Who Were The Onna Bugeisha? - Japanese Female Warriors (Japanese History Explained)
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- čas přidán 31. 05. 2024
- The Onna Bugeisha were considered to be the women trained in the sword, the bow and arrow, but mostly the naginata. They were deployed for the safe keeping of the home, but there are some warriors who were deployed into the battle field to fight alongside the men.
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What a lot of people don’t realize is that samurai were a class of people in society, and that included samurai women. *Everyone* born into the samurai class was expected to be proficient with various weapons, even people who weren’t soldiers. Only samurai were allowed to carry weapons, so the idea of a samurai being unable to defend oneself was unacceptable. Imagine if European nobles were all expected to be trained as knights, even the ladies and princesses.
The vast majority of samurai women did not openly carry weapons as samurai men did, but always carried a “maiden’s dagger” in their obi (sashes). This was so a samurai woman could either attempt to defend herself, or to take her own life in order to save her from dying a dishonorable death at the hands of an enemy. Samurai women were hardcore.
samurai means male warrior, there is not female samurai
@@mauromejias8840 samurai means "someone who serves" it has no warrior meaning at all
@@mauromejias8840 Where did you get this misinformation? 😭
It literally translates to warrior or knight, there's no male part in that word.
@@PurpleSamurai97 Well, the term "samurai" comes from the Japanese word saburau, to serve, but samurai in japanese means warrior or knight.
But there is no "male" in that word, so I don't know where he got that from.
@@mauromejias8840 ...in fact 'Samurai' means 'Servent'...
...b.t.w. the english word 'Knight' comes from the german word 'Knecht' - which means 'servant' too...!
The Onna Bugeisha primarily favored the naginata because they didn't know who they would be up against, due to being protectors of their villages. Naginatas were simply the best weapon for general use when they don't know who they're up against. I learned this from Gaijin Goombah's video on it.
Also (from what I've heard), in case they were going up against someone physically stronger than them, the naginata helps even things out.
Men would wield the O-naginata and later the yari, which were the main battlefield weapons. Katana and wakizashi were side arms. Women naginata were notibly shorter and lighter than the O-naginata, but were held at the end of the pole for longer reach, while the O-naginata was held in the middle.
Games and shows are mostly wrong in their depictions of melee war in that the vast majority of any army would be best suited (and thus using) some form of spears. In most every situation you can think of, a spear is best for any mildly or untrained person. Spears are completely underrepresented in our media.
SkellyAce Normally I would call bullshit but he’s usually pretty good about this kind of stuff for a second I thought you were ripping off something from for honor
The explanation that I found the most "logical" was that naginata was taken as a "female weapon" because it was the best choice for the defence/offence in the situation when one needs to fend on foot against the riders, while allowing for a bigger damage range then a regular spear. That would be of a definite advantage for someone who is likely to get to defend themselves in a household. For sure more effective them running to saddle horses, armour up, etc.
Tomoe Gozen:
Swift as a coursing river
With all the force of a great typhoon
With all the strength of a raging fire
Mysterious as the dark side of the moon!
That's Mulan...
Be honest you didn't read this you sang it
that's deep )
@@903strikerunit bruh its a joke
Actually Tomoe Gozen's family is known. She was a daughter of Kiso Yoshinaka's nanny, and Her brother (今井兼平) was Yoshinaka's right hand man. They belonged to a prominent clan in the area (木曽中原氏).
oooh so thats the inspiration of the Kyoshi warriors
You watched Avatar too?
@@CryingZombie666 who hasn’t?
💕💕
I like to think they're real. For a country as old and unique as japan it would be strange to have absolutely no notable warrior woman. Even in the most patriarchal societies there is always at least a few stories of warrior woman. I hate the phrase but honestly I think it's just human nature that there will be times convention is broken and it's documented
There are always warrior women in every Society, women of the Samurai class were trained in the use of weapons in the time of the Warlords. Maybe they were born in the year of the Fire Horse, said to be angry and dangerous to men. A Fasinating Culture.
I imagine in a time so fraught with strife and wars it makes sense to not be picky over the gender of those willing to fight for you and considering the numbers quoted in battles and the death counts during the era surely not all of them were just men? I mean if boys who were hardly in their teens were waging wars clearly they weren't *that picky*. Like you said, there's probably a warrior woman in every culture/society in history so chances are these are very real stories if not slightly distorted.
