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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Samantha. Welcome to Stuff Mom Never Told You,

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Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio, and y'all, I am taking over

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Speaker 1: choosing classics today. And since we've already been kind of

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Speaker 1: talking about samurai warriors and whether women were involved during

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Speaker 1: that time, I thought it would be a good time

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Speaker 1: to revisit this classic that Kristin and Caroline did title

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Speaker 1: Samurai Warriors.

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Speaker 2: So enjoy Welcome to Stuff Mom Never Told You from

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Speaker 2: howstufforks dot com.

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Speaker 3: Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Caroline and I'm Kristin, and.

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Speaker 4: Today's episode is inspired by social media basically. Yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 4: we were talking about the warrior women of Japan, women

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Speaker 4: who were in Japan's samurai class, and I have seen

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Speaker 4: a lot of things being posted both on Tumblr and

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Speaker 4: on Pinterest, these beautiful images of Japanese warrior women and

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Speaker 4: even women dressed as samurai warriors in photographs.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, there's one photo in particular that a lot of

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Speaker 5: our listeners have probably seen, because, like you said, Caroline,

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Speaker 5: it's everywhere on Tumblr, pin dress, It's been shared on

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Speaker 5: Twitter at nauseum, and the reception is usually, this is

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Speaker 5: so cool, here's a female samurai look.

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Speaker 3: Women were warriors too, so neat, and.

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Speaker 5: It depicts a Japanese woman wearing armor and she's holding

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Speaker 5: a helmet, and she does look like she's ready for battle,

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Speaker 5: including her very impressive hairstyle with what looks like little

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Speaker 5: flowers tucked in it, because you know what, even though

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Speaker 5: you're going to battle, done, man, you have to look

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Speaker 5: a mess. But as Tracy and Holly are our pals

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Speaker 5: at our Sister podcast, Stuffy Miss and History Class have

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Speaker 5: also noted, this is not a female samurai unfortunately, you know,

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Speaker 5: and it's it's kind of disappointing to have to reign

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Speaker 5: on what is such a fun parade.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, but no, that the photo that a lot.

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Speaker 5: Of people have probably seen is a kabuki performer. Yeah,

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Speaker 5: she's an actress.

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Speaker 4: She's she's dressed up incredibly for whatever play she's about

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Speaker 4: to act in. But she is not, in fact a samurai,

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Speaker 4: nor is she an ona bugaisha or an ona musha,

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Speaker 4: which are the names for women warriors in Japanese culture.

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Speaker 4: The onna bugaisha is also known as the female samurai.

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Speaker 4: But as we'll talk about, samurai is a gendered term,

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Speaker 4: and it is gendered male.

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Speaker 3: It does not apply to ladies.

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Speaker 5: So in that case, So Caroline, does that mean that

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Speaker 5: calling this episode samurai women is misleading?

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Speaker 4: Misleading but so deliciously click baby, Okay, look at us

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Speaker 4: being so transparent with our audience right now. Well that's

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Speaker 4: the thing. So when I did see not the photograph

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Speaker 4: of the woman in her armor, but I did see

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Speaker 4: beautiful Japanese paintings of lady warriors, I was like, oh

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Speaker 4: my god, this is an amazing piece of history that

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Speaker 4: I've somehow missed out on. And yes, I definitely have

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Speaker 4: missed out on the history of women of the samurai

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Speaker 4: class in Japan. But as I started to dig around

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Speaker 4: and I even reblogged some stuff on Tumblr, was just like,

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Speaker 4: should Sminty do this? This is definitely a topic that

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Speaker 4: we should cover. I realized upon further digging that oh, well,

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Speaker 4: it's not that there were like armies of women going

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Speaker 4: into battle. It's just more that there were a lot

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Speaker 4: of women of the samurai class who did train with weapons,

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Speaker 4: but it was more about defending the homestead, defending the castle,

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Speaker 4: helping their husbands defend the lord of the manor basically.

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Speaker 5: It was reminiscent to me as a far more intense

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Speaker 5: version of me taking self defense class as my pe

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Speaker 5: in college. It's like learning those kinds of tactics to

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Speaker 5: protect myself rather than dash out onto the streets and sucker.

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Speaker 4: Punch a lot of dudes. I mean, I hope you're

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Speaker 4: not sucker punching anyone in general. But yeah, so I

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Speaker 4: wanted to know, like, who were these women? How many

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Speaker 4: of them were there? Were? They literally just housewives who

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Speaker 4: had like a knife in the drawer to protect themselves,

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Speaker 4: they had knives in their aprons.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so what's going on and what's the true story?

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Speaker 4: And I was really interested to find out that the

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Speaker 4: truth is somewhere between those things. A lot of people

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Speaker 4: are like, yeah, Japanese women warriors, they're all over.

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Speaker 3: The place killing dudes.

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Speaker 4: And then there's this other side of the internet that's like, no,

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Speaker 4: they didn't. They weren't active at all. They were just housewives.

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Speaker 4: And so where are we going to be in the internet?

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Speaker 4: Are we in the middle saying? You know what?

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Speaker 3: There were some.

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Speaker 5: Housewives with daggers and not a lot of them.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, there were some, and there were some who did

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Speaker 4: some neck chopping, as we'll talk about.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, I wanted to.

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Speaker 4: Kind of get to the bottom of who these women

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Speaker 4: really were, and a part of understanding who they were

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Speaker 4: and where they came from is understanding how women were

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Speaker 4: viewed and treated in Japanese society.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, so we're gonna have to give you, wait for it,

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Speaker 5: some history. Uh oh, but this we need to lay

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Speaker 5: this foundation for how the warrior class developed and also

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Speaker 5: how religion played a role and also developed being governments,

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Speaker 5: because I mean, this is we're looking.

