Introduction to Premodern Japan

English-medium elective

This course offers an introduction to the history of Japan up to the mid-nineteenth century. Topics to be covered include: archaeological findings concerning the earliest cultures of the Japanese islands, the influence of contacts with China and Korea, the development of writing and literary culture, varieties of religious thought and practice, and the structures of economic and political power. This course assumes no previous knowledge of Japanese language or history, and all required readings will be in English.