Asian 31: Culture Clash, Aesthetics and Identity in Modern Japan
T/TH from 10:00 to 11:20 in 113 Fayerweather

(scroll down for syllabus and links to images and suggested readings)
Description: Japan can be characterized as a nation of complex, even contradictory, cultural inclinations. At times, foreign ideas and traditions have been embraced, imported, and appropriated with great zeal in Japan. Other periods of Japanese history have been marked by intense introspection, nationalism, and isolation. Definitions of Japan's cultural and national identity are often forged in the collision of these two extremes. After introducing students to the legacy of Japan's relations with the outside world before 1600, the colloquium will then engage students in a discussion of culture in Edo, Meiji, and modern Japan by tracing shifts from one extreme to the other in those periods. It will then examine material and artistic products that have resulted from this clash of cultures. Examples from literature, art, film, fashion, architecture, and design will be used to illustrate the major themes of the course and to facilitate discussion.

Requirements: Assigned readings are to be completed before class. Students will be expected to lead at least one class session during the course of the semester. Two short essays, approximately 1,000 words (4 pages) in length, will be assigned during the semester. The final paper, approximately 3,500 words (10-15 pages) in length, is due by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, May 13th. One-half letter grade will be deducted for each day an assignment is submitted beyond the due date. Attendance, timely completion of assignments and contribution to class discussion will factor into final grades.

The following books are available for purchase at the Jeffery Amherst College Store:

The Book of Tea, Okakura Kakuzô
In Praise of Shadows, Tanizaki Jun’ichirô
Naomi, Tanizaki Jun’ichirô
Japanese Culture, Paul Varley

A limited number of copies are also available on reserve for this course in Frost library. You are expected to come to class with a copy of the required reading in hand so we encourage you to purchase the above texts. Assigned reading in addition to the above texts will be distributed in reading packets and in-class handouts during the course of the semester. (Please note, a fee will be charged by the Department to cover duplication costs.). Suggested readings will be placed on reserve in Frost library or be made available on-line through the course website located on Professor Caddeau’s homepage under courses:

SCHEDULED FILM SCREENINGS

Unless otherwise noted film screenings will be held at 7:30 in Fayerweather 115. If you are unable to attend a scheduled film screening make arrangements to view the film in the media center before the class meeting in which the film will be discussed. The call number for the film, when available, follows the title, director, year released, and length of film. Films will normally be available at the reserve desk for the course, but please note that films without call numbers are personal copies, subject to limited availability.

2/12 WED Hakkenden (Takashi Anno, 90m, 1993)
3/2 SUN Topsy-Turvy (Mike Leigh, 1999, 160m; PN1997 .T676 2000 )
3/31 MON Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 160m,1954; PN1997 .S411)
4/2 WED Magnificent Seven, The (1960; John Sturges, 128m, PN1997 .M3414 1996 )
4/21 MON Japan-Three Generations of Avant Garde Architects (60m, NA1559.A5 A35)
4/27 SUN My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki, 86m, 1998, PN1997 .T64)
4/30 WED Blade Runner (Ridely Scott, 1982, 117m, PS3554.I3 D691)
5/1 THGhost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995, PN1997 .G4445 1998)

• Week 1 Course introduction
  
  • 1/28 Course overview and introduction to case study approach
    
    
  • 1/30 Jômon to Nara periods
    
  • read: Varley, Japanese Culture. Ch. 1 & Ch. 2; Joseph Kitagawa, “Prehistoric Background of Japanese Religion, in On Understanding Japanese Religion, pp. 3-40; Sugiyama Jirô, Classic Buddhist Sculpture–The Tempyô Period, pp. 13-24, 53-73.
    
    
• Week 2 The Pure Land Comes to Japan
  
  • 2/4 Heian period
    
  • read: Varley, Ch. 3 & Ch. 4; Ivan Morris, The World of the Shining Prince Introduction (xxiiv-xxvii & 1-14); "leisure activities of the aristocracy" in Ch. 6: (150-54), Ch. 7: “The Cult of Beauty,” (171-98); Sei Shônagon, Pillow Book, selections; Fukuyama Toshio, Heian Buddhist Temples–The Byôdo’in and Chûsonji, pp. 46-78; Alexander Soper, “The Illustrative Method of the Tokugawa ‘Genji’ Pictures” pp. 1-16.
    
