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Prompt
Describe two different ways that Shanghai or its characters express their understanding of your chosen concept (i.e., Ethics, Gender, Self+Other). Explain why they are different.
Required Materials
Yokomitsu Riichi, Shanghai, pp. 1-45
Format
One page, double-spaced, Times New Roman or similar, 12-point font. Follow citation practices described in the citation guide.
Tips (thanks for your questions!)
• Please review the work 1 Rubric 下载 P 1 Rubric(posted Thursday 1/9).
• I expect to see at least two pieces of evidence. You do not need to include more than that.
• Use the evidence you collected in your Evidence Journal if it is relevant.
• By “explain why they are different” I actually mean explain *how* they are different. You don’t have to make a historical argument to explain why Yamaguchi and Osugi think about the Ethics of using human bodies as commodities differently. Instead, I want you to point out exactly what the differences are between their two understandings of the Ethics of human bodies as commodities.
• You can imagine your audience to be people who are already very familiar with Shanghai (that is, me and your TA). You do not need to include any context for a “general reader.”
• Do your best to avoid the Forbidden Words. It will make your interpretations more interesting and more useful for the next stages of the course. Of course, it makes sense to describe Kôya et al as “Japanese.” However, I would shy away from describing their sentiments / actions / thoughts as evidence of a “Japanese sense of ethics” or “Japanese notions of gender.”
• Please write in complete sentences and use paragraphs. You do not need to include an introduction or conclusion (unless they help you to communicate your points more clearly). You do not need to follow any standardized work format.
• You do not need to include a Works Cited page.
• For citations, please follow the simplified citation style described in the Citation Worksheet.下载 Citation Worksheet.
• You may use the quotes that I shared in class.
• You may write more than one page, but please do not write too much more than one page (i.e., a few extra sentences is fine, but 2-3 extra paragraphs is too much).
• Please include your name at the top of the page. You do not need to include any other header information.
• Your TA will provide feedback on your analysis that you can use to improve for the next work.
HIST 87: Winter 2025
Paper 1 Rubric
Point totals in ( ).
_____ (1) Identifies concept that paper will address (i.e., Gender, Self + Other, Ethics).
_____ (2) Provides two examples of concept; _______ (1) the examples come from Shanghai.
_____ (2) Provides appropriate citation for each example.
_____ (2) Explains how these examples differ from each other.
_____ (2) Turns paper in on time and in prescribed format.
HIST 87: Winter 2025
Citation Worksheet
I. Citation Guidelines
Cite the source of a quotation, data point, or paraphrase immediately following the quote or
statement derived from that source. Since we will only be citing course materials, we can use a
simplified citation style: in parathesis, cite the last name of the author and the page number
from which you derived the data point. For example:
• This sentence shares a piece of evidence from Reading #3 (Reading #3 Author’s Last
Name, p. page number for the fact).
• The Taihō Code allowed 30 days for officials to travel by sea between Dazaifu and
Kyoto (von Verschuer, p. 308).
• The Petition of Owari claimed that “the corvée duties” were “heavy” (Petition of
Owari, quoted in von Verschuer, p. 308).
II. Practice
A. Read the following two excerpts
1. Excerpt from von Verschuer, “Life of Commoners in the Provinces: The Owari no genbumi of
988,” p. 317:
“Whereas Shinano hemp and glazed ceramics were specialties of Owari Province, other
tax supplies, including lacquer, oil, and Indian madder, were provided to the Heian court
by many other provinces. The lacquer was stocked in the storehouses of the Ministry of
Treasury (Ōkurashō) and used in the imperial workshops, which produced lacquer
dishes, furniture (chests and frames for screens), palanquins, and other equipment for
the imperial family. Oil was also used at imperial craft shops.”
2. Excerpt from Sei Shōnagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon, p. 40:
“For example, if they are married to a provincial governor and their daughter is chosen
to take part in the Gosechi dances, they do not have to disgrace themselves by acting
like provincials and asking other people about procedure.”
See reverse side for exercise….
