Course Description
Japan's medieval world, focusing on the evolving political, social, and cultural make-up of the country from the 13th through the 16th centuries.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be challenged to read more extensively
and to integrate the materials more thoroughly, and will be
graded with higher standards and expectations than undergraduate
students. This will entail integrated reviews of primary
research in the field that is extended and applied towards a
topic of the students' choosing, and synthesis and critique of
the material as evidenced through more extensive essay.
Graduate students will produce a series of book reviews and
historiographical essays in lieu of the short papers and exams
required of the undergraduates.
Athena Title
MEDIEVAL JAPAN
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
The principal objectives of the course are to introduce students to the world of medieval Japan, and to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
Introduction The Heian Court Center & Periphery in Heian Japan The Birth of the Warrior Order The Gempei War The Founding of the First Shogunate The Unraveling of Centralized Rule The Kemmu Restoration & the Fall of the Shogunate The Ashikaga Shogunate Provincial Rule in Muromachi Japan The Onin War & the Rise of Daimyo The Age of the Country at War The Growth of Towns & Cities Social Mobility in an Age of Upheaval Drama & Visual Arts The Birth of a National Culture The Canons of Medieval Taste The Changing Place of Women