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Noel Fuller
Professor Malcolm Campbell
English 1103
February 16, 2015
Influences of Japanese Culture
Introduction/Overview 1
I am interested in finding out more about the role social outcasts of Medieval Japan
played in Japanese culture today. Typically when learning about Medieval Japan we focus on the
warriors and the farmers. We tend to overlook the people who lived on the outskirts of societies
such as artisans and performers. I want to explore how the people not involved in agriculture
influenced Japans culture in order to see if we have been limited in our knowledge of other
countries.
While we think of Samurais and farming as being a part of Japans past we do not always
look beyond it to discover what else was going on at the time. According to University Professor
Yoshihiko Amino, Japans non-agrarian society in medieval times is an important part of
Japanese culture today. He made this observation by looking at some old documents that had
previously been discarded as forgeries. Michigan University shared some of Aminos views on
their website in preparation of him speaking at some select universities in the United States
where I viewed some of his arguements. In historian Mark Hudsons book, Ruins of Identity:
Ethnogenesis in the Japanese Islands, he does not completely disregard Aminos view that the
non-agrarian society had a role to play in influencing society but he does point out that
agriculture was the main focus in Japan. He outlines what is included in an agricultural society
outside of farming to back up his emphasis on the fact that Japan was an agricultural society.

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Initial Inquiry Question(s)

How much change has India seen in social norms over time? What social norms changed
in order to change child labor as being seen as acceptable to being looked down upon until it was
finally seen as unacceptable? What event caused certain social norms to change in Russia? What
social norms? Where in Russia? What events influenced social norms to change in Cuba?
Mexico? Brazil? Scotland? When?
My Interest in this Topic
I became interested in this topic when I stumbled upon it as I searched my initial inquiry
questions on the internet. I was curious to know how cultural norms changed within societies
over time. I was unsure what social norm to look for change or what society so I did general
searches on the school librarys website to begin research. One thing I found was a book called
Cultural Norms and National Security: police and military in postwar Japan. It made me curious
about changes in Japans culture over time. When I researched this question I found books and
articles about medieval Japan, ancient Rome, and revolutionary Russia. Through the years in
school I have learned about ancient Rome and Russia but not as much about Japan. I found that
violence was a common topic with Japan and I wanted to know how that effected culture. When
I researched that I found that some groups that most historians overlook have an influence over
Japans culture today.
I am interested in researching Japans culture and looking to see if its origins can be
traced back to a certain time period because I like to look at things that are happening today and
find what people and events lead up to them. I want to understand where different cultures come
from and figure out where they might go from here based upon where they have already been
and where they are. I know that in medieval Japan some women were trained as Samurai in order

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to physically protect their homes while the husbands were at war. During medieval times women
were seen as less than men. Even though women trained as Samurai were among the highest
rank of women they were still regarded as being much lower than men. I hope to learn more
about the non-agrarian culture of Medieval Japan and the farming culture instead of focusing on
the warriors of Japan.
Next Steps
I plan to go to the library and check out some books that I found that may be related to
my topic and to find more books and articles online using google scholars. I will ask the
librarian, Amanda Binder if she can help me in my research into Japanese history and culture.

Comments from peers:

Intro- introduce amino before telling them
Talk about culture/ might be too specific
Might not be arguable
Research more topics that might strike controversy
Did agrarian society have effect on japan/ where they lived and how they are now?
Why these influences where overlooked and why they seemed less relevant
Process of academic study/ where its missing study
Inquiry questions- just list initial questions
Interest in topic- be specific about what made you become interested
Next steps: more specific books and websites to look into
Possible inquiry- Why historians more interested in agrarian culture than culture outside
of it.