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Speaker 4: At a lot of a lot of time here, Yeah,

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Speaker 4: and so we're going to do our best to condense it,

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Speaker 4: but still try to give you perspective on how women's

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Speaker 4: roles developed through ancient, medieval, and then early modern Japanese society.

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Speaker 4: So get ready, put your samurai helmet on, and let's

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Speaker 4: go for a little red well I ride.

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Speaker 5: Caroline starts in the good old days aka ancient history. Now,

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Speaker 5: the very first documented evidence of attitudes toward women are

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Speaker 5: in these eighth century records called Kojiki and Nahungi, and

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Speaker 5: it illustrates that women actually enjoyed fairly high status, and

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Speaker 5: this was partially thanks to Shintoism, whose birth was related

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Speaker 5: to the story of a Sun goddess named Amaturasu who

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Speaker 5: exemplified perfection, intelligence, beauty, fertility, and purity.

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Speaker 4: Just like Caroline, stuff mom never told you that's right,

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Speaker 4: And just like stuff Mom never told you. Her feminine

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Speaker 4: qualities culturally were really embraced and admired.

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Speaker 3: Especially on Facebook. Especially on Facebook.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, nobody was telling her to stop using up speak

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Speaker 4: or vocal fry. You mean vocal fry, Yeah, oh my god.

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Speaker 4: But yeah, it's just interesting to see how religion, the

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Speaker 4: influence and development of religion, also affects the development of

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Speaker 4: the way that women are viewed and treated. So in

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Speaker 4: the wake of the development of Shintoism, we get this

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Speaker 4: pro lady mythology that fosters pretty generally pro lady views

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Speaker 4: in a relatively matriarchal culture. Chinese records from the time,

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Speaker 4: because those Chinese had their nose in everything, being the

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Speaker 4: smarty pants world power that they were, and their records

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Speaker 4: show that not only were women like cool fine with women,

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Speaker 4: but they were actually encouraged to rule and it was

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Speaker 4: thought that they would be peacekeepers, that they were chased

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Speaker 4: and not given to jealousy, which is definitely different from

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Speaker 4: how I don't know a lot of people the stereotypes

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Speaker 4: of women just being jealous and gossipers. But back then

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Speaker 4: people were like, yeah, women, great, they're going to keep

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Speaker 4: the peace and rule within even hand. And these Chinese

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Speaker 4: records also discussed the beloved rulers Pimmico aka Himiko.

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Speaker 3: She's the first known ruler.

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Speaker 4: Of Japan, who was thought to be a descendant of

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Speaker 4: that Sun goddess and her daughter Eo. But so we

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Speaker 4: talked about how religion affected government and affected society, and

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Speaker 4: women were considered as the go between for deities and

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Speaker 4: humanity in this religion, and men were thought to be

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Speaker 4: able to take those messages and put them into action.

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Speaker 4: And this is coming from a. Kana Haruko's paper in

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Speaker 4: the Japan Christian Review from nineteen ninety three. She writes

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Speaker 4: that you've got men and women working together. Men and

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Speaker 4: women both could be rulers, and at the time the

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Speaker 4: rulers were also priests, so power ended up being pretty

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Speaker 4: evenly distributed relatively until the dawn of the imperial system,

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Speaker 4: which consolidated power away from women. And Kristen, all of

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Speaker 4: this conversation about religion and women being empowered through religion

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Speaker 4: reminded me of our conversation with Karakuti the Egyptologists talking

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Speaker 4: about hot Schepsit and how she used her background in

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Speaker 4: religion to sort of gain power and become queen.

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Speaker 5: Well, and you just mentioned that with the dawn of imperialism,

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Speaker 5: power was consolidated away from women. But there's also this

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Speaker 5: instance of Empress Jingu in the third or fourth century

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Speaker 5: heading up an army. Possibly this might also be a myth,

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Speaker 5: but weapons and armor were found in fourth century female

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Speaker 5: rulers tombs, so it's not clear whether it's because they

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Speaker 5: actually fought or whether the weapons were symbolics. So even

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Speaker 5: though maybe their their power actual power was slipping away,

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Speaker 5: they would still get in on the warfare action from

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Speaker 5: time to time.

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Speaker 4: But then we see a shift in the sixth century

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Speaker 4: away from Shintoism as Buddhism is introduced, and it really

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Speaker 4: affected attitudes toward women. We get these anti feminine views

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Speaker 4: imported from China. Suddenly women go from being intelligent and

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Speaker 4: symbolizing purity and fertility and they can rule and we

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Speaker 4: love them their peacekeepers, to being seductresses with an evil nature.

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Speaker 4: And so this ends up fostering a chauvinistic society and

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Speaker 4: kind of shuttles women off to a subordinate place.

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Speaker 3: So basically, under this structure, only men.

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Speaker 4: Can attain enlightenment, and if you're a woman, you can

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Speaker 4: attain enlightenment if you're reincarnated as a man, so good

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Speaker 4: for you.

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Speaker 5: And women's worth lay in political alliances created through father

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Speaker 5: arranged marriages switched tones a lot like old style Western

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Speaker 5: marriages as well. And when we move forward to the

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Speaker 5: Haynd period from seven ninety four to eleven eighty five AD,

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Speaker 5: things don't get much better.

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Speaker 4: Women's activities are.

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Speaker 5: Super restricted, they have less access to education, there's a

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Speaker 5: belief that they shouldn't be seen by men, which is

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Speaker 5: interesting that during this period this is happening because there

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Speaker 5: was an explosion and aristocratic women's writing.

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Speaker 4: But maybe it's just because they didn't have much.

