An Ancient Japanese Map is a Time Portal to Angkor Wat in the 17th Century

Today I’d like to introduce an amazing ancient map of Angkor Wat created by Japanese voyagers sometime around the 17th century. It’s truly quite fascinating and offers a great insight into Angkor Wat in the post-Angkor period.

It’s not without a twist though. As scholars have deduced, the Japanese may have actually been on a voyage looking for a famed temple in India, called Jetavana. Instead, (and what luck for them) they ended up at Angkor Wat!

If we look around Angkor Wat today we can still see the evidence of the visits to Angkor via ink inscriptions mostly left within the cruciform cloister (Hall of a Thousand Buddhas, Preah Poan, Brah Ban, etc) of Angkor Wat. Such as below

There are reportedly fourteen Japanese inscriptions at Angkor Vat with dates recorded including the 14th day of the seventh month 1612, 20th day of the first month 1632, and 15th day of the tenth month 1632. More about inscriptions at Angkor Wat.

The Japanese voyagers were Buddhist pilgrims traveling with traders as Japan (and Dutch traders) established trading routes and outposts across Southeast Asia. For more detail on that, do read the referenced research by Yoshiaki Ishizawa listed below. Actually, the Japanese connection with the Khmer people is well worthy of deeper investigation if it interests you, as prior to these exchanges there are the records of the letter sent from the Khmer king to the Japanese Emporer and reports of trading ships as early as 1603.

For some backstory, while originally a Hindu Temple, Angkor Wat converted to become a Theravadan Buddhist Temple, perhaps during the time of Indravaraman III (late 13th c), but most certainly during the time of King Ang Chan (mid-16th c), more on the history of Angkor Wat here.

Onto the map. A copy exists (I believe) in the Shoko-kan Library of the Tokugawa Museum in Mito which uses black ink and colors, while the map below is the French copy of that one produced in the early 1920s. And, what a map it is. The map with index was part of a short section hidden away in an appendix of an EFEO (Ecole Francaise d’Extrême-Orient) bulletin printed in 1923.

The map, drawn in Japanese style, shows Angkor Wat (recorded as Jetavana) as a very lively Buddhist Sangha, featuring numerous pagodas surrounding the temple proper. It also displays “bridges” at each cardinal point and the location of statues but sadly not their size. It identifies the cruciform cloister as having “4000 golden buddhas”, a name it still carries today as the “Hall of a Thousand Buddhas”. Gold as a feature of deified objects is referenced several times perhaps indicating that there was certain prosperity and stability. They also describe two of the bas-relief galleries, very much through their own lens of the time. The wonder goes on.

Map is orientated with east to the top. Click the image to open a larger version in a new tab

Translation of the Original Map Index

Note: ken = 1.82 m, shaku = 30.3 cm

(1) Jetavana Monastery
(2) East
(3) The 4 sides are similar width of 7 ken
(4) Alley to the birthplace of the Buddha.
(5) Door.
(6) Buddhist statues of guardians?
(7) Door.
(8) Buddhist statues of guardians?
(9) The Buddha Shakyamuni seated, legs crossed.
(10) Pond.
(11) The 4 sides are similar, width 4 ken, length 200 ken, earth bridge
(12) Pond
(13) The Buddha Shakyamuni lying on his side
(14-15) Monasteries.
(16) Door
(17) Pagoda has 5 floors.
(18) The 4 sides are decorated with foliage relief sculptures
(19) Pond.
(20) Pagoda.
(21-22) Carved stones.
(23) Pond
(24) Stone staircase with 33 steps.
(25) Buddhist statues of guardians?
(26) Stone bridge, 200 ken
(27) Buddhist statues of guardians?
(28) South.
(29) The 4 sides are similar
(30) Door.
(31) Length of 60 ken for each of the 4 sides.
(32-33) Carved stones.
(34) Sculptures covered with gold or silver.
(35) The 4 sides are similar [width 4 ken, length 200 ken, stone bridge]
(36) Door.
(37) The 4 sides are similar [width 7 ken]
(38) North.
(39) Buddhist statues of guardians?
(40) Width of 6 ken.
(41) On each of the 4 sides there is a pagoda with 5 floors; each pagoda has 2 golden buddhas.
(42) Relief sculptures: 4 deva [Dhrtarastra, Virudhaka, Virupaksa, Vaisravana]
(43) Buddhist statues of guardians?
(44) Stone staircase with 9 steps.
(15-46) 3 ken on each of the 4 sides.
(47-48) Pond
(49) Pagoda.
(50) Relief sculptures: scenes of combat.
(51) Length: 10 ken, width: 9 ken.
(52) 4000 ‘golden’ buddhas.
(53) Length: 31 ken, width: 9 ken
(54) Pagoda
(55) Door.
(56) Relief carvings [representing] many species of animals.
(57) San karatsu (mikaratsu) (a place to eat and drink?).
(58-59) Temple.
(60) 8th stone columns: there are relief sculptures.
(61) Stone staircase with 12 steps
(62) Pagoda.
(63) Place of prayers, length: 10 ken.
(64) Seated Buddha Shakyamuni, the legs crossed.
(65) Buddha Shakyamuni lying on his side.
(66) Hedge, [height] 4 shaku
(67) Height: 1.5 ken.
(68) 4 door columns.
(69) Pond.
(70) Length: 200 ken.
(71) Earth bridge.
(72) Width: 4 ken.
(73) Pond.
(74) Observation post.
(75) 4 shaku on each of the 4 sides.
(75) Water basin: 30 ken on each of the 4 sides.
(77) 3-story pagoda
(78) Veranda, 100 ken.
(79) Balustrade
(80) Height: 1.5 ken
(81) Length: 5 ken on each of the 4 sides.
(82) Length: 1000 ken on each of the 4 sides, completely stone construction.
(83) Road leading to the mountain.
(84) Ditches.
(85) Embankment, height: 2 ken.
(86 – 87) Door.
(88) Stamp “Shokokwan”
(89) Width: 100 ken.
(90) Door width: 7 ken.
(91) Stamp “Shikundo zohon”
(92) Border to tie horses, relief sculptures, balustrade of 4 shaku.
(93) Main door, West.
(94) Length of each of the 4 sides: 1000 ken.

More on Angkor Wat

References

Appendice. In: Bulletin de l’Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient. Tome 23, 1923. pp. 105-136; https://www.persee.fr/doc/befeo_0336-1519_1923_num_23_1_5977
The World’s Oldest Plan of Angkor Vat: The Japanese so-called Jeyavana, an Illustrated plan of the Seventeenth Century, Yoshiaki Ishizawa, 2015

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