Kiya Kyuzaemon

Kiya Kyûzaemon was the second head of the Nihonmachi (Japantown) in the Siamese port & capital city of Ayutthaya, beginning in 1610. Little is known about him, and even his name is unclear, appearing in a number of secondary sources under the surname Kii, and/or the given name Kyûemon.

He succeeded Arima Sugihiro as head of the Japantown in 1610. While in that position, he is known to have had in-person interactions with English East India Company factor Richard Cocks, and English sea pilot William Adams, who each visited Ayutthaya. Later, when Kyûzaemon decided to return to Japan, he named Yamada Nagamasa his successor. He last appears in the historical record in 1619; it is therefore unclear just when he stepped down as head of the Nihonmachi, returned to Japan, and/or died.

References

• Cesare Polenghi, Samurai of Ayutthaya: Yamada Nagamasa, Japanese warrior and merchant in early seventeenth-century Siam. Bangkok: White Lotus Press (2009), 40-42.