@@missyc7852 True but in the east it seems it is almost a contradiction of the codes of patriarchy if not a permitted exception depending on circumstances.Of course this excludes those rare occassions when women marched off to war to fight without their father's,rulers,families,etc. consent.For one reason or another.
@appleseed Boudica was not a fantasy.Just ask the romans.Although her uprising was eventually crushed she still raised hell for them in Britain.
@appleseed She fought dude.I am not raising anyone's ego.The only " fantasy " were the amazons.But even myths have some basis in reality.Just because something rarely happened does not mean it never happened.
I’m actually surprised that there is any record of these women at all. With all the shifting powers in Japan and the way history is written by the victors I feel that these stories would have needed protection to a near religious degree. The idea of warrior women is treated as almost a mythological concept with most records I’ve seen treated as near folklore. Personally I believe that these women existed, but even if they didn’t the inspiration they offer is very real. I think there were many more women like them as well since not every soldier ends up with their name in historical battles. The only reason these women would be mentioned at all is because they’re exceptional.
they exist they protect castles and forts if the male are out in battle (yukimura sanada sister in law is one)
It’s not that deep they respect people who got it done
You shouldn't use misogynistic/sexist western narrative in viewing non-western society's history because it's incompatible and non-sequitur. Otherwise, it's like trying to scoop water using a fishnet.
I absolutely love this channel! I’m so glad to see important woman portrayed in history since it’s not done as much as it should be. These videos have also been great fuel for writing!
See if you can do some videos on the legendary female warriors of southeast Asia. Most notably the Vietnamese sisters who started an uprising against the Chinese and the Thai warrior sisters of Phuket who repelled a Burmese invasion.
Wow, that seems cool! I hope to see something about it!
Adruja Wijayamala Singha @ Che Siti Wan Kembang 1 (1335-1345) from Grahi (Javaka/Malayur)
@Jin Ngee Chia Twin Sister Warrior (Phuket @ Bukit @ Ujung Salang) The Battle of the Junk Ceylon. Origin Malay Kedah
Tachibana Ginchiyo was a pretty renown warrior woman during the Sengoku Jidai.
Not sure how well she was documented though
Loved this video! I must say, I love ALL of your videos! History was one of my favorite subjects all throughout school..so very interesting! Cannot wait to see more. I sometimes binge watch your channel!
Great vid! And thank you for sharing links to the art work! Love it
Can I just say I love that you use illustrations from Nobunaga's Ambition?
Classy~
fantastic vid and artwork!! Thanks
I love this content! The onna bugeisha. Such an inspiration!
Never thought I see you here! Wow!
i will be buying the book now. Thanks ) Great video...
Heika book japan
i truly admire and love your videos i am an american. Domo Ori Gato may you consider doing more and doing other videos of other devine and warrior cultures. Peace.
This was a very interesting YT video. What was your source material? I would like to read up more on these women. Thanks.
Somebody contact Sabaton, these badass ladies deserve their own song !
Empress jingu she sounds like a badass I need a woman like her 💪
Your videos make me love japanese culture even more, thank you for this!
I like the music in this vid, great job, well done 👏😄 but was she abe to be truly at peace after so much war & bloodshed? 😕
WHAT ABOT YAE YAMAMOTO?!?! also from the aizu reagon during the boshin war.
Pls make a video about Musashi
Can you do the story of Honda Tadakatsu, also called Honda Heihachirō? :3
The main issue with Tomoe Gozen is that the one writing of about her (Tale Of the Heike) was done 2-3 centuries after her supposed death.
Thank you
Legend!!! My brother you are slaying it!!! Nicely done and well put together! Hmmm...Japanese Robin Hood I can only wonder who that might be? (Wink wink ;) 🤫🤫🤫....haha...can't wait!
Thanks for watching :)
If I know anything about Persona 5 ( which is exactly what I'm playing even right this moment ) then I have a solid guess on who it might be. :P
We'll find out in two days :D
RevilloPhoenix Aaaaaaaa Persona 5 is my favorite game! Hope you're enjoying it~
I'm on new game+, that should answer the question. :D
The Naginata was NOT designed specifically for women, it was the general purpose polearm of the time. The Yari only came up later and was far less favored.
The Katana was again, wielded by everybody, but as the backup to the backup weapon. Even though at the time of Tomoe Gozen it would have been a Tachi along a Tanto
yeah the video makes some mistakes like that, some are assumptions people had recently. The Naginata is heavier than any lightweight swords like the katana and men extensively used the Naginata as well because it was common for warriors in the battlefield. It only became the "women's weapon" during the Edo period and mostly due to Government Policy, not because women found it easier. Naginata (and all polearms) require a lot of upper body strength, which was a disadvantage to the average warrior, but it was common because of its range and because you could attack multiple oponents.
