sparrowdreams: onna-musha:asianhistory:choosechoice-deactivated2014081:The picture above is a
sparrowdreams: onna-musha: asianhistory: choosechoice-deactivated2014081: The picture above is a vintage photograph of an onna-bugeisha, one of the female warriors of the upper social classes in feudal Japan. Often mistakenly referred to as “female samurai”, female warriors have a long history in Japan, beginning long before samurai emerged as a warrior class. However, they did fight alongside of samurai warriors. They were wives, widows and daughters who answered the call of duty to protect their families, households and honor in times of war. Onna Bugeisha were the exception, rather than the rule, but they still played an important role nonetheless. One famous example is empress Jingu, who reportedly lead a successful conquest against Korea in 200 AD without shedding a single drop of blood (or so the legends say). This is the second time this photo has gone around, and it is still not an image of an Onna Bugeisha, but rather was a photograph from a set of photos of Kabuki actors and Geisha in costume. The original caption read: Portraits of Japanese Kabuki actors and geisha. Unknown photographer, 1870s. It went on auction, which you can see listed here, and there were 34 prints total, but none of them were of Onna Bugeisha. Just a heads up! There are images of Onna Bugeisha on this blog here. Felt the need to reblog it because I encountered this picture listed as “Onna bugeisha” like a thousand time during my research for my thesis (it even appears when you search “Nakano Takeko” on Google which is just…no). It was even used on the cover of a French book about warrior women in history. So I think some help with spreading the word is necessary here. *this* picture, at last with proper context! I am so tired of having to “push back” whenever I get shown this with the insistence that it’s Nakano Takeko. Now, there’s an outfit that’d be a drag to wear in 1868 battle. ;-)Btw, Does anyone know when and in what context “onna bugeisha” was used?Has it existed all along for all the women it’s applied to? Is it an old word that’s been popularized? A newer word that’s been applied backwards? Literary? Historical? Historical-literary? I’ve wondered but not been able to find any information without reading Japanese. -- source link
#womens history#japanese history