31564 - Japanese Culture and Literature 1

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students knows the general outlines of the history of Japanese literature from the origins to the beginning of modernity. They will be provided the basic analytical tools to understand the works of the main authors, and they are able to contextualize them within their cultural, linguistic, artistic and historical background.

Course contents

From the Court to Cool Japan: How Japan Invented Its Classics

This course traces the cultural and literary history of the Nara, Heian, Kamakura, and Tokugawa periods from the perspective of the (re)construction and reinvention of tradition and classical aesthetics on the threshold of modernity. The central theme is the “social life” of the classic: each text is traced throughout its life cycle—production, material transmission, circulation, canonization, nationalization, re-mediation, and export—so that the constant question is not merely what the works say, but how and why they became “classics.”

Alongside the established tools of canon formation and the invention of tradition, students are introduced to more recent theoretical frameworks—material text, media studies, world literature, translation theory, and digital humanities—applied directly to the texts on the syllabus. Two cross-cutting themes run throughout the entire program: gender studies (gender and literary genre, masculinity, homoeroticism and nanshoku, identity and women’s writing) and popular culture and its re-mediations, from the Edo-period woodblock print revolution and the spread of haikai to manga, anime, video games, Boys’ Love, and the politics of Cool Japan.

Particular attention is devoted to the construction of national identity and the ways in which literature and classical culture become its indispensable foundations, to the complex relationship with the West, and to the dynamics between Orientalism, Occidentalism, and auto-Orientalism. The concluding conceptual thread links the Meiji nationalization (1868–1912) of a largely female court literature to the “feminine” and aestheticized image of Japan upon which self-Orientalism is based, from the late 19th century to the present.

From an educational perspective, the lectures alternate between a historical-literary track—which provides students with the contextual framework of the period and the texts—and a critical workshop in which they apply a different theoretical framework to the works studied on a case-by-case basis, including through brief digital humanities workshops and group activities.


The syllabus, detailing the topics covered and recommended readings, will be available online before the start of the course.

Readings/Bibliography

Students are expected to show a basic knowledge of the history of Japanese literature until 1868. Our reference texts are:

L. Bienati, A. Boscaro, La narrativa giapponese classica, Collana "Elementi", Marsilio, Venezia 2010.

Storia della letteratura giapponese. Dalle origini all'Ottocento, ed. by Carolina Negri, Einaudi, Torino 2025

• T. Eagleton, Cos'è la letteratura, in Introduzione alla teoria letteraria, Editori Riuniti, 1998, pp. 7–23 (available online by the beginning of the classes)

• H. Shirane, Canon Formation in Japan: Genre, Gender, Popular Culture, and Nationalism, in Hockx–Smits (cur.), Reading East Asian Writing, RoutledgeCurzon, 2003, pp. 22–38 (available online by the beginning of the classes)

• T. Yoda, Gender and the Nationalization of Literature, in Gender and National Literature, Duke UP, 2004, pp. 41–80 (available online by the beginning of the classes)

• C. Laffin, Histories of Periodization, in Interdisciplinary Edo, Routledge, 2024, pp. 199–217 (available online by the beginning of the classes)

• C. Smith, The Always Already (But Maybe Not Quite) Pre-Postmodern Edo, in Interdisciplinary Edo, Routledge, 2024, pp. 232–247 (available online by the beginning of the classes)

• P. Zanotti, Introduzione alla storia della poesia giapponese, Marsilio, 2012 (capp. 1-2-4-5).

• H. Shirane, T. Suzuki (ed.), Inventing the Classics: Modernity, National Identity, and Japanese Literature, Stanford UP, 2000 (a selection will be available online by the beginning of the classes).

• M. Emmerich, The Tale of Genji: Translation, Canonization, and World Literature, Columbia UP, 2013 (a selection will be available online by the beginning of the classes).

• P. Kornicki, The Book in Japan: A Cultural History, Brill, 1998 (a selection will be available online by the beginning of the classes).

• H. Long, The Values in Numbers: Reading Japanese Literature in a Global Information Age, Columbia UP, 2021 (a selection will be available online by the beginning of the classes).

• M. McLelland, K. Nagaike, K. Suganuma, J. Welker (ed.), Boys Love Manga and Beyond, UP of Mississippi, 2015 (a selection will be available online by the beginning of the classes).

Suggested readings:

P. Zanotti, Introduzione alla storia della poesia giapponese, Marsilio, 2012 (capp. 8-10-11-12).

• H. Shirane (ed.), Traditional Japanese Literature: An Anthology, Beginnings to 1600, Columbia UP, 2007 (a selection will be available online by the beginning of the classes).

• R. Raud, The Heian Literary System. A Tentative Model, in Reading East Asian Writing, Routledge Curzon, 2003, pp. 92–116 (available online by the beginning of the classes).

• A. Sorensen, The Meiji Period: Establishing Modern Traditions, in The Making of Urban Japan, Routledge, 2002, pp. 45–84 (available online by the beginning of the classes).