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Speaker 5: Else to do while they were locked away, which explains

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Speaker 5: why I have so many diaries from my homeschool years.

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Speaker 3: A dear diary.

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Speaker 4: Today is century century three of us being locked away

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Speaker 4: from society. We used to be impresses. Maybe tomorrow will

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Speaker 4: be a better day xoxo.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and it did. Tomorrow was a better day relatively.

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Speaker 3: When we enter the feudal period of feudalism, is the

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Speaker 3: better day? Is that what you're saying about to say, yeah, Well,

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Speaker 3: I mean for ladies.

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Speaker 5: Oh man, talk about it real hard glass half fall.

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Speaker 3: It puts it in stark relief.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. So from eleven eighty five to sixteen oh three,

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Speaker 4: that's the feudal period in Japan, and this is when

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Speaker 4: we see the rise of the samurai warrior class, and

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Speaker 4: samurai means those who serve, so they're basically like nights

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Speaker 4: if you want to think of an equivalent in Western culture,

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Speaker 4: Nights without the whole chivalry aspect.

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Speaker 3: There was no like, hey, we need.

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Speaker 4: To treat our ladies with respect, and like put our

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Speaker 4: capes down in puddles and save damsels and things like that.

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Speaker 4: They didn't give a hoot for courtly love. There was

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Speaker 4: no damsel in distress, worries or anything like that. So

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Speaker 4: it's interesting now that as we get feudalism, we also

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Speaker 4: get less restrictive Buddhist sex emerging, and that's sects groups

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Speaker 4: of Buddhists, not Buddhist sex as in sexy times, although

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Speaker 4: who knows, maybe you never know.

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Speaker 5: During this glass Apfal feudal period, things were really loosen enough.

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Speaker 4: Well, women's freedom did expand they were allowed rights to

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Speaker 4: inheritance and to will property to their children. They were

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Speaker 4: relatively more active in society. They managed their household staffs,

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Speaker 4: they oversaw household finances, and some of them trained in

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Speaker 4: the Samurai way of life, and this entails both training

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Speaker 4: with weapons, training in martial arts and fighting, but also

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Speaker 4: just training in that way of life that involved duty

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Speaker 4: and loyalty.

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Speaker 5: And the dnahs that were performed not too long ago

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Speaker 5: on recently excavated bodies dating back to a battle in

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Speaker 5: fifteen eighty found that thirty five of those dead bodies

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Speaker 5: were women. And had these been siege situations, it's possible

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Speaker 5: the women's remains were there because they'd kill them killed

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Speaker 5: themselves to protect their honor, and that because that happened.

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Speaker 4: A lot the whole I mean, I don't know that

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Speaker 4: you would.

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Speaker 5: Classify that specifically as harcurry, but there was a whole

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Speaker 5: like honorable suicide thing going on. But instead it seems

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Speaker 5: more likely in this situation that they were actually fighting.

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Speaker 5: So there's evidence, you know that they are at least

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Speaker 5: thirty five of them out there, Yeah.

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Speaker 4: There are at least thirty five. And this is just

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Speaker 4: part of the interesting thing about lost history. I mean,

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Speaker 4: we just.

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Speaker 3: Don't know how many warrior women there.

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Speaker 4: Were, how they were really viewed. It's entirely possible that

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Speaker 4: they were more common than we understand them to be,

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Speaker 4: but that they were just not written about in the

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Speaker 4: history books. And so anyway, this expanded role for women, it.

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Speaker 3: Just did not stay this way forever.

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Speaker 4: Husband and wife relationships be gan to resemble that whole

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Speaker 4: feudal lord subject relationship, which just means total and utter

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Speaker 4: submission to the husband as the lord. And so when

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Speaker 4: we move into the Tokugawa era from sixteen o three

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Speaker 4: to eighteen sixty seven, marriage and pleasing the husband is

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Speaker 4: really the only role that women were fit for. Nobody

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Speaker 4: had a great opinion of ladies at this time. Samurai

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Speaker 4: husbands were no longer out there fighting. They were more

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Speaker 4: like bureaucrats. Women, however, were still expected during this time

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Speaker 4: to raise the kids with a proper samurai education, because there.

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Speaker 3: Wasn't much else they could do.

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Speaker 4: What was a proper samurai education. This would still be

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Speaker 4: in terms of loyalty, serving the home, serving the family,

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Speaker 4: serving the lord, learning to fight and use weapons properly.

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Speaker 5: When I hear serving the Lord, Caroline, it does just

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Speaker 5: take me right back to evangelical church.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, this definitely means like the Lord and master in

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Speaker 4: terms of your feudal lord.

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Speaker 3: Not so much Jesus.

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Speaker 4: I don't know if Japan was down with Jesus.

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Speaker 3: Yet at the time.

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Speaker 4: I don't think Jesus had gotten.

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Speaker 3: To Japan yet.

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Speaker 5: But what does all of this really say about women

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Speaker 5: warriors and samurai? With all of this up and down

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Speaker 5: and women being hidden away for these different periods, was

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Speaker 5: there really an opportunity for them to even be warriors?

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Speaker 5: Because some sources out there say women of a samurai

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Speaker 5: achieved prominence, but others claimed they were just fulfilling their

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Speaker 5: duties as housewives, which we noted earlier.

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Speaker 4: There's kind of that.

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Speaker 3: Spectrum of like, yeah, they were totally there and other.

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Speaker 4: People being like, no, they were just at home.

