Japanese Literature and History
email:
[email protected]
David Richard Cannell
Course Description If you have ever wondered about Japan’s past—for example, who the samurai were, where haiku poems came from, why Japan modernized so quickly, and so on—then this is the class for you. The idea of the course is to introduce you to representative literary texts from Japan’s major historical eras, which enable us to peer through the window of history and grasp the secrets of Japan’s past thereby illuminating Japan’s present. We will survey Japan from earliest times up to the present by focusing on the literature of four social groups, the aristocracy, the samurai, the townspeople, and modern Japanese. Being a survey course, much of the detail of Japan’s past will naturally be beyond the scope of our class, but the design of the course is to enable you to come away with a broad grasp of Japan’s history and build upon it through later study. Class Information Day/Time:
Wednesday, 16:40-17:40
Dates:
10 weeks, Nov 16-Feb 15
Location:
Bldg. #1 Seminar Room 3-4 6F, Yushima campus
Overview * 10-week course
* Meet once a week for 60 minutes
Tentative Schedule Week
Date
1
Nov 16
Introduction, orientation, Ancient Japan
2
Nov 30
*Bunkyo-ku Museum
3
Dec 7
Aristocrats 公家
Heian Period
4
Dec 14
Aristocrats 公家
Heian Period
5
Dec 21
Samurai 武家
Medieval Period
6
Jan 11
Samurai 武家
Tokugawa Period
7
Jan 18
Townspeople 町人 Tokugawa Period
Jan 25
No class
8
Feb 1
*Edo-Tokyo Museum excursion
9
Feb 8
Townspeople 町人 Tokugawa Period
10
Feb 15
Wrap-up
* Non-credit, no grades