The Age of the Samurai Fall 2019 HIS 364G/ANS 372
Class time Tuesday and Thursday: 1230P - 200P Location: ART 1.110
Instructor Dr. Adam Clulow Office: GAR 2.202 Email: [email protected] Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30-4 and by Appointment in GAR 2.202
Teaching Assistant Jing Zhai E-mail: [email protected] TA office hours: 12:30 to 2:00 at Prufrock's Java city (the coffee shop by the entrance of PCL library).
THE CLASS
Course Description
The samurai has captured the global imagination, occupying a unique cultural space and generating a remarkable proliferation of images across multiple genres. But who were these warriors and why have they come to assume such an outsized status? This course explores the complex and ever-changing figure of the samurai and with it the history of Japan. The focus is broadly on the period from 1185 to 1867 when Japan was ruled by a succession of warrior regimes, but we will also examine the evolution of samurai images and representations up to and including the present. The central concern is with the changing nature of the historical samurai across this long period and with the constant tension between the ideals put forward about the way of the warrior and the actual realities of samurai life. Across the class, we will investigate how and why the samurai emerged as a distinct group, how they changed across Japan’s long history and the nature of samurai representations.
Course Goals
By the end of the course, I hope you’ll learn the following:
1. To distinguish between recurring myths and the historical reality of the samurai 2. To understand the broad chronology of Japanese history from the premodern to the modern period and the changing role of the samurai 3. To place yourself in a historical place and time and to appreciate the complexity of the dilemma faced by Asano’s retainers, Confucian scholars and Tokugawa officials 4. To decipher scholarly debates over the emergence of the samurai and the nature of Japan’s warrior class 5. To grapple with the multiplicity of representations of the samurai and to understand why Japan’s warrior class has come to occupy an outsized role in the global imagination
Flags
This course fulfills the requirements for a Global Cultures Flag. At least one third of the course content requires an in-depth examination of the broader cultural context and perspectives of one or more non-U.S. communities, countries, or coherent regional groupings of countries, past or present.
REQUIRED BOOKS
The following books are required:
Ikegami, Eiko. The Taming of the Samurai: Honorific Individualism and the Making of Modern Japan (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997)
Constantine Vaporis, ed. Voices of Early Modern Japan: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life During the Age of the Shoguns (Boulder: Westview Press, 2013)
John Tucker, The Forty-Seven Rōnin: The Vendetta in History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018)
Nitobe, Inazo, Bushido, The Soul of Japan: An Exposition of Japanese Thought (Tokyo, 1899), available for free via archive.org
All of the required texts are available at the UT Co-Op. Additional required readings will be available via the Canvas course site. If you have problems getting hold of any of the readings please let me know as soon as possible. Please note that some weekly reading are optional and these are clearly marked. All other readings are required.
Optional texts
Friday, Karl. Hired Swords: The Rise of Private Warrior Power in Early Japan (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992)
Conlan, Tom. In Little Need of Divine Intervention: Takezaki Suenaga’s Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of Japan (Ithaca, NY: Cornell East Asia Series, 2001).
Benesch, Oleg. Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)
You can purchase these as background reading if you’re especially interested but they are not required for the class. We will read key excerpts which will be available via Canvas.
ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADING
Reading Responses – 10% (5 responses x 2% each) Map Quiz – 5% Periodization Quiz – 5% Akō incident Group Exercise (performance in class) – 5% Akō incident Reflective Essay – 20% (due November 21) Midterm– 25% (Short IDs and essay) Final exam – 30% (Short IDs and essay), during the regularly scheduled final time in exam week
Grading Scale
Students’ work will be assessed using the +/- scale:
Grading Scale: A 95-100 B+ 87-89 C+ 77-79 D+ 67-69 A- 90-94 B 84-86 C 74-76 D 64-66 B- 80-83 C- 70-73 D- 60-63
F 0-59 *Failure to turn in an assignment will result in 0 grade points
Midterm and Final
For the midterm and final exams, I will be distributing questions for study beforehand. This will be a long list of possible questions that may appear on the exam. You should study the full list of questions but not all of these will appear on the exam itself.
