Understanding Japan: A Cultural History

Embark on an unforgettable tour of Japanese history and culture in this engrossing course made in partnership with the Smithsonian.

• By This Professor
• 01: Japan: A Globally Engaged Island Nation
• 02: Understanding Japan through Ancient Myths
• 03: The Emergence of the Ritsuryo State
• 04: Aspects of the Japanese Language
• 05: Early Japanese Buddhism
• 06: Heian Court Culture
• 07: The Rise of the Samurai
• 08: Pure Land Buddhism and Zen Buddhism
• 09: Samurai Culture in the Ashikaga Period
• 10: Japan at Home and Abroad, 1300 - 1600
• 11: Japan’s Isolation in the Tokugawa Period
• 12: Japanese Theater: Noh and Kabuki
• 13: The Importance of Japanese Gardens
• 14: The Meaning of Bushido in a Time of Peace
• 15: Japanese Poetry: The Road to Haiku
• 16: Hokusai and the Art of Wood-Block Prints
• 17: The Meiji Restoration
• 18: Three Visions of Prewar Japan
• 19: War without a Master Plan: Japan, 1931 - 1945
• 20: Japanese Family Life
• 21: Japanese Foodways
• 22: Japan’s Economic Miracle
• 23: Kurosawa and Ozu: Two Giants of Film
• 24: The Making of Contemporary Japan