Merchants, diplomats, traders, and soldiers of fortune from all across the world would meet at the Siamese capital. The city became a sort of international hub; one of the world's first great globalized cities.
The city granted small villages along the banks of the Chaophraya as enclaves for foreigners. There was a Chinese Village, a Dutch Village, a Portuguese Village...
and of course, the most famous of all, the Japanese Village.
Known in Thai as Baan Yipun and in Japanese as Ayutaya Nihonjin-machi, the Japanese Village was a home away from home for the traders and travelers who would be away from Japan for months or years at a time. At its peak, several thousand Japanese expats lived in Ayutthaya.
Many of these Japanese expats were Christians fleeing persecution under the Shogunate.
Today, Baan Yipun is a museum dedicated to preserving the history of early Japanese trade and diplomacy in old Siam. Visiting the historical village feels like you've left Thailand and have traveled across the sea to Japan itself.
There are two small museum buildings. The first one is about the early Japanese who settled in Siam. This included the small mercenary company of samurai that the king of Ayutthaya hired to help defend the city. There's a short video about the early history of Ayutthaya, and a hall with artifacts - including an incredible suit of samurai armor.
Baan Yipun is also the site of the only Shinto shrine in all of Thailand. Shinto is Japan's native religion; an animistic faith that revolves around Japan's land, nature, and seasons. Shinto shrines are marked by vermillion torii gates, which signify the entrance to a sacred space.
The shrine is small, but looks very much like the ones you would see in Japan itself.
You must purify yourself before visiting a Shinto shrine. To do this, you must first stop at the Chōzubachi, a sanctified fountain used for the Japanese ablution rite known as chōzu. Using the provided bamboo ladle, you first dip it into the fountain using your right hand, then pour it over your left. Next, switch hands, and wash your right hand. Following that, use your left hand once more to bring some of the holy water up to your face to wash your mouth. Finally, hold the ladle upright so that the holy water falls back over the handle, cleansing it as well.
After this, you may approach the shrine itself.
Although the small shrine at Baan Yipun lacks a priest, it is well cared for, and every element is provided.
On either side of the shrine itself hang racks of ema, or wooden talismans. People write hopes, prayers, or wishes on the ema, and hang them up for the kami (spirits or gods) to receive.
Eventually, the ema are ritually burned to symbolize the "liberation of the wish from the writer". They can have all sorts of meanings - from prayers for luck, health, and happiness, to something more specific.
Usually people will write their own wishes in marker on the back of the wooden plaques.
These wishes can be for whatever you want, and they can be very specific.
Further on down the path past the little shrine, another museum was dedicated to some of the individuals who were instrumental in the development of the Japanese Village. The most notable of these was Yamada Nagamasa, a samurai and merchant who was appointed leader of Baan Yipun, and eventually was raised to governor of the southern Thai province of Nakhon Si Thammarat.
Ultimately, court intrigue got the better of Yamada, who was assassinated on the orders of Sheik Ahmed of Qom, a Persian nobleman and member of the Siamese royal court.
Another famous resident of Baan Yipun was Maria Guyomar de Pinha, a Japanese-Portuguese noblewoman and wife to the famed Greek adventurer Constantine Phaulkon, who rose through the ranks of the Siamese court to become First Councilor to King Narai of Ayutthaya (and the man through which all foreign business had to pass). It was truly one of the world's first great global cities.
The story of Ayutthaya could make a fantastic political drama!
Today, just the museums remain. After the fall of Ayutthaya, the international settlements dispersed. Some went home. Others fled to Bangkok. Still others left to seek their fortunes throughout the world.
Today, the Portuguese Village still stands as a memorial to the early Christians in Thailand, and the Dutch Village houses a small museum (which was unfortunately closed that day).
I can't imagine what life was like back then. Ayutthaya must have been, at one point in time, the most exciting city in the world.
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