Undergraduate Course: Visions of the Buddha: Religious Art in Medieval Japan (HIAR10163)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Manga and anime only scratch the surface of Japanese visual and material culture which has flourished for six millennia. This course focuses on medieval artistic production in Japan to investigate the ubiquitous presence of Buddhism, to uncover not only the religious but also the socio-political motivations, to question modern assumptions of Buddhism, and to reveal the continued importance of critical themes at work in this art to our own contemporary society. |
| Course description |
Investigating the visual and material culture of medieval Japan offers an opportunity to explore the deployment of Buddhism for intriguing and poignant reasons do with political authority, gender politics, soteriological goals, fears of death and retribution, and the drive to create something beautiful and powerful. In effect, these are concerns that still face us today. This course analyses the objects presented in lectures and in your readings not only as aesthetic and religious works, but also as icons embodying the particular socio-historical contexts of their production. We grapple with issues of style, iconography, economics, patronage, belief systems, labour, and gender. In order to flesh out these connections, a crucial part of the course will be reading and discussing interdisciplinary and primary source documents. Small group activities are designed to help you experience the subject from different pedagogical perspectives. Our goal is to tell a story of religion, history, literature, and politics with art at its centre, revealing the indispensability and interconnectedness of visual culture to the fabric of medieval Japan.
The course is thematically structured as a series of two-hour seminars incorporating lectures, class discussions, and group activities. The start of each class will be lectures which will draw out certain points from the required readings, provide visual accompaniment, and present additional information to augment the week's theme. The second half of the class will be student-led open discussions of the readings and assigned topic and small group activities that spark and reinforce new learning.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have completed at least 3 History of Art courses at grade B or above, and we will only consider University/College level courses. **Please note that 3rd year History of Art courses are high-demand, meaning that they have a very high number of students wishing to enrol in a very limited number of spaces. These enrolments are managed strictly by the Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department, and all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Summative Assessment Hours 4,
Revision Session Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
170 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
This course has 2 assessment components:
1) 2,000-word curatorial exhibition portfolio, 50%, weeks 8-10
2) 3-hour take-home exam, 50%, assessment diet
Component 1 will consist of a 1000-word rationale for the exhibition, including title, design and layout, target audience, and curatorial narrative as well as the submission of a PowerPoint of the 8-10 selected objects. In addition, students will write 4 x 250-word catalogue entry for four of the objects. |
| Feedback |
Formative feedback:
During class in Week 5, students will each offer a 5-minute presentation stating the key theme and objects selected for their curatorial exhibition portfolio. Verbal feedback from the Course Organiser and peer feedback will be provided immediately in class. The feedback students receive from the Course Organiser as well as the collective discussion of all the projects allow students to continue building their content and skills-based knowledge.
Summative feedback:
Full written feedback on both assessment components will be provided by the Course Organiser as per University regulations via the Learn VLE/Turnitin.
The summative feedback on assessment component 1 will help the students to further develop their analytical and critical skills which will be necessary for assessment component 2 preparation. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | 3 hour online exam | 3:15 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Critically engage in substantive enquiry and critical analysis of the diverse visuality and many functions of Buddhist art in medieval Japan;
- Develop a solid foundation of knowledge of core Buddhist tenets and major works and monuments of Buddhist art in medieval Japan;
- Apply appropriate skills of visual enquiry, analysis, curatorial practice, and communication using a wide range of objects and primary sources;
- Critique the scholarly literature and locate their own place within the developing field of knowledge.
- Analyse how Japanese religious material can be made accessible to a non-academic audience through a curatorial exhibition project.
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Reading List
Heine, Steven and Pamela Winfield, eds. Zen and Material Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017
Hirasawa, Caroline. Hell-bent for Heaven: Painting and Practice at a Japanese Mountain. Leiden: Brill, 2013.
Hurvitz, Leon. Scripture of the Lotus Blossom of the Fine Dharma. Columbia: Columbia University Press, 2009.
Leidy, Denise Patry. The Art of Buddhism: An Introduction to Its History and Meaning. Boulder: Shambhala, 2009.
O'Neal, Halle. Word Embodied: The Jeweled Pagoda Mandalas in Japanese Buddhist Art. Cambridge: Harvard University Asia Center, 2018. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research and Enquiry:
- Strengthens and broadens students' research and enquiry skills by working with a range of textual and visual sources relating to Japanese religious art
- Analytical and critical thinking skills developed through verbal and written discussions of material culture, Buddhist praxis, primary source texts, and secondary literature
- Development of practical skills relevant to curation
Personal and Intellectual Autonomy:
- Independent seminar preparation and independent researching encourage intellectual autonomy
- Group work and in-class discussions develop confidence in asserting original ideas about advanced research topics
- Open-mindedness fostered through interaction with alternative interpretations
Aspiration and Personal Development:
- Seminars and summative assessments create independent opportunities to self-reflect, develop, and improve
- Organizational and planning skills learned over the course of the semester are taken forward in other facets of life
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| Keywords | Japan,medieval,Buddhism,art,icons,literature,doctrine |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Halle O'Neal
Tel: (0131 6)50 2340
Email: halle.o'neal@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Susanne Neil
Tel:
Email: sneil@ed.ac.uk |
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