The late Professor Koichi Mizuno started his field study as an anthropologist in June, 1964 at Don Daeng Village in Northeast Thailand, where he spent more than a year. Based on this field work, he published about ten valuable ethnographic reports and articles in Japanese or English. Among them, his description and analysis of the multi-household compound is unique and important, in spite of the overemphasis it places on the function of this domestic unit. His neglect of mobility and population increase is the weak point of his conceptualization of Thai Villages.
  His later life was devoted to the study of socioeconomic change in Thai villages. His work in collecting time-series data from certain villages is especially valuable. It is to be regretted that the data so far published are limited to the sphere of economic change and that he passed away before he was able to deal more with the socio-cultural aspects.

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 This paper aims to clarify the nature of the family in bilateral societies in Southeast Asia by reviewing the late Dr. Koichi Mizuno's studies on "multihousehold compounds" in Northeast Thailand, in comparison with kin groupings among Kedah Malays.
  In his early analysis, Dr. Mizuno grasped the multihousehold compound as an extended family, but gradually he revised this concept. Later he analysed familial forms from the viewpoint of cultural pattern, comparing Thai and Japanese families, and as a result characterized the Thai family pattern as a radial extension of core kin combined with dyadic relationships.
  Anthropological studies on the Thai family have in general depicted it in one of two ways : as a nongroup-like cluster of dyads, or as a social group with a clear-cut boundary. This difference, we believe, is partly attributable to regional differences between the areas where field work was conducted, but also derives from the viewpoint adopted, as exemplified in the locus of Dr. Mizuno's career.
  This paper presents the view, from a comparative perspective that overrides this difference, that the family among Thais and Malays is no more than a social circle of interwoven dyadic relations which, because of its very flexible nature, may intrinsically take a variety of grouping patterns, depending upon circumstances.

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 This article aims at clarifying one aspect of the political system of Thailand by bringing into relief the political function played by district officers (naai amphəə).
 More than five hundred district officers are now engaged in administrative duties all over Thailand. Their primary function is to work as “points of contact” between the government and the people. They are appointed government officials who keep in direct contact with elected “kamnans” at the lowest of the administrative echelons of Thailand.
 There are two main themes which the author tries to analyze in this article. One is the balance to be kept between the “output” and the “input” of the Thai political system by district officers when they function officially as “points of contact” between the government and the people. The other is the political nature of the so-called “raatchakaan” which permeates the Thai bureaucracy.

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 The Minangkabau of West Sumatra are devout Moslems and at the same time followers of matrilineal adat (tradition). Scholars have long been perplexed over this seemingly contradictory combination of patrilineally-oriented Islam and matriliny : like the proverbial Chinese merchant who tried to sell an allegedly unbreakable lance and an impenetrable shield in a single deal, isn't Minangkabau society contradicting itself? The Minangkabau "paradox" has remained unexplained, since scholars tend simply to compare Islamic legal principles with matrilineal adat laws and practices. This paper looks rather at the paradox in its historical context, aiming to find out what Islam signified to Minangkabau society in the process of its Islamization. A crucial influence was the Padri movement, an Islamic reformism which rocked Minangkabau society between the late eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. Islam, together with matrilineal adat , came to be perceived as offering a new basis of Minangkabau identity and solidarity against the encroachment into the "Minangkabau World" of two infidel foreign powers, the Dutch and the Batak of northern Sumatra.

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 This paper aims at outlining the history of modern Indonesian Buddhism in two parts. The first part, which covers the period up to 1952, deals with four groups or individuals that were instrumental in the Buddhist revival in Java : the Theosophical Society; the International Buddhist Mission, Thaton, Burma; the Ven. Narada Thera from Ceylon; and a peranakan writer, Kwee Tek Hoay. The second part examines the shift of leadership after the death of K. T. H. in 1952. Under the dynamic leadership of the Ven. Ashin Jinarakkhita, the revived Buddhist religion burgeoned to such an extent that a bhikkhu sangha was established to produce native monks and novices.
  The political climate of the Republic after the 9.30 Coup compelled the Indonesian Buddhists to search for a "Tuhan Yang Maha Esa" within their religion, which is often considered "godless." The Ven. Ashin Jinarakkhita successfully overcame the difficulty by referring to the "Adi Buddha" found in an old Javanese Buddhist treatise as tantamount to "the One God." This, however, eventually caused a schism, since the conservative Theravadin felt the accomodation heretical and tried to find a solution within the framework of the orthodoxy. Later the unity of the Buddhist minorities in the Islamic Republic was restored, when the two factions agreed in Bogor, in May, 1979,to respect each other's interpretations of the "Tuhan Yang Maha Esa" by considering them "one and the same in essence."

