(d. May 3, 1674 at Kyōto) was a 17th-century

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

traveler, merchant and pilgrim, who made a journey 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 Thailand t ...

, and in January 1632 visited the temple of

Angkor Wat Angkor Wat (; km, អង្គរវត្ត, "City/Capital of Temples") is a temple complex in Cambodia and is the largest religious monument in the world, on a site measuring . Originally constructed as a Hinduism, Hindu temple dedicated ...

Angkor Angkor ( km, អង្គរ , 'Capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura ( km, យសោធរបុរៈ; sa, यशोधरपुर),Headly, Robert K.; Chhor, Kylin; Lim, Lam Kheng; Kheang, Lim Hak; Chun, Chen. 1977. ''Cambodian-Engl ...

. At that time, the temple was thought by the Japanese visitors as the famed

Jetavana Jetavana (Jethawanaramaya or Weluwanaramaya ''buddhist literature'') was one of the most famous of the Buddhist monasteries or viharas in India (present-day Uttar Pradesh). It was the second vihara donated to Gautama Buddha after the Venuvan ...

garden of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

, located in the kingdom of

Magadha Magadha was a region and one of the sixteen sa, script=Latn, Mahajanapadas, label=none, lit=Great Kingdoms of the Second Urbanization (600–200 BCE) in what is now south Bihar (before expansion) at the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha was ruled ...

. Ukondayu Kazufusa was a member of the Morimoto family. In Angkor, there were altogether 14 inscriptions left by Japanese pilgrims between 1612 and 1632 CE. Among these inscriptions, the best-known inscription was Kazufusa's, telling that he celebrated the

Khmer New Year Cambodian New Year (or Khmer New Year; km, បុណ្យចូលឆ្នាំខ្មែរ ), also known as Choul Chnam Thmey ( km, ចូលឆ្នាំថ្មី ; ) and Moha Sangkranta ( km, មហាសង្ក្រាន្� ...

in Angkor in 1632. The merchant-pilgrims belonged to the Japanese cities of Higo (肥後), Hizen (肥前国), Hirado (平戸) and Nagasaki (長崎), but some came also from Sakai (堺) and Ōsaka (大阪).

Notes

References

* Ishizawa, Yoshiaki: ''Les inscriptions calligraphiques japonaises du XVIIe siècle à Angkor Vat et le plan du Jetavana-vihāra'', in: Manuel d’épigraphie du Cambodge. Eds.: Yoshiaki Ishizawa, Claude Jacques, Khin Sok. Avec la collaboration de: Uraisi Varasarin, Michael Vickery, Tatsuro Yamamoto. Vol. I, Paris 2007, pp. 169–179.

External links

Au-dela du plan Japonais du XVII siècle d'Angkor Vat
A 17th century Japanese map of Angkor Wat, Abdoul-Carime Nasir {{in lang, fr 1674 deaths 17th-century Japanese people Khmer Empire 17th-century explorers