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Speaker 5: So what gives though, Caroline, Let's pull some more meat

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Speaker 5: from this timeline that we just trotted through. So before

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Speaker 5: we get into some of these fighting women and talk

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Speaker 5: about what they fought with, which is pretty neat some

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Speaker 5: dis claimers. Like we said at the top of the podcast,

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Speaker 5: these are not those pinterest friendly images from the late

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Speaker 5: nineteenth century depicting women probably kabookie performers, dressed as samurai,

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Speaker 5: and like you said, Caroline, even calling them samurai women

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Speaker 5: is a little bit misleading because of how samurai is

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Speaker 5: a gendered term.

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Speaker 3: So can you talk a little bit about that.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, well, so the women warriors of this period are

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Speaker 4: referred to as onnabu geisha or so called female samurai

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Speaker 4: like you said, but that more literally means women practicing

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Speaker 4: the art of war. You've got the term geisha in there,

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Speaker 4: like geishas who are performing artists, and then you've got

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Speaker 4: the term onamusha, which more literally means women warriors. So

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Speaker 4: they definitely would not have been referred to as samurais

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Speaker 4: back then, and they technically shouldn't be referred to as

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Speaker 4: samurais now. But the terms exist, and so did these women.

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Speaker 3: But it is.

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Speaker 5: True that they existed within the context of their individual

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Speaker 5: households because typically women in the warrior class could be

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Speaker 5: characterized by their role as castle slash homestead defenders.

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Speaker 4: So when the king or the lord not to be

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Speaker 4: confused with Jesus.

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Speaker 5: Christ was away, protection of the home fell to the wife.

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Speaker 5: Her front was the home while her husband was on

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Speaker 5: the battlefield, and there was deep, deep loyalty to the clan.

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Speaker 5: This is part of that samurai education that we mentioned

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Speaker 5: a few minutes ago. And what did they use to

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Speaker 5: defend their homestead. Not just any old sword, not a

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Speaker 5: sling shot, not nunchucks, but rather something called a naginata.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. It's basically a sort of spear sword hybrid, so

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Speaker 4: it looks like a long pole.

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Speaker 3: With a curved blade at the end.

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Speaker 5: And it was really cute because they're all pink for

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Speaker 5: the girls, Caroline.

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Speaker 4: You know, that's how you know that it was. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: that's how you know it's for women.

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Speaker 3: They're real light.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, And girls would learn to use it from a

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Speaker 4: relatively young age, and when they reached adulthood, they were

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Speaker 4: also given kaiken or small knives for both self defense

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Speaker 4: and also suicide if their virtue was threatened. So basically,

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Speaker 4: you had to be prepared to die to protect your

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Speaker 4: own honor as well as your family's honor. And a

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Speaker 4: little bit of context to that is that a short

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Speaker 4: life was really not viewed as a tragedy. It was admirable,

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Speaker 4: especially if you died in the name of protecting your

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Speaker 4: family or your honor. But also when rumors of raping

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Speaker 4: and pillaging preceded an invading army, it was not uncommon

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Speaker 4: for women of that village or clan to participate in

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Speaker 4: a mass suicide, and we saw a couple interesting examples

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Speaker 4: of basically ancient suicide notes left by women who were

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Speaker 4: in this very situation that illustrate I don't want to

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Speaker 4: insinuate that suicide is interesting, but I think they illustrate

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Speaker 4: how women's role in this samurai class, and that the

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Speaker 4: way they fulfilled the way they were supposed to fulfill

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Speaker 4: their duty as part of the samurai class. So one

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Speaker 4: from the nineteenth century says, each time I die and

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Speaker 4: am reborn in the world, I wish to return as

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Speaker 4: a stalwart warrior. And another woman wrote, I have heard

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Speaker 4: that this is the way of the warrior, and so

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Speaker 4: I set out on the journey to the land of

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Speaker 4: the dead. So I think that says a lot about Yeah,

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Speaker 4: their front, as you said, might not be on the battlefield,

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Speaker 4: but they certainly felt that they had a duty to

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Speaker 4: perform during times of.

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Speaker 5: War, and that nagnata was a tool to guard one's

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Speaker 5: personal sanctity unless it was actually used for battle, because

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Speaker 5: this did happen from time to time. Martial arts historian

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Speaker 5: Ellis Amber cites a sixteenth century chronicle of a warrior

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Speaker 5: wife who led more than eighty soldiers against the enemy

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Speaker 5: after finding women and children in her husband's castle had

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Speaker 5: committed mass suicide.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so obviously there were some women who were like,

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Speaker 4: uh no, not all the women in my clan get

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Speaker 4: to kill themselves and just have that go by as

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Speaker 4: a normal thing. And then author Stephen Turnbull describes the

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Speaker 4: nineteenth century wife of a magistrate who, fearing the Imperial

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Speaker 4: army would slaughter her family, ended up cutting off her

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Speaker 4: hair preemptively killing her mother in law and daughter, and

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Speaker 4: then charging out into the fighting with her naganata in hand.

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Speaker 3: Intense, very intense.

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Speaker 4: So we really get this image of the naganata wielding

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Speaker 4: warrior woman emerging during the Warring States period, which is

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Speaker 4: it falls under that feudal period in the mid fifteenth

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Speaker 4: to the early seventeenth centuries, and we start to get

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Speaker 4: these accounts of warlord's wives wearing armor and leading women

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Speaker 4: into fights with those naganata.

