Syllabus - Introduction to premodern Japanese History and Culture (46105)

Course/Module Content:
רשימת נושאים / תכנית הלימודים בקורס:
Introduction
11/10 Introduction to the Course
Part 1 The Setting Pre-History, and Proto-History
14/10 The Geography of Japan and the Jomon and Yayoi Eras
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Barnes, “Japan’s Natural Setting”
Aikens, “Origins of the Japanese People”
”

18/10 Yayoi to Kofun and Himiko
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Barnes, “The Emergence of Political Rulership and the State in Early Japan

From Sources of Japanese Tradition V1:
"Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories"

Part 2 The Creation of a Chinese Style State
21/10 Yamato to Japan
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Fuqua, “Centralization and State Formation in Sixth- and Seventh-Century Japan”
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V1:
“Civil Strife in the Late Sixth Century”
“Internal Strife in the Late Sixth Century”

25/10 The Rise of the Ritsuryō System
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Piggott, “Defining ‘Ancient’ and ‘Classical’”
Batten, “Early Japan and the Continent”
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V1:
“Chinese-Style History and the Imperial Concept”
“The Reform Era”

Part 3 the Nara Period, 710 - 794
28/10 The Nara Capital
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Bender, “Emperor, Aristocracy, and the Ritsuryō State”

1/11 Nara Culture, History, and Buddhism
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Teeuwen, “What Used to Be Called Shinto”
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V1:
“Chinese-Style History and the Imperial Concept”
“Buddhism and the State in Nara Japan”
“Legends Concerning Shinto Deities”

Quiz 1 due 4/11
Part 4 The Early Heian Period, 794 - 1068
4/11 From strong emperors to the Fujiwara
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Adolphson, “Oligarchy, Shared Rulership, and Power Blocks”

8/11 The Lives of the Nobility and Heian Culture
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Borgen, “The Canons of Courtly Taste”
ממבחר הסיפור היפני:
"יוגאו: פרק מתוך סיפור גנג'י"
"פנקס הכר של סיי שונאגון"

11/11 The Provinces and Buddhism
Part 5 The Late Heian Period, 1068 - 1185
15/11 Shoen and Insei
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Segal, “The Shōen System”

18/11 The Rise of the Warrior
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Segal, “The Shōen System”
Friday, “The Dawn of the Samurai”
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V1:
“Taira and Minamoto”

22/11 Taira no Kiyomori and the Gempei War

ממבחר הסיפור היפני:
"מסיפורי הייקה"
"דין וחשבון על צריפי

Quiz 2 Due 25/11
Part 6 The Kamakura Period, 1185 - 1333
25/11 The Rise of the Kamakura Bakufu
From Japan Emerging:
Goble, “The Kamakura Shogunate and the Beginnings of Warrior Power”
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V1:
“The Jōei Code”

29/11 Kamakura Religion
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Bodiford, “Medieval Religion”

2/12 The Mongol Invasion
Selections from In Little Need of Divine Intervention

6/12The Fall of the Kamakura Shogunate and the Northern and Southern Courts
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Segal, “Kamakura and the Challenges of Governance”
Goble, “Go-Daigō, Takauji, and the Muromachi Shogunate.”

From Sources of Japanese Tradition V1:
“Chronicle of Great Peace (Taiheiki): The Loyalist Heroes”
“Kitabatake Chikafusa and the Southern Court”

Part 7 The Muromachi Period, 1336 - 1573
9/12 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and the Peak of the Shogunate
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Chance, “Medieval Arts and Aesthetics”
Segal, “The Medieval Economy”
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V1:
“Zeami: Entering the Realm of Yūgen”
“Connecting the Arts Through One Intensity of Mind”
“The Nine Stages of the Nō in Order”
“The True Path to the Flower (Shikadōsho)”
“Kamo no Chōmei: Concerning Mysterious Beauty”

13/12 Ashikaga Yoshimasa and the Decline of the Shogunate
Quiz 3 Due 16/12
16/12 The Sengoku Period
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Eason, “Warriors, Warlords, and Domains”
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V1:
“The Law of the Warrior Houses in the Age of War in the Provinces”

20/12 The Unifiers: Nobunaga and Hideyoshi
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Butler, “The Sixteenth-Century Reunification”
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V1:
“Oda Nobunaga”
“The Articles of 1570”
“The Disarmament of the Populace”
“Restrictions on Change of Status”

23/12 The Christian Century
Readings:
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V2:
“Alexandro Valignano’s Japanese Mission Policy”
Willis, “Captain Jorge Álvares and Father Luís Fróis S.J.: Two Early Portuguese Descriptions of Japan and the Japanese” on Moodle
Part 8 The Edo Period, 1603 - 1867
27/12 The Early Tokugawa Period
Readings:
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V2:
“Ieyasu and the Founding of the Tokugawa Shogunate”

30/12 Edo Japan: The Warriors
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Gainty, “The New Warriors”
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V2:
“The Debate over the Akō Vendetta”

3/1 Edo Japan: Peasants and Townsfolk
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Walthall, “Peace Dividend”
Howell, “Urbanization, Trade, and Merchants”
Quiz 4 Due 14/1
6/1 Edo Thought and Popular Culture.
Readings:
From Japan Emerging:
Chance, “Ukiyo asobi”
Rubinger, “Thought, Education, and Popular Literacies in Early Modern Japan”
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V2:
“The Teachings of Zhu Xi Brought to Japan”
“Hayashi Razan”
מממבחר הסיפור היפני:
"עושה לוחות השנה"
"הדרך הצרה לאוקו"

10/1 Rangaku and the Return of the West
Readings:
From Sources of Japanese Tradition V2:
“Dutch Learning”
“The Debate over Seclusion and Restoration”

13/1 The Black Ships and the Bakumatsu