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21H.522

Japan in the Age of the Samurai: History and Film

Undergraduate · Historical course

Fall 2006

This course covers medieval Japanese society and culture from the twelfth to the nineteenth centuries, when political power rested largely in the hands of feudal warriors. Topics include religion (especially Zen Buddhism); changing concepts of "the way of the warrior;" women under feudalism; popular culture; and protest and rebellion. Presentations include weekly feature films. Assigned readings include many literary writings in translation.

Readings

  • Sadler, Arthur, tr. The Ten Foot Square Hut and Tales of the Heike . Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, 2005. ISBN: 9780766193369.
    Required
  • McCullough, Helen Craig, eds. Classical Japanese Prose: An Anthology . Stanford, CA: Standford University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780804719605.
    Required
  • Saikaku, Ihara. Five Women Who Loved Love . Boston, MA: Tuttle Publishing, 1955. ISBN: 9780804801843.
    Required
  • Kokichi, Katsu. Musui’s Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai . Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 1988. ISBN: 9780816510351.
    Required
  • Suzuki, Daisetz T. Zen and Japanese Culture . New York, NY: MJF Books, 1997. ISBN: 9781567311242.
    Required
  • Souyri, Pierre Francois. The World Turned Upside Down . New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780231118422.
    Recommended
  • SES #: 1 · TOPICS: Introduction · READINGS: Sadler, pp. 22-262.
    Reading assignment
  • Vol. 2. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha Ltd., 1987, pp. 263-267. ISBN: 9780870116209.
    Recommended
  • Shinoda, Minoru. “Kamakura History (1185-1333).” Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Vol. 3. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha Ltd., 1987, pp. 169-172. ISBN: 9780870116209.
    Recommended
  • Colcutt, Martin. “Muromachi History (1333-1568).” Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Vol. 3. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha Ltd., 1987, pp. 172-177. ISBN: 9780870116209.
    Recommended
  • Elison, George. “Azuchi-Momoyama History (1568-1600).” Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Vol. 3. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha Ltd., 1987. ISBN: 9780870116209.
    Recommended
  • Hall, John. “Edo History (1600-1868).” Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Vol. 3. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha Ltd., 1987, pp. 185-192. ISBN: 9780870116209.
    Recommended
  • SES #: 3 · TOPICS: Emergence of the Warrior Ethos · READINGS: Butler, Kenneth Dean. “The Heike Monogatari and the Japanese Warrior Ethic.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 29 (1969): 93-108.
    Reading assignment
  • SES #: 4 · TOPICS: Zen · READINGS: Suzuki, Chapters 1, 2, and 4.
    Reading assignment
  • SES #: 5 · TOPICS: Zen and the Samurai · READINGS: Suzuki, Chapters 5 and 6.
    Reading assignment
  • Inazo, Nitobe. “On Bushido.” In Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts . Edited by Donn F. Draeger and Robert W. Smith. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha, 1997, pp. 88-90. ISBN: 9780870114366.
    Recommended
  • Colcutt, Martin. “Bushido.” In Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan. Vol. 1. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha Ltd., 1987, pp. 221-223. ISBN: 9780870116209.
    Recommended
  • Yamaga, Sokō. “The Rediscovery of Confucianism” in Ryusaku Tsunoda, Em. *Sources of Japanese Tradition. * Edited by Theodore DeBary and Donald Keene. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1958, pp. 384-390.
    Recommended
  • Yamamoto, Tsunetomo. “Hagakure: The Way of Death.” Sources of Japanese History . Edited by David John Lu. New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 1974, pp. 250-252. ISBN: 9780070389021.
    Recommended
  • Ikegami, Eiko. “The Vendetta of the Forty-seven Samurai.” In The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997, pp. 223-240. ISBN: 9780674868090.
    Recommended
