Resources

List of additional materials and resources, with brief description.

Table of Contents:

• Subject guide (Trexler Library), Collective Map
  • If you want to edit the Collective Map for a Show and Tell project, ask me for editing access 😀
• General Japanese history
• Early and premodern history in general
• Early Japan
• Nara
• Heian
  • Tale of Genji
• Tale of Heike
• Medieval Japan
• Dutch-Japanese relations

Additional useful sources

• Japan Emerging : Premodern History to 1850. Edited by Karl F. Friday. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2012.
  • Recommended textbook: A general introduction to premodern Japanese history by multiple authors; also contains “Further Reading” section at the end of each chapter.
• Hane, Mikiso, and Louis G Perez. Premodern Japan: A Historical Survey. Second ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2015.
  • Alternative textbook: A general introductory text to premodern Japanese history.
• Timeline of Japanese art
  • Princeton University Art Museum provides some essays discussing the main characteristics of art in the different historical periods of Japan.
• Metropolitan Museum of Art: Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (Japan)
  • Essays, timelines and collections of photos of art work held by the Met, very useful for illustrations and background information, and many essays include a “further reading” list of suggestions.

Early and pre-modern/pre-industrial history in general

• Batten, Bruce Loyd. To the Ends of Japan : Premodern Frontiers, Boundaries, and Interactions. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2003.
  • A study which challenges some of the widely held ideas about the origins of the Japanese people, through a study of borders and boundaries as social constructs rather than predetermined features of geography
• Brown, Delmer Myers. The Cambridge History of Japan. Vol. 1, Ancient Japan. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
  • Contains chapters on prehistoric Japan and early Yamato/Yamatai.
• Friday, Karl F, ed. Japan Emerging: Premodern History to 1850. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2012.
  • Ch. 6 “Origins of the Japanese People”
• Department of Asian Art. “Jōmon Culture (ca. 10,500–ca. 300 B.C.).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jomo/hd_jomo.htm (October 2002)
  • Essay linked with objects held by the Met on Jomon period
• Department of Asian Art. “Yayoi Culture (ca. 300 B.C.–300 A.D.).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/yayo/hd_yayo.htm (October 2002)
  • Essay linked with objects held by the Met on Yayoi period
• Department of Asian Art. “Kofun Period (ca. 300–710).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/kofu/hd_kofu.htm (October 2002)
  • Essay linked with objects held by the Met on Kofun period 

Email me with more suggestions and tips! Suggestions for useful videos always welcome!