In their ambition to capture “real life,” Japanese painters, poets, novelists and photographers of the nineteenth century collaborated in ways seldom explored by their European contemporaries. This course offers learners the chance to encounter and appreciate behavior, moral standards and some of the material conditions surrounding Japanese artists in the nineteenth century, in order to renew our assumptions about what artistic “realism” is and what it meant.
Offered By
Words Spun Out of Images: Visual and Literary Culture in Nineteenth Century Japan
The University of TokyoAbout this Course
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Learner Career Outcomes
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started a new career after completing these courses
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got a tangible career benefit from this course
25%
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Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
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Flexible deadlines
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Beginner Level
Approx. 30 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: French, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, English, Spanish
Skills you will gain
Art HistoryPoetry WritingArtHistory
Learner Career Outcomes
25%
started a new career after completing these courses
38%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
25%
got a pay increase or promotion
Shareable Certificate
Earn a Certificate upon completion
100% online
Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.
Flexible deadlines
Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.
Beginner Level
Approx. 30 hours to complete
English
Subtitles: French, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, English, Spanish
Offered by
The University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo was established in 1877 as the first national university in Japan. As a leading research university, UTokyo offers courses in essentially all academic disciplines at both undergraduate and graduate levels and conducts research across the full spectrum of academic activity.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
8 hours to complete
Samurai Portraits
One good way to gauge the distance between literary and visual culture in early modern Japan is to examine the ways in which painters and poets depicted their contemporaries. Portraits of samurai are especially rich in information about how men at the top of the social ladder wished to be “viewed” as physical entities, and how they expressed themselves as moral actors within society. In the first module, we will learn the basic formal aspects of samurai portraiture, and at the same time begin to interpret poems and prose inscribed onto the images themselves.
8 hours to complete
12 videos (Total 102 min), 1 reading, 13 quizzes
12 videos
1-2 "Portrait of Satō Issai" by Watanabe Kazan I9m
1-3 "Portrait of Satō Issai" by Watanabe Kazan II7m
1-4 "Portrait of Satō Issai" by Watanabe Kazan III8m
1-5 Representation of Reality in Literatures I9m
1-6 Representation of Reality in Literatures II8m
1-7 Watanabe Kazan's Representation of Reality9m
1-8 Chinese Quatrain by Rai Mikisaburō11m
1-9 "Portrait of Yoshida Shōin" by Matsura Shōdō I8m
1-10 "Portrait of Yoshida Shōin" by Matsura Shōdō II6m
1-11 Yoshida Shōin and His Writings I6m
1-12 Yoshida Shōin and His writings II6m
1 reading
Course Description10m
13 practice exercises
Practice Quiz 1-130m
Practice Quiz 1-230m
Practice Quiz 1-330m
Practice Quiz 1-430m
Practice Quiz 1-530m
Practice Quiz 1-630m
Practice Quiz 1-730m
Practice Quiz 1-830m
Practice Quiz 1-930m
Practice Quiz 1-1030m
Practice Quiz 1-1130m
Practice Quiz 1-1230m
Module 1 Graded Quiz36m
9 hours to complete
Painted Beauties
Visual images of women produced in Japan before the introduction of photography can be divided into two types: portraits of women who actually existed in society, and painted or printed images of idealized “beauties,” whose resemblance to physical reality was subsumed often to an intense interest in mode and situational aspect. Like samurai portraits, images of women, both real and imagined, would often be inscribed with texts which instruct viewers how to understand and appreciate them. In this module, we will overview several painted and printed images, and learn how contemporary viewers used these images and their texts as a tool to understand the world.
