History of Japan

What even is religion, when you get down to it? Why do we treat religion the way that we do? And when our modern notions of religion came up against an empire whose very legitimacy was based on a reli...

22 Nov 202439min

This week is a continuation of our exploration of the history of reiki. How did Takata Hawayo, a poor woman from Hawaii's Nikkei community, become the foundational figure of one of the most popular Ne...

15 Nov 202440min

This week: the origins of one of the most popular pseudo-medical traditions out there. Where does reiki, the notion that one can manipulate energy in the human body using their hands to heal people, c...

8 Nov 202436min

This week: what can we learn about the past if we look not at elite literature, but at the lowbrow faire of the masses? We'll explore this question using one of the most popular works of its day: Toka...

1 Nov 202435min

This week, we conclude our look at canine history in Japan with the nation's most famous dog: Hachiko. You might know the story, but you probably don't know how tied up it is in the establishment of J...

25 Okt 202436min

This week we continue our footnote on the history of dogs in Japan. How did  public perceptions of dogs change during the Meiji period? How did the adoption of modern notions of dog ownership and pet ...

18 Okt 202434min

In the final footnote for our Revised Introduction, we turn our attention to a little discussed subject that is a part of daily life for many: the history of our life with dogs! How did humans live wi...

11 Okt 202435min

This week's footnote is a continuation of last week's discussion of the gozan, or five mountain system for the ranking of Zen temples. What did the system look like at its height under Ashikaga rule, ...

4 Okt 202434min