<Articles>The King of Ayutthaya's Golden Letters to the Ming Emperor and the Shogun

Abstract

This article analyses the presentation of the ‘golden letters’ sent by the king of Ayutthaya to the Chinese Ming emperor and compares those which were sent to the Japanese Tokugawa shogunate. The differences in how the letters were wrapped and presented suggest that Ayutthaya may have held the Ming emperor in higher regard than the shogun. For example, the golden letter to the Ming Emperor was placed on the two-tiered tray. It was called phan wean fah in Thai, designed to be used by the king. On the other hand, the golden letter to the shogun was placed on the single-tiered tray. Furthermore, the Chinese-language letters accompanying these golden letters were also different from that of Ming and the Tokugawa shogunate. To the Ming, Ayutthaya generally used kanhe (勘合, tallies) and wrote the letter in the style of a biao (表), a ceremonial letter to the emperor from his vassal. In contrast, the Chinese-language letters to the Tokugawa shogunate were drafted as correspondence between equals. The golden letters were designed to convey the Ayutthaya king’s ideas; therefore, examining how they were presented is an important means of investigating how kings represented their authority. By analyzing the presentation of the golden letters, this article concludes that Ayutthaya held the Chinese dynasty in higher regard than Japan’s shogunate. Additional research into the golden letters sent to other polities can help clarify the nature of Ayutthaya’s foreign relations and the international order it established for itself.