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 This essay describes the state of agriculture in the Red River Delta in the 11th and 12th centuries, and is the third part of a historical study of the reclamation of that delta from the first century to the nineteenth century which aims to explain the characteristics of Vietnamese socio-economic history in comparison with those of other Southeast Asian deltas.
  First, an analysis of the political map of the Red River Delta during the Lý dynasty indicates that it is improper to call this dynasty a "mini centralized empire, " since it ruled only the Red River Delta proper, while most of the highland areas were controlled by semi-independent native vassals of a different culture from the Vietnamese in the delta. Even in the delta, more than eight local military powers remained from the civil war age in the late tenth century. It is thus highly improbable that the Lý dynasty weilded sufficient power to mobilize labour from all over delta area to construct hydraulic engineering works for agricultural development.
  Second, the geographical bases of these local military powers can be classified as follows :
 (1) Quõc Oâi Châu-lower terraces
 (2) Phong Châu-lower terraces and natural levees
 (3) Đại Hòang Châu-lower terraces and backswamps
 (4) Bắc Giang-monadnock, natural levees and floodplain
 (5) Đằng Châu and Khóai Châu-sandbank, natural levees and upper delta
 (6) Hõng Châu-upper delta and western lower delta
 (7) Nam Sách-eastern lower delta
 (8) Mỹ Lộc-backswamps, coastal complex and end of natural levees
 (9) the area under the direct rule of Lý dynasty-natural levees and floodplain
Their distribution is shown in maps 7 and 10. Comparison of these two maps with map 11 of the previous paper [Sakurai 1980 : 619] indicates that the unification of local powers at the village level progressed to the provincial level in the 11th and 12th centuries. For example, Phong Châu province (Sơn Tây, Vĩnh Tương and Phú Thọ province) had 4 local military powers in the 10th century, while during Lý dynasty only one Phong Chau vassal occupied the same area. The west floodplain (Casier de Hadong) had been disputed by three military powers in the 10th century, while under the Lý dynasty this area was absorbed by the Lý court as a royal estate. Further, while no power was evident in the lower part of the west floodplain or in the upper delta in the 10th century, in the Lý period the former area was cultivated by the Lý court as another royal estate and the latter area was the domain of the Hõng Châu power.
  Third, descriptions in Việt Sử Lược indicate the existence of man-made embankments, one in Bắc Ninh province based on the natural levees and the floodplain complex, and another in Khóai Châu and Hõng Châu based on the natural levees, the upper delta and the upper part of the lower delta. Analysis of these delta locations, however, suggests that the embankments were built to reinforce the natural levees against flood water at the outer bank of curves, and that they needed only the labour of several villages. Furthermore, a small horse-shoe embankment was apparently built in Hõng Châu provice in the upper delta and the upper part of the lower delta, where Bình Giang-type villages are located.
  Fourth, these embankments would have served for tenth-month-rice cropping. In this period, most of the delta had been reclaimed by the introduction of fifth-month rice, which was harvested before the flood season, and thus agriculture in the west floodplain, the main domain of Lý dynasty, would not have required such embankments. Indeed, the chronicles give no record of embankments in that area.
  Fifth, the local political powers at the edge of the Red River Delta that were based on the control of transportation routes between

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 Every seven years the Onbashira Matsuri (pillar festival) is held at Suwa shrine. The main event is the dragging of the Onbashira , a great log weighing 11 tons, from a mountain some 15 kilometres away to the shrine. The dragging of the Onbashira by thousands of people is a powerful attraction both to tourists and local people alike.
  The festival is divided into two parts, first, called Maebiki , being the procession from the mountain to the village, and the second, Satobiki , the journey from the village to the shrine. Between the two parts there is a month's intermission, Maebiki taking place in April and Satobiki in May. The former is characterized by its masculinity, as young men proudly ride the Onbashira as it is dragged through the crowd. Satobiki , on the other hand, involves gay processions, with groups of masked people and a feudal lord's procession adding to the cheerful atmosphere.
  During Satobiki people are freed from their everyday activities and jobs, so that they may enjoy along with visitors all there is to see. The social norm is reversed at this time as economy gives way to extravagance. With the planting of the Onbashira in a ritual performed by priests, the festival ends and everyone returns home and resumes normal life. They have, however, been vitalized by the excitement of the festival. In consequence, the Onbashira Matsuri can be interpreted as a renovation of life through a pillar which is believed to be the symbol of a supernatural power.

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 Much discussion of Thai society has been generated by John F. Embree's famous and classic article entitled "Thailand : A Loosely Structured Social System, " published in 1950. The discussion, however, has tended to ignore the ecological and historical aspects of the question. Furthermore, little attention has been paid to the 'tightly structured social system' of Japan, although Embree compared 'loosely structured' Thai society with the 'tightly structured society' of Japan in his original discussion. Here, I propose that Japanese society is fundamentally rather 'loosely structured, ' based on its bilateral kinship system and the country's favourable ecological conditions. It appears 'tightly structured' only because the leaders of the society have made efforts to 'tighten' the 'loosely structured social system' of Japan by, for example, emulating some of the social disciplines of the Chinese continent in order to build a 'state' in the islands. Thus, it is incorrect to juxtapose Japanese and Thai societies without referring to their historical backgrounds. The same argument, of course, would hold for the comparison of other societies.

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