This course treats the development of Japanese culture from earliest times to the early 19th century in the context of the major political and social forces that moulded the country's history. The course covers major periods and cultural epochs of Japanese history, but particular attention will be paid to samurai culture and systems of social control from the 12th century onwards. The themes to be covered include the formation and the evolving conceptions of Japan's identity, politics, economic development, social trends, and religion, as well as Japan's interaction with Asian and European civilizations. The course aims to provide students with a basic factual knowledge in Japanese history and to assist them in understanding modern Japanese society in its historical context to develop the ability to assess and think critically about historical issues.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

1. Obtain significant empirical knowledge of the course of events constituting the rise and fall of Samurai society
2. Understand the basic historical and comparative context of Japanese pre-modern history.
3. Analyse historical events and undergo formative assessment in the form of essay writing.
4. Develop an understanding of the dynamics of social and political structure of pre-modern Japan.
5. Learn to apply this understanding to the analysis of Japanese society today.

Recommended Resources

Whether you are on campus or studying online, there are a variety of online platforms you will use to participate in your study program. These could include videos for lectures and other instruction, two-way video conferencing for interactive learning, email and other messaging tools for communication, interactive web apps for formative and collaborative activities, print and/or photo/scan for handwritten work and drawings, and home-based assessment.

ANU outlines recommended student system requirements to ensure you are able to participate fully in your learning. Other information is also available about the various Learning Platforms you may use.

Recommended Readings:

Friday, Karl F., Japan emerging : premodern history to 1850, Boulder, Colo. : Westview Press, c2012

Fukasawa, Yuriko, Ainu archaeology as ethnohistory : iron technology among the Saru Ainu of Hokkaido, Japan, in the 17th century, Oxford, England : John and Erica Hedges, 1998

Goble, Andrew Edmund, Kenneth R. Robinson, and Haruko Wakabayashi, Tools of culture : Japan's cultural, intellectual, medical, and technological contacts in East Asia, 1000-1500s, Ann Arbor, Mich. : Association for Asian Studies, c2009

Gordon, Andrew, A modern history of Japan : from Tokugawa times to the present , 1952- New York : Oxford University Press, 2009

Hanley, Susan B., Everyday things in premodern Japan : the hidden legacy of material culture, Berkeley, Calif. : University of California Press, 1997

Japan's first bureaucracy : a study of eighth-century government, Ithaca, N.Y : Cornell University, 1978

Kaiten Nukariya, The religion of the Samurai : a study of Zen philosophy and discipline in China and Japan, Wellington : Floating Press, The Jan. 2009

Kang, Etsuko Hae-jin, Diplomacy and ideology in Japanese-Korean relations : from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century, Basingstoke, Hampshire : Macmillan Press ; New York, NY : St. Martin's Press, 1997

Khanh Trinh ed., Genji : the world of the Shining Prince, Sydney : Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2008

Mass, Jeffrey P, Warrior government in early medieval Japan : a study of the Kamakura Bakufu, shugo and jito , New Haven : Yale University Press, 1974.

Mass Jeffrey P. ed. Court and Bakufu in Japan : essays in Kamakura history,New Haven : Yale University Press, c1982

Mark Ravina, The last samurai : the life and battles of Saigo Takamori , Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., c2004

Meeks, Lori , Hokkeji and the reemergence of female monastic orders in premodern Japan , Honolulu : University of Hawai'i Press, c2010

Moerman, D. Max, Localizing paradise : Kumano pilgrimage and the religious landscape of premodern Japan, Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Asia Center : Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2005

Morris, Ivan I, The world of the shining prince : court life in ancient Japan,Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England : Penguin Books, 1979

Peng, Hao, Trade relations between Qing China and Tokugawa Japan : 1685-1859, Singapore : Springer, [2019]

Polenghi, Cesare, Samurai of Ayutthaya : Yamada Nagamasa, Japanese warrior and merchant in early seventeenth-century Siam, Bangkok : White Lotus Press, 2009

Samuel, Robert T,  The Samurai : the philosophy of victory, Hod Hasharon: Astrolog Pub. House, c2004

Silver, Alain, The samurai film, South Brunswick [N.J.] : A. S. Barnes, c1977

Smith, Thomas C., Native sources of Japanese industrialization, 1750-1920 [electronic resource]. Berkeley, Calif. : University of California Press, c1988.

Steenstrup, Carl, A history of law in Japan until 1868. 2nd impression with corrections, New York : E.J. Brill, 1996

Sugihara, Kaoru, Japan, China, and the growth of the Asian international economy, 1850-1949 [electronic resource], Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2005

The laws of the Muromachi Bakufu : Kemmu Shikimoku (1336) & Muromachi Bakufu Tsuikaho ,  Tokyo : Monumenta Nipponica, Sophia University, 1981

Tsutsui, William M. A, Companion to Japanese history, Malden, MA : Blackwell Pub., 2007

Vaporis, Constantine Nomikos, Breaking barriers : travel and the state in early modern Japan, Cambridge, Mass. : Council on East Asian Studies, Harvard University, 1994

Wachutka, Michael, Kokugaku in Meiji-period Japan : the modern transformation of 'national learning' and the formation of scholarly societies, Leiden ; Boston : Global Oriental, 2013.

Walker, Brett, The conquest of Ainu lands : ecology and culture in Japanese expansion, 1590-1800, Berkeley : University of California Press, c2001

Walthall, Anne, Social protest and popular culture in eighteenth-century Japan, Tucson, Ariz. : Published for the Association for Asian Studies by the University of Arizona Press, c1986.

