REC 6115 Japanese History and Culture
Andrea Pressello, Ph.D. ([email protected])
International University of Japan
Spring 2015
1. Course Description
This course examines the historical issues and processes in the political, economic, social, and cultural
formation of Japan, from ancient times to the immediate post-World War II period. The history of Japan will
be studied from two perspectives: the domestic dynamics and transformations, and Japan’s relations with the
external world. The main questions that will be addressed are: what are the major transformations in
Japanese history? What factors explain change and continuity? How did Japan interact with the world in the
course of its history? What are the characteristics of Japan’s cultural and social development? The course
will examine the formation of Japanese political institutions, the evolution of the religious and ideological
thought, the role of agriculture in the development of Japan’s society, Japan’s foreign relations, and the
development of Japanese art, literature, and traditions. A previous knowledge of Japanese history and culture
is not required.
2. Assignments
Students are expected to read the assigned material before class. Each student will choose one article from
the Reading Material list below and make a short presentation. The student in charge of making the
presentation is required to prepare a short summary (one or two pages) of the article and formulate two
questions which will then be discussed in class. The summary should be sent to the lecturer via e-mail
before class.
3. Short Essay
At the end of the course, students are required to submit an essay (2,000 words) on any of the issues related
to Japan’s history and culture discussed during the course. The essay should be sent to the lecturer via e-mail
([email protected]).
4. Grading method:
Attendance:
30%
Participation:
30%
Final essay:
40%
5. Course Plan
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Week 1: Introduction. Emergence of the Japanese civilization
Week 2: Formation of the early Japanese state
Week 3: Chinese influence and the establishment of a centralized state
Week 4: The Heian period and the development of a native culture
Week 5: The Kamakura bakufu and culture in feudal Japan
Week 6: Muromachi period: Cultural blossoming amid political confusion
Week 7: Encounter with the Europeans, emergence of castle-towns, and the unification of Japan
Week 8: The Edo period: political stability and economic transformations
Week 9: Society and culture in Edo Japan
Week 10: Wrap-up and class discussion
Week 11: End of the bakufu and restoration of the imperial authority
Week 12: Building a modern Japan and the study of the West in the Meiji period
Week 13: Economic modernization and social impact
Week 14: Political movements, thought, and institutions in Meiji Japan
Week 15: Building Japan’s international status and blossoming of modern literature
Week 16: Japan’s domestic and international consolidation during the Taisho era and society in the 1920s
Week 17: Japan’s society in the 1930s and the road to militarism
Week 18: Japan at war
Week 19: Social and political impact of defeat and the building of postwar Japan
Week 20: Wrap-up and class discussion
6. Reading Materials
Week 3: Chinese influence and the establishment of a centralized state
 Matsumae, Takeshi. “Early Kami Worship,” in Brown, Delmer M., ed., The Cambridge History of
Japan: Ancient Japan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Volume 1, 1993
Week 4: The Heian period and the development of a native culture
 Borgen, Robert. “The Japanese Mission to China,” Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 37, No. 1, Spring, 1982
Week 5: The Kamakura bakufu and culture in feudal Japan
 Collcutt, Martin. “The Zen Monastery in Kamakura Society,” in Mass, Jeffrey P. ed., Court and Bakufu
in Japan. Essays in Kamakura History, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. 1982
Week 6: Muromachi period: Cultural blossoming amid political confusion
 Hurst III, G. Cameron. “The Warrior as Ideal for a New Age,” in Mass, Jeffrey P. ed., The Origins of
Japan’s Medieval World, Stanford University Press, 1997
Week 7: Encounter with the Europeans, emergence of castle-towns, and the unification of Japan
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
Brown, Delmer M. “The Impact of Firearms on Japanese Warfare, 1543-98,” The Far Eastern Quarterly,
Vol. 7, N. 3 (May 1948)
Week 8: The Edo period: political stability and economic transformations
 Vaporis, Constantine N. “To Edo and Back: Alternate Attendance and Japanese Culture in the Early
Modern Period,” Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 23, N. 1 (Winter 1997)
Week 9: Society and culture in Edo Japan
 Hanley, Susan B. “Tokugawa Society: Material Culture, Standard of Living, and Life-Styles,” in Hall,
John Whitney ed., The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 4, Cambridge University Press, 1991
Week 10: Wrap up and class discussion
Week 11: End of the bakufu and restoration of the imperial authority
 Walthall, Anne. “Peripheries. Rural Culture in Tokugawa Japan,” Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 39, N. 4
(Winter 1984)
Week 12: Building a modern Japan and the study of the West in the Meiji period
 Nishikawa, Shunsaku. “Fukuzawa Yukichi,” Prospects: The Quarterly Review Of Comparative
Education, UNESCO: International Bureau of Education, Vol. XXIII, no. 3/4, 1993
Week 13: Economic modernization and social impact
 Beasley, William, G., “The Iwakura Mission in Britain, 1872,” History Today, Vol. 31, Issue 10, October
1981
Reference:
 De Bary, Theodhore Wm. Gluck, Carol, Tiedemann, Arthur E., “Sources of Japanese Traditions,”
Second Edition, Vol. 2: 1600 to 2000, Abridged, Part 2: 1868 to 2000, New York: Columbia
University Press, 2006:
 “Kido Takayoshi’s Observations of Education in the United States”
 “Kido on the Need for Constitutional Government”
 “Kume Kunitake’s Assessment of European Wealth and Power”
 “Kido’s observations on Returning from the West”
Week 14: Political movements, thought, and institutions in Meiji Japan
 Jansen, Marius B, ed.. The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 5, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1989, pp. 402-431 (“The Popular Rights Movement)
Week 15: Building Japan’s international status and the blossoming of modern literature
 Fukuchi, Isamu. “Kokoro And ‘The Spirit Of Meiji’,” Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 48, No. 4 (Winter
1993)
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Week 16: Japan’s domestic and international consolidation during the Taisho era and society in the 1920s

Wilson, Sandra. “Enthroning Hirohito: Culture and Nation in 1920s Japan,” Journal of Japanese Studies,
37:2, 2011
Week 17: Japan’s society in the 1930s and the road to militarism
 Kakegawa, Tomiko. “The Press and Public Opinion in Japan, 1931-1941,” in Borg, Dorothy and
Okamoto, Shumpei, eds.. Pearl Harbor As History: Japanese-American Relations 1931-1941, New
York: Columbia University Press, 1973
Week 18: Japan at war
 Asada, Sadao. “The Shock Of The Atomic Bomb And Japan’s Decision To Surrender: A
Reconsideration,” Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 67, No. 4, November 1998
Week 19: Social and political impact of defeat and the building of postwar Japan
 Dower, John. “Embracing Defeat. Japan in the Wake of World War II,” 1999, Chapter 11 (“Imperial
Democracy: Evading Responsibility”)
Week 20: Wrap-up and class discussion
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