This is cool!
In most countries, it was the women that did take care of all things if the men were hunting or fighting.
They did have to defend against any threat.
Did see this video from another channel that shows what women in history were capable of:
Cheng I Sao - Pirate Queen - Extra History
czcams.com/video/-p2lhxUqMMQ/video.html
AMAZING
I love this one!
your pronounciations are off in a few places(understandable given how strange some can be to english language speakers), but otherwise you did an amazing job bringing this often overlooked aspect of feudal japan to light....keep up the grat work with your channel :)
...could you do the history of Yasuke, an Africa man who was a Samurai in the service of Nobunaga?
Awesome
LOVE JAPANESE ANCIENT
This music is heart-achingly beautiful . .. what is it?
I definitely wrote about them in my book.
Naginata wasn't made for female warriors, it was 1st used by samurai then sohei and then when yaris took over only sohei and female warriors used it. Theres even a separate version of naginata that has a shorter blade made for women. And no katanas and wakizashis werent main battle weapon for samurai, it was a symbol of being a samurai and a secondary if you lost your main weapon
yeah the video makes some mistakes like that, some are assumptions people had recently. The Naginata is heavier than any lightweight swords like the katana and men extensively used the Naginata as well because it was common for warriors in the battlefield. It only became the "women's weapon" during the Edo period and mostly due to Government Policy, not because women found it easier. Naginata (and all polearms) require a lot of upper body strength, which was a disadvantage to the average warrior, but it was common because of its range and because you could attack multiple oponents.
thank you for helping me embrace my Samurai roots!
They all sound phenomenal
Fun Fact : The Onna Bugeisha are what the Nobushi hero in For Honor are based on.
God damn the Japanese have such a bad ass history of warriors.
Katana was sidearm, pole arm or spear was the first weapon you would use.
You should cover book of 5 rings
A Naginata is a standard primary weapon of all samurai, independent of gender. Swords always were a backup weapon.
Naginata were specialist's weapons. Most Samurai on the battlefield used Yari spears.
So a few units would be entirely armed with Naginata while most used the Yari. And all had swords as backups, including any female warriors.
Traditionally, the original Samurai weapon of choice were the bow and arrow. And this weapon can be used by both men and women with equal deadly result.
Re: horseriding: female Samurai would be at an advantage when horseriding because they were lighter so they would always be faster and more nimble.
The only time a female warrior would be at a distinct disadvantage was if the battle turned in an everyone for himself slogging match. In the heat of battle, the Samurai of various sides would not even know who they were fighting anymore (especially if their Sashimono banners were cut off in the fighting).
But if there was still any order in the battle, Samurai of certain positions would call out opposing Samurai of same stature for single combat. It was here that female warriors could make a name for themselves, just as any other aspiring Samurai.
With the horse thing in mind, I think that if the battle turned sour, a female Samurai (if still on horseback) would withdraw quicker than the others because they were faster and more nimble on horseback than male Samurai.
However, a true Samurai, be they male of female, would still commit Seppuku if all was lost. Female Samurai were allowed to cut their throats, giving them a quicker death than traditional cutting of the belly. Although proper Seppuku involved a secondant who would decapitate his master to prevent prolonged suffering.
*Also part of Bushido:* sometimes, Samurai from the losing side could prevent disgrace and losing everything by 'switching alliances.' This meant they would join the opposing side and in my opinion had best be done fairly early on in the battle…
A good example of 'switching alliances' occurring would be the Battle of Sekigahara, October 1600.
Tokagawa shoganate, boshin wars, edo period, meiji restoration. Im hit with nostalgia from Rurouni Kenshin.
Please do a Chinese female warriors video
Will see what I can do :)
The Legends of History
You have a great range to choose from, especially the three kingdoms period. Plus the Mongols women invaders and famous pirates.
The Lady of Mu
The most legit would be 婦好（fuhao) shang dynasty, the warrior queen. After Zhou dynasty, probably only after collapse of Han and before Song, you may find some cases.
@Urban Student Prepper Why not?
I really enjoy your channel and have watched quite a few of your videos. My only nitpick is your pronunciation of the Japanese names. The first one that comes to mind is Tomoe Gozen. Her name is pronounced To-mo-eh. Yoshitsune is pronounced Yo-shi-tsu-neh, not Yoshisun. On your other videos, Goemon Ishikawa is pronounced Go-eh-mon, not Gomon. For future reference, anytime you see an "e" in a Japanese person's name, it's almost always pronounced with an "eh" sound. Good luck and keep up the good work!
