Course Overview
This course explores the four periods of the samurai tradition to survey changing roles and philosophy behind its existence. The survey will analyze contemporary images/stereotypes of the samurai. The course employs ancient war tales, historical documents and paintings, maps, articles, literary works, different genres of samurai films, and videos to fully examine one of the most popular Japanese cultural icons. Taught in English. (3 Units)
Course Narrative
It was interesting being in this course as my first culture-based one, as it covered well-known samurai terminology and stories, such as the Sengoku "warring states" era and the tale of the Genji and Heike clans. What intrigued me the most was learning about stereotypes that come with the subject, such as seppuku (suicide/disembowelment by sword) and the concept of ronin (lordless, wandering) samurai. It was through this course that I was also able to present on my view of the most overplayed aspect of the samurai in most media: the katana, and how it was not always the sole tool of the profession.
MLOs Satisfied: MLO2