The basis of this course was to use various historical chronicles, literature and visual material, to examine the creation of the samurai image, and the rise and fall of Japan's warrior class behind it. Through this exploration, we will find some juxtaposition of the historical reality with the construction of mythology - both positive and negative - of the warrior in Japanese popular culture. The goal of the course was to attempt to answer the following questions: How did the bushido ethos emerge? How and why did the samurai become the national hero of Japanese culture? What beliefs, values and cultures have been associated with the samurai? What place does the samurai image hold in today’s Japan?
The class presented some final projects that focused on specific topics about what they learned within the course. The ultimate goal of the project was to present the information learned from the course to the public using various methods of media, and presenting it in a way that would capture the interest of not only the academia, but of the general public as well.
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The first group chose to deconstruct the images of the Samurai in Popular Culture, focusing namely on two sources: the television show "Deadliest Warrior" and the video game franchise "Samurai Warriors".
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The next group created a blog called 47 Shades of Samurai, illustrating the intimate relationship between contemporary events ("the present") and other extra-historical processes in the creation of history, using the Japanese warrior of the Tokugawa period as a model. Check it out!
http://47shadesoftokugawa.blogspot.ca/2012/11/introduction.html
http://47shadesoftokugawa.blogspot.ca/2012/11/introduction.html
The next project explores the role of women of the samurai class, by defining what a "samurai woman" is, and comparing this definition to the modern portrayal of women in samurai themed video games. They focused on the Sengoku Era, looking at the games "Samurai Warriors" and "Sengoku Basara" and their depictions of historic figures and original characters, whether or not the historic figures are represented accurately, and how the original characters compare to the actual role of their general class in that era.
http://fyeahsamuraiwomen.tumblr.com/
http://fyeahsamuraiwomen.tumblr.com/
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The next group may look a little familiar if you have looked at the 2014 class projects. This group made a video that entertainingly analyzes current depictions of the Samurai and debunks them.
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The next project debunks the current stereotypes of the Samurai, and goes into detail about how these stereotypes may have come to be.
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The next project also made a video, making a comparison between the 3 Great Unifiers of Japan (Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu) and how they are depicted in the video game series "Sengoku BASARA" and "Sengoku Musou (Samurai Warriors)" and compare these depictions to their historical counterparts.
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The next group was interested in comparing the "samurai" image and ideals in relation to that of the perspectives of the West as well as in the East (Japan), especially in terms of how the role the "samurai" image played in Japan's economic success.
http://japansamuraisalaryman.wordpress.com/
http://japansamuraisalaryman.wordpress.com/
This group created a blog site dedicated to acknowledging common misconceptions of the samurai while at the same time teaching of the "true" story. This blog is unique in that it shows the journey of how this group decided upon their project and how they learned more about the Samurai image and depictions.
http://samuraiawakening.wordpress.com/
http://samuraiawakening.wordpress.com/
The next project is a blog that contrasts what may be the modern image of the Samurai with what the Samurai actually was throughout the different ages of Japan's History.
http://subarashiisamurai.blogspot.ca/
The group also had a member who was bilingual in English and Japanese, and so they also decided to increase the reach to other audiences by creating a Japanese version of the site as well, which can be found below:
http://ameblo.jp/subarashiisamurai/
http://subarashiisamurai.blogspot.ca/
The group also had a member who was bilingual in English and Japanese, and so they also decided to increase the reach to other audiences by creating a Japanese version of the site as well, which can be found below:
http://ameblo.jp/subarashiisamurai/
The last project was a a game that allowed you to see how much you really know about the Samurai. However, the link is now dead and inactive, but I thought it would be nice to commend them for their project. It was called "You don't know Samurai jack".