A 19th-century woodblock depicts a female warrior in armor.Image credit: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929, the Met Museum; Public Domain
Posted on 05/06/2026 5:18:34 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
"Any woman born in the samurai status group was a 'female samurai' even if she never picked up a weapon, just as any man born into that status group was a samurai, no matter how wimpy/untrained/etc. he may have been," Sean O'Reilly, a professor of Japan studies at Akita International University, told Live Science in an email.
It's unclear how often female samurai fought in battle, however. Women who fought in battle are sometimes called "onna-musha," which translates to "women warriors."
"I must say, as an historian, that onnamusha -- female warriors -- were probably not as frequent or as militarily significant as most people today believe," O'Reilly said.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
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A 19th-century woodblock depicts a female warrior in armor.Image credit: H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929, the Met Museum; Public Domain
The male samurai called them resbians.
Yes. She killed Bill.
Yes, they were called SAMANTHA-RAI.............
Dealt with in James Clavell’s SHOGUN.
This sort of junk is really important in the US.
“The male samurai called them resbians.”
Beautiful just beautiful! LMAO👌
Women who fought in battle are sometimes called “onna-musha,” which translates to “women warriors.” You ain’t kidding, been married to one for 47 years.
Sammy on rye. Go make it.
Females did fight with this halberd-like implement they called a naginata, But that was usually last ditch, in the final moments of a collapse, after which the womenfolk of the defeated clan could expect to be handled roughly.
Maybe, maybe not, but they definitely had black samurai and disabled samurai in bamboo wheelchairs.
I don’t understand. Do you have no interest in history and culture unless it relates to the U.S.?
They started out pulling rickshaws and got run down by cavalry. They lay there until the wreckage was repurposed.
(jinrikisha)
🙂
I don’t share your idea of an account of something interesting in the past being “junk”. History doesn’t have to be “important” to be of interest to many of us-it is a look into the past of other people in other places...
Knowing Japanese culture as I do… I’d have to say this one is made up feminist bullshit.
Beat me to it!!
Hey Joe, buy me a drink or I make you a female.
I recall being told of a female shogun (it’s been decades so I’m going to butcher the spelling) named Hojo Masako. Seems to me it’s at least possible to have female samurai. Now, how influencial to a battle’s outcome they were, can’t say.
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