Leiden University Student Repository

Fleskes, Thomas (2018)

Warriors and Historical Imagination in Popular Visual Culture of 19th Century Tokugawa Japan

Bachelor thesis | Japanstudies (BA)

In this thesis, I will emphasize the relationship between the visual depiction of Japanese historical warriors in Tokugawa period (1603–1868 AD) woodblock prints produced in nineteenth century Tokugawa Japan on the one hand and the historical imagination among the commoners or chōnin (“townspeople”) who inhabited the city of Edo (present-day Tokyo) and who were mainly responsible for producing and consuming warrior prints on the other. In order to accomplish this, I will use the warrior Minamoto Raikō (948–1021 AD) as a case study. Furthermore, I will relate this historical imagination, or historical consciousness, among the Edo chōnin with their cultural identity as Edokko (“child of Edo”). That is, I will focus on what cultural meanings ancient and medieval warriors in warrior prints had, i.e. what they signified, for the Edo chōnin regarding their Edokko identity.

Warrior prints

visual media

Edo period

Tokugawa Japan

Minamoto Raikō

historical imagination

cultural identity

Edokko

Author

Fleskes, Thomas

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

MACH

Supervisors

Müller, Doreen

ECTS Credits

10

Language

en