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    Japan

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    Holly Majors
    Women played an important role in early feudal Japan and had more freedoms and respect than they later did. Women trained as warriors alongside men and fought to defend their homes and honor when men were away. They performed household duties but also learned martial arts and armor to protect their families and lands. Over time women lost status and became possessions under law, as the samurai code came to see their duty as serving men. The document uses the famous female samurai Tomoe Gozen as an example of women's early empowered role in feudal Japanese society.

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    Japan

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    Holly Majors
    26 views4 pages
    Women played an important role in early feudal Japan and had more freedoms and respect than they later did. Women trained as warriors alongside men and fought to defend their homes and honor when men were away. They performed household duties but also learned martial arts and armor to protect their families and lands. Over time women lost status and became possessions under law, as the samurai code came to see their duty as serving men. The document uses the famous female samurai Tomoe Gozen as an example of women's early empowered role in feudal Japanese society.

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    Women played an important role in early feudal Japan and had more freedoms and respect than they later did. Women trained as warriors alongside men and fought to defend their homes and honor when men were away. They performed household duties but also learned martial arts and armor to protect their families and lands. Over time women lost status and became possessions under law, as the samurai code came to see their duty as serving men. The document uses the famous female samurai Tomoe Gozen as an example of women's early empowered role in feudal Japanese society.

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    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    26 views4 pages

    Japan

    Uploaded by

    Holly Majors
    Women played an important role in early feudal Japan and had more freedoms and respect than they later did. Women trained as warriors alongside men and fought to defend their homes and honor when men were away. They performed household duties but also learned martial arts and armor to protect their families and lands. Over time women lost status and became possessions under law, as the samurai code came to see their duty as serving men. The document uses the famous female samurai Tomoe Gozen as an example of women's early empowered role in feudal Japanese society.

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    EARLY FEUDAL JAPAN, THE BEST TIME FOR WOMEN IN JAPAN.

    BY HOLLY MAJORS HOPKINS COUNTY CENTRAL HONORS UNITED STATES HISTORY FIFTH PERIOD MR. CAMPBELL OCTOBER 9, 2009

    Whats the first thing you think of when you hear feudal Japan? For most people its samurai and ninja and feudal lords. And when most people think those things they think guys, right? But did you know that there were females that did those things too? Though it was uncommon to see a female warlord, it was pretty usual in early feudal Japan to see female samurai riding out with their husbands or daimyo (masters) to fight. A prime example of a female samurai and one of the most famous in Japanese is Tomoe Gozen (see picture one for an image thought to resemble Tomoe Gozen). In this article you will learn that women were trained, highly respected, upstanding citizens of early feudal Japan, that women fought along side the men and had many duties in life that they were expected to carry out, and finally you will learn about their fall from grace in mens eyes and how they got to be mere possessions. Women were regarded as equal, strong, and later reduced to nothing. In feudal times the word samurai meant to serve and thats what they did. Their entire lives revolved around serving their daimyo and defending their honor, their families honor, and their masters honor. They defended their territory and their lord. They used long spears called naginata and long bladed swords called katanas. The women were expected to take care of the household duties, like harvesting the crops, managing the servants, and taking care of all financial business that was in disorder. They were also expected to protect their homes when their husbands were away, thus they had to know how to fight. Women were also allowed to fight alongside their men folk on occasion and wore elaborate clothes and armor. Samurai followed the code called bushido which means the way of the warrior. The code stressed frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery, and honor unto death (Bushido Wikipedia). The code also said that if your honor was diminished in anyway then you were to commit suicide to gain it back. But the women committed suicide for that reason and as a way of protesting against in justice as in the case of one women who killed herself when her husband mistreated her(Samurai Sisters, sample from the four-page background essay: Women in Heian and Feudal Japan written by Women in World History Curriculum). The wives of the samurai or the samurai women were expected to follow this code as well and if their husband died then they were expected to carry out revenge. The women were allowed places in high society as lords and chiefs in the armies. I realize that you may think that Japan today would be better to visit because of the technology and anime. Think of this; instead of having to learn about Feudal Japan from history books and museums think of all the fun you could have actually seeing the samurai and watching ninjas- from a safe distance of course- and watching the traditional tea ceremony get its start. Think of getting to watch actual feudal era Kabuki the way that they actually performed it back then, seeing the most technological country back before electronics were first made. As long as you stayed away from danger the feudal era in Japan could be a magnificent place to visit. Every place has its dangers like war and disease and it might have been worse back then but with the knowledge you hold in your hand now you could easily keep safe from that. So in spite of the rouge ninjas and the raging disease I think that feudal Japan would be a terrific and adventurous time and place to visit because of all of the historical happenings that I could witness first hand. Therefore I would suggest you visiting this time and try to see all the wonders it has to offer. 2

    Every era its wonders and Feudal Japan has more than its share, in my opinion. As Tomoe Gozen would probably say, just because there are differences doesnt mean you wont like it. You might be surprised and find out you love it.

    Tomoe Gozen

    BIBLIOGRAPHY http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical_structure_of_Feudal_Japan [Online] Available

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushid[Online] Available

    http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What%20is%20feudal%20Japan [Online] Available

    Kalman, Bobbie. Japan the Land. New York: Crabtree Publishing Co., 1989

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