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Speaker 5: But historical accounts of women in action deal more often

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Speaker 5: with samurai class women defending the home rather than specifically

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Speaker 5: going out onto the battlefield. So basically the deal was

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Speaker 5: that if you were a samurai dude, which is kind

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Speaker 5: of redundant to even say, you'd be part of the

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Speaker 5: warrior class and you had to accept that your whole

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Speaker 5: family was obliged to serve the Lord and master. Would

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Speaker 5: that also be like the Showgun with the you know,

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Speaker 5: because the showgun is a general, so they would all

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Speaker 5: essentially be loyal to the Showgun. And it wasn't uncommon

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Speaker 5: for the womenfolk to have to perform the menfolks duties

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Speaker 5: if they were away, which might include everything from just

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Speaker 5: working on house repairs to defending the castle or home,

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Speaker 5: to you know, taking care of heads once they've been

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Speaker 5: chopped off of bodies, because there is a very ceremonial

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Speaker 5: presentation of decapitated heads that would happen after the fighting

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Speaker 5: had chilled out for a minute.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, women's role during war if they were holed up

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Speaker 4: in the castle, it was really interesting. So they'd be

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Speaker 4: doing everything from casing bullets, to caring for the wounded,

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Speaker 4: to throwing wet blankets on cannon balls before they could explode.

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Speaker 4: Can you imagine I would not sign up for that job.

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Speaker 4: I'll be like, I'll be over here casing the bullets

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Speaker 4: because there's no blood involved in that and no.

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Speaker 3: Potential dismemberment from cannonballs.

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Speaker 4: But yeah, like Christin said, they would also prepare enemy

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Speaker 4: heads for head viewing ceremonies. And I read this and

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Speaker 4: was like, what this sounds awful? What is a head

393
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Speaker 4: viewing ceremony? And it's literally that it's like cleaning up

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Speaker 4: the head, washing it, blackening the teeth, and presenting it

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Speaker 4: to the victor or the victorious family or clan to

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Speaker 4: be like, hey, hey, look at what we did. Very

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Speaker 4: game of thronesy back then, very well. So in the

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Speaker 4: midst seventeenth century, though after the Warring States period, we

399
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Speaker 4: hit a little bit of a more peaceful time. Women

400
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Speaker 4: are still being trained to use the naganata because by

401
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Speaker 4: this point it's pretty much a ladies tool and it's

402
00:24:12,240 --> 00:24:16,440
Speaker 4: only associated with them. But instead of all of this

403
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Speaker 4: protecting the castle from the enemy thing, they basically became,

404
00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:22,679
Speaker 4: as one source said, kind of like a neighborhood watch

405
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Speaker 4: type of things. So even though their rights were more

406
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Speaker 4: restricted they were expected to stay in the home, they

407
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:32,200
Speaker 4: would still if a stranger entered the area, grab the

408
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Speaker 4: old naganata and run outside to protect their hood from strangers.

409
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Speaker 5: It's like housewives today who buy tasers, you know, they're

410
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Speaker 5: actually like taser shows instead of tupperware parties.

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Speaker 4: Really, there are taser parties.

412
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Speaker 5: Yes, I know this firsthand from someone who has been

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Speaker 5: to one and purchased one.

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Speaker 3: I would there are pink washed tasers.

415
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Speaker 4: I had no idea.

416
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Speaker 5: Yeah, naganada, Wait cool, I'm just saying no, I'm not

417
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Speaker 5: advocating four Day's person the home. But let's talk though

418
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Speaker 5: about some of the specific women, because one thing that

419
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Speaker 5: definitely emerged as we were researching this topic was that

420
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Speaker 5: A the numbers are low, and B there are just

421
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Speaker 5: a handful of actual individual women with names that you

422
00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:32,080
Speaker 5: hear about who are repeated over and over again in

423
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Speaker 5: any kind of female samurai roundup or history that you

424
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Speaker 5: might read. And again, I keep catching myself saying female

425
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Speaker 5: samurai because I feel like I'm just shorthand.

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Speaker 3: Okay, okay, sure, I forgive you.

427
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Speaker 4: Some of our listeners might write in, but hey, we

428
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:47,720
Speaker 4: get it. We understand at least.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, may I acknowledge the imprecision of my language.

430
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Speaker 4: Well, So, in addition to the countless women that we've

431
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Speaker 4: been talking about who defended their homes and avenge the

432
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Speaker 4: deaths of family and lords, we wanted to name a

433
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Speaker 4: few that stand out.

434
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Speaker 3: In the history books.

435
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:15,640
Speaker 4: But the first two that we're going to talk about

436
00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:19,959
Speaker 4: should be taken with a slight grain of salt because

437
00:26:20,920 --> 00:26:25,360
Speaker 4: mainly they may not have really existed. Oh no, Yeah,

438
00:26:25,560 --> 00:26:28,800
Speaker 4: So Tomo Gozen is one of the most famous, most

439
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:33,240
Speaker 4: often cited examples of a woman warrior. But she might

440
00:26:33,280 --> 00:26:36,560
Speaker 4: have been a legend. It's not sure why. If she

441
00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:39,359
Speaker 4: was a legend, she was created. It's possible that she

442
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:43,920
Speaker 4: was created to shame a certain male warrior, to make

443
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,480
Speaker 4: him seem like he needed a woman to help him.

444
00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:51,160
Speaker 4: But regardless, it is a great story, and so let's

445
00:26:51,200 --> 00:26:54,480
Speaker 4: take it as that and talk about the legendary Tuma Gozen.

446
00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:56,880
Speaker 4: First of all, Gozen is not her last name. It's

447
00:26:56,880 --> 00:26:59,280
Speaker 4: not like how I'm Caroline Irvin. Gozen is a title,

448
00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,200
Speaker 4: and it's basically young lady, and it was sometimes applied

449
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 4: to women warriors specifically, so you could be goes In Caroline. Yeah,

450
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,240
Speaker 4: young lady Caroline. Well, it just reminds me of Gozer

451
00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:13,520
Speaker 4: from Ghostbusters. Then and then I just go on a

452
00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:15,359
Speaker 4: tangent in my brain, and then he goes in on

453
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:21,080
Speaker 4: a tangent. Well, so, during the Genpei War from eleven

454
00:27:21,160 --> 00:27:26,960
Speaker 4: eighty to eighty five, Toma supposedly fought alongside male Samurai warriors.

