Cultural History of Late Tokugawa Japan

[@PaulGravestock]

I found this lecture hugely useful in providing social and economic context for the environment that allowed the woodblock artist to flourish, and record the changing society around them. The lecture really helps put other lectures that focus on the art into context of what was occurring in Japanese society. If you want to understand some of the background to what the woodblock artists were capturing, this is a fantastic lecture to watch.

[@anthonyventimiglia4157]

Excellent. Excellent. Excellent. Best I've ever heard. Write the book. I'll buy it. Also, I would like to acquire a good English bibliography. Thank you.

[@mibelloaleman]

This was definitely an awesome, fiercely detailed, incredibly fascinating lecture!

[@theharper1]

There's some fascinating insights into Edo period Japan.

[@charlesmelenyzer8919]

Amazing lecture, this connected so many dots from previous readings and classes. Thank you.

[@cantranslate]

What a systematic and infirmative lecture！Thank you so much to giveus an introduction of the immense and complicated background of the emerging of the Ukiyoe. I have learned a lot！

[@donaldguntner622]

A truly fantastic and compelling lecture

[@TatianaKurnosova]

Amazing lecture, thank you very much!

[@ziaulhaque4462]

Are you from Japan?

[@AlessioFangano]

What an awesome lecture! :)

[@jacekkotwica]

Fascinating lecture. Thank you!

[@realestateChen]

Incredible Incredible Incredible! Thank you for generously sharing !

[@onewinter9411]

This will really help me with my writing. Thanks!

[@stevenv6463]

How thorough. The method of regulating the Dutch influence on Japan by limiting how often and where they come to the country reminds me of how the Koreans limited the Japanese to certain ports to counter the pirate attacks.

[@katrussell6819]

Great information! I had little knowledge of Japanese history. The man did a great job. Wish I could be in his classes!

[@w.h.6291]

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[@leilamebert8117]

amazing. thanks

[@theharper1]

One thing which seemed to be missing from the hierarchy of people in Edo was where the priests fitted. The number of temples was huge, and though most of the temples were tiny, some were large. This was a significant portion of the population. Also, he was asked about what aspects of Edo culture still exist. One aspect is management hierarchy which is still very top-down and stifles creativity because a subordinate is always expected to obey their senior's instructions. Another hang over is connected with the "untouchable" people in Edo culture like those who dealt with the dead. People who happen to live in areas associated with the untouchables may suffer discrimination even today. Aspects of this can be seen in the movie "Departures" (Okuribito).

[@yourdissapointeddaddy2057]

Untouchable do you mean people who worked as undertakers?

[@theharper1]

@yourdissapointeddaddy2057 people who were undertakers were just one of the roles in the untouchable class. Tanners and people who dealt with human waste were also untouchable. So if an area or family was associated with tanning, they could suffer from discrimination. Yes, I was specifically talking about the example of dealing with dead people in the movie.

[@yourdissapointeddaddy2057]

@@theharper1 ah I understand thanks. Seems ignorant people think like that, someone has to do it.

[@bluesregend9655]

I will explain Ukiyoe in an easy-to-understand manner.

[@irrelevantFJS]

Very entertaining and informative lecture. But as a woman, I cannot help but feel uncomfortable about the effusive romantic praise of yoshiwara with almost zero discussion of what yoshiwara was like from the women's perspective. Academia and history has a problem of things being written and disseminated from a male perspective, specifically men in power. I think it would have been incredibly helpful to see a more well rounded view of Japanese history and culture, not merely from the perspective of a well-to-do man, but from the women. In particular of the women sold into sexual servitude in yoshiwara. Would they have described the floating world the way it was described here? I am almost 100% certain they would have had a very different view of that world that would be a lot less rosey.

[@SCIFIVAMPIRE]

Agreed.

[@keithwhitlock7021]

Ieyasu was incredibly wise. He built Edo out of an uninhabitable swamp. We could learn from him.

[@spanixtanspanixtan8757]

Someone asks about the environmental issues that led Japan to collapse near the 1600. "Infanticide" is the only answer. The whole process of Japan's losing its woods and the process of recovery are completely ignored. Yet that recovery was Japan´s greatest achievement as an well structured and healthy culture. In a century they stopped deforestation, and started growing back their forest with plantation techniques. Today, Japan is covered by forests, like Germany. The only problem was forestry concentrated on two species: Hinoki cypress and Sugi cedar. Birth control was part of the measures taken by the population. Infanticide was not unusual, but there were also other methods to have less children and space them, like prolonged lactation. Japan was a civilized country, even if people like commodore Perry came with steel ships and guns to change by force that "paper civilization". Don´t underestimate Japan. It has fallen and risen from its ashes like a phoenix once and again. Learn from its history. It's not just a culture of Manga and anime.

[@Elayman1]

It was an interesting lecture, but not concerning in any way shape or form Late Tokugawa period as the title would indicate.

[@fivedollars7186]

マクシ教授万歳!

[@sallytwotrees5250]

Commerce wasn't about growth but stability

[@Diamondpaintingwithsophie]

It was a very informative lecture but I am surprised that the debate surrounding the pleasure districts nearly took twenty minutes to explain compared with the rest of the period. Someone liked researching it a bit too much

[@waitandhope]

Hahaha

[@RichMitch]

Class size of 15/20 = better education standards

[@waitandhope]

Omg coool

[@Petey0707]

Great and informative lecture but it's a bit jarring seeing him praise the highly oppressive and bureaucratic society the Tokugawa Shogunate created.

[@ellyarrow]

I flinch everytime Yoshiwara is called pleasure district, when most women there were essentially enslaved.

[@keithwhitlock7021]

Curious as to why he begins his search of cultural awareness with the seediest segment of Japanese life: prostitution, risque entertainment, pleasure quarters, etc.

[@Cooliofamily]

It's often in the margins, that is, through marginalized groups, that you begin to uncover true histories.

[@amineb7974]

@@Cooliofamily well said. It's called the history from below.

[@니모-b6w]

Lee Brenda Thompson Timothy Gonzalez Joseph

[@patavinity7673]

Of course Japan was stagnant during its period of isolation. The fact that the arts flourished in that period is not any sort of contradiction of that fact.

[@amineb7974]

Can you elaborate maybe ?