History of Japan

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: macroeconomics. But hey, I'm sure we can figure this all out as long as no pesky Americans show up to ruin things, right?

Show notes here. 

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 Ryukyus and Hokkaido, lay the groundwork for future imperial expansion?

Show notes here. 

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.

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 notes here.

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. 

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 motives behind Japan's greatest rags to riches story?

Show notes here.

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 decades? And what do we really know about the man himself, his plans, and his vision for Japan's future?

Show notes here.

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 much to come in future centuries.

Show notes here.

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 focused on the Date, from the island's remote north.

Show notes here. 

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 clans. 

Show notes here.

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 the country.

Show notes here. 

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 notes here.

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. 

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 all in 2024!

Show notes here. 

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 shogunate?

Show notes here.

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 Land, and Nichiren Buddhism all grow out of the same moment in religious history?

Show notes here. 

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. 

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. 

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 decentralization of the government. The second is the rising power of the warrior class--known to history as the samurai.

Show notes here.

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.

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 important sects in the evolution of a distinctly Japanese form of the religion: Tendai and Shingon. 

Show notes here. 

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 imperial family and the Fujiwara clan takes a few more twists.

Show notes here.

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.

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?

Show notes here.

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. 

For part 2 of our Revised Introduction to Japanese History: what do we know about the origins of Japan's imperial family? And how does that knowledge line up with the mythology built around the family's rise?

Show notes here. 

We're back at the beginning for Part 1 of a new miniseries: A Revised Introduction to Japanese History. 

Show notes here.

This week, it's a listener question episode! Let's talk about the topics I'd like to cover, a D&D party made of Japanese prime ministers, the future of the show, and more.

Transcript and show notes at this link

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This week on the podcast: Why are Japan and South Korea?s governments so worked up about some uninhabited rocks in the middle of nowhere? Well, because sometimes those rocks stand for much, much more.

Sources, show notes, and transcript at this link

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Once again, Isaac underestimates how many episodes it will take to cover something, and so one more time, we're talking travel in Japan!

Show notes here.

This week on the podcast, a trip to two seats of the Imperial government. Also on the agenda: A really big Buddha statue, plenty of sake, and some very hungry deer.

Map and photos at this link

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This week on the podcast, something a little different: My first time traveling purely as a tourist in Japan, with a very special guest star.

Photos and a map of spots we discussed at this link

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In lieu of a traditional episode, enjoy this one from the archives of my other podcast Criminal Records! 

Hello all; I'm still recovering from a pretty bad cold that's making it hard to speak into a mic without sounding awful, so we're going to skip an episode this week. We'll be back next week!

This week: the rise and demise of radio in Japan, covering everything from the birth of NHK to the origin of sports broadcasting. Tune in and have a listen!

Sources, show notes, and transcript at this link

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This week: The history of the record player in Japan, from the first prototypes to the dawn of the Japanese pop star.

Sources, show notes, and transcription at this link

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In the first of a multi-part series on the history of communications technology in Japan, we?ve got a double-header: the landline telephone and telegraph. How did two technologies we now think of as ancient help remake a country opening itself up to the industrial world?

Sources, show notes, and transcript at this link

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This week: Tokugawa Ienari is often considered the worst shogun of the Tokugawa era. Where does his reputation come from, and is it entirely deserved?

Sources, show notes, and transcript at this link

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This week: Osaka enters the modern era. How did the nation?s kitchen become the ?capital of smoke,? and how did the city?s government attempt to remake it for the modern era?

Show notes and episode transcript at this link

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Apologies for the delayed release! I had some computer issues on my end, but they are now resolved.

This week is all about Osaka during the late Edo years, as the system of the Tokugawa shoguns began to fall further and further out of equilibrium. How did the "nation's kitchen" weather attempts to alter the system of rice-based taxation that was the backbone of Tokugawa Japan? And why was it the site of the first anti-shogunate rebellion in centuries?

Show notes here.

I'm very excited to announce my work with Paradox Interactive on a new piece of content for the excellent Europa Universalis IV! Join me as I talk with Alvaro Sanz, one of the fine folks at Paradox, about the project and about video games, history, and all the fun intersections thereof.

This week: it's the height of the Edo period, and you sail into Osaka's harbor. What sorts of things might you see?

Show notes here.

This week: how the rise of a powerful religious institution helped draw the attention of one of Japan's greatest warlords to Osaka, and how the city emerged from the ashes of his collapse to become once again a center of commerce in Japan. 

Note: due to a numbering error on my end, I recorded this episode as 487. It is actually 488. This has been corrected for episode posts, but I don't have the time to go re-record the opening of each episode.

Show notes here.

This week: the start of our multi-part series on the history of Osaka! Supposedly the site where Japan's first emperor began his conquests, the city has a long history stretching back well before it even got its current name. This week is all about the first 1000-ish years of Osaka's history, and how it became one of the country's most important port cities. 

Show notes here. 

This week: how did Japan's most popular god develop a following around the country, and why is that god--Inari--associated with everything from farming to fire prevention? How come you see Inari worship in Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines alike? And what does all of this have to do with foxes, anyway?

Show notes here. 

This week: the Pal dissent becomes the Pal myth. How did an obscure document from the Tokyo Trials end up front and center in nationalist discourse in Japan today?

Show notes here.

This week, we're starting a look into how an Indian lawyer and judge from a relatively obscure background became a focal point of right-wing Japanese nationalism. Who was Radhabinod Pal, how did he end up a judge in the Tokyo Trials, and what led him to claim that there were no grounds to convict Japan's leaders of any crime after World War II?

Note: this episode does contain indirect discussion of war crimes. Listener discretion is advised. 

Show notes here.

Oe Kenzaburo is about as different a writer as you can think of from Kawabata Yasunari, and yet he's Japan's second ever Nobel laureate in literature. What sort of concerns defined his work, and what can we learn from looking at him in conjunction with Kawabata?

Show notes here.

Apologies for the delay, folks. Something went wrong in the Libsyn backend. Here's our episode on Kawabata Yasunari!

We're wrapping up our look at the Hatoyama political dynasty with some time on Hatoyama Iichiro (arguably Japan's most reluctant politican) and his two sons Kunio and Yukio. Plus some thoughts on the legacy of the Hatoyama family and on dynastic electoral politics more generally.

Show notes here.