455
00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:30,760
Speaker 4: And there's an account, a historical account that's possibly made up,

456
00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:34,240
Speaker 4: that says many times she had taken the field armed

457
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 4: at all points and won matchless renown and encounters with

458
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,800
Speaker 4: the bravest captains. And so in this last fight, when

459
00:27:40,840 --> 00:27:43,720
Speaker 4: all the others had been slain or fled, among the

460
00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:48,520
Speaker 4: last seven, there road Tomo. And she's the only woman.

461
00:27:48,359 --> 00:27:52,719
Speaker 3: Warrior to be described in any detail in any war account.

462
00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:57,560
Speaker 3: And so it's this, it's this detail and this focus.

463
00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:00,960
Speaker 4: On her and her accomplishments and her badass that makes

464
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,600
Speaker 4: people go, well, are.

465
00:28:03,560 --> 00:28:05,359
Speaker 3: We sure that she actually existed?

466
00:28:05,840 --> 00:28:08,200
Speaker 4: And even if she didn't, it's a great myth and

467
00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:09,959
Speaker 4: it's a great story. The same way that you might

468
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,760
Speaker 4: be inspired by the story of like Athena and think

469
00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:15,760
Speaker 4: Athena is a great character in history, I think Tomo

470
00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:16,200
Speaker 4: is too.

471
00:28:16,359 --> 00:28:17,280
Speaker 3: She's described as.

472
00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 4: Beautiful, fearless, and a masters swordsman and archer who led

473
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:24,520
Speaker 4: men into battle. And legend has it that she escaped

474
00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:27,520
Speaker 4: her enemies during a battle and gave up fighting to

475
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:33,760
Speaker 4: marry or become a concubine, whichever, and when her husband died,

476
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:35,919
Speaker 4: she ended up becoming a nun, and.

477
00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,720
Speaker 5: She's depicted a lot in art, right, A lot of

478
00:28:38,800 --> 00:28:44,800
Speaker 5: times those female warrior paintings or even embroidery that you

479
00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 5: might see could be depicting Tomo goes In, or they

480
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:53,120
Speaker 5: could be depicting Hongaku goes In also, who apparently rode

481
00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:56,240
Speaker 5: into battle when her clan rebelled against the shogunate or

482
00:28:56,440 --> 00:29:00,800
Speaker 5: the military leadership in eleven eighty nine. She ended up

483
00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:04,640
Speaker 5: getting wounded and captured, and an enemy soldier who wanted

484
00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:06,920
Speaker 5: her as a bride kept her from committing sepaku.

485
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,120
Speaker 3: However, other accounts do say she remained in the castle the.

486
00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:12,960
Speaker 4: Whole time until being felled by an arrow, and sepuku

487
00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:16,200
Speaker 4: would have been an honorable suicide, correct a Mundo?

488
00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:21,080
Speaker 5: Well, and then we have a third and is she

489
00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:24,280
Speaker 5: more verified historically verified and Twitter verified?

490
00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:24,600
Speaker 2: Yeah?

491
00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 3: Our next, our next three are Twitter verified.

492
00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:33,720
Speaker 5: So in fifteen seventy seven, Oweno Serahimi led a group

493
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:38,040
Speaker 5: of more than thirty women in a charge against besieging troops,

494
00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,760
Speaker 5: and when the samurai wouldn't engage and kill the women,

495
00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 5: the frustrated women warriors returned to the castle, and you

496
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 5: guessed it committed mass suicide well just imagine.

497
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:52,080
Speaker 3: Okay, So here are these women who are like, we're

498
00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:52,920
Speaker 3: going to do our duty.

499
00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:54,720
Speaker 4: We're going to do our honor. We're going to be

500
00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,920
Speaker 4: honorable women warriors, we are going to go to war

501
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,320
Speaker 4: with these men. And they go outside, and the guys

502
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:03,760
Speaker 4: were like, whoa, whoa. We might we might not understand

503
00:30:03,800 --> 00:30:06,120
Speaker 4: the concept of chivalry or practice it, but we're not

504
00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:08,440
Speaker 4: going to kill ladies. And the women are like, so.

505
00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,720
Speaker 3: Seriously, but I've got my armor, am i Naganada.

506
00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 5: Like, well, I wonder if they were like, we're not

507
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,400
Speaker 5: going to kill you, because we could just capture you

508
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,280
Speaker 5: and make you are concubines.

509
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:25,120
Speaker 4: True story probably accurate, and another figure who's often cited

510
00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:29,360
Speaker 4: is Nakano Takiko, who fought during the Botionan Civil War

511
00:30:29,520 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 4: from eighteen sixty eight to sixty nine.

512
00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:33,720
Speaker 3: During the Battle of Azu.

513
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:36,480
Speaker 4: She led other women warriors known as the Women's Army,

514
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:39,880
Speaker 4: and of course they weren't recognized as an official part

515
00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:43,400
Speaker 4: of the army, but they went up against the Imperial Army,

516
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,760
Speaker 4: who were horrified to see that they were facing women,

517
00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,760
Speaker 4: and so again similarly, they decided to stop fighting and

518
00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,240
Speaker 4: take the women alive, and of course women were like,

519
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 4: oh wait, so you guys you're not like fighting right now?

520
00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:58,000
Speaker 3: Oh well, we're just going to kill a.

521
00:30:58,000 --> 00:30:58,520
Speaker 4: Whole bunch of you.

