Inventing the Samurai
Explores the historical origins of the Japanese warrior class as well as its reinvention throughout the archipelago's history. Special focus on the pre-modern era (200-1600 CE). Highlights key historical contexts including the rise of the imperial court, interactions with the broader world, and the establishment of a warrior-dominated state. Also considers the modern imaginations and uses of the warrior figure.
Fall 2022
This course explores the historical origins of the Japanese warrior class as well as its reinvention throughout the archipelago's history, with a special focus on the pre-modern era (200–1600 CE). It highlights key historical contexts including the rise of the imperial court, interactions with the broader world, and the establishment of a warrior-dominated state. It also considers the modern imaginations and uses of the warrior figure. Note: This course is taught in English with a project that requires research in Japanese.
Readings
- [JE] Ch. 11, “Emperor, Aristocracy, and the Ritsuryō State ,” pp. 111–121; Ch. 15, “The Provinces and the Public Economy, 700–1100,” pp. 157–166.
- [JE] Ch. 13, “Aristocratic Buddhism,” pp. 135–145; Ch. 14, “The Canons of Courtly Taste,” pp.146–156.
- Optional (other writings by Heian court ladies):
- Optional video:
- Optional video (a video tour of a Tale of Genji exhibit at the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art):
- “The Fight at Dan No Ura,” pp. 180–184, in Donald Keene, ed. Anthology of Japanese Literature (Grove Press, 1955). ISBN: 9780802198655.
- [SWCJ] Section IV: “14. Excerpt from Takezaki Suenaga’s Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions ,” “15. Legal Amendment (Tsuikahō) Concerning Rewards,” “16. Suenaga’s Audience with Adachi Yasumori,” pp. 81–86.
- “Takeda Shingen (1521–1573), Warlord,” pp. 43–49, in Morgan Pitelka, et al. eds., Letters from Japan’s Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: Correspondence of Warlords, Tea Masters, Zen Priests, and Aristocrats (Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 2021). ISBN: 9781557291950.
- Optional (a cool animated map of the Ōnin War):
- “Part IV, The Tokugawa Peace,” pp. 1–27, in William Theodore de Bary, ed., Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume 2: 1600 To 2000 (Second Edition) (Columbia University Press, 2001). ISBN: 9780231129848.
- Ch. 31, “The Way of the Warrior II,” pp. 437–480, in William Theodore de Bary, ed., Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume 2: 1600 To 2000 (Second Edition) (Columbia University Press, 2001). ISBN: 9780231129848.
- “Akô Incident,” pp. 3–9, in Constantine Nomikos Vaporis, Samurai: An Encyclopedia of Japan’s Cultured Warriors (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019). ISBN: 9781440842702.
- Eiko Ikegami, “The Vendetta of the Forty seven Samurai,” in The Taming of the Samurai , pp. 223–240, (Harvard University Press, 1997). ISBN: 9780674868090.
- Jippensha Ikku, “The Monster Takes a Bride,” in An Edo Anthology: Literature from Japan’s Mega-City, 1750–1850 (University of Hawai’i Press, 2013), pp. 137–167. ISBN: 9780824836290.
- “Chapter Three: To Edo,” “Chapter Four: A View from the Tenement,” “Chapter Five: Samurai Winter,” “Chapter Six: Costumes for Urban Life,” pp. 59–160 in Amy Stanley, Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World (Scribner, 2020). ISBN: 9781501188534.
- “Chapter Seven: Troubles at Home,” pp. 161–194, in Amy Stanley, Stranger in the Shogun’s City: A Japanese Woman and Her World (Scribner, 2020). ISBN: 9781501188534.
- “Decay of the Tokugawa System,” pp. 273–281, in Lu, Japan: A Documentary History , Vol. 2 (M.E. Sharpe, 1997). ISBN: 9780765600363.
- [JE] Ch. 33, “Urbanization, Trade, and Merchants,” pp.344–365.
- The Autobiography of Baron Chōkichi Kikkawa (Yutaka Ibara, 1918), pp. 1–59.
Prerequisites & course information
Subject meets with 21G.554 Prereq: None U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-H
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2022
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.