#onna bugeisha
Nakazawa Koto - Valiant swordswoman
(There is little information available about this woman in English. I tried to back it up with Japanese sources. Feel free to correct me if you spot a mistake or if you have additional information)
Nakazawa Koto (1839-1927) was a Japanese swordsman who fought for the Tokugawa shogunate during the Boshin War.
Koto was born in Kōzuke Province. She was taught martial arts during her childhood and was skilled in Kenjutsu. In 1863, she accompanied her brother Sadamasa to Kyoto. Dressed as a man, Koto enlisted with him in the Rōshigumi, a group protecting the Tokugawa shogun. Koto was tall for a woman, she was 5'7"(170 cm), something that contributed to her successful disguise. It was said that “when Koto dresses as a man, many women fall in love with her. When Koto dresses as a woman, many men fall in love with her.“
TheBoshin war broke out in 1868 between the shogunate’s supporters and those of the imperial court. Koto fought for the shogunate. During a battle, she found herself surrounded by the enemy and managed to escape, defending herself with herkatana.
Koto survived the war and saw the Meiji restoration (the restoration of imperial rule in Japan) as well as the beginning of the Showa era. She died in 1927. Koto seems to have stayed celibate her whole life. She reportedly said that she would only marry a man who could defeat her in a sword fight so perhaps she didn’t find her match.
Koto is slowly coming back under the spotlight, a monument has been erected close to her grave. In 2017, she got her own TV movie: Koto Nakazawa: The Beautiful Swordswoman. You can watch a part of it in Japanese here.
References:
“中沢琴”, Japanese sword virtual museum
“群馬「男装の剣士」中澤琴に静かな注目 子孫が墓建立”, from the Japanese newspaper Asahi
Nakazawa Koto’s page on Wikipedia
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Portrait of a purported onna-bugeisha found amongst a series of actor and kabuki photographs.
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My first backpiece! This is the one I was finishing in my hourlies. Backpieces are a huge commitment, we spent around 26 hours over the course of a year completing this one. That said, I’d love to do more!
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“Miyagino the filial”, (1847/1848 ?), Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861)
Print from the series “Stories of dutifulness and loyalty in revenge”.
Depicts one of the two sisters who avenged their father during the 17th century. Their story inspired the kabuki play “Go Taiheiki shiraishi banashi” for instance.
Here the older sister, Miyagino, is represented carrying both a naginata and a sake cup.
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“Kiyoshi Hikariin” (1876), Toyohara Kunichika (1835-1900)
Print from the series “Thirty-six Good and Evil Beauties”
The princess Kiyoshi Hikariin draws her sword in order to avenge herself. The folding screen behind her is decorated with the mon (crest) of the powerful Tokugawa family, who ruled the shogunate during the Edo period.
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Debes tener muy presente que las batallas internas son más importantes que las batallas del exterior, aquel que ha iluminado su obscuridad conocerá la claridad en cada uno de sus pasos.
La vida de éste lugar se lo debo a ustedes <3 mil gracias!!!
La verdadera prueba en la vida es afrontar y aceptar la derrota con el corazón unificado.
Un corazón fragmentado tiende a cambiar la perspectiva de la realidad.
Fuego:
Es el cambio encarnado, el poder en su manifestación más fundamental, es creación y destrucción condicionados la sabiduría del guerrero, mas este se encuentra inerte sin elección ni acción.
Meditar sobre una palabra de poder es incorporarla a tu esencia .
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El conocimiento es una herramienta poderosa, mas extiende trampas para los ambiciosos codiciosos, puede ser un don de ayuda y progreso o una trampa de ego y soberbia.
Deja que el conocimiento madure lento en sabiduría , evita ser enterrado en información inabsorvida
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Cada momento de entrenamiento es un momento de iluminación, mas este se diluye si tu interés es puramente físico. Es la unión del San shin el que otorga el esplendor a la profundidad y revela el sentido oculto de las tres mentes, los tres corazones, los tres espíritus.
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Sometimes you just need to draw a badass lady with a flaming sword. A redraw of this 2014 piece. It’s nice to see how much I’ve grown in the last four years!
What if I told you anime’s fierce female fighters had their inspiration in real life history? It’s not only the Strike Witches, but real ladies from the past, who have fought for Japan.
Military historian and Anime Boston convention panelist Haru Menna regaled his audience with tales of onna-bugeisha, female martial artists, from Japanese history. Here are five of the most famous, and the shocking exploits we still remember them for today.
Tomoe Gozen
Dubbed Japan’s “Beautiful Samurai,” Tomoe was born in 1184. The Heike Monogatari accounts her exploits, including the final battle she was ever involved with, in which she was the only survivor. Legend has it the only man she couldn’t kill, she married instead. In modern times, she is depicted yearly in the Jidai Matsuri parade in Kyoto.
Tsuruhime of Omishima
Born in 1526, Tsuruhime became the chief priest of the local shrine at age 16 after her father, the previous head priest, died. As a Shinto priest, she was the living embodiment of their local god. As a god, it was easy for her to become the local military leader as well, and she led the armed resistance against pirates trying to take over her hometown.
Miyagino and Shinobu
The woman warriors come as a pair! After a drunk samurai on the run, drunk, killed their father, a farmer, the younger sister (Shinobu) brought a word of the murder to her big sister Miyagino, working as a courtesan in Edo. For seven years they searched for the murderer and trained in hand-to-hand combat. After they found him, their local lord approved their request for a legal duel to the death, two on one. It is said that the murderer died… swiftly.
Nakano Takeko
In 1868, the imperial army put Nakano’s hometown, the city of Aizu, under siege. She formed a unit of about 30 teenage girls, known as the Joshigun, to defend the city. They faced off against 100 imperial soldiers with American Spencer rifles, armed only with naginata. When the imperial army saw their opponents were girls, they asked them to come forward so they could be taken prisoner… That’s when the dismembering began. Nakano sliced through six soldiers in a matter of minutes, and took seven bullets before she went down.
— Lauren, AB Staff Blogger
This is, according to Wikipedia, a replica of the armor that would have been worn by Tachibana Ginchiyo (1569-1602). Ginchiyo was for a time the head of her clan during the Sengoku period.
Here are some extracts from her wikipediapage:
“She led the clan in a period of difficulty at only 6 years old. She inherited her father’s all interest such as the status of castellan, territory, belongings and the famous sword Raikiri (雷切, Lightning Cutter). She recruited women to become her elite guard and trained all the maidens of the castle in warfare skills to intimidate visitors and to prevent it if other clans attack her domain.
(….)
In 1592 Hideyoshi ordered that Tachibana Muneshige and Tachibana Naotsugu participate of the Invasion to the Korea under the command of Kobayakawa Takakage. Hideyoshi built Nagoya castle as a base to launch attacks on Korea. The castle was relatively close to Ginchiyo’s residence in Hizen Province, it is said that Hideyoshi invited Ginchiyo to visit the castle several times when her husband was away. However, when Hideyoshi saw Ginchiyo with her armed women, he left fearing her personality.”
Well, she was badass.
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The small variant of our ‘Kyudoka’ pattern is (finally!) live on our website and Etsy store. An easy build that’s perfect for someone wanting to try their hand at crafting their own piece.
Link in bio!