• K. Thornber, Empire of Texts in Motion, Harvard UP, 2009 (a selection will be available online by the beginning of the classes).

• M. E. Berry, Japan in Print: Information and Nation in the Early Modern Period, UC Press, 2006 (a selection will be available online by the beginning of the classes).

• P. G. Schalow, A Poetics of Courtly Male Friendship in Heian Japan, Hawai'i UP, 2007 (a selection will be available online by the beginning of the classes).

• G. Pflugfelder, Cartographies of Desire: Male-Male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600–1950, UC Press, 1999 (a selection will be available online by the beginning of the classes).

• C. Laffin, Rewriting Medieval Japanese Women, Hawai'i UP, 2013 (a selection will be available online by the beginning of the classes).

Primary sources (compulsory):

*Kojiki. Un racconto di antichi eventi, a cura di P. Villani, Marsilio 2006. 

*Storia di un tagliabambù, a cura di Adriana Boscaro, Marsilio. 

* I racconti di Ise, a cura di Andrea Maurizi, Marsilio 2018

Murasaki Shikibu, La Storia di Genji, Einaudi, Torino 2012 (trad. dal giapponese di M. T. Orsi) (capp. 1-2-4-5-9-22-25).

*Il diario di Tosa, Libreria Editrice Cafoscarina, 2004.

*Le memorie della dama di Sarashina, a cura di C. Negri, Marsilio, 2005.

Sei Shonagon, Le note del guanciale, SE, 2014.

*Kamo no Chomei, Racconti di un eremo, a cura di F. Fraccaro, Marsilio, 2001.

*La monaca tuttofare, la donna serpente, il demone beone, a cura di Roberta Strippoli, Marsilio, Venezia.

*Ihara Saikaku, Vita di una donna licenziosa, a cura di L. Origlia, SE, 2020

*Il rovescio del broccato. Storie di fantasmi e cortigiane dal Giappone, a cura di di Cristian Pallone, Atmosphere libri 2019. 

*Ueda Akinari, Racconti di pioggia e di luna, a cura di Maria Teresa Orsi, Marsilio, Venezia.

A selection of poetry from the Nara, Heian and Tokugawa periods will be available online at the beginning of the lectures.

In addition to class lectures, a series of seminars held by national as well as international scholars will be organized, whose active involvement is part of the final exam.

Teaching methods

The course participates to UNIBO teaching innovation project. The main part of the course consists of lectures, in which concepts, contexts, and historical and literary frameworks are presented and explored in depth. These are supplemented, for about one-third of the course hours, by guided activities—both individual and group—conducted largely in the classroom and supported by online tools: short critical workshops in which students directly apply various theoretical and methodological frameworks to the texts, and workshop sessions on specific topics. The goal is to integrate historical and literary knowledge with the direct practice of text analysis and interpretation. Details regarding the course content and the organization of the work will be published in the course materials before classes begin.

Assessment methods

The exam is oral and covers the entire syllabus.

 The oral exam assesses students’ knowledge of the general outline of Japanese literary history from its origins to the end of the Tokugawa period, their detailed knowledge of the primary sources covered in the syllabus (including the relevant introductory and critical commentaries, where required) and the required critical sources, as well as their ability to analyze and interpret texts by applying the theoretical and methodological frameworks presented in class, linking works to their contexts.

Work completed during the course is an integral part of the evaluation: the oral exam begins with the thematic unit that the student, as part of their group, was responsible for exploring in depth, and with the application of the corresponding critical framework. Documented participation in guided activities contributes to the overall assessment.

Non-attending students take the same oral exam covering the entire syllabus; instead of the group-led thematic focus, they will agree on a text or critical approach to serve as the starting point for the oral exam, in accordance with the guidelines published in the course materials.

The assessment criteria include: the accuracy and breadth of knowledge; the ability to engage in critical analysis and to connect texts with their contexts; clarity of presentation; and mastery of specific terminology.

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support independent study, providing in-depth analyses, summaries, and self-assessment exercises. With regard to learning assessment, the informed, limited, transparent, and non-substantial use of artificial intelligence is permitted for support activities related to group work carried out during the course (summaries, rephrasing). Substantial use of artificial intelligence to complete parts of the exam is not permitted.

Students with SLD or temporary or permanent disabilities. It is suggested that they get in touch as soon as possible with the relevant University office (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en) and with the lecturer in order to seek together the most effective strategies for following the lessons and/or preparing for the examination.

Teaching tools

Classes incorporate multimedia presentations and the projection of iconographic and audiovisual materials (reproductions of prints and painted scrolls, excerpts from performances and adaptations), which help connect the texts to their figurative and performative contexts.

The University’s e-learning platform (Virtuale) is used to distribute course materials—syllabi, critical sources, and selections of texts made available online, handouts, and assignment guidelines—and as a repository for work produced during the course.

Guided and group activities are conducted with the support of online tools for collaborative writing and annotation, as well as shared whiteboards; workshop sessions also utilize digital visualization tools for text analysis. Specific applications will be listed among the teaching materials at the beginning of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Paola Scrolavezza