A rare vintage photograph of an onna-bugeisha, one of the female warriors of the upper social classes in feudal Japan.
Often mistakenly referred to as “female samurai”, female warriors have a long history in Japan, beginning long before samurai emerged as a warrior class.
I see this photograph on my dash quite often and I cringe every time I see the caption. As the source states, she is a Kabuki actress, not an onna-bugeisha or a female samurai. See the flowers in her hair?
I amended my original post to include Kabuki actress and geisha. Now we know she’s a geisha. Thank you!