Reading Responses
During this class you will be required to complete five response grids about the secondary source readings. The blank grid template is posted on Canvas. These grids are designed to structure your reading and to help you situate individual works in a wider context. The grids must be submitted in pdf form via the Canvas assignments tab 24 hours before the start of the class for which the reading is assigned. So if the relevant class is on Tuesday at 12:30pm, the reading grid is due by Monday at 12:30pm. No grids will be accepted on primary source documents, such as the Vaporis readings so make you sure you only look at the secondary readings.
To make sure that everyone doesn’t respond to the same readings, we will split the class into four groups. If you have a preference for one group, please let us know as otherwise we will be assigning students randomly.
You will be required to Group A: Do your five reading grids in weeks 1, 2, 9, 10 Group B: Do your five reading grids in weeks 3, 4, 11, 12 Group C: Do your five reading grids in weeks 5, 6, 12, 13 Group D: Do your five reading grids in weeks 7, 8, 14, 15
The reading responses are designed to help you with the readings. They are also intended to stimulate discussion during individual weeks so be prepared to be called upon during class to contribute during one of your weeks.
Keep in mind that you should do all the readings for every class. The reading responses are a specific assignment, and this doesn’t mean you should neglect the readings in other weeks.
To help you get started, here is a sample reading grid filled in for one of the optional readings for week 2.
Reading Response Grid (Age of the Samurai)
Student Name: Sample Reading: Friday, Hired Swords
What kind of work is this? What is the This is the introduction to Karl Friday’s 1992 main topic? book, Hired Swords. Friday is concerned especially with the emergence of the samurai in the Heian period.
What are the main arguments or Friday argues that samurai emerged as a response interpretations? What are the key to the court’s desire to professionalize its military elements of those arguments? (Think forces and achieve maximal efficiency. He about historiography, that is prior suggests that the court was a powerful actor that scholarship on this issue and how this maintained a monopoly over force even as it reading relates to those) enfranchised the samurai. He challenges the Asakawa-Sansom thesis which suggested there was a total breakdown in central authority.
What issues and/or questions does this Friday ascribes considerable agency to the court. reading raise for you about the This makes the samurai seem like little more than samurai? List at least three issues or imperial tools. If the court was so good at questions that struck you while you manipulating the bushi, why did they lose control were reading in the end?
This looks a lot like private military companies like Blackwater etc. Is this an encouraging or a cautionary tale? In other words, does the bushi example show the value or danger of privatizing military force?
Friday dismisses past scholarship on the samurai as clearly wrong? But shouldn’t we consider when Asakawa was writing and what he was trying to argue for? Is Friday’s critique accurate or too harsh?
Akō incident Exercise
During this class, we will run an extended historical roleplaying exercise designed to simulate one of the most fascinating episodes in Japanese history known variously as the Akō incident or Chushingura or the 47 ronin. The exercise has two parts:
Exercise A: Responding to Asano’s death Exercise B: The Trial of the Ronin
To make this exercise work, we will be splitting the class into two sections which will meet separately. The total exercise is worth 25%. 5% of this will be based on your performance in the exercise itself and 20% on a reflective essay written after the exercise finishes.
We will be providing detailed instructions for each stage of the exercise as the semester goes on but here are the basics so you can get a sense of what is involved.
Exercise A: Responding to Asano’s death
The year is 1701. The retainers of the house of Asano Naganori have gathered at Akō castle to discuss what they should do in response to news from the capital that their master has been forced to commit seppuku for having attacked and injured Kira Yoshinaka, a shogunal official. As further punishment, the shogunate has also ordered the arrest of Asano Daigaku, Naganori’s brother and presumptive heir, the seizure of Ako castle and the disbandment of the house.
To make this exercise work, we will be splitting the class into two sections. Please note which section you’re in as you’re not required to attend class if your section is not in action that day. For the first exercise, your section will be divided into five separate factions each with around 8 students each. These are:
• Radical faction • Ritual seppuku (junshi) faction • Defend the Castle (rōjō) faction • House Restoration/Continuity faction • Abandon the domain faction
If you have a strong preference for joining a particular faction, please let us know via a sign- up sheet. Faction membership will be determined on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have no particular preference, we will randomly assign you to a faction.
