Constructing the Samurai: Images of Japanese Warriors from 1100's to the Present

Catalog description

From concepts of premodern warriors calling out their names before doing hand-to-hand combat to modern salary men crushing the world with their economic prowess, samurai have come to be an iconic image of the Japanese people. Throughout the semester we will pay particular attention to the central themes in the historiography of warrior society, roughly, the years between ca. 1110 and 1850 C.E. We will investigate how these documents were translated by modern societies, both east and west, in samurai film. Students will explore the category of "samurai" through reading selections from The Tale of the Heike, as well as selected Noh plays, legal documents, travel diaries, autobiographies, short stories, and historical texts. In addition, we will investigate other genres contributing to the construction of the idea of "samurai," such as film. This seminar will closely examine the concept of "samurai," particularly its connection to the Japanese identity using an interdisciplinary context of the arts, history, religion, and literature. We will also explore the ways in which daimyo (feudal lords), authors, Buddhist officials, and filmmakers throughout the world created, shaped, and altered the ideal image of the samurai. Key to understanding the concept of samurai will be wrestling with questions of authorship, spirit pacification, nationality, and patronage, with specific focus on the Japanese relationship with Western nations and cultures. We will focus on language and its role in legitimizing the global concepts of "samurai" and "bushido." This class will provide additional insight geared toward the cultural study of linguistic identities beyond those informed by the English language and will include terms expressed in Japanese. Many of the resources used in this course will be translated from the Japanese, allowing us to consider Naoki Sakai's theories of enunciation/ translation/ subjectivity, Haruo Shirane's theory of reception, and Michael Emmerich's theory of replacement. Especially important will be to focus on terms in Japanese with no, or poor, English equivalent (such as samurai, shogun, daimyo, bushido, etc.) but with clear images in the English-speaking imagination(s). The instructor will provide background information on political, cultural, and religious history. Class sessions will be conducted in English and combine lectures, discussion, audio-visual materials, and creative as well as analytical writing exercises. All readings and films will be in English or with English subtitle. Offered as JAPN 365 and WLIT 365J . Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course. Counts as a Communication Intensive course. Counts as a Understanding Global Perspectives course. Prereq: Academic Inquiry Seminar (AIQS) or SAGES First Seminar.