Week 14: Middle and late Edo culture

April 26 and 28

More cool stuff from “Traditional Japan” if we think of it as “Middle and Late Tokugawa”, but modernity is definitely seeping in: money drives markets, and foreign knowledge nibbles away at traditional values, preparing the way for the mid-nineteenth-century changes.

Table of Contents

Slides

Readings and class details

Wednesday

Ettinger 212, 11am

Textbook or alternative (one of the two options to bring you up to speed)

  • Japan Emerging: Premodern History to 1850, edited by Karl F. Friday. New York, NY: Routledge, 2018. https://muhlenberg.on.worldcat.org/oclc/787849954.
    • Part 5: Chapter 35 (“Ukiyo Asobi: urban arts and entertainment” [review/ if you didn’t look at yet]) and Chapter 37 (Family, gender, and sex in early modern Japan)
  • Premodern Japan: A Historical Survey, edited by Mikiso Hanen and Louis G Perez. Second ed. Boulder: Westview Press, 2015. https://muhlenberg.on.worldcat.org/oclc/895428280
    • Chapter 8: section “Woodblock printing and painting”, “Haiku”
    • Chapter 9: section “The Pleasure Quarters”

Primary Source and video

  • Matsuo Bashō. “Narrow Road to the Deep North (oku no hosomichi).” In Early Modern Japanese Literature: An Anthology, 1600-1900, edited by Shirane, Haruo, 209-232. 2002. Translations from the Asian Classics. New York: Columbia University Press. (PDF)
    • A somewhat longer read, but it will give you the full experience of how Bashō’s prose and poetry work together.
    • Haiku is one of the best known genres of poetry across the globe. Based on this reading, what do you think makes this so?
    • What in this “Travel Account” speaks across the ages, and across cultural boundaries?
  • Video: Woodblock print from carving to finished print (you can skip the “mailing it” part at the end): David Bull, Chibi Heroes woodblock print production, Youtube. https://youtu.be/-w–FkyOuFQ?t=74
    • Highly recommended optional extra: Playlist “The Great Wave” (18 parts), documenting the Mokuhankan 2015/16 reproduction.

Friday

Ettinger 212, 11am

For everybody: Textbook or alternative (one of the two options to bring you up to speed)

For everybody: Primary Source

  • Ōtsuki Gentaku. “Misunderstandings about the Dutch.” In Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 2: 1600 to 2000, Part One: 1600 to 1868, compiled by Wm. Th. de Bary, Carol Gluck, and Arthur E. Tiedemann, 302-309. Introduction to Asian Civilizations. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2001. (PDF)
    • Although Japan had traded with the Dutch, and before that other European nations, for more than 150 years at this point, few Japanese knew much about these “red haired” (kōmō) foreigners. Gentaku tackles some of the most common misunderstandings.
    • Where do you think these misconceptions come from? What strikes you as unusual issues the Japanese focus on?
  • Shiba Kōkan. “Discussing Western Painting.” In Sources of Japanese Tradition, Vol. 2: 1600 to 2000, Part One: 1600 to 1868, compiled by Wm. Th. de Bary, Carol Gluck, and Arthur E. Tiedemann, 310-313. Introduction to Asian Civilizations. New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2001. (PDF)
    • Kōkan collected a lot of information about the Dutch, and Western sciences and technology.
    • Compare the text with the materials linked in this document (art works by Shiba Kōken): how does the influence of Western ideas and techniques of painting show in his work? How does Kōkan try to reconcile this with the Japanese traditions?

Assignments

1. Blog post (content week 13)

5 points, due Mon April 24, 11:59PM

Write a blog post exploring themes or ideas based on your reading. You do not need to have all the answers. In fact, learning to ask good analytical or research questions is a skill you can develop during the semester. Remember the description of the assignment from the syllabus.

  • Length: approx. 400 words. excl. list of materials consulted.
  • Add the list of materials consulted at the end of the post, in Chicago notes and bibliography style.
    • TOP TIP: Just copy the bibliography information from the Reading list on last week’s webpage, do not add the descriptive notes I provide for your information.
  • Add the words “Week 13” in the title.
    • Please use this exact phrase, so your post will show up in the blog stream.
  • Include a relevant image, and add a caption with the source/credit, and an Alt text description
  • Post on your website, and add to the category hst267.

When you’re done, read this declaration carefully and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I wrote a post of approximately 400 words in response to the readings.
– I included the bibliographic references for the materials I used for my post.
– I indicated which Exploration Pack I chose [if applicable].
– I included an image, and I provided a caption and credit (source), and an Alt text description for the image.
– I use the words Week 13 in the title, and added the post to category hst267

2. Feedback with Hypothes.is

3 points, due April 26, 11:59pm

Below you find links to three blog posts from your fellow students. If one of the websites is your own, or it is twice the same person’s, refresh the page, and you should get new sites. Any of the posts that appear here are fair game for commenting, even if they are about earlier weeks: those posts came in after the first deadline.

  • Post 1:
  • Post 2:
  • Post 3:

Leave feedback, questions, thoughts, insights about the contents of the posts of your fellow students using Hypothes.is group HST267. You can ask for clarifications, point out similarities and differences with the material you covered, or with your interpretation. This should encourage you to dive a bit deeper in the materials, or visit those you did not read at first.

Use tags in Hypothes.is: question: If you have a question; answered: if you gave an answer to a question; info: if you provide more information, looking up additional facts, drawing on knowledge from other classes; and other tags you can think of. This will help us to navigate more quickly to the questions that still need answering.

