EAST 333
WINTER 2014
LECTURE OUTLINES
UNIT ONE
JAPAN: PHYSICAL SETTING, RACIAL ORIGINS, MYTHOLOGY, SOCIETAL
FORMATION, HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
PHYSICAL SETTING
1. Features
a. Archipelago
b. Inland Sea, Sea of Japan
c. Korea (210 km. by sea), China ( 850 km. by sea).
d. Kyoto, Osaka, Edo (Tokyo), Yamato Plain, Kanto Plains
e. Mostly mountainous
2. Climate
a. Temperature:
b. Precipitation
JAPAN: RACIAL ORIGINS
1. Micronesia or Southeast Asia: Jōmon culture.
2. Manchu-Korean: Yayoi culture.
3. Ainu
KOREAN INFLUENCE
1. Racial contribution
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2. Japanese aristocracy: "horse-rider" theory
3. Language
4. Religious and skilled migrants
5. Later significance
MYTHOLOGY
1. Content
2. Historical role: link to power
SOCIETAL FORMATION
1. Primitive pre-300 C.E.:
1.1 Yayoi 3rd cent. B.C.E. replaces Jōmon culture
1.2 Formation of clans (uji)
1.3 Two population centres during the Yayoi period (250 B.C.E. – 250 C.E.) near
Nara and northern Kyushu (13).
1.4 Unification by ruling family
1.5 Guild like associations
LATER HISTORY
1. Two main periods: monarchial and feudal
1.1 Monarchial 300-1185 (Yamato, Nara, Heian)
a. Yamato
b. Emperor's position as facade
c. Influence of Buddhism
d. Power of style
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1.2 Feudal 1185-1868 (Kamakura, Ashikaga, Tokugawa)
1.2.1 What is feudalism?
1.2.2 Japanese feudalism
1.2.3 Tokugawa (1600-1868)
a. Leadership: Tokugawa Ieyasu
b. Government: centralized feudalism
c. Structure of power
Shogun
Daimyo (local chieftains)
Vassals (retainers)
d. Influence of Confucianism and Zen
d.1 Confucianism
d.2 Zen
e. Commerce and merchants
f. Foreigners
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EAST 331 UNIT TWO
JAPAN: CHINESE INFLUENCE, STATE FORMATION,
ROLE OF EMPEROR, JAPANESE LANGUAGE
CHINESE INFLUENCE
1. First contact
1.1 Indirect
1.2. Direct
2. Writing system
3. Confucian values
4. Buddhism
4.1 Sanctioning authority
4.2 Spread to commoners
5. Differences from China
STATE FORMATION
1. Role of Chinese thinking in developing and unifying the country
1.1 Emperor
1.2 Permanent capital city
1.3 Bureaucracy
1.4 Regulations and laws
1.5. Taxation
1.6 Army
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2. Promotion of aristocracy
3. Heian (Kyoto) court
3.1 Cultivation as legitimization
ROLE OF EMPEROR
1. Formation of role
1.1 Political development
1.2 Mythology
1.3 Religious duties
2. Figurehead position
3. Evolution during Tokugawa
3.1 Figurehead
3.2 Increased status with "National Learning"
3.3 Alternative to Shogunate
JAPANESE LANGUAGE
1. Difficulty
2. Written Language:
2.1. Kana (phonetic script):
2.1.1 Hiragana
2.1.2 Katakana
2.2 Kanji: Chinese characters
3. Inflection
3.1 Inflectional forms on verbs and adjectives:
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3.1.1 verb
3.1.2 adjectives:
3.2 Use of inflection and phrase endings
4. Honorifics
5. Early literary works:
5.1 Kojiki (Record of Ancient Matters) 712 C.E.
5.2 Nihon shoki (Nihonji) (Chronicles of Japan) 720
5.3 Man'yōshū (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves) 759
6. Power of literacy
EDUCATION
1. Monarchial period (300-1185)
2. Feudal period (1185-1868)
2.1 Pre-Tokugawa (1185-1600)
2.2 Tokugawa (1600-1868)
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UNIT THREE
RELIGION: INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS (JAPANESE SHINTO, KOREAN
SHAMANS, VIETNAMESE POPULAR GODS); BUDDHISM
INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS -- JAPANESE SHINTO
1. What is Shinto
2. Characteristics
3. History of Shinto:
3.1 Mythology
3.2 Synthesis with Buddhism
3.3 School of National Learning
4. Contribution to Japanese identity
4.1 Pre-Tokugawa
4.2 School of National Learning
5. Folk festivals
6. Deeper religious significance
INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS -- KOREAN SHAMANS
1. Basic principles and means
2. Link between ritual and political power
3. Myth of Tan'gun
4. Challenge of Buddhism
5. Specific rituals
INDIGENOUS RELIGIONS -- VIETNAM
1. Triple Religion
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1. 1 Confucianism
1.2 Buddhism
1.3 Daoism
2. Popular gods
3. Ancestor worship
BUDDHISM
1. Religious principles
1.1 Goals
1.2 Precepts
1.2.1 Four Noble Truths
1.2.2 Noble Eightfold Path
1.3 Methods
2. Buddhism in Korea
2.1 Synthesis
2.2 Government regulation
3. Buddhism in Japan
3.1 Early Japanese Buddhism
3.2 Zen
3.2.1 History
3.2.2 Philosophy
3.2.3 Two schools: Sōtō and Rinzai
3.2.4 Adoption by Samurai
3.3 Pure Land
3.4 State control
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UNIT FOUR
JAPAN: SAMURAI
ORIGINS
1. Power devolving to hinterland
1.1 Economic
1.2 Talent
2. Need for rule of force
EARLY DEVELOPMENT
1. Leadership roles to those with force
2. Expediency over ideal of greater good
3. Loyalty to one's band
4. History of conflict
-Warring States Period (1467-1573)
REFINEMENT IN TOKUGAWA
1. Confucian thinking
1.1 Literacy
1.2 Morality
2. Influence of Zen
3. Creation of bushido: the way of the warrior
4. Seppuku: Ideal or obsession?
UNIT FIVE
JAPANESE AESTHETICS
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STATUS OF AESTHETICS
HISTORY OF AESTHETICS
1. Heian Period (794-1185)
1.1 Classical period
1.2 Role of taste
2. Rise of the Samurai (1185-1600)
2.1 Zen
3. Tokugawa (1600-1868): two major cultural trends
3.1 Samurai: Zen art forms
a. Nō
b. Flower arrangement
c. Rock garden
d. Tea ceremony
e. Screen painting
3.2 Townspeople (ukiyo 浮世, "floating world)
POPULAR ART FORMS OF THE TOKUGAWA
1. Prose fiction: Ihara Saikaku Life of an Amorous Woman
2. Kabuki
3. Puppet theatre (bunraku)
4. Woodblock prints (ukiyo-e or pictures of the floating world)
5. Haiku poetry
THE BEAUTY OF HAIKU
1. Simplicity of haiku is deceptive.
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2. Highly evocative
3. Series of images often taken from nature
4. Qualities of haiku
a. images are from nature, therefore, universal
b. there is a lack of detail, which is a quality of minimalism
c. compression of beauty
d. there is association with the images, which evokes and stimulates the imagination
e. focus on the moment
f. sensual, experiential, non-intellectual
g. there is a twist, unexpected, which creates insight
CHARACTERISTICS OF JAPANESE AESTHETICS
1 Mono no aware (物の哀れ): pathos (sensitivity to things)
2. Wabi-sabi (侘錆)
3. Yūgen (幽玄) : "mystery, profundity"
4. kashi (可笑しい): something which produces a smile or amusement, sometimes
with a touch of sadness or irony.
5. Iro (色), colour of life, sensual pleasure.
TEA CEREMONY
UNIT SIX
JAPAN: INTELLECTUAL AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE
TOKUGAWA (1600-1868)
UNIQUENESS OF TOKUGAWA ERA
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1. Military elite but 265 years of peace in relative isolation
2. Dynamic economic changes
3. Rich cultural development
UNIFICATION
1. Pre-Tokugawa
1.1 Disunity
1.2. Destruction preceding unification
1.3 "The Three Unifiers": Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu
POLITICAL STRUCTURE
1. Centralized feudalism
1.1 Early feudalism
1.2 Tokugawa
1.3 Structure of power
a. Shogunate
b. Daimyō
c. Tokugawa retainers
1.4 Registration of population
2. Class Structure
a. Samurai-bureaucrats
b. Farmers
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c. Artisans
d. Merchants
2.1 Samurai
2.2 Emperor
2.3 Farmers
3. Two contradictory trends
3.1 Absolutism
3.2 Democratic (dissemination of power)
4. Ideology: Neo-Confucianism
4.1 Name "Neo-Confucianism"
