History of Japan

Latest Episodes:

Episode 516 - From the Ashes Jan 20, 2024

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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?

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Episode 515 - Slouching Towards Kyoto Jan 12, 2024

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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!

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Episode 514 - The Structure of Medieval Japan Dec 29, 2023

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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!

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Episode 513 - The Specter of the Continent Dec 22, 2023

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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?

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Episode 512 - The New Buddhisms Dec 15, 2023

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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?

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Episode 511 - Tipping the Balance Dec 08, 2023

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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.

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Episode 510 - The Rise of the Warriors Dec 01, 2023

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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.

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Episode 509 - The Golden Age of Heian Nov 17, 2023

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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.

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Episode 508 - The Culture of Classical Japan, Part 2 Nov 10, 2023

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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.

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Episode 507 - The Culture of Classical Japan, Part 1 Nov 03, 2023

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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.

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