522
00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:02,280
Speaker 5: Then and when she was shot in the chest, she

523
00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:07,560
Speaker 5: asked her sister to behead her so the enemy wouldn't again.

524
00:31:07,600 --> 00:31:09,720
Speaker 5: It's all about honor and death. It's like no, no, no,

525
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:12,480
Speaker 5: no one else is going to kill me. Yeah, I

526
00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:14,640
Speaker 5: will go down the way. It's like, you can't fire me.

527
00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 5: I quit.

528
00:31:16,960 --> 00:31:18,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so her sister did it.

529
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:22,680
Speaker 4: Which I also can't imagine. Her sister beheaded her and

530
00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:25,200
Speaker 4: then buried her head. And now there's like a there's

531
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:27,760
Speaker 4: a memorial statue that you can go visit.

532
00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:31,560
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, wasn't that the one where schoolgirls will.

533
00:31:31,400 --> 00:31:35,400
Speaker 5: Often go and visit this monument to her because she's

534
00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:36,400
Speaker 5: such a heroine.

535
00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:37,960
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's pretty neat.

536
00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:41,560
Speaker 5: Any Japanese listeners, if you've been there and have a photo,

537
00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:42,600
Speaker 5: please send it to us.

538
00:31:42,920 --> 00:31:45,200
Speaker 3: Yeah, or just any more details. We want to hear

539
00:31:45,280 --> 00:31:46,880
Speaker 3: details about all of this stuff.

540
00:31:47,400 --> 00:31:49,280
Speaker 4: And another woman we want to tell you about is

541
00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:53,120
Speaker 4: Yamamoto Yaeiko, who in eighteen sixty eight, during that same

542
00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:57,560
Speaker 4: Battle of Azu, replaced her gunnery instructor father who'd been

543
00:31:57,640 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 4: killed during the fighting, and using her repeating rifle, she

544
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,920
Speaker 4: fought alongside the men. And she's a really fascinating character,

545
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:07,560
Speaker 4: Like we could have done an entire episode just on

546
00:32:07,720 --> 00:32:10,040
Speaker 4: her alone. But she went on to teach at the

547
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:14,000
Speaker 4: Kyoto Women's School, where she met and married This guy

548
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:18,040
Speaker 4: sounds pretty awesome. He's a pro women's rights former samurai

549
00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 4: who had spent a lot of time in the US,

550
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:26,280
Speaker 4: and together as a pair, they founded the Doshisha University

551
00:32:26,320 --> 00:32:29,479
Speaker 4: in Kyoto. So after her husband died, she ends up

552
00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:33,560
Speaker 4: joining the Japanese Red Cross, leading a team of forty

553
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:36,960
Speaker 4: nurses during the war between China and Japan, and becomes

554
00:32:37,040 --> 00:32:39,960
Speaker 4: one of the first women in Japan to be decorated

555
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 4: for her service to the country. Wow.

556
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:45,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, she's an incredible figure, as are all

557
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:52,320
Speaker 3: of these women, even Tomo Goozen, who's potentially a mythological character.

558
00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:56,360
Speaker 4: Well. I love the story too of Yamamoto though, because.

559
00:32:56,520 --> 00:32:59,120
Speaker 5: She just keeps going and going and going, and it

560
00:32:59,240 --> 00:33:02,840
Speaker 5: at least is honored And I mean, I guess, I mean,

561
00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:08,680
Speaker 5: there's the monument to Nakano, but Yaomosho, you know, was

562
00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:11,880
Speaker 5: able to go and lead those those nurses during the

563
00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:12,480
Speaker 5: Sino Jezzy.

564
00:33:12,560 --> 00:33:13,840
Speaker 3: Yeah, she really didn't stop.

565
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:17,920
Speaker 4: She continued on with the attitude of having duty, of

566
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:23,320
Speaker 4: having honor, wanting to serve others, serve her country, and

567
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:27,720
Speaker 4: leading other women as she did it. And so while

568
00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:31,200
Speaker 4: there's not a ton of unfortunately, while there's not a

569
00:33:31,320 --> 00:33:36,880
Speaker 4: ton of hard evidence out there about warrior women in Japan,

570
00:33:37,080 --> 00:33:40,280
Speaker 4: and even though a bunch of sources do contradict each other,

571
00:33:41,480 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 4: I think it is interesting just to look at how

572
00:33:44,520 --> 00:33:47,920
Speaker 4: culture shaped not only views of women, but what they

573
00:33:47,960 --> 00:33:50,480
Speaker 4: were even allowed to do, and that even if a

574
00:33:50,560 --> 00:33:54,040
Speaker 4: woman could not be a samurai because a samurai is

575
00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:58,440
Speaker 4: a is a dude soldier, she could still pursue that

576
00:33:58,600 --> 00:34:01,480
Speaker 4: duty and honor in her own way as part of

577
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:02,720
Speaker 4: the samurai.

578
00:34:02,360 --> 00:34:08,360
Speaker 5: Class well, and their biography is just exemplify that cultural

579
00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:10,920
Speaker 5: loyalty that was so instilled.

580
00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:12,399
Speaker 4: Through so many generations too.

581
00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:13,279
Speaker 5: Well.

582
00:34:13,360 --> 00:34:16,200
Speaker 4: So I'm definitely interested in hearing from listeners. I know

583
00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:19,080
Speaker 4: we have a bunch of history buffs, and specifically some

584
00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:21,920
Speaker 4: Japanese history buffs out there. I know we had a

585
00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:26,880
Speaker 4: lot of comments on the Tumblr post about the Onu Bugisha,

586
00:34:27,480 --> 00:34:29,719
Speaker 4: and so I mean, if you have any stories, have

587
00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:33,560
Speaker 4: you done any research. Have you in fact trained in

588
00:34:33,640 --> 00:34:36,320
Speaker 4: any martial arts? Do you own a Naga Nata and

589
00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:36,800
Speaker 4: use it?

