Onna Bugeisha

We don’t normally have full history lessons here at Asian Sirens, and these ladies are more likely to kick butt than show it. However, if you stay to the end of class I promise a treat!

The term Samurai conjures images of honourable men in armour with twin swords and deadly intent. It is not widely known, however, that women too were Samurai. The Onna Bugeisha were the wives and daughters of Samurai men, who because of birth and class were members of the Samurai class. The Onna Bugeisha date back as far as 200AD with the Empress Jingu, but were most promenent in the 12th and 13th centuries, having largely disappeared by the Edo period (1600). One of the most famous Onna Bugeisha was Tomoe Gozen, who appears in The Tale of the Heike. She is described as “especially beautiful” and “a warrior worth a thousand, ready to confront a demon or a god, mounted or on foot”.

Unlike their male counterparts, the Onna Bugeisha were not usually trained and armed with the pairing of kanata and wakazashi, but rather utilized the ningata (pole arm), and carried a kaiken double-edged dagger. Interestingly, apparently when samurai ladies moved in with their husbands, they were required to carry their kaiken with them at all times.

Stats
DOB: 200 A.D.
Blood Type: The blood of their enemies!

And here’s that treat… not an Onna Bugeisha, but rather a real geisha!