The central question for this exercise is:
How should you respond to the shogunate’s action in forcing your master to commit seppuku?
Your goal is to convince a majority of students to vote for your faction’s proposed course of action. This will be settled by a series of anonymous ballots. Each faction will receive a specialized set of instructions, but you should also study the weekly readings for ideas.
When preparing, please keep in mind these general guidelines:
1. Assume you are in the year 1701. Although you will have a clear sense of what ultimately happened to the Akō retainers, do not let this influence your judgement. Your goal is to present your faction’s arguments in the most persuasive way possible. 2. The retainers are divided broadly into five distinct factions but there are other possibilities. Not everything should be viewed in terms of a zero-sum, black and white dichotomy. If you’re able to negotiate compromises or acceptable alternates, this is within the parameters of the exercise.
Timeline for Exercise 1:
Stage 1 (before class) – complete the readings, discuss your position, Stage 2 (before class) – write a letter to one of the other factions laying out your position and trying to persuade them of the futility of theirs Stage 3 (in class) – receive a letter from another faction, discuss the letter. If you receive no letter, you can draft a new letter to a second faction Stage 4 (class) – send an envoy or envoys to a different faction and receive an envoy to begin negotiations. Stage 5 (class) –Present your side’s case before the wider class. Each group should designate one or multiple representatives to present their case. Stage 6 (class) – Vote. And repeat the earlier steps if there is no consensus. Be prepared to send more envoys and engage in more discussion as it’s very rare for this to be settled in one round.
Exercise B: The Trial
The year is 1703. Two years have passed since the forced seppuku of Asano Naganori. His former retainers, who were made ronin after his death, have taken their revenge in a coordinated surprise attack that resulted in the death of Kira Yoshinaka. Following this act, the ronin have turned themselves over to the Bakufu to be tried. It is now up to a council of Bakufu members (effectively a kind of jury) to decide their fate.
In comparison to exercise A, this one has more individual roles. Each one comes with its own challenge and demands. The roles are as follows:
3 judges 13 Bakufu council members (jurors) 2 expert witness on vendettas (one for prosecution, one for defense) 6 interpretative witnesses (Confucian scholars) 1 fact witness (Kira house retainer) 7 members Prosecution legal team 7 members Defense legal team 1 Scribe
Role Responsibilities
Legal teams (7 • Review and analyze evidence plus 7) • Prepare written statements • Interview witnesses during pre-trial preparation • Opening statements • Examination and cross-examination of witnesses • Closing statements Suspects • Research a specific historical character (1 in total) • Deliver testimony before the court • Respond to questions Witnesses • Research a specific historical character or issue (9 in total) • Deliver testimony before the court • Respond to questions Judges (3) • Prepare for the trial • Adjudicate special questions and prepare written justification explaining your reasoning • Keep order in the court, oversee the two legal teams, make sure the trial stays civil and orderly • Ask questions of the two legal teams, manage questions from the jury • Decide on an appropriate punishment once a verdict has been reached Bakufu council • Review all the evidence (13 members) • Ask questions via notes to the judge • Discuss, debate and come to a unanimous verdict Scribe • Produce a record of the case • Provide an impartial observer who can be consulted on key points
This is a trial and as such, a verdict needs to be rendered at its conclusion. The key debate here is over the legality of the ronin’s actions and what their punishment should be if they are found guilty. It is inevitable that there will also be a discussion of the morality of the ronin’s actions. This is entirely appropriate.
There are two basic positions
• The prosecution’s position is that the ronin violated Bakufu law. The ronin’s actions were not only illegal but also immoral. Law and order must be maintained at all costs. They are clearly guilty and should be executed immediately. • The defense’s position is that the ronin acted appropriately and should be acquitted. They are thus arguing that the ronin’s actions were both legal but also moral. Hence the ronin should be set free and in fact commended for their actions.
