Instructor: Henry Smith (email: hds2; off: 412 Kent, x4-5033; msg: 854-5027)
Teaching Assistants: Chris Hill (email: clh20), Kerry Ross (email: klr28), Hideto Tanaka (email: ht82)
LECTURES: TUES and THURS, 10:35-11:50 am, 517 Hamilton
SECTIONS: Please note that you must attend one of the discussion sections; if you are not able to come at any of the follow times, you cannot take the course.
#1. Thurs 12-12:50, 522B Kent (CH)
#2. Thurs 5:10-6:00, 522B Kent (HT)
#3. Thurs 6:10-7:00, 522C Kent (HT)
#4. Thurs 7:10-8:00, 411 Kent (CH)
#5. Fri 10-10:50, 511 Kent (KR)
#6. Fri 11:11:50, 522C Kent (KR)
COURSE DESCRIPTION: A survey of the history of Japanese civilization from its origins to the present. Special attention will be given to social change and to the historical evolution of the idea of "Japan" in distinction to "China" and "The West".
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Examinations. Midterm (20%) and final (30%).
Discussion sections. Regular attendance and participation is required in weekly discussion sections (25%).
Paper. An 8-10 page essay analyzing a primary source (historical document, literary text, theatrical performance, or visual image) in its historical context (25%). The paper is due by 5 pm on Wednesday, Dec. 16, in the EALAC office, 407 Kent Hall.
READINGS:
The following three required books are available for purchase at Labyrinth Books (536 W. 112th St.). All are also available on reserve in the Starr East Asian Library. All other required readings will be from a two-volume xeroxed "Reader" available from Columbia Copy Center, 2790 Broadway (between 107th and 108th Sts, 865-1212) for $35. Phone in advance to reserve a copy.
1) Conrad Schirokauer, A Brief History of Japanese Civilization (Harcourt, 1993). $24.25. This is the basic textbook referred to as "TEXT" on the syllabus below. WARNING: This book is out of stock until late September: the first four weeks' assignments will be available at Columbia Copy Center.
2) Donald Keene, trans., Chûshingura: The Treasury of Loyal Retainers (Columbia Univ. Press. 1971), $14.50.
3) Natsume Soseki, Kokoro, trans. Edwin McClellan (Regnery
Press, 1966), $11.95.
A NOTE ON PRONOUNCING JAPANESE:
Vowels are pronounced approximately as in Italian: just remember "pasta, prego, and tutti frutti." Long marks (called "macrons"*) over the vowels "o" and "u" indicate not a change in sound but rather a prolongation in time, roughly twice as long as normal; it is as though the vowel were repeated (and in fact, in the Japanese writing system, the "long" vowels are written as two syllables, and some systems of romanization reflect this by using "oo" for ô and "uu" for û). The distinction between short and long vowels is a basic part of the Japanese language, and can often distinguish the meaning of two words: for example, kôshô means "negotiations," while koshô means "broken"; ogawa is a "small river," ôgawa is a "large river"; kuki means "stem" but kûki is "air."
Note that by convention, macrons are usually omitted from very common proper nouns like Tokyo, Kyushu, and Shinto (which should properly be Tôkyô, Kyûshû, and Shintô), and from common nouns that have become anglicized and do not appear in italics, such as "daimyo" and "shogun."
* Because vowels with long marks are not part of the ASCII character
set, they are often difficult to transmit digitally across platforms; the
emerging convention to deal with this problem is to use the circumflex
as a substitute: hence, you may increasingly see "ô" and "û"
[as on this Web page] instead of proper macrons. With the current
generation of Web browsers in particular, macrons are not yet possible,
so the circumflex is the best approximation. (The code, if you are interested,
is "◯" where "x" is the vowel over which you wish to place a
circumflex.)
WEEK I: INTRODUCTION: THE ORIGINS OF "JAPAN"
Tu. 9/8: #1. Where is "Japan"?
