This week: how does the structure of the medieval Japanese economy compare to that of medieval Europe? What even is…
There’s a bit of a division in the scholarship on medieval Japan regarding whether “feudalism” is a useful scholarly category…
This week: how does the Taiheiki depict its most famous characters? How does it describe the downfall of the Hojo?…
The Taiheiki is arguably one of the most dismissed works of literature in Japanese history, doomed to always exist solely…
This week, we’re tackling the most legendary samurai in Japanese history: Miyamoto Musashi. Why is he so famous, what do…
This week, we cover how the legend of Yoshitsune as told in Gikeiki describes his demise. Which is how his…
This week, we come to the text that more than any other helps build the Yoshitsune legend: Gikeiki. Here, at…
This week, the Yoshitsune legend finds its legs with Heike Monogatari–one of the most epic works in Japanese history. Except…
Note: I made a mistake recording this episode but did not have time to go back and fix it. It’s…
This week, the Kawai family has finally made good in the world of feudal Wakayama–just in time for that world…