The witnesses can be questioned by both sides. Some have a clear view, others are more neutral. When preparing, please keep in mind these general guidelines:
Assume you are in the year 1703. You will know what actually happened but do not let this influence your judgement. Instead, work on the understanding that anything could happen. If you are part of the Prosecution or Defense, you should work towards persuading the judges and the member of the Bakufu council (jury) to your point of view. If you are a witness, you should present your views on the case in a way that is consistent with your character.
There was no trial system in the Tokugawa period in the way we understand it today. The trial we will stage is therefore a historical anachronism but one designed to highlight the very real debates that took place in the wake of this episode. We will be running the trial according to a hybrid model so keep in mind that our goal is not to depict a modern American courtroom with its familiar features. The trial will run according to the following basic timeline:
Preparation Phase Legal teams – prepare your arguments. Interview witnesses to get a sense of their positions and how best to question them during the trial.
Preliminary Stage The judges are required to rule on a vital question related to the case:
• Was the revenge of retainers on behalf of their lord a legally valid vendetta?
The two teams can each call on their own expert witnesses, one favorable to the Defense, one favorable to the Prosecution. They should use their witnesses to build a strong case. The decisions taken here will inform the rest of the case so treat this preliminary phase with care.
Opening Statements (trial stage) Representatives for the two legal teams should present a basic overview of their case. The judges can ask you questions but the other team cannot. The members of the Bakufu council (jury) can ask questions via notes passed to the judges. The prosecution will go first.
Examination and Cross-Examination (trial stage) Here is a chance for both sides to interview witnesses that will help make their cases. There are two kinds of witnesses. Fact witnesses saw something and can be questioned on that basis. Interpretative witnesses have an opinion on the legality or morality of the ronin’s actions. The two teams want their witnesses to make statements that will help them build their cases. They will also need to cross-examine opposing witnesses but keep in mind that this had to be done in a courteous and respectful manner.
Closing Arguments (trial stage) Argue your case and try to dismiss any objections raised by the other side. You may wish to discuss concepts such as honor, loyalty, and morality. The prosecution will go first.
Jury phase The Bakufu councilors will deliberate in secret. They should decide on a verdict. The verdict must be unanimous, that is all 13 jurors must agree. This will likely take time so be prepared to convince your fellow councilors. Once a verdict is reached, a representative should explain the nature of the verdict and why it was reached to the judges.
Punishment phase The judges are now required to come up with an appropriate punishment. They should base this on the jury’s findings, but they can also exercise their own judgement to some degree. They will be required to justify this punishment in writing.
Akō incident Reflective Essay
At the end of the exercise, you should prepare a reflective essay of around 1000 words. This should consider the following questions:
1) What did you learn from this exercise? 2) In your final assessment, did the ronin act appropriately? Why? 3) In your final assessment, did the Bakufu make the right decision? Why? 4) Why does the Akō incident continue to fascinate us after so many years?
Note: This is a basic overview of the exercise. Detailed Instructions for each role will be provided closer to the exercise.
NOTES
• Please Note: I reserve the right to change this schedule and amend readings as necessary • All make up exams will be held at the official History Department make up time: Friday afternoons at 2 pm in Garrison Hall. Make up exams will only be given with approval of the instructor. You must have approval before the exam for a make up or document a verified emergency to request a make up after the exam. No other make up times will be offered. • You are very welcome to email me at any time at [email protected] and I will respond as quickly as I can. Please note that all emails should include the appropriate form of greeting (Prof. or Dr. Clulow) and be signed with your name. • My office hours: I encourage all of you to see me at least once during my office hours in GAR 2.202 (preferably more than once) and to discuss issues and topics that are of particular interest to you or strategies for the Akō exercise. I also strongly encourage you to use the Undergraduate Writing Center, FAC 211 or The University Writing Center in The Learning Commons at the PCL http://uwc.utexas.edu/ or 512.471.6222 to make an appointment. Both locations offer free, individualized, expert help with writing for any UT undergraduate, by appointment or on a drop-in basis. They work with students from every department on campus, for both academic and non-academic writing. Their services are not just for writing with "problems." Getting feedback from an informed audience is a normal part of a successful writing project. Consultants help students develop strategies to improve their writing. The assistance they provide is intended to foster independence. Each student determines how to use the consultant's advice. The consultants are trained to help you work on your writing in ways that preserve the integrity of your work. • All assignments must be submitted on Canvas except for the exams. I do not accept submissions of assignments by e-mail except under exceptional circumstances and as specified in this syllabus for particular assignments • Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations and a letter documenting such needs from the office of Services for Students with Disabilities area of the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement: http://diversity.utexas.edu/disability/contact-us/; e-mail: [email protected]; tel: 512- 471-6259 voice or Videophone 512-410-6644. Please be aware that accommodations adjustments will not become effective until I have a hard copy of your accommodations letter from the office of the Services for Students with Disabilities. • Students are expected to uphold irreproachable standards of academic integrity. Any form of academic dishonesty (cheating, plagiarism etc) will result in a grade of 0. See the website of the Office of the Dean of Students for academic honesty policies at UT. See www.utexas.edu/depts/dos/sjs. • In accordance with the Campus Concealed Carry legislation, all guns must be concealed at all times. If the instructor or a student sees a gun in class, the UT police will be called immediately per the UT implementation policy for the statute. • BCAL: If you have concerns about the behavior or well-being of another member of the campus community, call BCAL at 512-232-5050. • Do take a look at the History department’s terrific website Not Even Past which offers short articles and reviews on topics of interest to history students and anyone interested in history in general. See www.notevenpast.org • In this class, I hope to show a number of film clips but this will of course depend on working technology so this may vary.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES, ASSIGNMENTS AND READINGS
*Note: I reserve the right to change this schedule if necessary
Part 1: The Emergence and Development of the Samurai
WEEK ONE
29 August Introduction: Samurai as myth, Samurai as history
Readings: 1. Henry Smith, “The Paradoxes of the Japanese Samurai,” from Smith, ed., in Learning from Shôgun” (Program in Asian Studies, UCSB: 1980), 86-98. 2. Henry Smith, "Five Myths about Early Modern Japan" In Asia in Western and World History, edited by Ainslie Embree and Carol Gluck (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1997), 514-522
WEEK TWO
3 September Emergence of the samurai
Readings 1. Martin Collcutt, “The ‘Emergence of the Samurai’ and the Military History of Early Japan,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 56:1 (June 1996): 151-164 2. Ikegami, The Taming of the Samurai (Chapter 2: The Coming of the Samurai), 47-61 3. Friday, Karl. Hired Swords: The Rise of Private Warrior Power in Early Japan (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1992) [OPTIONAL READING]
5 September Genpei Wars and Outside Tests
Readings 1. Ikegami, The Taming of the Samurai (Rise of Honorific Culture, Vassalage and Honor), 72-82 2. Conlan, Thomas. In Little Need of Divine Intervention: Takezaki Suenaga’s Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of Japan (Ithaca, NY: Cornell East Asia Series, 2001), 1-18; 254-275
WEEK THREE
10 September Violence and Display in the Muromachi period
Assignment Map quiz during class
Readings 1. Ikegami, The Taming of the Samurai, Chapter 4 (The Rite of Honorable Death), 95-103 2. Thomas Conlan, “The Culture of Force and Farce: Fourteenth-Century Japanese Warfare,” Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies Occasional Papers in Japanese Studies, 1-21
Film clip: Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
12 September The Warring States and a World turned upside down
Readings: 1. Ikegami, The Taming of the Samurai (Expansion and Limitation of Ikki organizations), 132-138 2. Excerpts from the 17-article injunction of Asakura Toshikage (Asia for Educators) 3. Mary Elizabeth Berry, The Culture of Civil War in Kyoto, 11-54 [YOU CAN SKIM THIS READING TO GET AN OVERALL SENSE]
Film clip: Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
WEEK FOUR
17 September Piracy and Disorder on the Seas
1. Jurgis Elisonas, “The Inseparable Trinity: Japan’s Relations with China and Korea,” in John Whitney Hall, ed. The Cambridge History of Japan, Volume 4, Early Modern Japan (Cambridge, 1991), 249-255 2. Kwan-Wai So, Japanese piracy in Ming China during the 16th Century (Michigan State University Press, 1975), 178-185 3. Adam Clulow, “The Pirate and the Warlord,” Journal of Early Modern History 16.2 (2012): 523-542
Film clip Kagemusha (Kurosawa, 1980)
19 September Oda Nobunaga and the Military Revolution
Readings: 1. Asao Naohiro, “The Sixteenth-Century Unification,” in John Hall ed., Early Modern Japan (Cambridge University Press 1991), 40-53 2. Matthew Stavros, “Military Revolution in Early Modern Japan,” Japanese Studies 33.3 (2013), 243-261.
