D. Colin Jaundrill

Dr. Colin Jaundrill is an Associate Professor in the Department of History & Classics. He specializes in in early modern and modern Japanese history, with a particular interest in the nineteenth-century transition between the Tokugawa and Meiji eras.

Jaundrill’s first book, Samurai to Soldier: Remaking Military Service in Nineteenth-Century Japan (Cornell, 2016), reexamined the creation of Japan’s national army by emphasizing the continuities between late Tokugawa experimentation and early Meiji nation-building. He has published a number of articles on related topics, including a chapter on technology and warfare in the recent New Cambridge History of Japan (2024). He is currently conducting research for a new project on Japanese experiments with military drumming in the mid-nineteenth century.

In the History & Classics Department, Dr. Jaundrill teaches surveys of East Asian and Japanese history, as well as more specialized courses like “The Samurai in Japanese History” and “Japanese Pop Culture as Postwar History.” He is also a regular contributor to PC’s interdisciplinary core (DWC and Liberal Arts Honors) and the History MA program. He has also been a leader in developing short-term international programs, bringing groups of PC students to Japan, South Korea, and (in May 2026) Taiwan.

In his off time, Dr. Jaundrill enjoys cooking, skiing, hiking, and traveling the world with his family. He also enjoys participating in the occasional triathlon (but very, very slowly).