Postgraduate Course: Japanese Religions in the Modern Era (ASST11074)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Asian Studies |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | The course aims to give students a clear outline of modern Japanese religions by looking in detail at representative phenomena and questioning them from a number of standpoints. The course also draws on the substantial amount of material gathered by the course organiser over three decades, mainly photographic but also video material and paraphernalia, a goodly proportion of which features in the Living Buddhism project.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 1, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
16/09/2013 |
| Breakdown of Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Please contact the School directly for a breakdown of Learning and Teaching Activities |
| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Please contact the School directly for a breakdown of Assessment Methods
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| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
- Solid understanding of the major developments in modern Japanese religions (from c.1868), including the social and political background to those developments;
- Critical assessment of sources, documents and fieldwork related to Japanese religions in the modern era and the ability to form judgements about pertinent issues, against the background of relevant secondary literature;
- The ability to use the extensive electronic on-line resources on Japanese religions |
Assessment Information
| One essay not exceeding 4,000 words, to be chosen from a list of topics in the course handbook (100%) |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
1. Introduction: Meiji (1868¿1911) neologisms, shu¿kyo¿ ¿¿ and religious activity
2. Kami (gods) and hotoke (buddhas): Never shall the twain meet again ' Meiji attempts to purify Japan's religious roots
3. The religious response to the Meiji Restoration
4. Buddhism goes west: Shingon Buddhism at the British Museum
5. Shugendo¿: Society and its peripheries
6. Forms of pilgrimage in Japan
7. Buddhism in crisis: Institutions, clergy, and finances on the ground; Excursus: The cemetery at Ko¿yasan
8. KanZeOn: Two film-makers look at the state of Japanese religion (a showing of KanZeOn (2011, 80 minutes), followed by discussion)
9. Aum Shinrikyo and the question of religious terrorism
10. The Yasukuni Shrine: The souls of the dead and the international politics of the living
11. Japanese religions: Inside, Outside ' A reappraisal (short student presentations); Having begun the course by questioning our understanding of religion in Japan as a social and historical phenomenon, this session will give students the opportunity to propose and defend their revised presuppositions and approaches in the form of short presentations of precise theses. |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
D. Lu, Japan: A documentary history contains important primary sources in translation; as does R. Tsunoda et al., Sources of Japanese tradition, vol. 2.
I. Reader, E. Andreasen, and F. Stefánsson, Japanese religions: past and present. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1995. [Relevant primary texts from the above works will be prescribed for pertinent topics.]
Murakami, Shigeyoshi, Japanese Religion in the Modern Century. Tokyo: Tokyo U.P., 1980.
J. Breen and M. Teeuwen, A new history of Shinto. Blackwell brief histories of religion, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.
I. Reader, Religion in contemporary Japan. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1991.
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| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
2 hours weekly lecture/seminar |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Ian Astley
Tel: (0131 6)51 1358
Email: Ian.Astley@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Sarah Harvey
Tel: (0131 6)51 1822
Email: Sarah.Harvey@ed.ac.uk |
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