Yeah, as someone studying Japanese, watching this channel allows me to see why my Japanese friend used to cringe at me before I took formal lessons. XD
@@alendonvaldor5808 Yeah, I didn't wanna come across as a nitpicky douche. Just gotta get the pronunciation right or they won't know who or what you're talking about.
@@markichijo7778 Yeah, sometimes things come out sooo wrong XD Manko versus Monako. God, the difference when trying to compliment a girl o.o
Please check the pronunciation of Heike (平家). It is not Ai in hi, but Ei in take.
i think tomoe gozen and empress was real but it a a kind of king arthur kind of story where theres a fantastical element to real even more amazing history that needs to be uncovered
That was great and super cool 😎.💯✅❤️✝️🙏🏿👌🏿👍🏿☯️😎
Shogun 2 Gozen's Hime Heroines :) lol They also have the onna bushi as a unit, sorry for all this shogun 2 talk lol but searching for the history of these units led me to find your channel XD
I have a question is Onna-bugeisha and Onna-musha a same term or not?
Well.. Since ur latest vids r about asian pirates..wonder if you might do enrique de malacca.. Or enrique the black.. Lol..
Possibly. I don't know much about him but will look into it.
Well done! Too little attention is paid to warrior women in literature. One note on pronunciation: "Tomoe" has a "eh" sound at the end, as to-mo-eh, not "to-mo".
coming soon to Netflix
What was the name of the first one?
It is Tomoe-Gozenn (巴御前).
Naginata is not a woman's weapon, it's a normal battlefield weapon used by samurai on the battlefield. Also katana are shorter than polearms so I don't know what anime you been watching, and shooting from horseback at full gallop is something all samurai could do since samurai were originally horse archers.
Well yes, but it was seen as a feminine weapon due to the Onna-bugeisha, their signature if you will. And well, there are types of swords that are longer than polearms, like the nagamaki
Wasnt the yari (spear), the typical battlefield polearm? A naginata is less wieldy, so it doesnt seem as practical for large formations of troops.
Women in samurai class had no choice but protect the family.
In samurai society it was common to kill every surviving family member for the protection of the future clan.
Worst example was Taira clan, Taira no Kiyomori spared the lives of infant brothers but when they grew up, they came back to eliminate Taira clan.
I don't know it was the appearance of the mother of brothers or how she begged Kiyomori to spare her children, tokiwa-gozen(the mother) became Kiyomori's concubine.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokiwa_Gozen
Took me a minute to realize this isn't a history channel. LOL
Are those actual pictures of them? 🤪
... and... 2:39 fearless rider - sorry my mind is rotten 🙊
All three of these female Samurai warriors were true, especially the earliest one particularly became legend, and as legends their stories got muddy thus unclear when words spoke of their past travel through many generations. Did you know that these warriors made their own swords? Sword makers then, or black smith, didn't know how to make swords like theirs. One of them was known to possess a Sword made of rare steel. Hence that was known as "you can't break a Samurai Sword". In those days stainless steel toughest like today's were unheard. They knew iron and copper and brass, but knew not the above latter.
narrator sound like James may from top gear
Fun fact: (In Fate)
She enjoys throwing people directly into the sun
Which one you're talking about?.
@@artoriapendragonidilfitri7414 tomoe gozen
@@Zerobasssoul oh okay, thank you for the info , and may your GACHA escapade be great
What we all do know, for sure, is that there were waaaay too many folks walking around carrying heads.
Also, it appears the artists of those drawings don’t really understand that wearing the hair down, wearing long flowy dresses and having eye makeup on during battle was highly unlikely, not to mention extremely dangerous and careless. Respect to all the artwork that didn’t need to over-sexualizing their images which only distracts from the ideal that these women clearly wanted to be recognized as respectable warriors.
Regarding the naginata the whole thing about facing "stronger" enemies isnt correct, that's just an assumption people had recently. The Naginata is heavier than any lightweight swords like the katana and men extensively used the Naginata as well because it was common for warriors in the battlefield. It only became the "women's weapon" during the Edo period and mostly due to Government Policy, not because women found it easier. Naginata (and all polearms) require a lot of upper body strength, which was a disadvantage to the average warrior, but it was common because of its range and because you could attack multiple oponents.
