Honor knows no birthright.

Japanese female cavalry

Chancellor Tôin Kinkata (1291-1360) once mentioned in his journal a  “predominately female cavalry” without giving further explanations. Since he noted that they were from western Japan, it may imply that women from the west, regions far from the big capital cities, were more likely to fight in battles. Another hypothesis is that it could be a metaphor, aiming at degrading the army by feminizing it. 

Even if we can’t know the truth about this particular case, female cavalry fighting on the battlefield remains within the realm of possibilities. Epic accounts such as the Heike Monogatari recount that Tomoe gozen served as a general under Kiso Yoshinaka at the end of the 12th century. Women forming cavalry forces were also reported during the Sengoku Period (c. 1467 – c. 1600).

Archeological discoveries also provide fascinating elements that could imply a wider involvement of women in armies than what was previously envisaged. When the skeletons of warriors who fought during at Senbonmatsubara (1580) were discovered on the site of the battle, it appeared that roughly 30% of them belonged to women. Japanese archeologist Suzuki Hiroatsu explains that it is common to find bones of women or children where castle sieges took place, since they usually participated in the defense. He, however stresses the fact that there was no castle on this site and concludes that “these women came here to fight and to die” and could have been part of the army. Excavations conducted on other battle sites across Japan gave similar results. 

References:

Conlan Thomas, State of war: the violent order of fourteenth century Japan

Friday Karl, Japan emerging: premodern history to 1850

Samurai warrior queens, Smithsonian channel documentary

Animation made for a secret santa that i took part recently.

I’m back and school and we had our first assignment about perspective.  I really liked how this one turned out.

Daijoblue