamuramaro's statue in Kiyomizudera exhibit black features. Anthropologists John G. Russell saw the statue himself in 1991 and report seeing no such features (the statue itself was made in the 17th century btw).
The claim also makes no sense. The man was not "Japan's first shogun warrior". The title of Seii Taishōgun was a court-appointed position as a general to lead a military expedition against the Emishi, which the first shōgun, Ōtomo-no Otomaro, did. And besides, the word 侍 (pronounced saburafu) originally meant to serve before it became associated with warriors. Poem #1091 of the early 10th century poetry collection Kokin Wakashū for instance calls a samurai (at the time saburahi or safurahi) a servant holding an umbrella. So is the claim supposed to be that Sakanouye-no Tamuramaro saying partially black people makes the best servants?