Samurai in Thailand

[Tee Sok]

Hello all,

this thread was a very interesting read, with good reference as well.
I would like to know if any of you have any input on fights or technique exchange between the Samurai and Krabi Krabong fighters (guards, soldiers...) in Thailand.
Do you have news about Thomas Nelson's book?

Thank you very much

[tameshigiriguy]

Hello Guy,

just a little correction in the text."
Moving further west, the next major settlement of Japanese was in Ayutthaya, Thailand. Ayutthaya lies on the shores of the Menam River, a bit north of present-day Bangkok"

There is NO river anywhwer in Thailand,ancient or present day called "Menam River".

Menam is incorrectly romanicized.It comes from Mae (แม่)=mother and Nam (น้ำ )=water or liquid

The standard romnicized spelling is Maenam and means mother water or more correctly a major river that is the source of other,lesser waterways.
There are only 2 Maenam rivers in Thailand,The Mekong and the Chao Phraya.
Some would also say that the Mekong is in Lao or Cambodia.It is actually the border of these countries with Thailand along its length.

The Chao Phraya River is the only one that has access Ayutthaya and also runs through Bangkok into the Gulf of Thailand so this is the river refered to.

Cheers John Williams

[tameshigiriguy]

Cheers John Williams

[tameshigiriguy]

Originally Posted by Karl Friday

Tom Nelson, currently at Oxford (thomas.nelson@wadh.ox.ac.uk) is working on a book on that very topic.

Hello Karl,

There is a movie called Yamad,the Samurai of Ayutthaya that is based on the historical facts(as much as a movie can be)


John Williams

[AtlanticDrive]

Maybe the readers of this thread already found their way to the movie but here is the full movie Yamada the warrior of Ayuthaya:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbK8...e_gdata_player

Guess not accurate especially after diving into the matter. However I liked the movie. I was born in Thailand but raised in the Netherlands and went back a few years ago to visit my family, there i saw King Naresuan the movie which was quite impressive. And yes in the movie where some japanese samurai too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pjy8P...feature=relmfu

There are some more scenes showing some i guess ashigaru like soldiers. But couldnt find them right now. However if you like historical drama and epic battle scenes this one might be for you.

Another entertaining thai production (fictional story set in the times of Naresuan for your ease) that comes to my mind is Ong Bak 2 see full movie : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIy7Ot5PGFk
0:12:28 zatoichi? lol, 0:18:32 training scene, 0:23 dual scene

If you really have nothing to do and look for thai beautiful women with katana's vs a bunch of ninja's and yes there is even a scene with a 'sensei' with hakama then this might be for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fn1AwYv-z6s .. that is if u like B movies or C. However this kind of movies where made in Hollywood already longtime ago.

And the one not so serious either, but which i liked very much was the thai movie chocolat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zmqn_a1i_2U,
There the saya is,,, 2 saya's are used as some very flashy escrima like baton style weapon.

Anyway if there is going to be a book or project writing about Yamada would be interesting. I am interested in a lot of (once) martial cultures and how it is put on the big screen most of the time in hollywood style prominent or in the background as decor.

Gosh i did not explore Bollywood movies yet but i bet there should be some hidden samurai in there too

From movies to shinkens and iaito's, does someone know if this is genuine quality? http://www.thaitsuki.com/ swords from Thailand. ^^

[AtlanticDrive]

http://www.simandan.com/?p=2374

The link to the book about Yamada Nagamasa. It is a nice book to read.