Women Samurai?

[gdavall2003]

Reading several of James Clavell's novels it got me wondering about what was the actual status of women Samurai? Any links and info would be much apprieciated. Here's a :cookie: for your trouble :_lol:

[Saya-biki]

Hmmm?

Generally the woman just took care of the kids and got married, often just to increase relations with other clans =D

Or something like :p

Famous samurai women?
http://www.samurai-archives.com/women.html

It was rare that a woman married to a samurai or a daughter of a samurai would actually participate in battles. But they could fight.
The Naginata was often referred to as a woman's weapon.

[animanic_critic]

Have you tried asking our dear friend Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai#Women)? He never fails -- well, almost. -- edited

[kyubichan]

Have you tried asking our dear friend Wiki? He never fails -- well, almost.

If we all referred to Wikipedia, then forums like this need not exist.

Naginata=a kind of spear used by women in battle since it required less strength to wield than a sword.

Samurai women = there were some, but not like the ones you see in anime.

[Saya-biki]

Naginata=a kind of spear used by women in battle since it required less strength to wield than a sword.
But it wasn't exclusively used by women, many males used it too.
A Naginata combined the length of a spear with the sword, unlike the spear, you could cut at your opponents and do more damage because it was made for cutting.

teh wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naginata)

I've never had the oppurtunity to try a Naginata unfortunately. My knowledge on them is fairly limited as well, but I'd love to try it sometime...

[kyubichan]

But it wasn't exclusively used by women, many males used it too.


Sou desu ka ^^

Just a theory, but women probably used it instead of a sword because you can use the length of the handle(?) as a kind of leverage instead of using brute force, ne?

[aoi_n_asul]

that's probable.

a question:
was the samurai class the only warrior class in japan during those days?

[kyubichan]

I think so... ninjas don't count as warriors. They're more along the lines of assassins and spies.

[Saya-biki]

that's probable.

a question:
was the samurai class the only warrior class in japan during those days?
Officially.

One could consider Ronin, but when faced witht the fact being a Ronin was essentially being an outcaste it's hard to say then they're really not.
I don't think the warrior monks got a seperate class, and the peasants were still peasants.

[animanic_critic]

Ronins are masterless samurais (ie Rurouni Kenshin, particularly after he left Seijuro's [my bad] mentorship), and they were as under-privileged and mistreated as Iraqi POWs. They're definitely outcasts, and the government would love to use them as their whipping boys.

[Kuzu Ryu Sen]

Hiko Seijuro. And Seijuro wasn't a lord, he was a master of a school. People in a school but without a lord/daimyo would still be considered ronin (of course, Kenshin's not a member of the samurai class anyway, but that's a whole different matter).

[The Geomancer]

Ronin are masterless samurai, and I think that many were possibly viewed as dangerous as thugs. Being that they had no lord and thus, no one to keep them in check. quite an opposite to the common belief of them shown by many anime and manga

Back on topic:

The only samurai-ko I can think of is Tomoe Gozen, and she is fictional. Sorry

[Kyoton Kenshin]

In all my time fantasizing over bieng able to be like a samurai, it neve crossed my mind that women samurai even existed.


*hides in corner*

[Angi]

From what I know, women of samurai families were samurai, but not in the way you are asking. They coud defend themselves, they carried a short knife who's name I can't recall, they could fight to defend their liege lord and they could commit a form of seppuku different from the men. But all those things, except carrying a knife around, were extremes. Men were the ones who focused on battle and killing. In a normal case, all that a woman had to do was to marry and have kids.

[Saya-biki]

They coud defend themselves, they carried a short knife who's name I can't recall,

Kaiken.

[laborpilot86]

Thier was one instance during the Gempei War(1180-1185) of a wife of a Samurai fighting alongside her husband, but other then that, women in the Samurai class were expected to get married off to other Samurai, have lots of kids, cook, and prepare the heads of defeated enemies for the head-viewing ceremony. It was a man's world, women just lived in it.

The naginata was actually the weapon of choice for the sohei a.k.a warrior monks a.k.a really mad monks with beat-sticks.