B. Complete the following paragraph by filling in the correct citations.
Sei Shōnagon imagined that geography and knowledge of etiquette distinguished residents of
the provinces from those of the imperial capital (______________, p. ____________). Yet in
fact the life of etiquette that she so valued in the capital was wholly dependent on products
from the provinces. For example, the Heian court received hemp and glazed ceramics from
Owari province. Lacquer, a central material for dishes, furniture, and palanquins, arrived from
other provinces (____________, p. ____________).
HIST 87: Meeting 2B
Key Terms
A. Today’s Historical Periods
1. Review
Kofun Period, 300-538 (burial mounds; rise of Yamato clan)
Asuka Period, 538-710 (establishment of Imperial Court and ritsuryō system)
Nara Period, 710-784 (first permanent capital, “Heijō-kyō”)
Heian Period, 784-1185 (second permanent capital)
Kamakura Period, 1185-1333 (Minamoto shogunate, HQ in Kamakura)
Muromachi Period, 1338-1573 (Ashikaga shogunate, HQ in Kyoto)
2. New
Paekche Kingdom, 18 BCE – 660 CE
Sui Dynasty, 581-618
Later or Unified Silla Kingdom, 668-935
Tang Dynasty, 618-907
Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, 907-979
Song Dynasty, 960-1279
Koryŏ Kingdom, 918-1392
B. Today’s Chronology
c. 400: Introduction of Chinese learning to Japanese islands via Paekche Kingdom (Korean
peninsula)
600s: Yamato Court sends 10 embassies to Sui and Tang courts (100-600 people per embassy).
607: Prince Shōtoku sends embassy to Sui court with letter identifies himself as “son of heaven
in land where the sun rises.”
700s: Yamato Court sends 9 embassies to Tang Court.
701: Taihō Code
712: Compilation of Kojiki, a history of the “divine land” and the Imperial (Yamato) Court
720: Compilation of Nihon shoki, the first of the Six National Histories
800s: Yamato Court receives embassies from Po-hai Kingdom; increased private commerce with
China and Korea makes sending embassies less critical.
804 and 838: Yamato Court sends 2 embassies to Tang Court.
894: Embassies to Tang discontinued at urging of Sugawara no Michizane.
901: Sugawara no Michizane exiled to Dazaifu; dies two years later.
920: Completion of Kokinwakashū (Collection of waka from ancient and modern times).
930: Flooding and fires kill numerous Fujiwara in Heian-kyō.
936: Ki no Tsurayaki completes Tosa nikki (Tosa diary).
970: Minamoto no Tamenori writes Kuchizusami (Fun with learning) for his student Fujiwara no
Matsuo-gimi.
993: Posthumous promotion of Sugawara no Michizane to Senior First Rank.
996: Publication of The Pillow Book.
c. 1030s: Fujiwara no Akihira writes Tettsui den (Biography of an iron hammer).
c. 1050: Fujiwara no Akihira writes Shinsarugakuki (An account of the new monkey music).
C. Key Terms
1. tennō 天皇
Term for “emperor” that rises to use in the Yamato court in the 7th century around the time of
Emperor Temmu. Theoretically distinguished the Yamato emperor from the emperors of
Chinese dynasties, who more commonly (though not exclusively) used the title huangdi 皇帝
(Jp. kōtei). Ooms (2009, p. 155) notes that around the same time the term came into regular
usage in Japan, the third Tang emperor Gaozong also adopted it. So it’s possible that the two
different terms are evidence of a forked path in political thought and practice, rather than an
attempt to create a uniquely Yamato form of emperorship.
2. kanshi 漢詩
Poetry written in Japan in Chinese and using Chinese forms. Sugawara no Michizane was a
famous kanshi poet.
3. waka 和歌
Poetry written in Japanese kana (syllables), which were derived from Chinese characters, in
particular syllable patterns. Examples include Kojiki, Man’yōshū, and Kokinwakashū.
4. sarugaku 猿楽
Literally, “monkey music.” Nighttime carnival entertainments popular from the 11th to the 14th
centuries.
D. Key Quotes, Images, Etc.
1. From the Meng ch’iu, trans. Watson (The seeking of the unenlightened, c. early Tang): “Wang
Jung was simple and efficient, P’ei K’ai was honest and liberal-minded.”
2. From Minamoto no Tamenori’s Kuchizusami (Fun with learning, 970), trans. and paraphrase
Ury 1999:
(a) “Geography”: “The Three Passes”; “The Seven High Mountains”; “The Nine Tumuli”;
“The Three Bridges.”