White, James, The demography of sociopolitical conflict in Japan, 1721-1846, W Berkeley, Calif. : Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, Center for Japanese Studies, c1992

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in the following forms in this course:

• written comments
• verbal comments
• feedback to whole class, groups, individuals, focus group etc

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). Feedback can also be provided to Course Conveners and teachers via the Student Experience of Learning & Teaching (SELT) feedback program. SELT surveys are confidential and also provide the Colleges and ANU Executive with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Introduction: The rise of samurai	For weekly assessment and other information please see CANVAS.
2	Forms of social control
3	The governing system of Kamakura Bakufu
4	The dual governmental system
5	Culture and Ashikaga Bakufu
6	Fear as a control mechanism: External Relations
7	Managing the chaos of the Warring States Period and social mobility
8	The social control in Tokugawa Bakufu
9	Samurai and Sex
10	Samurai and Loyalty
11	Samurai and the Meiji Restauration
12	Legacies of Samurai

Tutorial Registration

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Return of assessment	Learning Outcomes
Homework: Object & Media Portfolio 30% (five pieces, 6 points each)	30 %	30/07/2026	30/08/2026	1,2,4,5
Group Project: Archive Reconstruction and Interpretation Lab 40%	40 %	20/10/2026	10/11/2026	1,2,3,4,5
Bakufu Governance Simulation Project (30%)	30 %	15/09/2026	05/10/2026	1,2,3,4,5

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines , which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Integrity Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Extenuating Circumstances Application
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure
• Code of practice for teaching and learning

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the Academic Skills website. In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Canvas’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Assessment Task 1

Homework: Object & Media Portfolio 30% (five pieces, 6 points each)

Throughout the semester, students will compile a portfolio of five objects drawn from historical sources, popular culture, museums, film, anime, games, literature, or other media representations of samurai. For each object, students will analyse how an idea of samurai society is constructed, what perspectives or experiences are excluded, and how the object relates to themes explored in class. Entries must engage with weekly seminar discussions through comparison with other objects, texts, or examples examined during the course.

Students select 5 artefacts total , drawn from:

• modern media (film, anime, games, manga, TV, digital culture)
• historical representations (illustrations, translated texts, museum artefacts, propaganda, etc.)

For each artefact, students produce:

• short interpretive commentary (approx. 300–400 words each)
• explanation of what “samurai society” is being constructed
• link to at least one course theme (social control, loyalty, violence, governance, etc.)

Key requirement

Each entry must answer: “What idea of samurai society is being constructed here, and what is being excluded?”; Each entry must also include at least two explicit comparative references to objects, texts, or examples discussed in the week’s seminar, explaining how these comparisons support or challenge your interpretation; These references must demonstrate engagement with the class discussion for that week.

Assessment Task 2

Group Project: Archive Reconstruction and Interpretation Lab 40%

Working with a curated collection of historical documents, students will investigate how authority, governance, and social control operated in samurai society. The assessment consists of a group archive dossier, an individual in-class reflection, and a group oral defence. Students will analyse relationships between sources, justify interpretive decisions, identify contradictions in the evidence, and defend their conclusions under questioning. The emphasis is on historical reasoning, interpretation, and the evaluation of competing explanations.

Written Group Submission: 1500 words (25%); Individual In Class Reflection: 600 words (15%).

Assessment Task 3

Bakufu Governance Simulation Project (30%)

Students will participate in a structured governance simulation in which they assume the roles of historical actors responding to political, social, and economic challenges. Through a series of crises and decision-making exercises, students will explore the practical realities of governing samurai society. Assessment includes participation in the simulation, an in-class policy brief analysing key decisions and their consequences, and a short individual reflection on governance, authority, and social control.

Structure: Part I: Simulation participation (10%); Part II: In class policy brief 15%; Part III: Individual Reflection (5%)

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of the ANU culture as a community of scholars. The University’s students are an integral part of that community. The academic integrity principle commits all students to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support, academic integrity, and to uphold this commitment by behaving honestly, responsibly and ethically, and with respect and fairness, in scholarly practice.

The University expects all staff and students to be familiar with the academic integrity principle, the Academic Integrity Rule 2021, the Policy: Student Academic Integrity and Procedure: Student Academic Integrity, and to uphold high standards of academic integrity to ensure the quality and value of our qualifications.

The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 is a legal document that the University uses to promote academic integrity, and manage breaches of the academic integrity principle. The Policy and Procedure support the Rule by outlining overarching principles, responsibilities and processes. The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 commences on 1 December 2021 and applies to courses commencing on or after that date, as well as to research conduct occurring on or after that date. Prior to this, the Academic Misconduct Rule 2015 applies.

 

The University commits to assisting all students to understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. All coursework students must complete the online Academic Integrity Module (Epigeum), and Higher Degree Research (HDR) students are required to complete research integrity training. The Academic Integrity website provides information about services available to assist students with their assignments, examinations and other learning activities, as well as understanding and upholding academic integrity.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

Individual assessment tasks may or may not allow for late submission. Policy regarding late submission is detailed below:

• Late submission permitted. Late submission of assessment tasks without an extension are penalised at the rate of 5% of the possible marks available per working day or part thereof. Late submission of assessment tasks is not accepted after 10 working days after the due date, or on or after the date specified in the course outline for the return of the assessment item. Late submission is not accepted for take-home examinations.

Referencing Requirements

The Academic Skills website has information to assist you with your writing and assessments. The website includes information about Academic Integrity including referencing requirements for different disciplines. There is also information on Plagiarism and different ways to use source material. Any use of artificial intelligence must be properly referenced. Failure to properly cite use of Generative AI will be considered a breach of academic integrity.

Returning Assignments

Online and in class.

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. Extensions may be granted for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Resubmission of Assignments

Not allowed.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Accessibility for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents all ANU students