HIST 185 Tokugawa Japan

n this course, we will explore the multiple meanings attached to the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) in Japanese history by reading and discussing works written by Tokugawa-era Japanese, as well as accounts by non-Japanese observers and modern scholars of Japanese history and culture. We learn about the political and social arrangements that differentiated early modern Japan from Western countries (then and now), as well as elements of Tokugawa society and culture that make it seem familiar. Examining the vibrant, diverse culture of early modern Japan will allow us to reflect on our own assumptions about the rules that govern human relations, the principles that form the foundation of a just government, the meaning of honor and loyalty, and the relationship between the past and the present.