There were a large number of “muang polities” of the Tai in the northern part of continental Southeast Asia. A muang polity would typically be established in an inter-mountain basin and was independently governed by its own king and his family. The polities sometimes formed leagues of muangs, such as the Lannathai league and the Sipsongpanna league etc. Ishii called these societies “quasi-hydraulic societies”, as the irrigation systems were controlled by the “state power”. This article presents an illustration from a physiographic point of view of how a muang polity governed its people in a “quasi-hydraulic society” by analyzing the case of Chiang Hung, a muang whose king was also the overall king of the Sipsongpanna league. Most of the information used in this analysis is obtained from the reports of a survey carried out in the 1950's for the purpose of land reform by the Peoples' Republic of China.
The Chiang Hung basin can be divided into two areas, the alluvial fans area and the alluvial plain area. Irrigation was comparatively easy in the former but more difficult in the latter. It is said that at first each alluvial fan had its own irrigation system controlled by those who located on the apex part, where they could control the intake of the main canals from the river.
Chiang Hung had two types of inhabitants: the Tai Muang, and the Kun Huan Chao. According to traditions, the Tai Muang's ancestors had been the initial Tai inhabitants of the basin. On the other hand, many villages of the Kun Huan Chao had close relations to the royalty of this muang when they were established. Some Kun Huan Chao villages were established by servants of the king or high-ranking officials, while others were established by Kun Huan Chao immigrants invited by the royal house. Both the conditions of the arabl land and the kinds of labor found seem to suggest that the Tai Muang were more independent of the monarchs than the Kun Huan Chao were.
Almost all the Tai Muang in the basin lived in the alluvial fans area, where irrigation was relatively simple. Of the bigger canals, the Tai Muang in the basin used only the canals on the two biggest alluvial fans. The oldest and dominant Tai Muang villages are found in both of the apex parts of the alluvial fans, which are the most important for operating the irrigation system on alluvial fans. Also, each of the two alluvial fans had a self-governing body of the Tai Muang, the so-called long, with an irrigation leader whose power extends over the area of the long, or alluvial fan. The above facts suggest that the Tai Muang may originally have made and operated an irrigation system on each of the two biggest alluvial fans without any support of the power of the “state”, and that their self-governing bodies derived from the former alluvial fan irrigation control group
Kun Huan Chao villages were located not only in the alluvial fans area but also in the alluvial plain area, which must have originally consisted of swamps. These areas had to be drained to be brought under cultivation. To drain and cultivate this area, the existence of the monarchy, or the “state power” was essential. It could settle the Kun Huan Chao there and organize its labor for the task of extending the main canals, which had already been constructed by the Tai Muang from the apexes to the lowest parts of the alluvial fans. Following this, to ensure the cultivation of this area, the state power gave titles to the irrigation leaders, especially to those of Kun Huan Chao villages located in the alluvial plain.
In conclusion, it can be said that the alluvial fans area was basically the Tai Muang's autonomous area, over which the “state power” did not effectively wield power. They originally made and operated the irrigation systems by themselves. The alluvial plain area was brought under cultivation by “state power” and was ruled mo

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In South East Asian countries, how did an individual accept the great changes in social structure resulting from the change from colonialism to independence? How did an individual face the breakdown of traditional ideas which accompanied this transition? In modern Myanmar, the works of U Sein Tin, well-known in Myanmar as ‘Theippan Maung Wa’ give many hints.
In the first part of the 1930's, while working for the English colonial government as a high level public servant, U Sein Tin wrote many essays and short novels which vividly describe the reality of the rural life based on his own experiences. Because of his unique writing style and themes, his works became popularly known as ‘Khitsan Sapei’ (Modern Literature), and had a great impact on Myanmar literature.
However, in the last part of the 1930's, the period when Myanmar began to change drastically, U Sein Tin stopped focusing on social matters. Instead, he began to write mainly about his own private life-his wife, children, relatives, and so on. He even wrote many stories about the dogs which were kept at his home. This sudden change in focus seemed unnatural to him. However it reveals his reactions towards the transition in modern Myanmar. It is clear from eight essays and novels about his dogs, that he changed his focus in order to show his opinions and feelings about the changes in Myanmar.
Particularly, through the story ‘Fire of Love’ (Achit Myi) which was written in 1936 and describes the love relationships of young dogs, U Sein Tin showed that he identified himself as a man who belonged to the colonial older generation. Although he loved Myanmar people, he belonged to the colonial government, and he could not reject the colonial government as the new generation did.
In another story, ‘The Separation’ (Khwekhwayei) U Sein Tin symbolized his situation through an episode of the separation of a master and his dogs. This story was written in 1938, after further changes in Myanmar. At that time, he began to lose his publishing patrons, because ‘Khitsan Sapei’ was not the fashion any more and other new literature movements had begun to capture attention. The collapse of colonial social structure and losing his status in the world of literature made him feel as though he had lost his identity.
Those stories reflect the sorrow and agony of an intellectual who was raised with a ‘colonial’ identity, then faced with revolutionary ways of thinking. U Sein Tin's literature was underestimated during his lifetime, but after his death the value of his literature was recognized. Many Myanmar people loved his literature in the 1930's and still love it today. His works represent the feelings of modern Myanmar people.

