Premodern Japanese Ghosts

Winter 2023
East Asian 116 (23015)
Rel Stud 120 (31230)

["ghostly" design elements by Michelle Catlett]

Course Description

This course will examine the historical development of premodern Japanese
ghosts, from the 9th to 19th centuries, in response to historical changes in the
political and religious context, as well as genre developments in literature, drama, and art.
We will focus on how the changing literary and artistic
representation of Japanese ghosts has embodied (or disembodied)
problematic fissures in premodern Japanese society, especially with
regard to gender and class issues.

Course Objective

The main goal in this course is to teach students how to think critically about "weird things"
using supernatural texts of premodern Japan as a focus, as well as to consider
what it is to be human (or nonhuman) in other places, spaces, and times. Students will achieve this goal
by critically analyzing texts of various kinds (historical, fictional, textual, performative, visual)
within their original historical context, to understand why certain kinds of ghosts (and other supernatural creatures),
came into existence in premodern Japan, and how their meaning and representation transformed over time in relation to changing historical contexts.

["d el