For our final episode of 2021, we're looking at the origin of one of Japan's most famous pieces of literature: the war epic known as the Heike Monogatari, or Tale of Heike. How did a story about a single conflict in Japanese history become one of the best known chronicles in the entirety of Japan's history, and what did the story tap into to attain that status? Show notes here.

Episode 419 - A Tale as Old as Time

This podcast, assembled by a former PhD student in History at the University of Washington, covers the entire span of Japanese history. Each week we'll tackle a new topic, ranging from prehistoric Japan to the modern day.

History

Society & Culture

This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the economics of Meiji Japan, and a brief foray into social attitudes towards Westernization. How did Japan transform itself from being largely cut off from the world economy to central to it within half a century, and what impact did all this change have on the national self-image and culture? Show notes  here. Also: there will be no episode next week, as I will be on a school trip touring Japan with students. 

Episode 532 - Cash Rules Everything Around Me

This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the politics of the Meiji Period! After a coalition of samurai, nobles, loyalists, and others succeed in overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate, they must ask themselves: what comes next? And, in the time honored tradition of revolution, they answer that question by killing off or removing from office anyone they disagree with. Show notes here. 

Episode 531 - The New Japan

This week: the age of feudalism comes crashing down, as in the span of just two years the Tokugawa shogunate goes from victory to crushing defeat. How did the final years of Tokugawa rule play out? Show notes here. 

Episode 530 - Bakumatsu, Part 3

This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the sudden assassination of the tairo Ii Naosuke sparks the rapid ascension of imperial loyalism, an ideology devoted to the undoing of the unequal treaties and the overthrow of the shogunate. How did loyalism come to be a dominant force in the politics of the early 1860s, and how did its following collapse in just a few years? Show notes here.  

Episode 529 - Bakumatsu, Part 2

This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the beginning of the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. Commodore Perry's expedition to Edo will begin a process of radical political change as a teetering Tokugawa shogunate is forced to confront a challenge of Western imperialism that it will not prove equal to resisting. Show notes here.

Episode 419 - A Tale as Old as Time

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