Th. 9/10: #2. Japan Before "Japan" [Text: 3-17: Read before lecture]
Reader: 1-8: Sources of Japanese Tradition: The Wei Chih account of the Japanese; Shinto legends.
On Web: 1) Sannai Maruyama Archaeological Site:
http://www.pref.aomori.jp/sannai/index-e.html
(Can also be reached by link from instructor's home page: http://www.columbia.edu/~hds2/)
Explore the Web site (especially "Enjoy with the Jyomon" and "The
Guide of the Sannai Maruyama Relic") in an effort to answer two questions:
a) What does Sannai Maruyama tell us about Jômon culture? b) What
does Sannai Maruyama tell us about contemporary Japanese attitudes to Jômon
culture?
2) Slide show, "The Grand Shrine of Ise," on instructor's home page:
http://www.columbia.edu/~hds2/ise/start.htm
WEEK II: NARA JAPAN : LEARNING FROM CHINA
Tu. 9/15: #3. The Problem of "Borrowing" [Text: 18-30]
Th. 9/17: #4. The New Capital of Nara [Text: 30-42]
Reader: 9-41: Sources of Japanese Tradition: Prince Shôtoku's Constitution; Chinese Thought & Institutions; Nara Buddhism [9-22]; Selections from the Man'yôshû [23-32]; Earl Miner, An Introduction to Japanese Court Poetry, ch. 1 [33-41].
SECTIONS: Come to class prepared to draw an outline map of Japan
and to locate the following places, with a more detailed inset showing
the five in italics: Kyûshû, Honshû, Shikoku, Hokkaidô,
Mt. Fuji, Sea of Japan, Inland Sea, Lake Biwa, Nara, Kyôto,
ôsaka, Kôbe, Edo (Tôkyô), Yokohama,
Nagasaki, and Nagoya. You can assemble this information from three different
maps in the textbook: frontispiece, p. 6, and p. 76.
WEEK III: HEIAN: DISCOVERING "JAPAN"
Tu. 9/22: #5. The Return to Familial Authority [Text: 45-53]
Th. 9/24: #6. The World of the Shining Prince [Text: 53-72]
Reader: 42-101: Heian Aesthetics and Murasaki Shikibu on the art
of the novel [42-45]; Selections from The Tale of Genji (Kiritsubo,
The Broom Tree) [46-68]; Selections from The Pillow Book [69-86];
Sources of Japanese Tradition: Saichô and Kûkai [87-101].
WEEK IV: MEDIEVAL JAPAN
Tu. 9/29: #7. The Rise of the Samurai [Text: 73-82, 96-99]
Th. 10/1: #8. Buddhism as the Soul of Medieval Japan [Text: 82-95, 99-113]
Reader: 102-156: Sources of Japanese Tradition, I: Genshin,
Hônen, Shinran, Nichiren, Eisai, Dôgen [102-29]; "An Account
of My Hut" (Hôjôki) [130-38]; Selections from The
Tale of the Heike [139-45]; Seami on art of the Nô [146-48];
Nô play "Atsumori" [149-52]; Kyôgen play "Busu" [153-56].
WEEK V: WAR AND UNIFICATION
Tu. 10/6: #9. The Evolution of Japanese "Feudalism" [Text: 114-23]
Th. 10/8: #10. Unification and the "Christian Century" [Text: 123-28, 130-40]
Reader: 157-213: Descriptions of Japan by Luis Frois and Joao Rodrigues
[157-73]; Fabian Fucan, "Deus Destroyed" [174-92]; John Hall, "The Castle
Town and Japan's Modern Urbanization" [193-203]; Oishi Shinzaburô,
"The Bakuhan System" [204-13].
WEEK VI: THE TOKUGAWA SYSTEM
Tu. 10/13: #11. The Tokugawa System [Text: 128-30, 141-44]
Th. 10/15: #12. The Taming of the Samurai [Text: 144-58]
Reader: 214-219: Sources of Japanese Tradition: "Laws Governing the Military Households"; Yamaga Sokô on Bushidô.
Also read: Chûshingura: The Treasury of Loyal Retainers
(complete).
WEEK VII: REVIEW AND MIDTERM
Tu. 10/20: #13. Review Session [Reader: 220-225]
Reader: 220-225: William Perry, "Examsmanship and the Liberal Arts: A Study in Educational Epistemology."
Th. 10/22: MIDTERM EXAM, will consist of four ID's (5% each: define,
date, and indicate historical significance in 50 words or less) and two
short essay questions (40% each).
NO SECTION MEETINGS THIS WEEK
WEEK VIII: LATE TOKUGAWA AND THE COMING OF THE WEST
Tu. 10/27: #14. Change in Late Tokugawa Japan [Text: 158-80]
Th. 10/29: #15. From "Closed" to "Open" Country [Text: 180-86]
Reader: 226-275: Walthall, "The Life Cycle of Farm Women in Japan"
[226-240]; Selections from Musui's Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa
Samurai [241-261]; "The Shinto Revival," Sources of Japanese Tradition,
II [261-75]
WEEK IX: THE MEIJI RESTORATION
Tu. 11/3: ELECTION DAY: No Class
Th. 11/9: #16. The Meiji Restoration [Text: 186-95]
Reader: 276-323: "The Arrival of the American" [276-82]; Thomas Smith,
"Japan's Aristocratic Revolution" [283-90]; Selections from Fukuzawa Yukichi,
An Encouragement of Learning and The Autobiography of Fukuzawa
Yukichi [292-323].
WEEK X: THE CRISES OF MODERNITY
Tu. 11/10: #17. Literature and the Nation in Meiji Japan (Chris Hill) [Text: 202-10,
227-31]
Th. 11/12: #18. Democracy, War, and Economic Change [Text: 196-201, 210-27]
Reader: 324-328: Tsubouchi Shôyô, The Essence of the Novel, selections.
Other: Natsume Soseki, Kokoro (complete). Available at Labyrinth
Books.
WEEK XI: THE COMING OF WAR
Tu. 11/17: #19. The Crises of the 1930s [Text: 231-46]
Th. 11/19: #20. The Road to Pearl Harbor [Text: 247-57]
Reader: 329-367: "Fundamentals of Our National Polity" [329-34];
Maruyama Masao, "Theory and Psychology of Ultra-Nationalism" [335-47];
Selections from Hilary Conroy and Harry Wray, Pearl Harbor Reexamined
[34867].
WEEK XII: WAR AS EXPERIENCE
Tu. 11/24: #21. The Experience of War Text: 257-63 + reader assignment
Reader: 368-402: John Dower, "Race, Language, and War in Two Cultures"
[368-82]; Selections from Haruko and Theodore Cook, Japan at War: An
Oral History [383-402]. Please read these before the lecture,
to be discussed in class.
THANKSGIVING BREAK: NO SECTION MEETINGS THIS WEEK
WEEK XIII: POSTWAR JAPANESE SOCIETY
Tu. 12/5: #22. The "American Interlude" [Text: 264-73]
Th. 12/7: #23. The Political Economy of Postwar Japan [Text: 273-83]
Reader: 403-448: John Dower, "The Useful War" [403-14]; "The Allied
Occupation: How Significant Was It?" [415-30]; Nosaka Akiyuki, "American
Hijiki" [431-48].
WEEK XIV: JAPAN TODAY
Tu. 12/8: #24. Society and Culture Since the War [Text: 283-297]
Th. 12/10: #25. Japan in the World: Rethinking "Japan" Current Events handout
Reader: 449-485: Shimizu, Ikkô, "Silver Sanctuary" [449-61];
Sakaiya, Taichi, "he Baby-Boom Generation"[462-80]; Marilyn Ivy, "Tradition
and Difference in the Japanese Mass Media"[481-85].
The final will consist of :