Category Archives: women

(ALMOST) ANONYMOUS SAMURAI WARRIOR QUEENS

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Watching the Smithsonian program, “Samurai Warrior Queens,” I found myself, again, marveling at how anonymous the historians (?mostly male) kept women’s contributions — anonymous. I am reading the kokinshū for the sequel to Pillow Book of the Flower Samurai, which I am currently calling The Samurai’s Daughter. The kokinshū is a massive Imperial collection of poetry from  the early 10th century. And the translators/authors of this fabulous book speak of this very thing. The anonymity of women and their contributions.     In the kokinshū many of the poems’… Continue reading →

FALLING IN LOVE AGAIN IS… SO GOOD

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I’ve decided to fall in love with love. I’ve also decided to go back and revisit. . . THE ROMANCE  as a genre.. Fortunately I discovered a terrific series of romances that are keeping my nose glued to my Nook. (Literally falling asleep reading with my nose on you know what and I love it!) So what is this fabulous series? Noelle August’s Boomerang, Rebound, and Bounce. Sorry everyone, I received an advance copy, so you’ll have to wait until August 25 to get Bounce.… Continue reading →

THE FEMALE HERO—ARCHETYPES and STEREOTYPES

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Departure of the Amazons by Deruet, 1620

I was going to continue this sequence of blogs with villains, but came across an article in the April Smithsonian called, “The First Wonder Women.” Amanda Foreman’s article discusses the more modern “Wonder Woman” comics persona and her upcoming presence or lack thereof in the upcoming movie, “Batman vs. Superman.” Not that favorably, either.                                     Foreman continues backwards in time until she arrives at one of my favorites:… Continue reading →

READING HISTORICAL FICTION AND/OR JUST PLAIN READING

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  While this is not exactly the position I used to be in, if any of you had caught me as a young girl, but this is what I would be doing. Reading. I am one of those who used the flashlight under the blanket before we had Nooks and Kindles and iPads  … with backlighting.     I am an unabashed and total bibliophile and proud of it. A friend came into my office and kept looking behind me. Finally he said, “you sure… Continue reading →

New Year, Old Thoughts

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Empress Jingu

I want to share with you a line from one of my poems: Sexism is the last racism What do I mean by this? Sexism has proved itself to be the last bastion of prejudice. From the first question we ask when babies are born, “boy or girl?” to the language we speak, the way we act (which for my money is also language), to legal and political rights and privileges. This is every country, every nation, everywhere. male forms If you’re questioning this, good.… Continue reading →

#1 In Historical Fiction—ACCURACY!

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ancient traditional lacquered pillow

There are four characteristics I value in historical fiction. I’ll be talking about each one in the next few posts. 1. Most important for me is ACCURACY.  I truly like the facts to be correct. For example, I noticed that Harlequin Romances was advertising for historical romance. Great. I know a little (okay, a lot) about the late Heian period. BUT. But, I am familiar with their standards. The way the romances are supposed to go—is nowhere near the path the romances of the Heian… Continue reading →

Women’s Weapons: The Naginata

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Between the 12th and approximately the 15th centuries  women defended themselves, their families and their homes. They concealed daggers in their sleeves or sashes and delivered their deadly blades with great accuracy. Women also used the naginata, which is a pole having a long, curved sword at the top.  For an ambush, women swung naginata  in narrowed places, cutting the legs of  horses to disable the enemy soldiers. Sometimes women fought alongside their husbands in battle. And they were expected to commit seppuku (ritual suicide)… Continue reading →

MORE REAL FEMALE SAMURAI

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By the 15th century, the role of women in Japan changed significantly. For a long time before then, women inherited their parents property, then the law of primogeniture was defended by Confucianism and Buddhism. Don’t get me started on that…     More recently, the Boshin War (1868-69) also witnessed the fighting spirit of Japan’s samurai-class women. After a month-long siege, the Aizu region surrendered. Its samurai went to prisoner of war camps, and the domain was divided up and redistributed to imperial loyalists.  … Continue reading →

Real Female Samurai

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WERE THERE REAL SAMURAI? * * * The answer is YES! Definitely yes. Was Kozaishō a real samurai? She did really exist. She was the wife of the commander-in-chief Taira no Michimori, and according to Tale of the Heike, she was at the battle of Ichinotani. However, also with reference to the Tale of the Heike, she probably was nota samurai, but she could have been. * * * The first strong evidence of a real warrior woman is Empress Jingu who was married to… Continue reading →

More Pillow Books

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Murasaki at her desk shown in a 19th century ukiyo-e.   Pillow books in Heian Japan were really diaries called nikki. Donald Keene in Seeds in the Heart devotes an entire chapter to “Heian Diarists.”  Why?  Because, they were  “personal rather than public and the best-known examples…”  were written by Heian  women of the court. The earliest Heian diary cited is Travel Diary of a Pilgrimage to China in Search of the Law (nittō guhō junreikōki). Written by the Tendai priest Ennin who lived early… Continue reading →

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