    
  • 2/6 After the fall: post-Heian history and nostalgia
    
  • read: Varley, Ch. 5; Yoshida Kenko, Essays In Idleness (esp. sections: 7, 10, 13, 25, 31, 38, 55, 72, 81, 104, 137, 149, 242, & 243); Tanaka Ichimatsu, Japanese Ink Painting: Shubun to Sesshu, pp. 65-96; 105-129
    
    
• Week 3 Edo period and the other
  
  • 2/11 Namban--encounters with Western Barbarians
    
  • Varley, Ch. 6; Okamoto Yoshitomo, The Namban Art of Japan, pp. 114-116; 124-33; Michael Cooper, ed. They Came to Japan–An Anthology of European Reports on Japan, 1543-1640, pp. 251-272.
    
  • On reserve in Frost: Shin’ichi Tani, Namban Art, pp. 13-24 and scan plates; Fûzokuga : Nanban fûoku, vol. 16 of Nihon byôbue shûsei; Okamoto Yoshitomo, The Namban Art of Japan, pp. 9-25 & 68-92.
    A31 Images on line
    
    
  • Integrating Confucian Worldviews into Edo life
    
  • 2/12 film: Hakkenden
    
    
  • 2/13 read: Varley, Ch. 7; Haruo Shirane, ed. Early Modern Japanese Literature: Chapter 22: “Late Yomihon” pp. 885-909; Kôjiro Yûichiro, “Edo: the City on the Plain,” in Mildred Friedman, ed., Tokyo: Form and Spirit, pp. 37-52; Karen Gerhart “Chinese Exemplars and Virtuous Rulers.” In The Eyes of Power, pp. 35-71.
    
  • suggested reading: “Yomihon: The Appearance of the Historical Novel in Late Eighteenth Century and Early Nineteenth Century Japan.” Leon Zolbrod in Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 25, No. 3. (May, 1966), pp. 485-498.
    Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 18, No. 4, Special Issue: “Edo Culture and Its Modern Legacy. (1984).”
    
  • suggested reading: Gluck, Carol. “The Invention of Edo.” In Vlaston, Stephen, ed., Mirror of Modernity: Invented Traditions of Modern Japan, pp. 262-284.
    
  • view Edo depictions of Hakkenden in class
    
    
• Week 4 Edo defines itself--looking inward
  
  • 2/18 The Yoshiwara Pleasure Quarters in Art and Life
    
  • first paper due: on Nanban byôbu
    
  • read: Howard Hibbett, The Floating World in Japanese Fiction, 1959, pp. 23-35; 172-192 and The Chrysanthemum and the Fish, pp 11-30; Clark, Timothy. “Utamaro’s Portraiture.”; Seigle, Cecelia Segawa. Yoshiwara, the Glittering World of the Japanese Courtesan, pp. 14-52; pp. 169-203; Smith, Henry. “The Floating World in Its Edo Locale, 1750-1850.” In Donald Jenkins, ed., The Floating World Revisited, pp. 25-46.
    
  • suggested reading: “The Western Image of Japanese Art in the Late Edo Period.”, Toshio Watanabe in Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 18, No. 4, Special Issue: Edo Culture and Its Modern Legacy. (1984), pp. 667-684; Kobayashi Tadashi. Utamaro’s Portraits from the Floating World. New York: Kodansha International, 1993; Jones, Sumie. “Interminable Reflections–The Semiotics of Edo Arts.” In Jones, Sumie. Imaging/Reading Eros : Proceedings For The Conference, Sexuality And Edo Culture, 1750-1850. Bloomington: East Asian Studies Center, 1996, pp. 83-94.
    
  • suggested reading: “Tales of Samurai Honor. Saikaku's Buke Giri Monogatari.”, Caryl Callahan; Ihara Saikaku in Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 34, No. 1. (Spring, 1979), pp. 1-20.
    
    
  • 2/20 Noh and Nostalgia
    
  • read: Varley Ch. 8; Zeami’s treatise on Noh: A Mirror Held to the Flower (Kakyô), “Entering the Realm of Grace” 92-95.
    
  • view: Gagaku and Noh performances in class
    
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• Week 5
  
  • 2/25 Kabuki and Kabuki prints
    
  • read: “Zen Substitute” in Traditional Asian Plays, edited and introduced by James R. Brandon; C. Andrew Gerstle, “Flowers of Edo: Kabuki and its patrons,” in 18th Century Japan: Culture and Society, pp. 33-50; Sebastian Izzard, Kunisada’s World, pp. 19-40.
    
