Aspects of Japanese Culture 1
- Module Code:
- Unit value:
- Year of study:
- Year 1
- Taught in:
- Term 1
Objectives and learning outcomes of the module
Objectives: an introduction to themes in pre-modern Japanese history employing multiple methodologies.
- students will acquire familiarity with issues in political, social, intellectual, literary and religious history.
- students will develop - through presentations and essays - 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 1 is structured both chronologically and thematically and deals with the following topics:
Early Japan in East Asia; imperial institution; Nara literature; Nara religion; Heian society; Heian literature; Heian religion; warrior culture in Kamakura; Kamakura literature; Kamakura religion; warrior culture in Muromachi; Muromachi society; Muromachi literature; Muromachi religion; state unification.
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 1.
- William Wayne Farris, Japan to 1600: A Social and Economic History (University of Hawai'i Press, 2009)
- 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)