(b. 1565?) was a Japanese merchant from the port of

Sakai is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its keyhole-shaped burial mounds, or kofun, which date from the fifth century and inclu ...

, who traded ''

shimamono ''Shimamono'' (島物 "island objects") is a generic term for Japanese tea utensils produced outside Japan, Korea and China, mainly from Southeast Asia. History Items from Korea are referred to as ''kōraimono'' (高麗物) and from China calle ...

'' pottery in Japan from

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and later emigrated to

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

in the final years of the 16th century.

Biography

Originally known as Naya Sukezaemon (納屋助左衛門), he was the son of Sakai merchant Naya Saisuke. He changed his name in 1593 or 1594 after returning from a trip to

in the

. He became successful and wealthy in the South Seas trade, particularly from selling ''

'' pottery from Luzon to

Toyotomi Hideyoshi , otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...

and other powerful lords. It is said that even the great tea master

Sen no Rikyū , also known simply as Rikyū, is considered the historical figure with the most profound influence on ''chanoyu,'' the Japanese "Way of Tea", particularly the tradition of '' wabi-cha''. He was also the first to emphasize several key aspects ...

prized some of the tea wares brought back from Southeast Asia by Sukezaemon. Sukezaemon built himself a lavish Western-style house in Sakai and lived a rather luxurious lifestyle for several years before attracting the attention and the ire of Hideyoshi. In 1598, the warlord accused the merchant on bogus charges, and confiscated all his possessions; Sukezaemon entrusted his home to his family's temple, the

Daian-ji was founded during the Asuka period and is one of the Seven Great Temples of Nara, Japan. History The Nihon Shoki records the founding of the , predecessor of the Daian-ji, in 639 during the reign of Emperor Jomei. A nine-story pagoda was ...

, and fled Japan for Cambodia. Very little is known about Sukezaemon from original sources, but like many merchant sailors and maritime adventurers of the period, a number of legends have arisen about him. He has been conflated with the pirate Tai Fusa who attacked

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

some years earlier and was defeated; according to some tales, when Sukezaemon left Japan he took one hundred men with him and led a raid or assault on Manila, but was ultimately forced to flee to Cambodia. Other sources omit the piracy and violence and indicate simply that he remained in Manila until, around 1607, the Spanish began to interfere in the Philippines, and Sukezaemon fled to Cambodia, where he earned the trust of the local authorities and began to trade once more. He is buried at the Daian-ji in Sakai, and bronze statues of him can be seen in that city, and in Manila as well.

In popular culture

Was portrayed by

Toshiro Mifune was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 150 feature films. He is best known for his 16-film collaboration (1948–1965) with Akira Kurosawa in such works as ''Rashomon'', ''Seven Samurai'', ''The Hidden Fortress'', ''Throne of Blood'', and ' ...

in the 1963 film '' The Great Bandit'' (aka ''The Lost World of Sinbad''). He also appeared in a novel by Saburō Shiroyama, and in the 1978 Taiga drama ''

Ōgon no Hibi is a 1978 Japanese television series. It is the 16th NHK taiga drama, and is based on Saburo Shiroyama's novel of the same title. The series is the first ''taiga'' drama to focus on the lives of commoners and merchants, and the first ''taiga'' d ...

'' as well as the 2016 Taiga drama ''Sanada Maru''

References

* Miyamoto, Kazuo. ''Vikings of the Far East''. New York: Vantage Press, 1975. pp88–89. {{Authority control 1560s births Japanese emigrants to Cambodia Year of death unknown 16th-century Japanese businesspeople People from Sakai, Osaka