Japan in the Age of the Samurai: History and Film
Medieval and early modern Japan, from the twelfth through the nineteenth centuries, when feudal warriors held political power. MIT's course covers Zen Buddhism's role in samurai culture, the evolving idea of bushido or 'the way of the warrior,' the position of women under feudalism, popular culture, and episodes of protest and rebellion. Weekly feature films anchor each session alongside assigned readings drawn from literary works in translation, giving students both a historical narrative and the visual mythology Japan built around its warrior class. The course materials include a syllabus, film list, and reading assignments as published on MIT OpenCourseWare, free to access under a Creative Commons license. No certificate is offered, but the full set of lecture topics and source materials is available for self-study.