Week 3: Using the library; Chinese government model introduced in Japan

Check you have completed your end of week 2 assignments by the start of class!

IMPORTANT: PASSWORD ACCESS TO PDFs:

Username and password can be found on the Canvas Homepage

Remember to post questions, queries, musings and ideas on the Pad!

Tue 1/28: Library session
For Tuesday’s class, we will meet in the library in room B01: go down the stairs to the B-level and immediately make a right. It’s the first classroom.

To prepare for this session, Kelly Cannon, the librarian, has asked you to prepare a task, and to bring your results to share with others. I sent you an email with more detailed instructions.

You will also learn how to use the library catalog. I will assign you a test-topic from the first couple of classes (dotaku, Nihongi, Kojiki, torii, and magatama; revise your notes if you don’t remember what these terms are!). In small groups you will find and evaluate sources. At the end of the class you will report back to the whole group what you found, and what you learned about finding and using sources. For the two people whose Encyclopedia entry is connected to class on Jan. 16 and 23: you can use this time to hunt down sources for your topic.

The aim of the session is to prepare you for doing a small independent research project in your encyclopedia entry.

Thu. 1/30: Chinese government model introduced in Japan
In this session we will look at the institutional changes made in the first half of the seventh century. The introduction of Buddhism and its influence on art and culture are for next week Tuesday.

  • Textbook/background: Varley, Chapter 3, pp. 19-28.
          • Use this to help you understand the significance of the primary sources below, and the general developments in Japan.
  • Primary sources:
        • “The Seventeen Article Constitution of Prince Shōtoku”. (from: de Bary, William Th. ed. Sources of Japanese Tradition, Volume One: From Earliest Times to 1600. 2nd edition. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002) (PDF)
              • Prince Shōtoku (in the text “The Prince Imperial”) allegedly issued this set of seventeen articles. Cross-reference with Varley, p. 26.
              • Can you identify what are Confucian and Buddhist influences that are different from the native Japanese traditions?
        • Selection from “The Reform Edict of Taika”. (From Lu, David J. Japan: A Documentary History: The Dawn of History to the Late Tokugawa Period. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1997.) (PDF)
              • There are a number of terms in Japanese that are not defined (e.g. miyake, Wake etc.); these refer to titles and privileges held by the nobility before the Reform- don’t get bogged down by them. A Daibu is the chief of a bureau or of a ward.
              • What is the problem according to this document? What solution is proposed in the Reform Articles presented here? How do you estimate the chances of success for the central government?
              • In what ways do you think this document is different from “The Seventeen Article Constitution of Prince Shōtoku”?
    • Chinese histories on Japan during the Sui and Tang dynasties. (from Tsunoda, Ryūsaku, Wm. Theodore De Bary, and Donald Keene, eds. Sources of Japanese Tradition. Introduction to Oriental Civilizations. New York: Columbia University Press, 1964.) (PDF)
      • Compare these entries with the earlier Chinese records on the Japanese (see Week 2). Are these records more reliable? Why (not)?
  • Slides (Gdrive link)
  • Optional extra: Encyclopedia articles from previous students in the course: