Were There Female Samurai in Feudal Japan? #shorts

Onna bugeisha and the female samurai in Feudal Japan.

[samuraininjamuseumkyotofan]

Our reference was to the book by Stephen Turnbull PHD: "The archaeological evidence, meagre though it is, tantalizingly suggests a wider female involvement in battle than is implied by written accounts alone. This conclusion is based on the recent excavation of three battlefield headmounds. In one case, the battle of Senbon Matsubaru between Takeda Katsuyori and Hojo Ujinao in 1580, DNA tests on 105 bodies revealed that 35 of them were female. Two excavations elsewhere produced similar results." This video also does not blatantly claim that samurai armies always consisted of 30% women as samurai did not have systematic armies, Each clan had a different tradition and women were usually the last defense mechanisms. Also this likely is different during different periods.

[lamenters]

Female Samurais were also a big thing in the edo period. They were designated as guards for the Samurai's wife, i believe they called "onna-musha" or "beshikkime"

[Not_MissHina]

"Lead 300 samurais and defeated 6000 army"

Leonidas: i see what you did there

[Tingmudjin]

Wait she's real?

- Ghost of Tsushima player

[nativeking]

She also taught Genichiro how to use lightning.

[Momotarou]

Wait she was actually a girl?
- F/GO player

[SenpaiBo]

“People died if they’re killed.”
- Mr. Bite me.

[dragonblast]

I was gonna say japanese Mulan then I realized they're very different(and wouldn't be seen as a joke), this short didn't mention her pretending to be a man but instead her being a tank and slicing men in half. Now that's badass

[Typhonnyx]

They say winners write history” might be a unexpected win but can’t be that op

[razazasa]

She served under Kiso no Yoshinaka (not her husband) in the Genpei war around 1185. The battle where she was send away was a last, stand on his flight, against the troops of Minamoto no Noriyori (Yoshinakas Cousin) after loosing the first battle against Minamoto no Yoshitsune in Kyouto. Yoshinaka had only a handful of fighters left so he ordered her to leave cause, as he said, he didnt want to die side by side wiht a women. After that he galloped for near hill to commit seppuku, but his horse got stuck in a wet field and so he was trapped and got shot in the head.

Read Hellen Craig McCollough: The Tale of the Heike, Book 9 for the whole story.

[Z]

1. Female samurai did not die less. They were just more likely to die away from a battlefield. For one, they were more likely to get assigned to lead castle garrisons. Which meant that if they get surrounded they were likely to either be restrained without lethal force (guess why! ask China, Korea, the Philippines, and some Dutch grandmas if you can't hash this out) OR even if they died fighting or ritual suicide, it's also far more likely their corpse gets dealt with because the new castle occupant wouldn't want a stinky piece of meat in his new shag pad.

2. Gozen is only portrayed with a naginata because that was the default melee weapon for all samurai, including males, and then persisted into later periods as it was an ideal polearm for an individual, shorter warrior (it fell out of favor on Sengoku-era armies that fought way more like a Phalanx). Her preferred sidearm was an oversized tachi, ie, a nodachi...though she wasn't that well known as an archer so it might not be accurate to refer to it as a sidearm.

3. I like to think her husband ordered her to GTFO because he wanted her to live even if he had to insult her. Not that he's absolutely progressive and all that - the fckr let his dong out all over Kyoto.

[Deodorant]

girllll"
"Aight, one sec."

[JohnJohn-ylko]

Everyone be gangster till the protagonist shows up

[sinomoritsukasa]

In Japan, some students study the exploits of Tomoe Gozen in ancient literature classes.
One particularly well-known sentence that describes her valor is 「首ねぢ切って捨ててんげり」(Kubi nejikitte sutetengeri) "She twisted off her enemy's head and threw it away."

[karl-erikvik]

The comments are so funny. Why do you guys get so mad at the idea of female soldiers???
"uh actually if femoids fight they die more so they make up more of the corpses" - ok you passed 3rd grade math, now answer the original question.

[jakevogel]

That’s does not mean that women made up 30% of the armies, they just made up 30% of battlefield casualties. You can’t make that claim through this piece of evidence. They represented a smaller number in the armies, if it were that amount of female samurai they would appear a lot more in ancient Japanese texts. As well, from records of ancient Japan ACTUAL scientist were able to estimate that only about 3.5% of samurai were women.

[rhesareeves]

No wonder she nearly killed Lord Isshin.

[jonhnguyen]

...just for the record it wasnt uncommon for females to be warriors in japan, it's just that they were allowed to use any other weapon except a katana. Don't remember if that's right but please do fact check me.

[Callsign_Prophet]

Be better in battle doesn't equal dying less... just saying. Volleys of arrows and artillery hit at random. And most battles have formations.

[officialsquadrilogystudio]

"It would be a dishonor to be defended by a woman."
Proceeds to die because he wasn't protected by his BA of a wife