Under his guidance, Ava made several attempts to restore the Pagan Empire, and methodically acquired its immediate surrounding Shan states between 1371 and 1406.
The influential court treatise Zabu Kun-Cha, which includes Machiavellian political principles, and mentions several archaeologically known Pyu settlements unmentioned in other prior Burmese chronicles, is attributed to Min Yaza.
Yaza was born Nga Nyo (ငညို, [ŋə ɲò]) to Daw Chon (ဒေါ်ချုံ, [dɔ̀ tɕʰòʊ̯ɴ]) and her herbalist physician husband Saya Ohn (ဆရာ အုန်း, [sʰəjà ʔóʊ̯ɴ]) in 1347/48.
[1][2] His parents were athi commoners—those who did not live on royal land and paid substantial taxes but owed no regular military service.
He began his primary education at a local monastic school where proved to be a brilliant student, mastering all the subjects in just two years.
By his teens, he was already collecting manuscripts, copying stone inscriptions and ink writings at local temples and pagodas, and participating in literary seminars alongside adults.
[2] At 14, he began tilling the fields as a farmer but he continued to pursue his hobbies of historical research and book collecting.
Nonetheless, Moe gave the couple a pair of cattle and three pes (2.13 hectares) of paddy fields, and allowed them to stay at his farmhouse.
About a year later, a junior minister at the court died, and Swa appointed Nyo to the position, which came with the title of Sitapyit (စည်းတပြစ်, [sídəbjɪʔ]).
The king, who wished restore the erstwhile Pagan Empire, eyed the various Shan states that now surrounded his Ava Kingdom from the northwest to the southeast.
[note 8] Though not a military man, Yaza was officially the commander of the army that accompanied the delegation to the Hanthawaddy capital Pegu (Bago).
[note 9] (Ava also acquired Arakan in 1406 but the main chronicles do not explicitly mention Yaza or the court in the invasion decision.)
Nonetheless, Yaza apparently was the power behind the throne: the king accepted his chief minister's recommendations for governorships at Kalay and Mohnyin.
He advised Minkhaung to appoint Kye Taung Nyo, the eldest son of Minkhaung's predecessor Tarabya to the faraway Shan state of Kalay (by the Manipur border)[13] while advising the appointment of Thado, a proven commander, to the crucial northern Shan state of Mohnyin.
After Crown Prince Minye Kyawswa's successful 1406 Arakan campaign, Minkhaung increasingly relied on his highly militaristic son for policy.
[22] According to Hudson, the author(s) of Zabu (Min Yaza or otherwise) knew that "the sites they listed all had some kind of archaeological evidence of antiquity.
[24] The Zabu portion has been described as "a repository of historical examples illustrating pragmatic political principles worthy of Machiavelli.
"[25] Min Yaza is best remembered in Burmese history for his encounter with Minister Thihapate of Hanthawaddy during the first truce negotiations between Ava and Pegu in 1403.