(b) “Human Beings”: “the five emperors of Chinese high antiquity; three dynasties of
Hsia, Yin, and Chou; eleven emperors of the Former and the twelve of the Later Han; the
nine lesser disciplines of Confucius and other notables; names for the barbarians of the
four directions; six kinds of portentous dreams; three conditions under which a man
cannot spurn his wife; the seven grounds for divorcing her; three kinds of subordination
which wife owes husband (father before marriage, husband upon marriage, son after
husband’s death); three persons to whom a man owes loyalty (father, teacher, lord);
organs and cavities of the body; words for various degrees of direct ancestor and direct
descendant; kinds of persons and transgressions to be forgiven; the dangerous years in
a human life (13, 25, 37, 49, 61, 73, 85, 91); charm to protect against a bad dream or
make a good dream come true; a verse to chant if you come across a dead man in the
road at night.”
(i) Five Emperors = Yellow Emperor; Zhuanxu; Emperor Ku; Emperor Yao;
Emperor Shun.
(ii) Barbarians in Four Directions = Dongyi 東夷 (East); Nanman南蠻 (South);
Xirong ⻄戎 (West); Beidi 北狄 (North).
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sovereigns_and_Five_Emperors;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Barbarians.
3. From Fujiwara no Akihira, Shinsarugakuki (An account of the new monkey music, c. 1050):
“The eldest daughter’s husband is a famous gambler. He is a master with the shaker – the dice
fall as he bids. Gaming-table incantations flow from his silver tongue, and he excels in the arts
of strategy. He surpasses even Enkan Michihiro at rolling ‘fives and fours’ and ‘fours and
threes,’ cutting lines on the board, executing the Chinese roll, and at handling all kinds of
shakers, dice, special techniques, and dice-game arguments….” (trans. Joan Piggott, quoted in
Shirane, ed., Traditional Japanese Literature, 494).
4. Prince Shōtoku’s letter to the Sui Court, 607: “The son of heaven [emperor] in the land where
the sun rises [⽇本] addresses a letter to the son of heaven in the land where the sun sets.”
5. Sandai jitsuroku (True history of the three reigns of Japan; 901): “On the thirtieth day of the
fifth month of the fourteenth year of Jōgan [872], a great serpent appeared in one of the halls
of the official provincial Buddhist temple in Suruga. There were thirty-one copies of the Heart
Sutra wrapped around a single roller, and it ate them. The monks who witnessed this tied a
rope around its tail and hung it upside down from a tree. Shortly afterward, it disgorged the
sacred books and fell on the ground half dead, but then it suddenly revived” (Ury 1999, 363,
paraphrasing Sandai jitsuroku).
1
HIST 87: Meeting 2A
Key Terms
January 14, 2025
A. Today’s Historical Periods
Kofun Period, 300-538
Asuka Period, 538-710 [with Kofun, “the Yamato Period”]
Nara Period, 710-784
Heian Period, 784-1185
Kamakura Period, 1185-1333
Muromachi Period, 1338-1573
B. Today’s Chronology
552: Introduction of Buddhism to Japan via Paekche Kingdom (Korean Peninsula).
646: Taika Reform (“Taika” = Great Change) establishes ritsuryō system.
701: Taihō Code establishes the theoretical basis for government under ritsuryō system.
784: Capital established in Heian-kyō (present-day Kyoto).
967: Regency Period of the Heian era begins.
996: Sei Shōnagon completes The Pillow Book
1017: Fujiwara no Michinaga appointed as Regent (highpoint of Fujiwara power)
1068: Regency Period ends.
C. Key Terms
1. ⽒ uji
The clan groups of the Kofun period (300-538). As defined by William H. McCullough: “A loosely
knit, patrilineal kin group of nobles whose members shared an ancestral or guardian deity, bore
a common patronymic (except for the imperial clan, which had no name) and hereditary title of
status, acknowledged a common chieftain, and were usually buried together in a clan
cemetery.”1 Clans managed governance in and around the Nara plain from the 4th to mid-7th
century.2
2. ⼤化 taika
Literally, “great change.” The Taika Reforms of 646 centralized authority in the imperial court
through land tenure and tax reform. The Yamato clan controlled the imperial court. Leaders of
other clans were granted official positions with stipends to encourage their participation in the
new system.