Film clip: Kagemusha (Kurosawa, 1980)
WEEK FIVE
24 September Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the invasion of Korea
Readings 1. Swope, Kenneth, Crouching Tigers, Secret Weapons: Military Technology Employed During the Sino-Japanese-Korean War, 1592-1598, The Journal of Military History 69.1 (2005): 11-41 2. Vaporis, Voices of Early Modern Japan, Weapons Control in Japanese Society, 79-84
26 September Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Tokugawa Settlement
Readings 1. Ikegami, The Taming of the Samurai (Tokugawa state formation, Frustration of the Tokugawa Samurai), 151-63, 218-22 2. Vaporis, Voices of Early Modern Japan, Chapter 12, 13 (Forging political order), 68-78
WEEK SIX
1 October The British samurai?
Readings 1. Antony Farrington, The English Factory in Japan, 1613-1623 (London: The British Library, 1991), 65-73. 2. Derek Massarella, Anthony Farrington, William Adams and early English enterprise in Japan (London: Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, 2000)
Film clip Shogun: The Mini-series
3 October The ‘Samurai’ in East and Southeast Asia
Readings 1. Adam Clulow, “‘Great help from Japan’: The Dutch East India Company’s Experiment with Japanese Soldiers”, in Adam Clulow and Tristan Mostert, The Dutch and English East India Companies: Diplomacy, Trade and Violence in Early Modern Asia (Amsterdam University Press, 2018) 2. Vaporis, Voices of Early Modern Japan, Chapter 17 (Regulating Foreign Relations), 98- 104
Investigate The Amboyna trial website www.amboyna.org
WEEK SEVEN
8 October Midterm 1
Part 2: The Crisis of the Samurai
10 October The Confined World of the Tokugawa Samurai
Readings 1. Vaporis, Voices of Early Modern Japan, Chapter 23, “Trying to Get by on a Fixed Income,” 128-133 2. Katsu, Kokichi, Musui’s Story: The Autobiography of a Tokugawa Samurai, trans. Teruko Craig (University of Arizona Press, 1988), ix-xxi 3. Constantine N. Vaporis, “Samurai and Merchant in Mid-Tokugawa Japan: Tani Tannai's Record of Daily Necessities (1748-54)”, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 60, No. 1 (2000): 205-227
Film clip Twilight Samurai (Yamada, 2002)
WEEK EIGHT
15 October The Crisis of the Tokugawa samurai
1. Excerpts from Hagakure (In the Shadow of Leaves) 2. Ikegami, The Taming of the Samurai, Chapter 14 (Hagakure: The Cult of Death and Honorific Individuality), 278-298 3. Vaporis, Voices of Early Modern Japan, Chapter 22 (The Social Estates), 124-27
Film clip: Twilight Samurai (Yamada, 2002)
17 October Akō incident Overview
Readings: 1. John Tucker, The Forty-Seven Rōnin: The Vendetta in History, Chapter 2, Eyewitnesses to Bloodshed 2. Bito, Masahide. “The Akô Incident, 1701-1703.” Monumenta Nipponica 58:2 (Summer 2003), 149-170
WEEK NINE
22 October Ako incident Exercise
The Akō incident (Exercise A, Section 1)
Readings: 1. John Tucker, The Forty-Seven Rōnin: The Vendetta in History, Chapter 3 (Ronin Schisms) 2. The Forty-Seven Samurai: An Eyewitness Account,” in Sato, Legends of the Samurai, 304-338.
