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Hlustaðu og lestu

Isaac Meyer

This podcast, assembled by a former PhD student in History at the University of Washington, covers the entire span of Japanese history. Each week we'll tackle a new topic, ranging from prehistoric Japan to the modern day.

History of Japan

This week, we're tackling the most legendary samurai in Japanese history: Miyamoto Musashi. Why is he so famous, what do we actually know about him, and why is there such a big gap between the story most are familiar with and what our actual sources have to say?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 618 - Live by the Sword

This week, we cover how the legend of Yoshitsune as told in Gikeiki describes his demise. Which is how his tale ends, unless of course you know the truth: that Yoshitsune actually escaped to Hokkaido, became a god, and then left for the mainland to become Genghis Khan.
 
Wait, what?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 617 - I am Legend, Part 4

This week, we come to the text that more than any other helps build the Yoshitsune legend: Gikeiki. Here, at long last, we see the legend of Yoshitsune taking a form that a modern audience might recognize--and in the process, beginning to diverge pretty substantially (though not entirely) from the historical record.
 
Show notes here.

Episode 616 - I am Legend, Part 3

This week, the Yoshitsune legend finds its legs with Heike Monogatari--one of the most epic works in Japanese history. Except that while Yoshitsune is a bigger deal here than he is in Azuma Kagami, he's still far from the main character....so where does he show up, what changes does Heike make from the Azuma Kagami version, and what's still missing from our hero's story?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 615 - I am Legend, Part 2

Note: I made a mistake recording this episode but did not have time to go back and fix it. It's episode 614!
 
This week, we're starting a three-part series on the evolution of Minamoto no Yoshitsune from historical figure to national legend. This week: what do we know for sure about one of the most famous samurai in Japan, and what do our oldest available sources have to say about him?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 614 - I am Legend, Part 1

This week, we're covering one of the most titanic names in Japanese literature--Natsume Soseki--and the work that propelled him to fame. How did the tale of a sardonic, anonymous cat transform a relatively unknown literature professor into arguably the most famous writer in modern Japanese history?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 613 - I am a Cat

This week: Japanese Manchuria comes crashing down as a combination of poorly planned colonial policies and a worsening war situation see imperial power on the mainland collapse. Plus: what do we learn about the nature of empire from a long, in-depth look at Manchuria?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 612 - The Final Frontier, Part 8

This week: some reflections on the hollow nature of Manchurian "independence", and on what kept the state going if so few of its own residents believed in its promises.
 
Show notes here.

Episode 611 - The Final Frontier, Part 7

This week on the podcast: the Japanese presence in Manchuria was never particularly large, even at its height. So how did Japanese rule in Manchuria last as long as it did? And what of the resistance?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 610 - The Final Frontier, Part 6

In the last episode of 2025: a bomb "mysteriously" goes off just outside Mukden during the evening of September 18, 1931. Less than six months later, Manchuria becomes an "independent country." Japan's government loses complete control over the army, all over the issue of its new "Manchurian Lifeline." And suddenly, for some reason, the last emperor of China is back!
 
Show notes here.

Episode 609 - The Final Frontier, Part 5

This week, the story of an Edo period writer whose primary claim to fame was producing decent ripoffs of people far more famous and talented than him. What does a career like that tell us about the book market in premodern Japan--and more importantly about what we as people tend to look for in the things we read?
 
Show notes here.

Episode 558 - The Hack

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