3. 律令 ritsuryō
1 William H. McCullough, “The capital and its society,” in The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. II, ed. Donald H.
Shively and William H. McCullough, 97-182 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 128.
2 Delmer H. Brown, “The Yamato Kingdom,” in The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. I, ed. Delmer M. Brown, 108-
162 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993).
2
Literally, “law and order.” The Taika Reform (646) created a new system of land tenure and
taxation, and created “sustenance households” (jikifu) linked to court rank, which centralized
authority and power under the Yamato court. The Taihō Code of 701 codified the system into a
series of administrative and penal codes that centralized authority among a hereditary
aristocracy and an imperial court.3
4. ⾷封 jikifu
Sustenance household. Court officials appointed at Fifth Rank and higher received large grants
of tax-free rice land, which they used to support their positions and activities in the capital.
These ranks (and their attendant sustenance households) were largely hereditary. In the early
Heian period, nobility at the Third Rank and above came from around 20 clans. Officials at the
Fourth and Fifth rank came from around 150-200 clans. The number of clans with members at
these ranks declined over the Heian period as the Fujiwara consolidated power by controlling
court offices. At the same time, the Court began granting sustenance households to nobles of
lower ranks, gradually diluting the economic power associated with all but the highest ranks.4
5. 摂政 sesshō
Regent. The official charged with governing the realm on behalf of a child emperor. From 858 to
967, the office was used only sporadically. Between 967 and 1068, what historians call “the
Regency Period,” the office was in use continuously, and generally occupied by a member of
the Fujiwara’s Northern House.
3 David Lu, “Law and Administration Under the Taihô-Yôrô Code,” Japan: A Documentary History (ME Sharpe,
1997), 29-36.
4 McCullough, “The Capital and Its Society,” 131.
3
D. Key Images, Tables, Quotes
1. Sei Shônagon, The Pillow Book, #1, “In Spring It Is the Dawn.”
“In the winter the early mornings [are the most beautiful]. It is beautiful indeed when the snow
has fallen during the night, but splendid too when the ground is white with frost; or even when
there is no snow or frost, but it is simply very cold and the attendants hurry from room to room
stirring up the fires and bringing charcoal, how well this fits the season’s mood! But as noon
approaches and the cold wears off, no one bothers to keep the braziers alight, and soon
nothing remains but piles of white ashes.”
2. Murasaki Shikibu, author of Tale of Genji, c. late 10th century: Sei Shônagon is “dreadfully
conceited. She thought herself clever, and littered her writings with Chinese characters, but if
you examined them closely, they left a great deal to be desired. Those who think of themselves
as being superior to everyone else in this way will inevitably suffer and come to a bad end, and
people who have become so precious that they go out of their to be sensitive to the most
unpromising situations, trying to capture every moment of interest, however slight, are bound
to look ridiculous and superficial. How can the future turn out well for them?”
3. Amino Yoshihiko’s Map of Ancient Japan
— image in Canvas
4. The Reform Edict of Taika, 646 (from Lu, “The Taika Reforms,” p. 27): “In lieu [of titles to
lands], sustenance households shall be granted to those of the rank of Daibu (Chief of a bureau
or ward) and upwards on a scale corresponding to their positions. Cloth and silk stuffs shall be
given to the lower officials and people, varying in value.”
5. “Ritsuryô State” (律令 ritsuryô, literally “law” and “order”)
Ritsu” 律 referred to the criminal code and “ryô” 令 referred to the administrative code. The
specific code to which “ritsuryô” referred was the “Taiho Code,” which was promulgated in the
first year of Taihô (701). This code was based on a model from the Tang Court in China. But, in
contrast to the administrative code of the Tang Court, which theoretically opened up
administrative positions to scholars regardless of lineage, the Taihô Code consolidated
authority in a hereditary aristocracy and the imperial household.
6. Table reproduced from The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 2
4
5
7. Table reproduced from The Cambridge History of Japan, Vol. 2
6
8. Map reproduced from Heian Japan, Centers and Peripheries (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i
Press, 2007)
