This course will survey jidaigeki--Japanese period films--from its prehistory to its return in the 21st century. We will pay attention to the works of geniuses of Japanese period film such as Masahiro Makino and Kurosawa Akira, but we will also study film in relation to broader political, economic, social and cultural contexts. In particular, we will consider various ways in which filmmakers, critics, and cultural policy makers of different backgrounds and ideological orientations have turned to jidaigeki in order to interrogate their historical present.