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Araki Sotarô was a [[Nagasaki]]-based ''[[shuinsen]]'' merchant known for his travels in Southeast Asia and marriage to a daughter of a Vietnamese aristocratic family.

Araki Sotarô was a [[Nagasaki]]-based ''[[shuinsen]]'' merchant known for his travels in Southeast Asia and marriage to a daughter of a Vietnamese aristocratic family.

A [[samurai]] originally from [[Higo province]] ([[Kumamoto prefecture|Kumamoto]]), he moved to Nagasaki in [[1588]], and shortly afterwards began sailing to Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. In [[1619]], he returned to Japan with a wife, a daughter of the Ruan family & adopted daughter of the King of [[Annam]] known as Wakaku or Anio in Japanese. He and Wakaku then established a trading emporium at Nagasaki.

A [[samurai]] originally from [[Higo province]] ([[Kumamoto prefecture|Kumamoto]]), he moved to Nagasaki in [[1588]], and shortly afterwards began sailing to Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia. In [[1619]], he returned to Japan with a wife, a daughter of the Ruan family & adopted daughter of the King of [[Annam]] known as Wakaku or Anio in Japanese. He and Wakaku then established a trading emporium at Nagasaki. Araki is said to have flown the flag of the [[Dutch East India Company]] upside-down, an indication that he sailed under red seal licenses issued, originally, to the Dutch.<ref>Geoffrey Gunn, ''History Without Borders: The Making of an Asian World Region, 1000-1800'', Hong Kong University Press (2011), 216.</ref>

The Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture owns a Vietnamese mirror in gilded and lacquer mounting which was first brought to Japan by Wakaku as one of her personal possessions, along with a Japanese manuscript translation of an original letter from the Ruan family to Araki.

The Nagasaki Museum of History and Culture owns a Vietnamese mirror in gilded and lacquer mounting which was first brought to Japan by Wakaku as one of her personal possessions, along with a Japanese manuscript translation of an original letter from the Ruan family to Araki.