I. Course description. This course will explore the vibrant world of Japanese visual culture. In an era which is increasingly dominated by the flow of images, contemporary Japan has a high profile, producing, for example, manga (comic books), anime (animation), video games, and associated products which are consumed on a global scale, generating their own subcultures of enthusiasts in many countries.

The aim of the course is to develop a critical and historical conciousness of Japanese visual culture. On the most basic level, the class will attempt to achieve a "visual literacy" with regard to certain types of Japanese images. Furthermore, we will seek interconnections between different works and genres from across different time periods, and we will also consider the interrelations between Japanese visual culture and technologies, genres, and images outside of Japan. Finally, we will aim towards a greater critical awareness of the role of images in our own lives, and attempt to develop a shared critical and theoretical vocabulary to discuss them. The course will thus touch upon a number of significant contemporary issues, such as sexuality and the construction of gender, commodification and mass consumption/production, and the production and reception of images of ethnicity and national identity.

Appropriate to its focus on shifting technologies of visualization, the course will aim to take advantage of the possibilities of web-based multimedia technology to present and link bodies of textual and visual information. Thus, throughout the term, the instructor and students will collaborate to develop a website devoted to Japanese visual culture. The lectures, discussions, and readings will be divided into five units, with five corresponing areas of the course’s website. Class presentations will make use of the website, and students, working in teams, will further develop the website as part of their class projects. The five units of course content will be 1) introduction 2) Edo visuality 3) film and photography 4) postwar art and culture 5) manga and anime.

II. Historical background. Click here to review the periods of Japanese history. Click here to exit for a more detailed chronology of Japan's fine arts.

III. Contents and organization of the introductory unit.

1. Introduction to Japanese visual culture. This will consist of a discussion of three articles on Japanese culture, and an introductory lecture on elements of Japanese art history. See gallery.

IV. Notes

1. Terms--Introduction to Japanese visual culture

     a. yamato-e: 'Japanese-style' paintings; developed in the Heian period (984-1185).
     b. hikime-kagihana: "dash for eyes, hook for nose" style of depiction used in yamato-e.
     c. fukinuki-yatai: "blown-off roof" convention for depicting the interior of buildings, used in         yamato-e.
     c. nô: theater which reached its fruition in the late fifteenth century (Ashikaga-Muromachi period).
     d. Kanô School: school of painters whose style was typified in the work of Kanô Eitoku in the         Momoyama period (1568-1615); most of its patrons were elites of the ruling samurai class.
     e. Tosa School: school of painters with a style derived from yamato-e; its most prominent
        patrons were members of the old court aristocracy.
     f. ukiyo-e: 'pictures of the floating world.' Paintings and woodblock prints of subjects
       associated with the kabuki theater and the licensed quarters emerging in the Edo period
       (1615-1867); many of these pictures were consumed by members of the merchant class.

2. Thinking and writing about the visual

In many of the any of the works we will view, the relationships between artist, work, and viewer are encoded within the work itself, as figures within the work gaze at each other and view pictures within the picture.

a. Historical. Considers the historical development of a particular medium. Historical approaches may or may not link the development of a medium to its wider historical and social context. While historical approaches have typically emphasized artists and works, some recent work in film studies and art history focuses on the changing role of the viewer and the conditions of viewing.

b. Formalist-- intensive. Considers the formal elements of an image, such as the relationship of forms, colors, and objects. In film, a formalist critical approach would concentrate on the composition of a shot (or mise-en-scène), as well as technical elements such as camera angle, lighting, editing (montage), etc.

c. Formalist-- extensive. This type of approach would add a consideration of the viewer and the nature of vision to the formal analysis of the work. Film theories which focus on the "apparatus"-- the entire configuration of darkened film theater, projector, screen, and seated viewer-- would be examples of this approach.

d. Semiotic. This approach attempts to analyze visual representation as a type of language. Semiotic approaches often adopt the language of the linguistic "sign" developed by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913). Under a Saussurean approach, an individual work-- such as a photo, advertisement, painting or film-- might be considered an "utterance" (parole) which functions as part of a linguistic code or system (langue).

e. Psychological and philosophical. These approaches often focus on the role of visual images in forming and representing human subjectivity. Questions related to the construction of gender and the understanding of the self and the other are central to these approaches. Psychological approaches might draw on the work of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan, while philosophical approaches might draw on theories of language, vision, thought, and subjectivity from Decartes, Kant, and Hegel to the contemporary gender theorist Judith Butler.

f. Social and sociological. Considers the impact of visual media on society. Such an approach might aim at objectivity-- presenting, for example, a statistical analysis of film audiences-- or it might make an explicit value judgement, praising or condemning a work or genre for its social effects. Some crucial issues for social analysis have been the role of visual media in encouraging or discouraging violence and in shaping ideas about ethnicity and gender.

g. Critique of ideology. This approach seeks to uncover the ideological implications of visual representations, often revealing a political/economic agenda or bias in works which at first glance seem to be politically neutral "art" or "entertainment." Marxist criticism is one influencial form of ideological crique, but certainly not the only one.