Samurai Women

[ysabetwordsmith]

 Fascinating photo.

Comments

[brushwolf]

What I've been told (this might not be true) is that the naginata is a chosen weapon for women and monks, partly because of real or perceived physical limitations, but also because if you're a woman or a monk, you have commitments other than weapons training.

The most famous female samurai out there was Tomoe Gozen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomoe_Gozen) whom I've seen represented using a naginata probably due to later prejudice since she's mostly supposed to have used a sword (these would have been tachi, so vaguely larger and less well made than katana), but there were others.

[chordatesrock]

Why aren't there more stories with warrior class women wielding naginata? :(