9 hours to complete
14 videos (Total 105 min)
14 videos
2-2 "Portrait of a Geisha" by Watanabe Kazan II11m
2-3 "Portrait of a Geisha" by Watanabe Kazan III9m
2-4 "A Courtesan" by Takahashi Yuichi I6m
2-5 "A Courtesan" by Takahashi Yuichi II7m
2-6 "The Courtesan Usugumo of the Miura House at the Age of 89"8m
2-7 Beauties in Ukiyo-e I6m
2-8 Beauties in Ukiyo-e II5m
2-9 Beauties in Writings I6m
2-10 Beauties in Writings II8m
2-11 "Beauty in the Painting" by Matsumoto Fūko I9m
2-12 "Beauty in the Painting" by Matsumoto Fūko II2m
2-13 Beauties in Photographs I7m
2-14 Beauties in Photographs II9m
15 practice exercises
Practice Quiz 2-130m
Practice Quiz 2-230m
Practice Quiz 2-330m
Practice Quiz 2-430m
Practice Quiz 2-530m
Practice Quiz 2-630m
Practice Quiz 2-730m
Practice Quiz 2-830m
Practice Quiz 2-930m
Practice Quiz 2-1030m
Practice Quiz 2-1130m
Practice Quiz 2-1230m
Practice Quiz 2-1330m
Practice Quiz 2-1430m
Module 2 Graded Quiz42m
6 hours to complete
The Literary Photograph I
What methods did early modern Japanese artists and writers have at hand to “capture the moment,” and how did these methods influence the introduction and adaption of western photography in the mid-nineteenth century? In this module we will see how photographic modes of representation were assimilated into the literary tradition of portraiture, which was covered in modules 1 and 2.
6 hours to complete
8 videos (Total 75 min)
8 videos
3-2 "On Reading" by Miyaoi Yasuo I9m
3-3 "On Reading" by Miyaoi Yasuo II11m
3-4 "Calligraphy and Painting Gathering in Satte Post Town" by Yoda Chikkoku II8m
3-5 Inscribed Photographs I11m
3-6 Inscribed Photographs II8m
3-7 Masaoka Shiki and Post Meiji-Restoration Writers I12m
3-8 Masaoka Shiki and Post Meiji-Restoration Writers II5m
9 practice exercises
Practice Quiz 3-130m
Practice Quiz 3-230m
Practice Quiz 3-330m
Practice Quiz 3-430m
Practice Quiz 3-530m
Practice Quiz 3-630m
Practice Quiz 3-730m
Practice Quiz 3-830m
Module3 Graded Quiz30m
6 hours to complete
The Literary Photograph II
Our final module traces the trajectory of the literary photograph from the end of the long nineteenth century into Japan’s modern era. Photographic images of the human figure in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Japan were often accompanied by literary writing inscribed either on the image itself, or on its reverse side. Modern novelists sometimes published photographs with short poems as captions. We will wrap up our course with a summary of how visual and written modes of representation colluded, and combined to produce powerful documents of social and psychological actuality.
6 hours to complete
9 videos (Total 78 min)
9 videos
4-2 Portrait of Niijima Yae7m
4-3 Picture Postcard I7m
4-4 Picture Postcard II11m
4-5 Letters from Nagai Kafū11m
4-6 ”Strange Tale from East of the River” by Nagai Kafū I7m
4-7 ”Strange Tale from East of the River” by Nagai Kafū II8m
4-8 Course Summary I7m
4-9 Course Summary II6m
10 practice exercises
Practice Quiz 4-130m
Practice Quiz 4-230m
Practice Quiz 4-330m
Practice Quiz 4-430m
Practice Quiz 4-530m
Practice Quiz 4-630m
Practice Quiz 4-730m
Practice Quiz 4-830m
Practice Quiz 4-930m
Module 4 Graded Quiz30m
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM WORDS SPUN OUT OF IMAGES: VISUAL AND LITERARY CULTURE IN NINETEENTH CENTURY JAPAN
by DPOct 8, 2020
Very interesting where I finished the whole course 2 weeks before the due date because I really enjoyed it. I have been a Japan fanatic since middle school so this course is really my cup of tea
by SCSep 5, 2019
It has expanded my views not only on Japan Visual and Literary Culture but also has open for me a new way of looking at portraits in different cultures and times. Thank you so much
by ABJul 25, 2020
A very inspiring and informative course. Really broadened my ways of viewing not only Japanese art and literature, but also any other form of art from any part of the world.
by VCJan 9, 2018
Very knowledgeable lecturer with a gentle humble voice. Much was learned about literary portraits from 18th/19th centuries to literary photographs in the early 20th century.
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