Good post about that wikipedia and the subject, not written by me (obviously).
Quote:
So here is the thing, you should read the 'talk' page on the wiki entry. Both terms onna-mush and onna-bugeisha are very very rarely used in actual historical sources. Personally the only time I have seen the use of these terms was on historical fiction books, never in academical works or contemporary sources. Tho Japan is not my area of expertise so I might have missed some of the more niche sources. IIRC one of the terms was even coined during the 60's or 70's by a japanese historical fiction author.
Female samurai exist in the sense that they were members of the samurai class, mostly as wives and daughters used as political tools in marriage arrangements. We do have some accounts of female 'fighters' in Japan but pretty much all of them are accounts of small specific groups of woman fighting in extraordinary circunstances (like helping defend a castle or a village), rallying and inspiring soldiers (à la Jeanne D'arc) or some corps of female only fighters associated with the defence of a castle or fortification (like the female courp that helped defend Tsuruga castle). You wont really find a connection or tradition between them, trying to force the very very very rare instances of female fighting or participating in war on Japan as something common or culturally established, even coining a term to describe them, is more of an anachronistic thing and in my experience something ideologically charged.
What is actually established and we do know is that some woman (mainly members of the samurai class or woman who lived in temples) were 'trained' to use some types of knives and/or most comonly received some very limited ammounts of training on how to weild the naginata. They chose that weapon as it gave them advantages due to ease of use, the lighter weight and its longer reach. The naginata itself saw its use on the battlefield fall out of favor because its not really a weapon useful on tight formations. Otoh its a great weapon to use when you are fighting in a small group in an enclosed space were your biggest objective is protecting a fortified position, such the entrance to a castle's inner building. This is mostly when woman were expect to fight and were we find the vast majority of examples of female fighters in Japan, when bandits or enemy soldiers were attacking their homes and the man were either fighting somewhere else or were already defeated in the field. Like a last ditch effort to prevent their capture or the sacking of their villages.
Edit: Forgot to say that the single most famous example of a Japanese female fighter, Tomoe Gozen, is actually probably a fictional or at best semi historical figure as the only source for her existence is The Tale of Heike, an epic poem compiled after her supposed death and the events the poem describes. Its actually somewhat close to the Iliad for us westerners. A partly historical/partly fictional tale of a war that happened decades or centuries prior to when it was actually written. I have even read some Japanese historians argue that her figure is a way of mocking or slandering the lord she served, like saying he was so weak he needed a woman to lead his armies and fight his enemies.
|
It's dumb as **** because it has zero consideration for social norms of the time, making the setting more pointless. In every public place she'd have to explain it again. The agenda doesn't care about logic. Have some Lady Snowblood and Lone Wolf and Cub manga examples of more sensible female fighters, but they include nudity. The Lone Wolf and Cub lady has disturbing tattoos on on her body, including a baby sucking on her breast, which makes the men hesitate at the worst moments. Obviously too racy for this fruity world. But even full coverage in feminine clothes and hidden weapon would have been far better than this bullshit.