  • suggested reading: Roger Keyes, and George Kuwayama, The Bizarre Imagery of Yoshitoshi (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1980),pp. 8-21 and skim plates; Robert Schaap, Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi (Leiden: Hotei, 1998), introduction
    
  • view: Kabuki prints and images from Zen Substitute in class
    
    
  • 2/27 Rangaku ---Hiraga Gennai
    
  • read: “Rangaku and Westernization.” Marius B. Jansen in Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 18, No. 4, Special Issue: Edo Culture and Its Modern Legacy. (1984), pp. 541-553; “When the Twain First Met: European Conceptions and Misconceptions of Japan, Sixteenth-Eighteenth Centuries”. C. R. Boxer in Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 18, No. 4, Special Issue: Edo Culture and Its Modern Legacy. (1984), pp. 531-540; Calvin French, Through Closed Doors, pp, 121-132 and skim entries pp. 132-166; Timon Screech, The Lens Within the Heart, pp. 133-165.
    
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• Week 6 Meiji: Telling Old Stories in New Ways
  
  • 3/2 film: Topsy-Turvy (Mike Leigh, 1999, 160m)
    
    
  • 3/4 Kiyochika, Rokumeikan, Western Influenced architecture
    
  • read: Varley, Ch. 9; Guth, Christine. "Japan 1868-1945: Art, Architecture and National Identity." Art Journal, vol. 55, no. 3 (1996), pp. 16-20; Meech-Pekarik, Julia. The World of the Meiji Print, pp. 62-110; Watanabe, Toshio. "Josiah Condor's Rokumeikan: Architecture and National Representation in Meiji Japan. Art Journal, vol. 55, no. 3 (Fall 1996), pp. 21-27.
    
    
  • suggested readings: Coaldrake, William. Architecture and Authority in Japan. London and New York: Routledge, 1996, pp. 208-250.
    
    
  • 3/6 read: Varley, Ch. 10; Mori Ogai, "Under Reconstruction, " pp. 35-44; Kanagaki Robun, "The Beefeater," pp. 31-33; Hattori Busho, "The Western Peepshow."  pp. 34-36; Five plays by Kishida Kunio; edited by David G. Goodman ; with translations by David G. Goodman, Richard McKinnon, and J. Thomas Rimer (PL832.I8 A6 1989)
    
  • suggested reading: "Japan's First Modern Theater." The Tsukiji Shogekijo and Its Company, 1924- 26.” Brian Powell in Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 30, No. 1. (Spring, 1975), pp. 69-85; “Modern Japanese Theatre: The French Connection.” J. Thomas Rimer in The Journal of the Association of Teachers of Japanese, Vol. 11, No. 1. (Jan., 1976), pp. 37-46; “The Stage Observed. Western Attitudes Toward Japanese Theatre.” Ury Eppstein in Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 48, No. 2. (Summer, 1993), pp. 147-166.
    
  • view: scenes from Ozu Yasujirô’s I was born, but. . . in class
    
  • begin reading Tanizaki’s Naomi. The complete novel will be discussed in class next week.
    
    
• Week 7 Fascination with the West
  
  • 3/11 read: Tanizaki, Naomi. “On Naturalizing and Making Strange: Japanese Literature in Translation.” in Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 16, No. 1. (Winter, 1990), pp. 115-132.
    
    
  • 3/13 read: Okakura, Book of Tea;Chanoyu or The Tea Philosophy of Japan a Western Evaluation”. A. L. Sadler in Pacific Affairs, Vol. 2, No. 10. (Oct., 1929), pp. 635-644; “On Idealism and Realism in the Thought of Okakura Tenshin” F. G. Notehelfer in Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2. (Summer, 1990), pp. 309-355.
    
    
  • 3/14 (FRI) Second paper due: On Naomi and Western Obsession
    
    
  • SPRING RECESS March 16-23
    
    
• Week 8 Meiji
  
  • 3/25 Lecture by Professor Chris Benfy
    
    
  • 3/27 Patrick Caddeau,“From Morals to Melancholy”and Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows
  • suggested reading: “An Undercurrent in Modern Japanese Literature.” Jun Eto in Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 23, No. 3. (May, 1964), pp. 433-445.
    
