CY
Easy to read and view lectures, clear photography, slides and personable presentation. Paced nicely for each module, variety of presentation ways.

This course explores how Japanese painters, poets, novelists, and photographers of the nineteenth century collaborated to depict 'real life,' a practice distinct from their European contemporaries. Learners will gain a clear understanding of how society and individuals were represented in early modern Japan. The course highlights the unique combination of Japanese visual and literary culture, where texts inspired images and images were inscribed with poems. Interpreting this indivisibility is key to understanding the social and psychological values embedded in Japanese art. By the end of this course, you will be able to: - Understand Japanese artistic collaboration in the nineteenth century. - Analyze representations of society and individuals in early modern Japan. - Interpret combined visual and literary Japanese cultures. - Re-evaluate artistic realism through a Japanese historical lens. This course is for students, researchers, and enthusiasts of Japanese art, history, and cultural studies. No specific software or tools are required. A general interest in art history or cultural studies is beneficial.

CY
Easy to read and view lectures, clear photography, slides and personable presentation. Paced nicely for each module, variety of presentation ways.
GR
This course was highly educational, as well as deeply interesting. I was not previously educated on the literature or culture of Japanese society and found it still very clear and welcoming,
MK
Robert Cambell is clearly knowledgeable and very motivated to share his knowledge to others. Sometimes he deviates from his main topic and that makes it difficult to keep track of his main point.
FP
Thank you for showing us even a glimpse of Japan! I've been very fascinated and mesmerized about their culture. I wish there are more courses available like this. Thank you.
NV
Brilliant analysis, and a deep dive-in into the history of 19th-early 20th century Japan through images and photographs. Absolutely fascinating
O
It was such a wonderful course and I'm glad that I've gained an insight into the literary culture of Japan as well as the visual elements associated with it.
JA
i loved it! it was very detailed in terms of historical literature and photographic culture and the narrator really explained everything very well.
IV
Learnt so much and had acquired really great insights on Japanese culture. It made me want to start scribbling on all my photos in the great tradition haha.
HL
Great course, excellent teaching by sensei. ALthough subtitles sometimes are wrongly interpreted (like 'major restoration' nstead of 'Meiji'
AM
I was interested in the culture and the history of Japan. This course has helped me to broaden my knowledge. You should enroll in this course, your effort won't go in vein.
WD
This course provided me a perspective on writing and imagery that I had not considered. A welcome addition to my knowledge of Japan!
SC
It has expanded my views not only on Japan Visual and Literary Culture but also has open for me a new way of looking at portraits in different cultures and times. Thank you so much
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The course content is interesting and educational.
Unfortunately, as a paid learner I have to rate it low because the course certificate issued shows the top half of the word “University” but cuts off the rest of “University of Tokyo”. Despite raising this with Coursera some time ago, it has not been fixed.
Considering the only point of paying for a course is the verified certificate, the failure to provide that certificate in a suitable form, means there Is no reason to pay for the course.
i loved it! it was very detailed in terms of historical literature and photographic culture and the narrator really explained everything very well.
The material is interesting, but only a relatively small number of works are considered, and the professor repeats himself and uses filler words a lot that are distracting and slow things down.
I have learned more from this course than some whole degree programmes. Partly this is because Professor Campbell is the 'real thing' - an academic who invests himself in his interests. I imagine him in his serarch through antiquarian book and art shops - turning over photographs. He seems always to be thinking.Yet he has a great way of communicating.I will miss this course when it is finished.
It has expanded my views not only on Japan Visual and Literary Culture but also has open for me a new way of looking at portraits in different cultures and times. Thank you so much
Very knowledgeable lecturer with a gentle humble voice. Much was learned about literary portraits from 18th/19th centuries to literary photographs in the early 20th century.
The course is very interesting. It not only introduces the traditional Japanese art with its comments but also talks about the photos and postcards.
Exceptional material and a great lecturer!!
Interesting and unexpected
This course is very useful for the one who interested in Japan's arts history and want to decipher the arts. I don't have basic information about this period of Japan, so it's very helpful. But I don't think it useful in my life. I just feel like the professor has something in his mind and not tell us and sometimes he can't explain all the things he want to explain into words. And I think he focus only on how men see women, and I think that's unfair, I also want to know how women see men, too. But I understand that maybe in that period, women is just men's.
It is a great course for those who seek to deepen their understanding of the Japanese Art History and its relation to social, political and overall cultural environment of the given period, as well as retrospective view of these periods. Analyses of concrete examples give definite insight into not only the image, written words and background of this image, but also the methodology, or tools with which this kind of analysis is possible. On top of that, I also would like to note a great attention to peculiar cultural elements, such as transformation of haiku or so-called pleasure districts, to name a few, which I find rather interesting.
But beware, it's not a "monographic" type of work which will expose you to the complete set of all aspects of the knowledge, and neither this course will make you a specialist in this field, but nontheless it's a nice place to start if you have an interest in visual and/or literary culture of Japan in pre-modern and early modern times.
All in all, I may fairly satisfied with this course and would recommend it to anyone interested in this subject.
Very interesting where I finished the whole course 2 weeks before the due date because I really enjoyed it. I have been a Japan fanatic since middle school so this course is really my cup of tea
Thank you Professor Robert. I enjoyed this course a lot. I came with the expectation of learning more about japanese culture, history and art. This expected is partly met. Yet, I feel like this course is too short and lack of depth. In addition, perhaps it can stress and introduce more about how those pieces of paintings and poems had impacted the contemporary society of Japan so as to contextualize and signify those arts. Anyway, thanks for the course.
Great subject and helped solving the modern Japanese esthetic puzzles. But I think Robert Campbell is not well-prepared in this course as a narrator. If could just use half of the "emm" in the lecture, the videos will sorter for sure, but still watching him talking about something he loves is extremely fascinating.
Very interesting material; but the course was too short. I wish it could have provided more background material and explored more examples.
Since I like Japanese Literature a lot, I found this course very interesting. I've seen so many pieces of Japanese art with the inscriptions, I imagined the words and the image were related but I had not idea how much related they were. I wish I could learn more about Japanese art and literature. This course was a nice opening!
Gracias, conocí algo totalmente nuevo para mí, el uso literario de las imágenes en Japón en el siglo XIX y principios del siglo XX. También la manera artística de representación de las personas, hombres y mujeres, muy diferente a la estética de Occidente de ese momento. Muy buen instructor, gracias.
For me this course has been a first approximation to Japanese culture. I´m glad to be able to recognize the concepts learned here when encountering them, which happens surprisingly often!
It was really fun to learn about the history of such art pieces as well as the notable people behind its creation and influence. Mr. Campbell discussed everything clearly as expected.
Easy to read and view lectures, clear photography, slides and personable presentation. Paced nicely for each module, variety of presentation ways.