Skip to content
Facing Backward Podcasts
By Isaac Meyer and Demetria Spinrad
  • Home
  • The History of Japan Podcast
    • Listen to the show
    • See all show notes
    • Maps
    • Glossary
  • Criminal Records Podcast
  • Watching Backward
  • Support Our Shows
  • About Us
    • Press and Projects
    • Social Media & Contact Information

Tag: Zen

Episode 548 – The Five Mountains, Part 2

October 4, 2024 Isaac Meyer

This week’s footnote is a continuation of last week’s discussion of the gozan, or five mountain system for the ranking of…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Ashikaga, Buddhism, History, Japan, religion, Zen

Episode 547 – The Five Mountains, Part 1

September 27, 2024 Isaac Meyer

This week on the Footnotes to the Revised Introduction to Japanese History: many describe Zen as the religion of the…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Buddhism, History, Japan, Kamakura, religion, Samurai, Zen

Episode 512 – The New Buddhisms

December 15, 2023 Isaac Meyer

This week: the advent of the medieval era brings with it new strands of Buddhism that will radically remake the…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Buddhism, History, Japan, Kamakura, medieval, Nichiren, Pure Land Buddhism, religion, Zen

Episode 457 – The Purple Robe Incident

October 14, 2022 Isaac Meyer

This week: political infighting about purple robes and what it can tell us about Buddhism, political power, and the relationship…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Buddhism, Edo, History, Japan, Tokugawa, Zen

Episode 418 – The Bucket and the Moon

December 17, 2021 Isaac Meyer 3 Comments

This week, we have a biography of one of the rare women of medieval Japan who was prominent not just…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Buddhism, History, Japan, medieval, Women, Zen

Episode 275 – The House of Cards, Part 3

February 9, 2019 Isaac Meyer

This week we turn away from politics to discuss religion, art, and the economy during the age of the Ashikaga.…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Ashikaga, History, Japan, Muromachi, Samurai, Zen

Episode 220 – The All Seeing Eye

December 2, 2017 Isaac Meyer

This week, we investigate the great Zen master Dogen, who was something of an eccentric in his own time but…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Podcasts Filed under: Buddhism, Dogen, History, Japan, Soto, Zen

Episode 154 – Zen at War

June 25, 2016 Isaac Meyer

This week: what happens when Buddhists go to war? We’ll explore the relationship between the Japanese Empire and the Zen…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized Filed under: Buddhism, Zen

Episode 6 – A New Order

May 4, 2013 Isaac Meyer 2 Comments

This week’s episode is on the structure of the Kamakura bakufu, its war against the Mongol Yuan dynasty of China,…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: History of Japan Podcast, Uncategorized Filed under: Ashikaga, Hojo, Kamakura, Mongol Invasions, Muromachi, Noh, Pure Land Buddhism, Yuan, Zen

About Me

My name is Isaac Meyer, and I’m a  former PhD student at the University of Washington, specializing in modern Japan (with sub-specializations in modern China, modern Europe, and international relations). Today, I work as a teacher at an independent school in the Seattle area.

I also have a tendency to go off on random historical tangents. One day, I decided to combine these two traits in podcast form, and thus was born the History of Japan Podcast!

In 2018, I decided start the Criminal Records Podcast with my wife, Demetria Spinrad. This podcast gives me the chance to talk about world history–and the weird, wonderful world of historical crime and punishment.

Support the Show

Support the Facing Backward network on Patreon to get access to our bonus features, including our bonus episodes about historical fiction.

The History of Japan Patreon is still live, and subscribers will be able to get the weekly newsletter there as well.

Search This Site

Recent Posts

  • Episode 577 – The Kings of the Ring, Part 4
  • Episode 576 – The Kings of the Ring, Part 3
  • Episode 575 – The Kings of the Ring, Part 2
  • Episode 574 – The Kings of the Ring, Part 1
  • Episode 573 – The Revolutionary, Part 8
Copyright © 2025 Facing Backward Podcasts — Primer WordPress theme by GoDaddy