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I wrote the following for one of the two history classes I took in college in spring 2006. I'm still really pleased with it.
Samurai Stew: History and Anime in Edo
“…Yet there is something that’s special, that one ingredient that makes it a stew. And do you know what that is?”
“The meat?”
“That’s what everyone says. The meat. But that same meat could be used for anything. Curry, goulash, it’s the same ingredients.
It’s the stew mix that makes it a stew.”
—Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven’s Door
To the average person outside of Japan, one of the most familiar images of the country is undoubtedly that of the samurai. While the age of the samurai lasted approximately 700 years, from roughly 1185 to 1876 CE, these stereotypical images are almost always drawn from the early-modern Edo period (1603-1867), when Japanese society was “frozen,” at least according to official ideology, in the patterns it had acquired in the sixteenth century and before.
One of the primary vehicles for constructing this image of Japan, both in Japan and abroad, is that of the moving image. ( Anime & history in Edo )
“The meat?”
“That’s what everyone says. The meat. But that same meat could be used for anything. Curry, goulash, it’s the same ingredients.
It’s the stew mix that makes it a stew.”
—Cowboy Bebop: Knocking on Heaven’s Door
To the average person outside of Japan, one of the most familiar images of the country is undoubtedly that of the samurai. While the age of the samurai lasted approximately 700 years, from roughly 1185 to 1876 CE, these stereotypical images are almost always drawn from the early-modern Edo period (1603-1867), when Japanese society was “frozen,” at least according to official ideology, in the patterns it had acquired in the sixteenth century and before.
One of the primary vehicles for constructing this image of Japan, both in Japan and abroad, is that of the moving image. ( Anime & history in Edo )
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