24 October Ako incident Exercise
The Akō incident (Exercise A, Section 2)
Readings 1. John Tucker, The Forty-Seven Rōnin: The Vendetta in History, Chapter 5 (Confucian vs Confucian Debates) 2. Henry D. Smith, II, “The Trouble with Terasaka: The Forty-Seventh Rōnin and the Chūshingura Imagination”, Japan Review No. 16 (2004), pp. 3-65 (OPTIONAL READING)
WEEK TEN 29 October The Many Lives of Samurai Women
Assignment Periodization quiz during class
1. Ikegami, The Taming of the Samurai (Transformation of the ie and the Marginalization of Women), 123-127 2. Yamakawa Kikue, Women of the Mito Domain: Recollections of Samurai Family Life, trans. Kate Wildman Nakai. (Stanford University Press, 1996), 15-23; 169-74 3. Vaporis, Voices of Early Modern Japan, Chapter 4 (A Woman’s Place), 17-25
Film clip: Harakiri (1962)
31 October Performance and the Edo samurai
Readings 1. Constantine Vaporis, “Lordly Pageantry: The Daimyo Procession and Political Authority”, Japan Review 17.3 (2005): 3-54 2. Vaporis, Voices of Early Modern Japan, Chapter 5 (Fashion and Sumptuary Laws), 28-37
Time will be set aside in the lecture to prepare for the Akō incident Exercise B
WEEK ELEVEN
5 November Ako incident Exercise
Akō incident (Exercise B, Section 1)
Readings 1. John Tucker, The Forty-Seven Rōnin: The Vendetta in History, Chapter 6 (Confucian vs Confucian, Round 2)
7 November Ako incident Exercise
Akō incident (Exercise B, Section 2)
Readings 1. James McMullen, “Confucian Perspectives on the Akô Revenge: Law and Moral Agency.” Monumenta Nipponica 58:3 (Fall 2003)
WEEK TWELVE 12 November Tokugawa Troubles and Meiji transformation
Readings 1. Vaporis, Voices of Early Modern Japan, Sizing up the Foreign Threat, 119-22 2. Cohen, Mark. “The Political Process of the Revolutionary Samurai: A Comparative Reconsideration of Japan’s Meiji Restoration.” Theory and Society 4, 2 (2014): 139-168
14 November Saigo and the Samurai rebellion
Readings 1. Mark Ravina, “The Apocryphal Suicide of Saigō Takamori: Samurai, Seppuku, and the Politics of Legend,” Journal of Asian Studies, Vol 69 no. 3 pp. 691-721
Film clip: The Last Samurai” (Edward Zwick, 2003)
WEEK THIRTEEN 19 November From protest to government
Readings 1. Ishimoto, Mahito, ed, Remembering Aizu: The Testament of Shiba Gorō. Translated, with introduction and notes by Teruko Craig (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999), 1- 73
21 November Nitobe Inazo and the Creation of bushido
Assignment Akō incident Reflective piece due by 5pm on November 21
Readings 1. Nitobe, Inazo, Bushido, The Soul of Japan: An Exposition of Japanese Thought (Tokyo, 1899), skim the text 2. C. Cameron Hurst, III, “Death, Honor, and Loyalty: The Bushidô Ideal,” Philosophy East and West, 40:4 (October 1990), pp. 511-27.
WEEK FOURTEEN 26 November Reinventing the Military
Readings 1. Karl F. Friday, “Bushido or Bull? A Medieval Historian’s Perspective on the Imperial Army and the Japanese Warrior Tradition,” http://ejmas.com/jalt/jaltart_friday_0301.htm 2. Oleg Benesch, Inventing the Way of the Samurai: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Bushido in Modern Japan (Oxford University Press, 2014), Introduction, 1-19
Film clip Know Your Enemy: Japan (1945)
November 27-30 Thanksgiving
WEEK FIFTEEN
3 December The Samurai Postwar
Readings 1. Benesch, Oleg. “Reconsidering Zen, Samurai, and the Martial Arts”, The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus Vol. 14, No. 17 (2016): 1-23 2. Mishima Yukio, The Way of the Samurai: Yukio Mishima on Hagakure in Modern Life (Basic Book, 1977, originally in 1967), 3-29,
5 December Review for final