    
• Week 9 Film: Of Samurai and Gunfighters
  
  • 3/31 film: Shichinin no samurai (1954)
    
    
  • 4/1 read: David Dresser, The Samurai Films of Akira Kurosawa: Chapter 3: “Kurosawa and the West” to “Seven Samurai” pp. 57-9. (On reserve in Frost: PN1995.9.S24 D47 1983)
    
    
  • 4/2 film: Magnificent Seven, The (1960; dir. John Sturges)
    
    
  • 4/3 Read: Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Old and New Japonisme: The Tokugawa Legacy and Modern European Images of Japan in Modern Asian Studies, Vol. 18, No. 4, Special Issue: Edo Culture and Its Modern Legacy. (1984), pp. 757-768;
  • Suggested reading: Donald Richie, The Japanese Film: Art and Industry
    
  • view Fluxus films at Mead Art Museum (Mirdori Yoshimoto)
    
    
• Week 10 Modernism in Tradition-Japanese Contemporary Art
  
  • 4/8 Fluxus and Conceptual Art-Hiroshi Sugimoto, Yoko Ono and Kubota Shigeko
    
  • read: ara, A Primal Spirit. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1990., pp. 9-14; Munroe, Alexandra. "Circle--Modernism and Tradition." In Japanese Art After 1945-Scream Against the Sky, pp. 125-135; -----. "The Laws of Situation-Mono-ha and Beyond the Sculptural Paradigm." In Japanese Art After 1945-Scream Against the Sky, pp. 257-283.
    
    
  • 4/10 read: Munroe, Alexandra. "A Box of Smile: Tokyo Fluxus, Conceptual Art and the School of Metaphysics." In Japanese Art After 1945-Scream Against the Sky, pp. 215-255
  • Lecture by Reiko Tomii, independent artist at 4:30 pm in Fayerweather 113: "When Art Becomes a Crime"
    
    
• Week 11 Literature and the Cosmopolitan
  
  • 4/15 read: Murakami Haruki, Norwegian Wood *(purchase in class)*
    
  • 4/17 read: Murakami Haruki, Norwegian Wood; Beyond "Pure" Literature: Mimesis, Formula, and the Postmodern in the Fiction of Murakami Haruki.” Matthew C. Strecher in Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 57, No. 2. (May, 1998), pp. 354-378.
    
    
• Week 12 Modernism in Tradition-Japanese Contemporary Architecture
  
  • 4/21 film: Japan-Three Generations of Avant Garde Architects (NA1559.A5 A35)
    
  • 4/22 Japanese Contemporary Architecture
    
  • read: “Contemporary Architecture” in Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia
    
  • suggested reading: Coaldrake, William. Architecture and Authority in Japan. London and New York: Routledge, 1996, pp. 251-277.
    
    
  • 4/24 Andô Tadao and Shin Takamatsu
    
  • read: Tom Heneghan, “Tadao Ando: Architecture and Ethics” pp. 11-22; Franpton, Kenneth, ed. Tadao Ando-Buildings, Projects, Writings, pp. 24-25; 128-142.
    
    
• Week 13 Japan-imation: Dysfunctional Worlds and Their Heroes
  
  • 4/27 film: My neighbor Totoro
    
    
  • 4/29 Nostalgia and Escape: Miyazaki Hayao master of escape
    
  • read: “My Neighbor Totoro” pp. 116-38.
    
    
  • 4/30 film:Blade Runner (Ridely Scott, 1982, 117m)
    
    
  • 5/1 Technology and Modernity: Blade Runner, Metropolis, Akira
    
  • read: Philip K. Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (selection)
    
  • view:Ghost in the Shell and The Matrix scenes in class
    
  • read: “Panic Sites: The Japanese Imagination of Disaster from Godzilla to Akira.” Susan J. Napier in Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 19, No. 2. (Summer, 1993), pp. 327-351.
    
    
  • 5/1 film: Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995)
    
    
• Week 14 The Japan Mystique: Essentializing Japan
  
  • 5/6 Outsiders: Kerr, Alex. Lost Japan. Melbourne: Lonely Planet, pp. 169-199, Richie, Donald. The Inland Sea. Tokyo: Weatherhill, 1971, pp. 90-102; 258-270; Kinsella, Sharon. "Cuties in Japan." In Skov, L and Brian Moeran, eds. Women, Media and Consumption in Japan, pp. 220-254; Nitschke, Gunter, From Shinto to Ando. London: Academy Editions, 1993, pp. 63-83; Henri Beard, Zen for Cats.
    
  • 5/8 Insiders: Kenji Ekuan, The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunch Box; Kazari catalogue; Tsuzuki, Kyôichi. Roadside Japan. Tokyo: Aspect, 1997; Aoki Shûichi. “Fruits”. New York: Phaidon, 2001.
    
    
• Reading Period 5/12-13
  
• Final paper due in Webster 106 by 5:00 pm on Tuesday, May 13th.

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