4.2. Attractions
ECONOMY
1. Growth of a consumer economy
2. Early emphasis on agriculture
2.1 Importance of rice production
2.2 Redistribution of land
2.3 Organization of the village
2.3.1 Socialization
3. Urbanization
3.1 Three metropolises:
a. Kyoto
b. Osaka
c. Edo
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4. Manufacturing
4.1 Artisans
4.2 Farmers
4.3 Samurai and merchant houses
5. Commercial development
5.1 General situation
5.2 Increasing demand and diversification
5.3 Low taxation
5.4 Development of merchant houses
5.5 Social change
STATUS OF WOMEN
1. Early matriarchal society
2. Tokugawa
2.1 Confucian values
2.2 Actual situation
2.3 Gradual decline
FOREIGN CONTACT
1. Christian Missionaries
2. Early Western influence
3. Reaction to Christian Missionaries
4. Isolation
5. Later interest in Western science
6. Outcome of isolation
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UNIT SEVEN
JAPAN: TOKUGAWA DECLINE, INTELLECTUAL FOMENT, LARGE SCALE
WESTERN CONTACT, AND JAPANESE RESPONSE
TOKUGAWA DECLINE
1. Domestic Political Decline
2. Economy
3. Intellectual Foment
JAPANESE AWARENESS OF FOREIGN ACTIVITIES OUTSIDE ITS BORDERS
LARGE SCALE WESTERN CONTACT: EVENTS LEADING TO THE OPENING OF JAPAN'S
BORDERS
1. Foreign Intervention
2. Japanese Response
2.1 Tolerance while strengthening defenses
2.2 Continued isolation combined with strong nationalism
2.3 Advocates for greater contact with West
2.4 Search for consensus
3. Arrival of Commodore Perry
4. Increase of foreign involvement
FALL OF THE TOKUGAWA
CHARACTERISTICS IN DEFINING JAPAN'S RESPONSE TO THE WEST
1. Positive
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1.1 Feudalism
1.2 Commerce
1.3 Education
1.4 Historical background of having learned from China and Korea
1.5 Attraction of knowledge having direct economic value
1.6 Religious status of emperor helped to unify the country.
1.7 Military ideology.
1.8 Isolation led to the quick rise of nationalism.
2. Negative
2.1 Static social hierarchy
2.2 Gender relations
2.3 Degree of decentralization
2.4 Exposed to foreign sea power.
2.5 Choice to engage West when militarism was the West's strong point
JAPAN'S RESPONSE COMPARED TO CHINA'S
1. Initial appearance of Japan's weakness
2. Response actually stronger
3. Attitude
4. Diversity of response provided better choice
5. National integration
6. Political system less stable
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UNIT EIGHT
KOREA: THE LAND, THE PEOPLE, EARLY HISTORY, RELATIONS WITH CHINA,
CLAN CONSCIOUSNESS
THE LAND
1. Name “Korea
2. Geography
3. Farming
4. Two rivers as boundaries
5. Climate
THE PEOPLE
EARLY HISTORY
RELATIONS WITH CHINA
CLAN CONSCIOUSNESS
1. Influence of geography
2. Restrictions on clan membership
EAST 333
UNIT NINE
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KOREA: LANGUAGE, CONFUCIAN THINKING, SOCIAL IMPACT OF CONFUCIAN
THINKING, PATRIARCHISM, CLASS STRUCTURE, BUREAUCRATIC
FACTIONALISM, EARLY ECONOMY, EARLY CONTACT WITH WESTERN THINKING
LANGUAGE
1. Written
2. Spoken
3. Grammar
CONFUCIAN THINKING
1. Yi dynasty
2. Differences from China
2.1 Balance versus stagnation
2.2 Originators versus adopters
SOCIAL IMPACT OF CONFUCIAN THINKING
1. Widely accepted
2. Village codes
3. Education
4. Importance of ritual
5. Support for patriarchial authority
PATRIARCHISM
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1. Relative strength
2. Derived from importance of clans
3. 1982 family
CLASS STRUCTURE
1. Yangban
2. Artisans or chungin (middle class)
3. Commoners or sangmin
4. Low class or ch'onmin
5. Restricted social mobility
BUREAUCRATIC FACTIONALISM
1. Overall presence
2. Link to Confucianism
3. Departure from Confucianism
4. Result
EARLY ECONOMY
1. Agriculture
2. Industry
2.1 Traditional skilled trades
3. Commercial activity
4. Transportation
EARLY CONTACT WITH WESTERN THINKING
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1. Jesuits in Beijing
2. Later isolation
3. Japanese domination
EAST 331
UNIT TEN
VIETNAM
LAND, PEOPLE, LANGUAGE, HISTORY, EARLY ECONOMY, EARLY CONTACT
WITH THE WEST
LAND
1. Geography
2. Climate
PEOPLE
LANGUAGE
1. Origin
2. Spoken
3. Written
4. Grammar
HISTORY
1. Chinese Influence
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1.1 Chinese colonization
1.2 Later influence
1.3 Vietnam as an East Asian civilization
1.3.1 Chinese language
1.3.2 Confucian values
a. Importance of the family
b. Ancestor worship
c. Education
1.3.3 Scholar-officials
1.3.4 Religious beliefs
a. Triple religion
b. Mahayana Buddhism
2. Internal division
3. The last dynasty: Nguyen
EARLY ECONOMY
EARLY CONTACT WITH THE WEST
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