The legacy of the equal fearsome onna bugeisha faded from view. Some period after the Meiji Restoration in 1868 вЂ“ which was a new era of an imperial rule which stood for modernization, westernization, and industrialization вЂ“ the Samurai class that had once bravely protected the nation, fell from the power. Some centuries before the rise of the samurai class in the 12 th century, these women were fighting in times of war to protect their families, homes, as well as their profound sense of honor. Also, they were trained to use the polearm sword. These women warriors were exceptionally skilled in combat they were trained in the knife fighting art of tantojutsu, using the dagger, which was known as kaiken, and a popular weapon of choice among them was the naginata. They belonged to the bushi class, which was a noble class of feudal Japanese warriors and helped settle some new lands, defend their territory, and even had a legal right to supervise lands as stewards. Still, there were also women that were warriors, just like Takeko, who were known to be brave and strong just like their male counterparts. Throughout history, a lot of Japanese women were subject to rigid social expectations of marriage, motherhood, and domesticity. She has been buried under a tree in the courtyard of the Aizu Bangmachi temple, where there is also a monument in her honor standing now. As she was dying, she asked her sister to behead her, using her last breaths, so that her body would not be taken as a trophy.

As she was faced with the mighty gun-power of the imperial army, she led an unofficial unit of 20 to 30 women in a counterattack against the enemy, felling almost five opponents with her naginata blade before taking a fatal bullet to the chest. However, for Nakano Takeko, who was an onna-bugeisha woman warrior, the front-line defense was the only course of action.

The onna bugeisha women samurai warriors.ДЄs the Aizu fought valiantly from the trenches and towers, most of the women remained behind the scenes, spending their energies in cooking, bandaging, as well as extinguishing cannonballs that pounded the castle day and night.

Held to the same standards, the male, as well as the female samurai warriors were supposed to perform the same duties, so they usually fought alongside each other in the earlier periods like the Heian and Kamakura. Beyond the walls, about 3,000 defiant warriors have readied themselves for the final stand. He did not waste a lot of time in replacing the feudal ways of the ruling Tokugawa with a radically modern state.ДЄfter a long summer of fighting all the time, the imperial forces have reached the gates of Wakamatsu castle in October that year, to defeat the resistance, besieging the stronghold with 30,000 troops. Earlier in the same year, the Satsuma samurai had staged a coup, overthrowing the Shogunate government, as well as heading power to a new emperor, the 15-year-old Mutsuhito. In the autumn of 1868, the battle was on the horizon for the samurai warriors of the Aizu clan in northern Japan. The beginnings and history of the samurai warriors.

Japanese symbol for female courage