ASN 260 Popular Culture and Literary Traditions of Early Modern Japan
This course offers a survey of Japanese textual and visual culture from Japan’s early modern times (16th through late 19th centuries). We will learn about early modern Japan’s education systems, print history, and book culture, as well as forms of literacy that shaped Japan’s cultural and national identity. Through a wide range of popular literary and visual materials, we will analyze the modes of knowledge and information transmission and the roles they played in everyday life. To gain an intuitive experience of Japanese literary culture, we will carry out several hands-on activities such as rare books workshops and museum visits. Finally, we will turn to new forms of media that rose after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and how they influenced modern Japan’s cultural identity. The course is given in English and offered in alternate years. No prior knowledge of East Asian languages is required to take this course.