User Login
Forgot your password? Click Here.
Playlist
What are playlists? Click Here.



The history of Japan past and present is the story of the kami, the supernatural, not quite godlike spirits who underlie the Japanese-ness of Japan—who created the Japanese islands at the beginning of time and remain today the ones responsible for health and luck, for success in childbirth and business, for the proper functioning of silicon chips and the uniqueness and unity of the Japanese. This program begins with the creation myth of Japan and explains the origin and scope of the kami concept; explains the arrival of Buddhism and how Buddhism and the kami were assimilated; discusses the role of Chinese culture, style, and writing in Japanese culture; and demonstrates how the Japanese garden epitomizes the Japanese view of the relationship between humankind and nature, space, time, and reality. (53 minutes)



 
                    

Item#: This title is currently not available.
Copyright date: ©1989



Part of the Series : Japan Past and Present
     


For additional digital leasing and purchase options
contact a media consultant at 800-257-5126 ext 3502 or sales@films.com.

Only available in the US and Canada.




The Tale of Genji
View Video Clip
Elegant and lyrical, The Tale of Genji-written by Murasaki Shikibu, considered by many to be the world's first novelist-predates the seminal Don Quixote by an incredible 600 years. This extraordinarily beautiful program traces the plot, which centers...(more details)
 
The Essence of Being Japanese
View Video Clip
Japan in the modern age: a people existing between the protection of the kami and the geological dangers of earthquake. This program covers the cataclysmic events of the 20th century-the devastating earthquake of 1923, the rise of militarism, the acc...(more details)
 
The Age of the Shoguns (1600-1868)
View Video Clip
This was the age of the Tokugawa family, the era of Edo, a period of over two-and-a-half centuries during which Japan was hermetically sealed off from the rest of the world and only a few Dutch and Chinese-constantly watched and treated like pariahs-...(more details)
 
The Meiji Period (1868-1912)
View Video Clip
The arrival of Commodore Perry in 1854 marked the stage for Japan's dramatic leap from the Middle Ages into modernity. The ports of Japan were forced open; the English, French, Russians, and Dutch promptly demanded-and got-the same privileges. In 186...(more details)
 
The Coming of the Barbarians (1540-1650)
View Video Clip
In 1540, Portugese navigators and Jesuit priests landed in a Japan of shoguns and samurai, where the arts of warfare had been refined to hitherto unknown heights of cruelty. Although Westernisms quickly became the rage in Japan, the Japanese soon rec...(more details)
 


See additional titles in Japanese | World History | Asia & The Pacific