You guys are hilarious. Of course we exist.
-Onna Bugeisha- Onna Musha
Make a video on indian female warriors
I think the one that was in red exsisted
The New Mardi GrasVenue50004
Rather than use fictional accounts like Tomoe Gozen(the Heike Monogatari is historical fiction, not unlike the Romance of Three Kingdoms; based on historical events but embellished and glorified) there are better examples like Yoshioka Myorinni or Akai Teruko, warrior women who led troops in the Sengoku era(Teruko was in her 70s when she fought the Hojo clan!)
Honestly the thumbnail reminded me of Mulan. I know I know. Mulan is Chinese. But the girl in the picture looks like Mulan.
Even to this present day we have women fighting.
Lost me at a 3 year pregnancy 😂😂 big nope there. She carried a still born for 3 years, which is very sad, but she did NOT give birth to a living child.
To kind of clear things up, she did give birth to a child, however the use of the word “years” meant seasons, meaning she held the child for 3 seasons, closer to around 9 months. Considering how her child is listed as the next emperor, he definitely was born.
The onna-bugeisha where are total bunch of bad asses 👏🏻👍🏻🖐🏻🖐🏻 high five 😏😀😄💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
女武者に薙刀使いが多いのは遠心力を使って斬りつけられるから男女差による力の差を補えるからなのではと思います。あと刀同士だとより接近戦になるけど刀と薙刀なら距離が取れるのも男女差による力の差を補っていると思います。
Oddly they exist in modern times. The only difference is their niganata has no blade and is attached from the floor to ceiling.
i wanted a video game wih onna bugeisha
Emma the Gentle Blade anyone?
Here's what I've personally always thought: the fact that the female Samurai was killed by a bullet INSTEAD of having been killed in HONORABLE 'Toe-to-Toe' combat to me seems like whomever shot her was too COWARDLY to face her in HONORABLE combat, thereby bringing shame and dishonor not only upon himself but also his ENTIRE family and clan.
Granted I'm not Japanese, nor am I an expert on Japanese history/culture, so I admit I might be ENTIRELY wrong, but that's simply how it seems to me.
If anyone who actually IS an expert on Japanese history/culture knows differently, then I have absolutely NO problem with being corrected.
Just my own personal opinion anyway.
女武者、女武芸者
女--Female--Onna
武--martial arts,or military--bu
者--person--sha
芸--ability、capability--gei
武芸--martial arts--bugei
将军--general--shogun
Women can learn martial arts, which is an essential skill for daughters from samurai families. But women can never be samurai。When their husbands, fathers, or brothers go out to war, they must guard their territories and family property。
The shogun's harem is not allowed to appear in any man except the shogun himself and the shogun's underage sons, and Japan has no eunuchs, so the task of guarding the harem to protect the shogun can only be undertaken by female warriors.
Some women also help their husbands lead soldiers to fight，For example, the famous 巴御前（concubine of Minamoto no Yoshinaka ）、八重（Takeda Shingen's concubine）。
no different from the wives and daughters of medieval knights in Europe。Japanese female warriors, because they are inferior in strength to men, are accustomed to fighting with long-handled blades and bows to avoid a head-on force contest.
... trying so hard not to correct your pronunciation, but Edo is not pronounced as Eedo. It is Ehdo like the E sound for Echo.
Also known as the Kyoshi Warriors.
Alwayz bn intri 🤔 gued w/
🉐riental Culture.Nj😊yd
s👀ing kung🥋fu f 📽️ lmz from the '70s but I nevr knew abt these.This' xtremely informativ.
Thx 4 p 📭 sting 👏🏿👌🏿
Jul22Th2021
B🇧🇧 dos
ohmygod they so stunning! 🥺 I hope I can marry one in my old days!
Honorable women
3years pregnant ? Did I hear you correctly sir?
Do you know that Tomoe means comma
But in Japan the coma is also a symbol
like the maganata, the tomoe, ( and even the sharingan :D )
Gosh, I would not want to miss a spot if she hired me to wash her miso bowls.
Never gonna have a onna bugeisha gf why even live
Mikasa Ackerman in real life 😂
Women couldn't really be samurai until around the late 1700s, but it probably isn't too surprising that the wives and daughters of samurai had at least some combat training.
I like the videos but some of these pronunciations need work
Lol the tale of Heike is pronounced like 'heykeh'
The scariest women I have ever met have been Japanese. They are powerful - wonderful - scary
slings
Is the last one Japanese?
No, she is a fictional character from land called Rokogan.