Ukondayu Kazufusa

Morimoto Ukondayu Kazufusa (森本右近太夫一房) (d. May 3, 1674 at Kyōto) was a 17th-century Japanese traveler, merchant and pilgrim, who made a journey to Cambodia, and in January 1632 visited the temple of Angkor Wat at Angkor.^[1]

He was the second son of  Morimoto Kazuhisa, a senior vassal of Kato Kiyomasa . Kazuhisa pray for the worldly benefits of his father and for the salvation of his deceased mother.^[2] At that time, the temple was thought by the Japanese visitors as the famed Jetavana garden of the Buddha, located in the kingdom of Magadha.^[1]

In Angkor, there were altogether 14 inscriptions left by Japanese pilgrims between 1612 and 1632 CE.^[3] Among these inscriptions, the best-known inscription was Kazufusa's, telling that he celebrated the Khmer New Year in Angkor in 1632.^[4] 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).