TO TOP

AG Nihonshi jishu zemi

Jishu zemi, which translates as “free” or “independent” seminar, is a form of seminar adapted from Japan. The seminar offers freedom for (research) interests that cannot be pursued due to the prescribed choice of compulsory courses and the limited time available in the timetable organisation of two subjects in the degree programme. Participation in the Jishu zemi is possible at any time, i.e. it is no dependent on an invitation from the lecturer an can take place in the first semesters of a BA degree programme, as well as an MA student, doctoral candidate or in post-doc status. The strength lies precisely in this mixture of different levels of knowledge and everyone’s simultaneous interest in non-hierarchical and constructive discussion.

The seminar is “independent” because it is organised independently of the awarding of credit points and by student representatives without control by lecturers. Among other things, the seminar is “free” because the choice of topic is based on the interests of the participants and the lecturer only participates in an advisory capacity. The preparatory work and leading the discussion is largely left to the participants.

The Jishu zemi has been offered as an experiment since the summer semester of 2007 by Jan Schmidt, a research assistant in the department between 2006 and 2015, and due to the high level of interest on the part of students and the support of Prof. Dr. Regine Mathias (Chair holder until 2016), he established it as a fixed, but still independent component of the teaching and research practice of the Department of Japanese History. The concept and name of the Bochum Jishu zemi was largely adopted from the Jishu zemi established decades earlier at the Tōkyō gakugei daigaku by the historians Kimijima Kazuhiko and Ōishi Manabu.

The seminar is currently organised entirely by students and co-designed by all participants under the supervision of students from higher semesters. Participation is possible from the first B.A. semester onwards, regardless of progress in the degree programme. The seminar last took place in summer semester 2023. The students dealt with the reading of individual chapters of the Ehon hyaku monogatari, an Edo period Yōkai encyclopaedia.

Notable activities and awards

  • Winter semester 2008: successful participation in the university’s internal “lehrreich” competition
  • Summer semester 2009-Winter semester 2009/10: Mining project with excursion to Kyushu/Japan and book publication (in cooperation with the DJG am Niederrhein [German-Japanese Society on the Lower Rhine] and the University of Duisburg-Essen)
  • Summer semester 2013: Writing the commemorative publication for the 50th anniversary of the DJG am Niederrhein [German-Japanese Society on the Lower Rhine]

Selection of topics dealt with

  • 2-week study trip to Japan (Summer semester 2009)
  • Reading course + workshop on the topic: “The North Kyūshū Region and the Ruhr Area in the ‘Long 19th Century’” (Summer semester 2009 and winter semester 2009/10)
  • The Year 1918 (incl: source work by reading newspapers during the course)
  • Cataloguing of the Bohner archive, together with students and doctoral candidates from the University of Kyūshū (Summer semester 2012)
  • “Japan Diary 1945 by Marc Gayn”; Project work with fellow Japanese students and Professor Teruomi Yamaguchi (University of Kyūshū) (Winter semester 2012/2013)
  • Collaboration on the exhibition accompanying the conference on German-Austrian prisoners of war in Japan during the First World War (Summer semester 2015)
  • Cooperation project with Japanese “National Museum of Japanese History (Kokuristu rekishi hakubutsukan 国立歴史博物館)”, Exhibition “Kladderadatsch” (Summer semester 2015)
  • “Transfer” of  “Knowledge” in Japanese history (Summer semester 2016)
  • Working with pre-modern texts on the topic of “Food Culture in the Edo Period”: Reading the Ryōri monogatari (between 1643 and 1663) (Winter semester 2016/17)
  • Working with pre-modern texts: Reading the Tsūjin ryōri kashiku kondate (1827) (Summer semester 2017)
  • Trying out different historical approaches based on the topic of “Stone” (Stone monuments, rock gardens, mining of minerals) (Winter semester 2017/18)
  • Trying out different historical approaches based on the topic of “Minorities in the History of Japan” (Summer semester 2018)
  • Working with pre-modern texts on the topic of “Ghost Stories & Parodies in the Edo Period”: Reading the Bakemono taiheiki (1804) (Winter semester 2018/19)
  • Trying out different historical approaches based on the topic of “Water in Japan” (Summer semester 2019)
  • Trying out different historical approaches based on the topic of “The House in Japan” (Winter semester 2019/20)
  • “Poison, Plagues and Death” – Japan’s Approach to Corruption from a Historical and Cultural Perspective (Summer semester 2020)
  • “Glorification of Japanese History and Culture” – Idealisation, Mystification and Historical Revisionism in Japan and Abroad (Winter semester 2020/21)
  • Trying out different historical approaches based on the topic of “Air and Wind in Japan” (Summer semester 2021)
  • Trying out different historical approaches based on the topic of “Natural Disasters in Japan” (Winter semester 2021/22)
  • Working with pre-modern texts: Reading the Ehon hyaku monogatari (1841) (Summer semester 2023)