INTRODUCTION:

HIS 372 / 572, THE HISTORY OF EARLY MODERN JAPAN, undertakes a representative and thematic exploration of aspects of political, economic, social, cultural, religious and intellectual life in Japan during the Tokugawa Period between 1600 and 1868.

Emphasis is placed on the initial establishment of the Tokugawa state system, its subsequent growth and change and the circumstances leading to its eventual demise in the nineteenth century.

The period is interpreted as representative of both the "late traditional" and the "early modern" in the long process of Japanese historical development.

The course has been purposefully designed to provide a background against which both modern and contemporary Japan might be better understood and appreciated.

Course content stresses the transformative and cumulative changes taking place in the various systems and institutions (social, political, economic and cultural) emergent in the early modern period. The modernization process and the fate of traditional institutions, systems and customs will receive particular attention. Strong consideration will also be given both the social and urban dimensions of the historical process at work during the Tokugawa era.

SYLLABUS: INTRODUCTION | COURSE OBJECTIVES |
SYNOPSIS OF COURSE REQUIREMENTS | ASSUMPTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS