The Journal of the Siam Society Vol. XXIX, Part 1-2, 1936 - Khamkoo

172 H.IWIEIYH Uli llt>l>KH [vnL. XXIX
tiuw SitLm wrtH the centre of trnfllc butwuen the Oriunt ltlld Em·ope
aud moreover was tho locnJ centre of BnddhiHm,
Iu Section II., I tried to cle~:~crihe the geueral poHitiou oi the SitLilH.:Hll
cttpital at the tillle of thi~:~ J;tpauese aeti vity; ancl iu Section III., I
cleciclecl that the Jnpane~:~e first resideuee began hom the eml of· tlw
Tcnsho period (1573-1591 A. C.). In Section IV.," JtLpanese HeHidenec
and Colony," I tl'iecl to correct exaggerated idetLS Huch t1H that the
Japane:,;e residents in Siam u,t this time were over H,OOO, which I lutcl
Been in several old works by J11panese authors. All the ttbove sections
were written after careful study tmcl comparing the \I'OJ:ks of Jttpane:'lu
[LS well n,s Buropean lLuthors. Then in Section V., "The l'CI11:\0ll
oJ: the decline of .htpanec;e l'Gi:lidence," I explaim~d that the chief
reasons of the decline were the brutality of the Japanese eolonists,
who were alnwst defeated mtn·iors in the War of Ohsaka betweeu
the 'l'okugawa n.ud the 'L'oyotomi, ~tnd the couunereittl rivalry of
the Hollaudm·s. I denied that the rmtiorml isolation poliey tttkell
by the 'l'olmgn.wa Govenmwut WILl:\ tm important rea~:~on oJ: this
Llecliue, though it was tile chief cu,u~:~e of the cl!Jl'Iinu oi thu ,Jupu,uesu
colony in other rmrt,s of tho Bouth Sons. Ill Section VI.,
"Names and eutm·prises of Japttue::-;e," I tried to l!lake cle11r the
U!Ltne~> ancl the uuterprisos of other~:~ than Yamttda Nttgamastt, the
well-known Chief of the .Ltptwuse colony at a certttin titne; but
it is n,lmost impoKRible to a~>eertu,iu more than twunty well-known
persons. Section VII. is the exphLrmtion of the "Description of tlw
tmf-fic roacffrom Siam to Japan," whielt i::-; n record clone hy a Jap11Hese
navigator in the period of Gcnwa (1615-1028), and I thought
tlmt many Jttpanese authors made many mi~:~take~:~ in explmmtiun of
of this .Record, caused chietly by their iuditl'ermtce to the geogmpby
of Siam, und the names of port::; in that and neighbouring conntrie~>.
I tried and was able to 1nake clear the above from the various record:;
ttnd documents of tho British ttnd Duteh Enst Indies cornpanie~:~. In
Section VIII., I explained the tra!Hc and the names of places along
the River Mennm and succeeded in correctiug the mistakes of mauy
Japanese authors by study of Siamese and Europet.tn documents.
ChapterVII. deals with "Yarmultt N11gamasa, the mo~:~t well-known
lettder of Japanese colonists"; and this is snh-dividecl into 11. sectiolJR,
lutrnely: Iutrocluetion, Records regarding Nagawasa, NagatrH1sa's
growth and hiR crossing the sea to Siam, Nagmnasa's tlrst rise ilt the
world, Revolution in Siam and Nu,gamasa's position, Oya Calahoih's