Samurai Women 1184–1877 (Warrior, 151)

a most illuminating look at an overlooked part of Japanese history. this look at the role women played in samurai society is an informative and stirring account of bravery that heretofore has only been attributed to male members of the samurai class

An excellent book that reminds us that what we have been told were the facts of the past were selectively presented to support social and political ideologies. In truth, women have always been warriors!This is a magnificent, if short, book that presents important warriors from human history along with a multitude of lovely images related to those stories. The pictures alone is worth the cost of this book.

A good stepping stone for anyone interested in the subjects of Japanese history and the roll of women in it, however it lacked detail and body, each subject/person mentions is only a few pages in length. The information presented in this book was easy to understand, however, I question some of the facts concerning Oda Nobunaga.I have read many books concerning Japanese history and have read different views of Nobunaga, I disliked the information being presented in a biased, anti-Nobunaga manner. Also I bought this book to specifically understand more about Tomoe Gozen and discovered more concrete facts from Wikipedia. Still I learned a lot and consider this a good buy. It’s easy to read and can be read in a day, a bit longer if your short on time. The illustrations are brilliant and breathtaking as always in a osprey publishing book and it made me want to learn more. I recommend it but feel perhaps reading more would help broaden one’s understanding.

This work is truly a wonder as it is about the only place one can learn of the role of women in the samurai period and all the various tribulations they had to endure, as well as the heroic roles of some in supporting their families. I am planning a group tour to Japan in 2013 on the theme of Japanese women of the Heian period, and wanted to also broach the subject of women of the samurai and the widely different role they played compared to the courtesans of Heian Kyo This book was purchased to do the homework on part of the tour content.

A very illuminating little book on a fascinating but seemingly very, very obscure subject. The Japanese seem to be somewhat proud of warrior women in their history, but actually finding published material, either factual or fanciful, is a problem...either the Japanese don't publish it, or it's not translated. Turnbull's treatise is good, if brief - I quickly found myself wishing the book had been much, much larger.

Written in a style suited to young adults, more "pop" than academic, it's a quick and easy read. And it's a really decent introduction to an oft-overlooked reality of samurai culture: EVERYone of the warrior class, male or female, was trained to fight, not just the men, a fact that inevitably led to some fairly serious acts by heroic women with swords or halberds (naginatas). If you didn't already know that then a slim pictorially-rich volume like this one is a real eye-opener.

The PBS special, Secrets of the Dead: Amazon Warrior Women, followed a possible trail of the Greek legends of warrior women to the Far East. Although the PBS special did not go as far as Japan, when I saw this book by Stephen Turnbull, I had to read it. It may be farfetched to make a connection between the Greek Amazon Women Warriors to Japanese women, it is still an interesting phenomenon that makes for fascinating speculation.

An interesting little book about the less known side of the samurai class.

Having recently come by a copy of  Japanese Warrior Monks AD 949-1603  my general interest in Japanese military & political history was stirred. Trawling through Amazon, as is my want there was this book. In my ignorance I had always assumed this topic was a male preserve only and so felt some further investigation was worth the investment, particularly as Stephen Turnbull has such a solid reputation as an expert in Japanese military history.Two issues to be initially addressed. In the first, this is not a volume replete with amazonian and balletically lithe young women; the volume covers both individual women warriors; the wives and daughters of prominent men who took their place in defence of a strategic location or even taking their place as generals upon a battlefield. Now as this was a male dominated society the instances are small but noteworthy in number. Hence, the second issue it is a slimmer than usual volume, however bearing in mind the worth of learning about the exceptional women then there should be no problem with the number of pages if you consider in advance this, to repeat by its nature will be a thin book. You will note from the cover than when there were instances of all woman units, they were fearsomely impressive!It is most interesting to read of the impact these women had upon the society and locality of their day, some even attaining almost legendary status, others in their historical context broadly comparable with, say Joan of Arc, albeit on a local rather than national level. The plates by Gileseppe Rava are of excellent quality and go to great way to supporting the text. In conclusion there are a number of reproductions of prints, statues and museum dioramas which play their part in adding to the depth of the book.Thus a very worthwhile addition for anyone who is collecting Turnbull's other Osprey works on Japan. Also ideal for anyone with a passing curiosity in the subject and feels inclined to invest, particularly if are collecting works on the history of women in warfare. Japanese Warrior Monks AD 949-1603

Excellent coverage of a fascinating subject. Wonderful colour plates by Rava are the icing on the cake.They are well supported by the photos, many of surviving artifacts associated with a woman warrior. Whilst much of the early information is legend, which is too be expected given how old it is.

Anyone who has watch the male dominated Kurasawa movies MUST read this

Written by the specialist on japanese culture Turnball covers the subject of the female samurai warrior with great detail. Unfortunately it's a athin book, not the fault of Turnball. There are limited stories that have survived. An essential for anyone interested in the female samurai.

This is a tremendous book revealing the lives of samurai women, who themselves lived by the way of the warrior. Highly informative and entertaining.