Use the “Architect’s Model” of giving feedback, and engage with concrete issues. Go beyond “Yeah, I agree,” “I like” or “I think the same”, and instead explain why you have that reaction, or if you disagree, you can try to persuade the original poster of your idea or interpretation.

Remember that Hypothes.is allows for hyperlinks, e.g. to materials that support your argument, or you can include pictures (memes! [yes, there she is again]), videos etc. that help the original poster to learn more.

When you’re done, read this declaration carefully, and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I commented on three fellow students’ weekly blog post on Week 13 materials, using the Hypothes.is group HST267.
– I made sure to leave substantial comments that help the writer to improve the post, or to identify their strengths.
– I left comments that I would like to receive myself: thoughtful, helpful, kind, but also pointing out errors so they can be fixed.

3. Blog post (content week 14)

5 points, due Mon May 1, 11:59PM

Write a blog post exploring themes or ideas based on your reading. You do not need to have all the answers. In fact, learning to ask good analytical or research questions is a skill you can develop during the semester. Remember the description of the assignment from the syllabus.

  • Length: approx. 400 words. excl. list of materials consulted.
  • Add the list of materials consulted at the end of the post, in Chicago notes and bibliography style.
    • TOP TIP: Just copy the bibliography information from the Reading list on this webpage, do not add the descriptive notes I provide for your information.
  • Add the words “Week 14” in the title.
    • Please use this exact phrase, so your post will show up in the blog stream.
  • Include a relevant image, and add a caption with the source/credit, and an Alt text description
  • Post on your website, and add to the category hst267.

When you’re done, read this declaration carefully and then fill out the Canvas quiz to collect your points.

Declaration
– I wrote a post of approximately 400 words in response to the readings.
– I included the bibliographic references for the materials I used for my post.
– I indicated which Exploration Pack I chose [if applicable].
– I included an image, and I provided a caption and credit (source), and an Alt text description for the image.
– I use the words Week 13 in the title, and added the post to category hst267

Extra Credit tasks

EC 14-1: Rewrite a post

3 points, due by Sunday, April 30, 11.59pm.

Unhappy about a post you wrote? Feeling you can do better now than a few weeks ago? Had a bad week and rushed to get it in but now you’re ready to do something you can be proud of? Now you can rewrite that post and get some extra credit for it!

  • Pick one post from a previous weeks (not the Cat post) and use the comments you received, and your new insights, to rewrite it.
  • Add a brief paragraph at the end explaining how you rewrote the post: which comments did you address, how did you go about the process (e.g. starting from new blank page vs. tinkering; focusing on structure or word choice or adding/correcting facts,…), and what you learned through the process of rewriting.
  • tag the post with extra, and add “rewrite” to the title
    • (Note: it should already be in the category hst267)

Read the following Declaration carefully, and then head on over to Canvas to collect your points in the Declaration Quiz:

Declaration
I selected a post from a previous week and rewrote it, using feedback and insights I gained since writing it.
I added a brief paragraph at the end explaining what I did to rewrite the post, and what I learned about rewriting
I added the tag extra to the post, and added the word rewrite to the title.
I made sure the post is still in the category hst267.

EC 14-2: “Down the Rabbit Hole”

3 points, due by Sunday, April 30, 11.59pm.

Are you curious? Can you spend hours on internet following one link after another trying to get to the bottom of something? Did you know you can now also get some extra credit for this?

Pick a topic, place name, object, book or person connected to our readings from this week, and follow your curiosity “down the rabbit hole”, like Alice in Wonderland, from one hyperlink to the next in the materials you find. Then share in a blog post with us where you went, and what you found. Your post does not have to be very long: 250 words should work; more is fine if you went on a deep dive, of course. Here’s what to include:

  • What in the course materials this week got you inspired to go down the rabbit hole?
  • Include as hyperlinked text the websites you visited, and what you learned there.
  • Include an image, with caption giving credit for the image.
  • You may also critique the sources you find, in particular if you have your doubts about their reliability, or you come across conflicting interpretations. Which one did you side with, and why?
  • Add the post to category hst267, use the title template “Down the rabbit hole: [insert subject]”, and add the tag extra.

Read the following Declaration carefully, and then head on over to Canvas to collect your points in the Declaration Quiz:

Declaration
I wrote a post about additional materials on the internet I found, starting from a topic connected to course materials from this week.
I included the sites I visited as hyperlinked text, and explained what I learned on these pages.
I included an image, with a caption and credit for the image.
I added the post to the category hst267, used the tag extra, and used the title template “Down the rabbit hole: [insert topic]” for my post.

Where to get assistance?

  • Tea Room on in person or on Discord:
    • open anytime for you
    • I will be hosting Tue 2PM-3PM; Wed. 1-2PM, or at other times by appointment via Google Calendar (usually a 15-20min appointment is enough). You can also find me in my office during Tea Room times.
    • Private room for confidential chat available on request.
  • Discord Text Channel #hst267
  • DLAs: Digital Learning Assistants: check the schedule!
  • Writing Center: Sunday-Wednesday: 3:30 – 5:30 pm and 7-11 pm; Thursday: 3:30 – 5:30 pm and 7-9 pm
  • Trexler Library Course Subject Guide: our own dedicated subject guide for the course 
  • Safety on/around campus: report an incident