This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: crises about during the late Edo period. A crisis of samurai identity! Questions around vengeance, honor, and duty! And of course, the most confounding subject of them all: macroeconomi

Episode 526 - The Outside World and Tokugawa Japan

20 days ago 36m 27s

This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: "closed country" isn't quite the full story. How did Japan maintain its connections to the outside world during the Edo Period? And how do some of those connections, particularly in the

Episode 525 - A Day in the Life of Tokugawa Japan

27 days ago 37m 39s

This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: what was life in the Edo period like? We cover everything from food to school to entertainment as we talk through daily life in Tokugawa-ruled Japan. Show notes here.

Episode 524 - The Tokugawa System

Mar 22nd, 2024 36m 55s

This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: how did the Tokugawa bakufu operate? What did the political structure of the shoguns look like? And what makes the Tokugawa era unique in the history of warrior rule in Japan? Show note

Episode 523 - Reunification, Part 3

Mar 15th, 2024 37m 43s

This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: Hideyoshi may have brought peace, but Tokugawa Ieyasu would be the one to make it lasting. How did Ieyasu seize power from Hideyoshi, and what did he do to secure it? Show notes here.

Episode 522 - Reunification, Part 2

Mar 8th, 2024 39m 17s

With Nobunaga dead, we turn our attention to one of his generals: Hashiba Hideyoshi, who would take up leadership of the former Oda lands and within the course of a decade complete Japan's reunification. What do we know about the man and motive

Episode 521 - Reunification, Part 1

Mar 1st, 2024 37m 15s

This week on the Revised Intro to Japanese History: the beginning of the end of the age of war and the rise of Oda Nobunaga. How did Nobunaga go from the ruler of less than a single province to the most powerful man in Japan in just a few decad

Episode 520 - The Age of Chaos

Feb 16th, 2024 35m 25s

This week on the Revised Intro to Japanese History: the social, religious, and economic changes of the Sengoku period. Though this is an age of civil war, it's also an age of tremendous growth and change, and one that will lay the groundwork of

Episode 519 - The Low Conquers the High, Part 2

Feb 9th, 2024 38m 10s

This week, we look at the flip side of the chaos of the Sengoku era in the form of two clans that rose to prominence from obscurity during the age of civil war. The first half is focused on the Mori family of western Honshu, while the second is

Episode 518 - The Low Conquers the High, Part 1

Feb 2nd, 2024 36m 4s

This week on the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: our first foray into the age of civil war! We're looking to understand the conflicts of the Sengoku by examining the rapid falls from power during this time of the Yamana and Hosokawa c

Episode 517 - The Center Cannot Hold

Jan 26th, 2024 34m 7s

This week: the Muromachi bakufu comes crashing down, thanks to a combination of structural weaknesses and a shogun who is more interested in painting than politics. As a result, Japan enters a new age of civil war, which will radically reshape

Episode 516 - From the Ashes

Jan 20th, 2024 37m 50s

This week: Go-Daigo's regime collapses, and a second samurai government, the Muromachi bakufu, emerges. How did Ashikaga Takauji successfully establish Japan's second shogunate--and perhaps set it up for long term failure in the bargain? Show n

Episode 515 - Slouching Towards Kyoto

Jan 12th, 2024 37m 32s

This week: the dramatic career of Emperor Go-Daigo, who brought down the Kamakura shogunate and ended Hojo rule in Japan. This despite the fact that just a few months before victory, his forces were on the verge of defeat! Show notes here.

Episode 514 - The Structure of Medieval Japan

Dec 29th, 2023 36m 11s

This week, we're taking a look at some of the economic and social structures of Kamakura period Japan in order to answer the question: just what makes medieval Japan so...medieval? Also, I'll be taking next week off for the New Year. See you al

Episode 513 - The Specter of the Continent

Dec 22nd, 2023 38m 8s

This week: why did the Mongols invade Japan? How did a seemingly invincible military machine falter in its assaults on the island of Kyushu? And why, in the long term, did the Mongol invasions begin the process of bringing down the Kamakura sho

Episode 512 - The New Buddhisms

Dec 15th, 2023 36m 5s

This week: the advent of the medieval era brings with it new strands of Buddhism that will radically remake the image of the religion from an aristocratic faith to a distinctly Japanese one. So, how do the wildly different beliefs of Zen, Pure

Episode 511 - Tipping the Balance

Dec 8th, 2023 37m 6s

This week: the rise of the Minamoto clan, the destruction of the Taira clan, and the birth of a new kind of political arrangement in the form of Japan's first shogunate. Show notes here.

Episode 510 - The Rise of the Warriors

Dec 1st, 2023 40m 56s

This week, we're covering the beginnings of the rise of the samurai class by looking at the wars of the 1000s, as well as the Hogen and Heiji conflicts which secured the role of the military class in national politics. Show notes here.

Episode 509 - The Golden Age of Heian

Nov 17th, 2023 35m 48s

This week, we turn our attention to two of the defining institutions of the Heian period, both of which will be very important for us going forward. First are the shoen, or private estates, the growth of which led to the fragmentation and decen

Episode 508 - The Culture of Classical Japan, Part 2

Nov 10th, 2023 37m 5s

This week on the podcast, we're all about literature. We'll be exploring the varieties of poetry and prose that have made the Heian period one of the golden ages of literary flourishing in Japanese history. Show notes here.

Episode 507 - The Culture of Classical Japan, Part 1

Nov 3rd, 2023 36m 54s

This week, we take a step away from politics to talk about two crucial subjects. First, we have the evolution of the Japanese language and its incorporation of Chinese influence. Second, we have the evolution of Buddhism and the arrival of two

Episode 506 - The Peaceful City

Oct 27th, 2023 37m 15s

This week in the Revised History of Japan: in a bid to strengthen the power of the imperial family, Emperor Kanmu moves the imperial capital one more time to some newfangled place called "Heian-kyo." Plus, the political battle between the imper

Episode 505 - The More Things Change...

Oct 22nd, 2023 37m 44s

Apologies for the delayed publication! This week on the podcast: the Nara Period! Japan has a new capital, and surely that means politics are about to change and become more stable, right...? Show notes here.

Episode 504 - The Great Change

Oct 13th, 2023 38m 3s

Part four of our Revised Introduction to Japanese History is all about the Taika Reforms of 645 CE: what drove them, why do they matter, and why does the more traditional answer to those questions leave some important gaps in our understanding?

Episode 503 - It Takes a Genius to Write It

Oct 6th, 2023 36m 8s

Part 3 of our Revised Introduction to Japanese History: the emergence of recorded history in Japan brings with it some more clarity on what's happening, but also new uncertainties. Show notes here.