Periplus Maris Erythraei, is a kind of handbook written by an anonymous Egyptian Greek merchant to inform his contemporaries of the commercial conditions and possibilities in the Erythraean Sea, (that is, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Persian Gulf, which together were at that time considered one sea). This text is now an indispensable historical source for the study of East-West interaction and the conditions of coastal areas along the Erythraean Sea. And, in this article, the author tries to determine this text's date by analyzing, primarily, ancient inscriptions written in epigraphic South Arabian. One of the chief clues to this disputed question is the mention, in parts of the book related to South Arabia, of two kings'-Charibael, king of the Homerites and the Sabaites, and Eleazos, king of the frankincense-producing country, Hadhramaut. These rulers are identified in the inscriptions, as krb'l and 'l'z('l'd), respectively. But when were the two kings with such names ruling simultaneously? During the first three centuries A.D., four kings were named krb'l and three named 'l'z ('l'd). Which of these were Periplus' contemporaries? By examining each case in detail the author tries to show that the Charibael mentioned in the Periplus was not krb'l/drydn but krb'l/wtr/yhn'm/mlk/sb'/Wdrydn (CIH 373, etc.), who reigned ca. 60-90 A.D. As for the Eleazos mentioned in the Periplus, A.F.L. Beeston was possibly right in suggesting 'l'z/ylt/mlk/hdrmwt/bn/yd''l (Hamilton 8), but the author believes it is not yet clear. In any case, it is most unlikely that the Peri-plus was written during the second and third centuries A.D., including the first half of the third century, a theory propounded recently by such scholars as J.Pirenne, J.Ryckmans, H.von Wissmann, etc. Instead, this author prefers the latter half of the first century, a conclusion which would be supported, too, by a comparative examination of the Periplus and the inscriptions on the Abyssinian invasion of South Arabia. By relying on the South Arabian inscriptions alone, however, we can get no more detailed date for this text than ca. 60-90 A.D., the reign of charibael (or, krb'l/wtr/yhn'm/MSR). But, by combining such information with the reign years of Malichas, king of the Nabataeans (ca. 40-70 A.D.), the author comes to the conclusion that the Periplus was written ca. 60-70 A.D.

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This article studies documents dealing with land donations made in 1580 to the Society of Jesus in Nagasaki by Omura Sumitada and his son. The sources used are Spanish language historical documents stored in the Archives of the Society of Jesus in Rome, and the goal of this article is to recover the undiscovered original texts of these documents in Japanese. The first section includes a translation of the Spanish language documents, and the second section will provide an evaluation of these historical sources. We can believe that these Spanish language documents were, by their intrinsic force, transmitted to the Society of Jesus and represent copies of the original text, but in addition we can conceive of the existence of original copies of the original text that predate the Spanish language texts in the Archives in Rome. And so, the process of these sources' relationship would be from the original text to the original copy and onto the Spanish language copy in Rome. The author also has found that the form of the original copy can be recognized to have a strong affinity to medieval English documents on enfeoffment. In the third section of the article the author deeply analyzes the original documents and the copies of the original documents by clarifying the reality of the gifts donated and the act of donation. First, the inclusion of Nagasaki-machi village, Mogi village, and the black ships' anchorage dues (funakuji) among the things presented makes its clear that Omura had the feudal lord's authority over the articles given. Secondly, the author shows the non-existence of feudalistic rights and obligations between the Jesuits and Omura (excepting, of course, the conditions for retaining the donated property) by pointing out the changes in the contents of the presents, the nature of the donation, and the written contents of the original copy of the original documents. Such presents not only were not related to the feudal lord and retainer system but also clearly came under the influence of Buddhist law (Butsuda-ho), since they were given without the donor retaining any right of recovery. Thirdly, the Jesuits' acceptance of the gifts conferred upon them only two obligations -no delay in trade dealings and the possible payment of custom duties. Next, besides explaining that the conditions of ownership of the articles Omura presented are of "Immunitat", the author certifies that the Captain clauses in the original copy had been added onto what had already been written in "the abandonment of jurisdiction" and "roadside prohibition-edicts boards (seisatsu)" sections. Finally, the author clarifies the meaning of the only Portuguese word in the Spanish language documents now in Rome -the word "posse" -by means of a comparison with the Spanish landed property system called "the encomienda," and he ends this part of the essay by showing that the Society of Jesus actually was the lord of a fief, that is, the church land it owned in Nagasaki. The fourth section of the article tries to restore the original Japanese language text from which derived the now extant Spanish language documents. As this original text was like the "donation from" used at the establishment of the "Manor Estate Donations" in the late Heian period, the author assures us of the efficacy of the original Japanese language texts in the matter of kukai (公界) which can be thought to come from sotomeshu (外海衆). As regards the creation of an accepted version of the original documents, the Society of Jesus, we know, drafted one version in response to Omura's original proposal, and the original Japanese language documents, we can assume, were what Omura issued on the basis of these two written texts. And so, what follows below is a possible description of the process of the creation of the documents relating to land donation to

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