A Case Study of Medieval Japan through Art: Samurai Life in Medieval Japan

imaging japanese history header with images from japanese history art including temples, mountains, scrolls, anime

medieval art image of samurai warriors
Essay
Lesson
M1 Handout
M2 Print Handout
M2 Online Handout

This module focuses on Japan’s medieval period, including the Kamakura (1185-1333), the Muromachi (1336-1573), and the Momoyama (1573-1603) shogunates.

Night Attack on the Sanjō Palace, from the Illustrated Scrolls of the Events of the Heiji Era

Photograph © 2008 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Night Attack on the Sanjō Palace,from the Illustrated Scrolls of the Events of the Heiji Era (Heiji monogatori emaki)(detail)
Japanese, Kamakura Period, second half of the thirteenth century
Handscroll; ink and color on paper
41.3 x 699.7 cm (16¼ x 275½ in.)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Fenollosa-Weld Collection, 11.4000

Medieval Japan materials:

The easiest way to provide access to the sources used in the lesson is to have students work with theM2 Online Handoutdirectly on Internet-equipped computers.

If having students work online is not feasible, print out and label the images and post them around the room or at tables where groups can examine them. The images you will need are:

  • Images of current bows made to copy those of the past:
  • , from Suenaga'sMongol Invasionscrolls
  • Noh theater images:

If you use printouts of the images, copy the version offor student use.

This project is funded by the.

Created © 2008 Program for Teaching East Asia, University of Colorado.