Eastern Canon,
out loud
The narrative spine of the project. Hosted by Yujune, the show explores East Asian culture, history, and philosophy, and the personal development that comes from studying them, one episode at a time.
- Episodes
- 6
- Minutes of audio
- 49
- In production
- 9
From the Peach Garden to the Black Ships
Each episode links out to its companion texts, reenactments, and the masters you can question about it.
- Figures and foundersSeptember 23, 20266 min 59 sec
Analyzing historical sources on the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate
To what extent was the Meiji Restoration achieved by a small group of anti-bakufu elites rather than by a popular revolution? Two historical sources, weighed against each other.
- Figures and foundersSeptember 20, 202615 min 21 sec
The Black Ships and the Breaking Point
In 1853, four American warships showed up in Tokyo Bay and forced open a country that had spent over two hundred years deliberately shut off from the world. How much of the Tokugawa collapse really belongs to Commodore Perry?
- Strategy and statecraftSeptember 13, 20268 min 21 sec
The loyalty of Three Brothers
The Oath of the Peach Garden turned three strangers into sworn brothers. How that loyalty built an alliance strong enough to survive years of war, and how it eventually tore the same alliance apart.
- Strategy and statecraftSeptember 13, 202611 min 9 sec
Zhuge Liang and the Art of War
Before he could supposedly predict the weather and win wars without a fight, Zhuge Liang was a recluse in the countryside. Separating history from the novel's legend, and matching his best-known strategies to Sun Tzu.
- Strategy and statecraftSeptember 13, 20265 min 51 sec
Watching a legend: A Three Kingdoms (2010) review
A personal review of the 2010 Chinese drama Three Kingdoms, and how the show accidentally became one of the best Chinese study tools around.
- IntroductionJuly 12, 20261 min 19 sec
Eastern Canon
A concise opening: background, and the mission to explore East Asian history.
The season arc
What comes next
Four threads run through the season. These episodes are in production; titles may change before they air.
Foundations
Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, Legalism: one core idea per episode.
Ren: the one word Confucius would not define
Why the master's central virtue is a practice, not a definition.
In production
Water beats stone: the Daoist case for yielding
Wu wei, and the strength of doing less.
In production
The middle way, from palace to forest
The Buddha's escape from both indulgence and asceticism.
In production
Law without virtue: Han Fei and the Qin
The ruthless philosophy that unified China, and why it fell.
In production
Strategy and statecraft
Sun Tzu, the Three Kingdoms, and the underdog victories.
Twelve ships: Yi Sun-sin at Myeongnyang
The tide, the strait, and the most improbable naval victory in history.
In production
Backs to the river: Han Xin at Jingxing
Deadly ground as a motivational technique.
In production
Figures and founders
Leaders and thinkers, with lessons for modern decisions.
Sejong and the twenty-eight letters
A king who invented an alphabet so everyone could read.
In production
Musashi: the duelist who wrote in a cave
Timing beats technique.
In production
The Scholar Series
Long-form conversations with professors of East Asian Studies.
Conversations with East Asian Studies professors
Long-form interviews with the scholars who study the canon.
In production
Coming to the show
The Scholar Series
Long-form interviews with professors of East Asian Studies, history, and philosophy: the people who read these texts in the original and argue about them for a living. Outreach is underway; the first conversations will be announced here when they are recorded.
Are you a scholar of East or South Asia? The show would love to hear from you.