  • Sato, Hiroaki. “The Forty-Seven Samurai: An Eyewitnees Account with Arguments” In Legends of the Samurai . Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 1995, pp. 304-338. ISBN: 9780879516192.
    Recommended
  • Ueda, Akinari. “The House Amid the Thickets.” In Ugetsu Monogatari: Tales of Moonlight and Rain. Translated by Leon M. Zolbrod. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1974, pp. 121-132. ISBN: 9780048231161.
    Recommended
  • ———. “The Lust of the White Serpent.” In Ugetsu Monogatari: Tales of Moonlight and Rain. Translated by Leon M. Zolbrod. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 1974, pp. 161-184. ISBN: 9780048231161.
    Recommended
  • SES #: 11 · TOPICS: Medieval Aesthetics · READINGS: McCullough, pp. 1-26, 272-339, and 377-392.
    Reading assignment
  • SES #: 12 · TOPICS: Medieval Aesthetics (cont.) · READINGS: McCullough, pp. 393-421 and 472-551.
    Reading assignment
  • SES #: 13 · TOPICS: Zen and the Tea Ceremony · READINGS: Suzuki, Chapters 8-10.
    Reading assignment
  • Lu, David John. “The Japanese in European Eyes.” In Sources of Japanese History . New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 1974, pp. 193-196. ISBN: 9780070389021.
    Recommended
  • Elison, George. “How a Japanese Lay Monk and a Kirishitan Iruman Held a Debate on Religion.” In Deus Destroyed: The Image of Christianity in Early Modern Japan . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1974, pp. 338-348. ISBN: 9780674199613.
    Recommended
  • Morris, Ivan. “The Japanese Messiah.” In The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan . New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975, pp. 143-179. ISBN: 9780030108112.
    Recommended
  • Crihfield, Liza. “Yoshiwara.” In Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan . Vol. 8. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha Ltd., 1987, pp. 349-351. ISBN: 9780870116209.
    Recommended
  • SES #: 16 · TOPICS: Saikaku · READINGS: Saikaku, pp. 55-120.
    Reading assignment
  • Chikamatsu, Monzaemon. “The Love Suicides at Sonezaki” in Early Modern Japanese Literature . Edited by Haruo Shirane. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2002, pp. 242-259. ISBN: 9780231109901.
    Recommended
  • Dunn, Charles. “Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724).” In Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan . Vol. 1. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha Ltd., 1987, pp. 275-276. ISBN: 9780870116209.
    Recommended
  • SES #: 18 · TOPICS: Ecstasy and Self Destruction · READINGS: Chikamatsu, Monzaemon. “The Love Suicides at Amijima.” In Major Plays of Chikamatsu , Translated by Donald Keene. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 387-425. ISBN: 9780231074155.
    Reading assignment
  • Ackroyd, Joyce. “Women in Feudal Japan.” Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan 8, 3rd series (1959): 31-68.
    Recommended
  • Lu, David John. “Confucian Justice and the Wife of a Murdered Husband: A Criminal Case from the Year 1711.” In Sources of Japanese History . New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 1974, pp. 243-247. ISBN: 9780070389021.
    Recommended
  • Ekken, Kaibara. “The Greater Learning for Women.” In Basil Hall Chamberlain, Things Japanese . Yokohama, Japan: Kelly and Walsh, 1891, pp. 454-463.
    Recommended
  • SES #: 20 · TOPICS: Saikaku’s Amorous Woman/Mizoguchi’s Tragic Heroine · READINGS: Saikaku, pp. 121-210.
    Reading assignment
  • SES #: 22 · TOPICS: Repression and Protest in History and Film · READINGS: Chikamatsu, Monzaemon. “Gonza the Lancer.” In Major Plays of Chikamatsu . Translated by Donald Keene. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 270-312. ISBN: 9780231074155.
    Reading assignment
  • Aoki, Michiko Y., and Dardess, Margaret B, eds. “Sogo of Sakura.” In As the Japanese See It . Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii Press, 1981, pp. 1-4. ISBN: 9780824807603.
    Recommended
  • Morris, Ivan. “Save the People.” In The Nobility of Failure: Tragic Heroes in the History of Japan . New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1975, pp. 180-216. ISBN: 9780030108112.
    Recommended
  • SES #: 24 · TOPICS: Failed Samurai · READINGS: Kokichi, pp. 1-155.
    Reading assignment
Sources