This week on the podcast, we're exploring the life of a woman whose story would normally be confined to the sidelines: an imperial concubine in the early 1600s by the name of Nakanoin Nakako? Who was this young woman and how did she become a part of the emperor's household?

Show notes here. 

This week on the podcast, we're talking the tale of the iconoclastic monk Ikkyu Sojun. His fame is predicated on an odd combination of Zen austerity and the embrace of the wine shop and the brothel, rather than the temple, as the place to seek enlightenment.

Show notes here

How can a man who was terrible as a ruler also be one of the most important tastemakers in Japanese history? Today we're unpacking the biography of Ashikaga Yoshimasa, more or less universally reviled as the worst man ever to lead Japan and yet one of the most important figures in developing much of what we think of as classical Japanese art and aesthetics.

Show notes here.

Today, we're looking at a rather unusual scandal from early 20th century Japan, and what it shows us about the power of the democratic impulse in Japan even before the country could be called a democracy. Plus, political maneuvering and corruption galore! What's not to love?

Show notes here.

This week, we're taking some material from the cutting room floor of last series to talk about the stories of two Japanese Christians, both of whom became ordained priests--and both of whom apostatized. What led these men to the faith? Why did they leave it? And what do their lives tell us about the course of Japan's Christian century?

Show notes here.

Our final episode of this miniseries will detail the early decades of the Christian persecutions in Nagasaki. Once the religion was banned, how did the Tokugawa authorities go about rooting it out--and how was that attempt resisted by the city's Christians and the priests still hiding in the city?

Show notes here.

This week, Hideyoshi's death seems to suggest an end to the persecution of Nagasaki's Christians. However, the city quickly finds itself under threat from the new lord of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu, as competition from other European merchants and growing suspicion of Christianity erodes the protections that had long kept the city safe.

Show notes here.

This week: Hideyoshi's 'friendship' proves less useful than hoped, resulting in a 1587 ban on Christianity and Nagasaki losing its independence. How do the city's Christians and their Jesuit leaders respond to this setback--and to another a few years later, caused by a band of new priests making their way to Japan?

Show notes here.

This week, Christian Nagasaki survives its early trials and tribulations to become a Jesuit fortress-town, and a centerpiece of some cutthroat religious diplomacy. But the same approaches that will make Nagasaki crucial to the regional economy will also make it the target of jealous neighboring warlords--and invite the scrutiny of Japan's most powerful leader.

Show notes here.

This week, we're covering the founding of Japan's most unusual city: Nagasaki, unique among major Japanese cities in being founded under the impetus of the Jesuit order. Why did Jesuit missionaries want a port of their own, and who did they find to give it to them?

Show notes here.