Painted Tea-leaf jar, used as a tea canister, with wisteria designs by Nonomura Ninsei, Edo period JapanJapanese emigration to the rest of Asia was noted as early as the 15th century to the Philippines; early Japanese settlements included those in Lingayen Gulf, Manila, the coasts of Ilocos and in the Visayas when the Philippines was under the Srivijaya and Majapahit Empire. In the 16th century the Japanese settlement was established in Ayutthaya, Thailand, and in early 17th century Japanese settlers was first recorded to stay in Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). A larger wave came in the 17th century, when red seal ships traded in Southeast Asia, and Japanese Catholics fled from the religious persecution imposed by the "shōguns", and settled in the Philippines, among other destinations. Many of them also intermarried with the local Filipina women (including those of pure or mixed Chinese and Spanish descent), thus forming the new "Japanese-Mestizo" community. In the 16th and 17th centuries, thousands of traders from Japan also migrated to the Philippines and assimilated into the local population. In the 15th century AD, "shimamono" tea-jars were bought by the "shōguns" to Uji in Kyoto from the Philippines by merchants such as Luzon Sukezaemon which was used in the Japanese tea ceremony.