Aspects of Japanese Culture 2
- Module Code:
- Unit value:
- Year of study:
- Year 1
- Taught in:
- Term 2
Lectures and seminars will focus on continuity and change in Japanese cultural history from early modern period to the Occupation.
Varied topics will be discussed, such as:
- women in Tokugawa Japan,
- early modern religious practice,
- Tokugawa power,
- the modern imperial institution,
- democratic movements
- and ultra right wing movements.
Objectives and learning outcomes of the module
Objectives: an introduction - using multiple methodologies - to key issues in Japanese history, 1600-1945.
- students will acquire basic understanding of issues in political, social, intellectual, literary and religious history.
- through presentations and written assignments, students will develop critical skills in speaking, discussing, thinking and writing.
Total of 11 weeks teaching with 3 hours classroom contact. Teaching is by means of interactive lectures, tutorials, and student presentations.
Scope and syllabus
Aspects of Japanese culture 2 is structured broadly chronologically, focussing on key themes in different periods: Tokugawa power; women in early Japan; Tokugawa literature, Tokugawa religion; the collapse of the Tokugawa; Meiji restoration; Meiji society; Meiji religion; Meiji literature; imperialism; people's rights; Taisho culture; Japan at war.
Method of assessment
One two-hour written examination taken in May/June (60%); one 2,500 word essay (40%) to be submitted on the last Monday, term 2.
- Marius Jansen, The Making of Modern Japan (The Belknap Press, 2000)
- The Cambridge History of Japan (Cambridge University Press, 1988-99)
- Collcutt et al., Cultural Atlas of Japan (Phaidon, 1988)
- Eisenstadt, S., Japanese civilisation: a comparative view (University of Chicago Press, 1996)
- Friday, Karl, Japan Emerging: Premodern History to 1850 (Westview Press, 2012)
- Lu, David J., Japan a Documentary History (M.E. Sharpe, 2005)
- Reischauer and Craig, Japan: Tradition and Transformation (Tuttle, 1978)
- Totman, Conrad, A History of Japan (Blackwell, 2005)
- Varley, H.P., Japanese Culture - 4th edition (University of Hawaii Press, 2000)