east asian history resources

check also wold history countries Religion Politics pages

Traditional Japan

General

Ten Shinto Creation Stories

Government

Jimmu Tenno
The story of the first emperor.
Nintoku Tenno: "The Wealth of the Emperor" from the Nihongi [At WSU]
Birth and Upbringiung of Prince Shotoku
Prince Shotoku: The Seventeen Article Constitution from the Nihongi, 604 CE [At WSU]
Ancient Japanese Constitution [At CCNY]
Emperor Kotoku: Taika Reform Edicts, 645 CE [At WSU]
By which Japan was centralized as one country.

Tokugawa Era

Tokugawa Iemitsu: Closed Country Edict 1635 [At CCNY]
Honda Toshiaki: A Secret Plan for Government, excerpts, 1798
Tsuentomo Yamamoto: The Way of the Samauri [At CCNY]

Literature

Japanese Poetry: from the Manyoshu and other early collections [At WSU]

Anonymous: In the Autumn Fields
Mibu no Tadamine: On Kasuga plain
Ono no Komachi: The hue of the cherry
Sugawara Michizane: The autumn breeze rises
Ki no Tsurayuki: The night approaches
Prince Otsu: Poem sent by Prince Otsu to Lady Ishikawa
Lady Ishikawa: Poem by Lady Ishikawa in response

Noh Plays, translated by Arthur Waley, 1922 [At UVA]

Seami: Kagekiyo,
Kwanami Kiyotsugu: Sotoba Komachi
Seami (attrib.): Aya No Tsuzumi (The Damask Drum)
Seami: Hagoromo
Seami: Tsunemasa
Zenchiku Ujinobu (1414-1499?)(attrib.): Aoi No Uye (Princess Hollyhock)
Zenchiku Ujinobu (1414-1499?)Kumasaka

Culture

Kokin Wakashu [At Virginia]
An anthology of 1,111 Japanese poems (in the most widely circulated editions) compiled and edited early in the 10th century CE.
Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, or, 100 Poems by 100 Poets, [At Virginia]
Sarashina: The Diary of Lady Sarashina, 1009-1059 CE [At Hanover College]
Kaibara Ekken or Kaibara Token: Greater Learning for Women, 1762 [At WSU]
Diaries of the Court Lades of Old Japan, trans. Annie Sheply Omori and Kochi Doi, full text, [At CMU]