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Thammayut Nikaya is one of the Buddhist sects, which comprises Thai Buddhist Sangha together with another sect, Maha Nikaya. In spite of the fact that it has relatively few temples, it is very powerfull in Thai Sangha. These two sects live and do religious rituals separately. Thammayut Nikaya has its origin in the Thammayut movement that was a very important religious movement in 19th century Thai Sangha. This paper seeks to study the activity of this Thammayut movement from 1829 to 1836.
In 1829, about 30 monks joined the Thammayut movement and 6 monks removed to Wat Samorai temple to accompany Wachirayana (Later, Rama 4th). However, they did not stay there all the time. Their leader Wachirayana, using Wat Samorai temple as the base of his movement, also still had his Kuti in Wat Mahathat temple and thus had two addresses until he moved to Wat Bowoniwet temple in 1836. His disciples also lived in wat Samorai as well as in their original temples. This situation was necessitated by the fact that Wat Samorai could not spport so many monks, and moveover, they were avoiding offending the Vinaya.
At Wat Samorai they accepted Upasampada (the ordination ceremony of Sangha) of Mon style. In Therevada Buddhism Upasampada has a very important meaning which concerns the holiness of monks and Sangha. Wachirayana was greatly interested in the Sima, the place for Upasampada, from the time he came to Wat Samorai. There, he and his disciples, inviting Mon monks, were given Upasampada in the Mon style several times. These ceremonies were not an ordination to the Sangha, but a pursuit of improving ceremony by following a more select, correct style. It showed Wachirayana's principle to follow the original Buddhist rules, Vinaya.
Wachirayana and his disciples did Dhuta, a monk's ascetic practice of wandering as an activity towards outside society. Dhuta is one of the basic practices of Theravada Buddhism, during which monks often have occasion to preach to the peoplel. Wachirayana practiced Dhuta in 1830, 1831, and 1833, when he journeyed to the north provinces for 62 days, which brought about a lot of legends about him. For Wachirayana himself, Dhuta was the most opportune chance to gather new experiences. On the other hand, for the people living in the up countries, it was a rare occasion to see a highly positioned royal family member like Wachirayana, and they must have been greatly impressed by the Bangkok Dynasty. Everytime he planned to practice Dhuta Wachirayana asked RamaIII for an allowance which was granted. For the expansion of power of the Bangkok Dynasty, it was quite effective that a monk from the royal family visited the provinces during Dhuta, and advantageous for the king. By Dhuta, Wachirayana got fame and his brother King RamaIII had effective propaganda and got information about local provinces.
The Thammayut movement expanded outside Sangha and they began preaching to the people in 1829. In the same year, they began to administer Upasampada to the outside people. It can be seen that these activities were influenced in the active way they tried to propagate their beliefs among the people by the Christian missionaries who had began preaching in Bangkok.
At the beginning of the 1830's, politically the situation of Wachirayana was not easy for him. When vice king Mahasakdiphongsep died in 1832, Wachirayana was not promoted at all, although many nobles in the court were promoted.
However, he was appointed by Rama III as the chief monk of Wat Bowoniwet temple in 1836. This appointment, enabled Wachirayana to go back inside the walls of Bangkok as the chief m-nk of a royally supported temple. It also showed the king's support of Wachirayana by treating him as if he had been a president of Sangha or a vice-king. Likewise, we can say that the king accepted Wat Samorai as the base of Wachirayana and his activities by arranging the official parade for Wachirayana from Wat Samorai, and

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This is the first book about a long-debated theme, the Vietnamese “traditional” village with communal land, written in Japanese. The author criticizes most of the preceding researches, including that of Scott and Popkin, which drew a conclusion without examining historical materials of pre-modern period. For the first time in the world he made full use of many materials written in classical Chinese, which had been brought from EFEO to Toyo Bunko. He combines newly-developed approaches of area studies with orthodox socio-economic history.
This book consists of 12 chapters and can be divided in 5 parts. The first part (Introduction) points out that Vietnamese cong dien (lit. public land) had first appeared in historical materials in the 15th century and that they are not vestiges of the “Asiatic Agricultural Community” of the Dong Son period. Instead the author insists that cong dien in the 15th century is comparable with the forced cultivation system under a landlord which often appeared in medieval East & Southeast Asian rice-cultivation areas.
The second part (Chap. 1, 2) analyzes both the regulation of land redistribution (Hong Duc Quan dien le) and village rule of the 15th century state. It reveals that cong dien were state-owned lands and that village communities of that period were under strong control of the state.
The third part (Chap. 3, 4) analyzes both socio-economic historical conditions in the early 18th century and new regulation of land redistribution (Vinh Thinh Quan dien le). The author reveals two points: 1) Cong dien were often transformed to tu dien (lit. private land) through the growth of intermediary exploitation and great-landownership; 2) In opposition to such trends, village communities tended to control their cong dien autonomously.
The fourth part (Chap. 5-8) analyzes both agricultural disasters, famine, flights of peasants in the Le period and early 19th century cadastres. The author shows that: 1) By the 18th century, North-Vietnamese agricultural developments had reached their limits and there were frequent occurrences of agricultural disasters under political instability. As a result, newly-developed areas of fifth lunar month rice were ruined while peasants based on the more stable tenth lunar month rice absorbed abandoned lands of the former to strengthen their stability; 2) We can affirm the emergence of autonomous villages which were dependent on tenth lunar month rice. It is suggested that peasants of fifth lunar month rice were cut off from village communities to become vagabonds.
The fifth part (Chap. 9-11) reveals that the “centralized” or “reactionary” Nguyen dynasty could not control villages which had already become autonomous. The author proposes that: 1) The central government could not control cong dien through new regulations of redistribution issued by Emperor Gia Long and Minh Mang; 2) Village communities with cong dien as communal land had already developed as French colonialists found out later.

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