INDEX
Early Modern Japan -- Origins of the Modern Japanese State
This course is a survey of the social, intellectual, economic, and political aspects of Japanese history from the mid-eighteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth century. Economic, social, and intellectual changes driving and accompanying Japan's emergence from isolation to world power status are emphasized.
E. H. Norman, Origins of the Modern Japanese State . [DS 882 N64 1975]
Isabella Bird, Unbeaten Tracks in Japan .
Shimazaki Tôson, Before the Dawn [Yoakemae].
Edward Seidensticker, Low City, High City .
Richard Rubinger, ed., An American Scientist in Early Meiji Japan .
Several articles will be distributed in class. Other materials will be on reserve.
Combined lecture and discussion on Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30-10:50 in 211 Wellman.
Three short papers (approximately seven pages). The short essays will be based on the required readings and lectures.
There are no prerequisites for this course. Students with no previous knowledge of Japan or early Japanese history may find it helpful to read Conrad Totman, Japan Before Perry . A copy of this will be on reserve (DS 835 T58) and can be borrowed from the instructor.
Monday and Friday 8:30-10:30 and by appointment.
This breakdown is meant to give you a rough guide to pacing your reading in anticipation of what will be covered in lecture. Specific dates for readings and lectures will be announced in class from time to time.
The readings are, with the exception of Norman, more descriptive than chronological, more concerned with social patterns than with political and economic events. The course will not proceed in a strictly chronological progression.
Material presented in lecture will more often challenge the interpretation found in Norman than support it. One goal of this course is to show you how and why various historians interpret a given historical event or a body of data differently.
Lecture material (including commentary given during slide shows) has equal (or greater weight) than material in the readings. If you know in advance that you are going to miss a lecture, you should ask the instructor to record it for you#
You must provide your own 120 minute tape for this.or arrange to get notes from one of the other students. You are equally responsible for material presented in the lectures and in the readings.
NOTE Sources below refers to Ryûsaku Tsunoda, et. al., Sources of Japanese Tradition Vol. II. This will be on reserve.
John Dower, "E. H. Norman and the Uses of History," pp. 3-102 in E. H. [required] Norman, Origins of the Modern Japanese State .
Origins , pp. 321-357. [required]
Shimazaki, Before the Dawn . [required]
NOTE Because of the length of this novel, you should begin reading it as soon as possible. Before reading it, look through the handouts on Tokugawa thought and economics.
Bird, Unbeaten , chap. 33-44. [required]
Sources , pp. 73-ff (on Ninomiya Sontoku). [suggested]
Bird, Unbeaten , chap. 1-33. [required]
Charles Dunn, Everyday Life in Traditional Japan . [suggested]
Sources , chap. 23, pp. 47-72. [suggested]
Sources , chaps. 22-24. [suggested]
Norman, Origins , pp. 358-388. [required]
Norman, Origins , pp. 211-273. [required]
Seidensticker, Low City, High City . [required]
Rubinger, An American Scientist . [required]
E. Kinmonth, "Nakamura Keiu and Samuel Smiles: A Victorian Confucian and [required] a Confucian Victorian."
E. Kinmonth, "Fukuzawa Reconsidered: Gakumon no susume and Its [required] Audience."
E. Kinmonth, The Self-Made Man in Meiji Japanese Thought: from [suggested] Samurai to Salaryman , chaps. 1-4. [HQ 1090.7 J3 K56 1981]
This may be read in lieu of the two articles noted above.
Norman, Origins , pp. 274-316 and 389-464. [required]
Sources , chap. 25. [suggested]
Kinmonth, Self-Made Man , chaps. 5-8, conclusion. [suggested]
Sources , chap. 25, pp. 156-210. [suggested]
Your last paper constitutes the final examination for this course. It and any other required work should be handed in by Saturday, 10 June.