i loved it! it was very detailed in terms of historical literature and photographic culture and the narrator really explained everything very well.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

Very interesting material; but the course was too short. I wish it could have provided more background material and explored more examples.

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.

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.

The course took us through the evolution of the visual imagery in Japan right from sketches to paintings commissioned by people of status to arrival of photography. And how the various visual practices were accompanied by texts. Interestingly this helped Japan to develop a unique tradition in terms of visual practice. Not merely details of the image but evoking a relationship and meaning of the narrative to the image. I truly enjoyed engaging with the course and helps put into perspective Japanese finesse in the world of animation including Manga.

Very suitable as my first online course. The content was very interesting and taught me a new way to appreciate and learn from different pieces of art. Assignments were generally very light and could be completed very quickly. However, some parts of the lecture can be slightly hard to comprehend at first. I find myself reading through the transcripts (they're really helpful!) again sometimes just to try and let the content sink in further. Anyone interested in art/history/culture and how they intersect should definitely check this out!!

Very good lecturer. Interesting.

As someone who has studied art before (and is acquainted with Japanese art, specially from the Edo period), the course doesn't evolve much; revolving all around the same thesis. However, the examples tackled are beautiful and greatly represent the popular Japanese art-culture of the time. Very satisfied, although I would've liked something new thrown into the table around the last module. Recommended.

Good synopsis of the subject, accompanied by enough historical background information to understand the images and their captions. I only wish it would also provide a bit more philosophical and religious background.

I found this course really interesting, but way too easy for people who appreciate, know and study Japanese history, art and literature.

Interesting material. Lectures were slightly repetitious in describing points about some photographs but were interesting overall.

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.