Subject Area: Women's & Gender Studies
This course can also be studied in the following specialisations: Asian Studies; History; Japanese Studies

'Premodern Japan' offers a thematic overview of Japanese history from prehistory to the Meiji Imperial Restoration of 1868, its central theme being the history of women, gender and sexualities.

The course includes a focus on historiography—a consideration of central issues in global women's and gender history, as well as different approaches to Japan's history. Since the course is essentially a cultural and social history, we will not only discuss the ideas and social practices of ruling classes (civil aristocrats and then bushi/warriors), but also look at popular Buddhism, folk religion, peasant rebellion and commoner resistance, and aspects of popular culture. The weekly topics are more varied than the subtitle of ‘Status, Sex & Power’ would suggest, though central themes in the course include the situation(s) and role(s) of Japanese women of different classes from ancient times; gender constructs (of femininity and masculinity) in the literature of different classes and in scripture; and attitudes toward sex and marital and sexual practices.