590
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:40,040
Speaker 5: Mom Stuff at house stuffworks dot Com is our email address.

591
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:43,520
Speaker 5: You can also tweet us at mom Stuff podcast, our

592
00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:46,680
Speaker 5: messages on Facebook, and we've got a couple of messages.

593
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 4: To share with you right now.

594
00:34:53,760 --> 00:34:56,000
Speaker 3: Well, I have a couple of letters here about our

595
00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:56,960
Speaker 3: waste training episode.

596
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:00,759
Speaker 4: This is from Megan. She says mentioned at one point

597
00:35:00,840 --> 00:35:03,600
Speaker 4: that Jessica Alba started wearing a waist trainer after having

598
00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:06,600
Speaker 4: a baby helped her uterus go back to its previous size.

599
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:09,520
Speaker 4: While I agree that waiste trainers are dangerous and it's

600
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,359
Speaker 4: unlikely that her waiste trainer really had this effect because

601
00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:14,960
Speaker 4: it doesn't really go down far enough to fully support

602
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,520
Speaker 4: the uterus, there is a history of using belly banding

603
00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:21,360
Speaker 4: of some sort to support the uterus postpartum and assisting

604
00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:24,080
Speaker 4: it in returning to its pre baby shape, to support

605
00:35:24,120 --> 00:35:26,880
Speaker 4: the back during pregnancy, and to assist patients with uterine

606
00:35:26,920 --> 00:35:30,600
Speaker 4: prolapse support the muscles of the uterus. As a midwife

607
00:35:30,600 --> 00:35:32,960
Speaker 4: and training, this is something that's of great interest to me,

608
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:37,399
Speaker 4: and so Megan recommends looking up information about the use

609
00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,360
Speaker 4: of fajas in Guatemala, which she says is a traditional

610
00:35:40,560 --> 00:35:42,919
Speaker 4: Mayan belly banding device for pregnant women.

611
00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:44,120
Speaker 3: She says these.

612
00:35:44,000 --> 00:35:46,160
Speaker 4: Should definitely be used with caution, as if they are

613
00:35:46,239 --> 00:35:49,000
Speaker 4: tied too tightly there can be side effects, but they

614
00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:51,680
Speaker 4: have been anecdotally found helpful by women who use them

615
00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 4: in South America.

616
00:35:53,080 --> 00:35:54,720
Speaker 3: Just another thought on the subject.

617
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:55,720
Speaker 4: So thanks, Megan.

618
00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:59,279
Speaker 5: I've got a letter here from Susan also about our

619
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:01,320
Speaker 5: waite training at them. And let me just tell you

620
00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:03,600
Speaker 5: how many letters we've gotten.

621
00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:04,280
Speaker 4: About this episode.

622
00:36:04,320 --> 00:36:06,800
Speaker 3: I love it, so, she writes.

623
00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:12,200
Speaker 5: Several years ago, I was getting fitted for bridesmaids dresses

624
00:36:12,280 --> 00:36:14,680
Speaker 5: and at the time I was the heaviest i'd been,

625
00:36:14,840 --> 00:36:17,360
Speaker 5: so I was already a little apprehensive of getting fitted

626
00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,080
Speaker 5: when I went in. The first thing the sales that

627
00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:22,480
Speaker 5: he said to me was, well, I can tell from

628
00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:25,160
Speaker 5: your bust you're going to need a much bigger size.

629
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:26,080
Speaker 4: Lovely.

630
00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,680
Speaker 5: Anyway, as I was trying the sample size on and

631
00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:32,240
Speaker 5: she measured me, she suggested that I think about losing

632
00:36:32,320 --> 00:36:36,040
Speaker 5: weight before the wedding. She kindly reminded me that there

633
00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:37,840
Speaker 5: was plenty of time before the wedding to lose a

634
00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:38,440
Speaker 5: few pounds.

635
00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:41,160
Speaker 3: And maybe I should think about wearing a corset.

636
00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:43,560
Speaker 5: She went on and on about how it will make

637
00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,360
Speaker 5: me look so much slimmer and leaner and give me

638
00:36:46,440 --> 00:36:50,280
Speaker 5: a much better all around look. Feeling completely exposed, offended,

639
00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,400
Speaker 5: and embarrassed, I just kept saying things like, uh, yeah, great.

640
00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:53,840
Speaker 4: Thanks.

641
00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:56,440
Speaker 5: After she was done explaining all the benefits of a

642
00:36:56,520 --> 00:36:58,560
Speaker 5: corset on the day of the event, she suggested I

643
00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:00,600
Speaker 5: start wearing one now well to.

644
00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:02,439
Speaker 3: Get used to it and to help me lose weight.

645
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:03,320
Speaker 4: Again.

646
00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:06,680
Speaker 5: I said, oh, great, thanks, to which she followed up with, well,

647
00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:10,759
Speaker 5: if you can't breathe, you can't eat. I was horrified.

648
00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:14,359
Speaker 5: I quickly dressed, paid for my overpriced address, and ran

649
00:37:14,440 --> 00:37:16,760
Speaker 5: out of there as fast as I could. I promised

650
00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:19,600
Speaker 5: I would never subject my bridesmaids to that kind of

651
00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:22,799
Speaker 5: behavior or service if I ever got married. I laugh

652
00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:26,120
Speaker 5: about it today because it's just so ridiculous that anyone

653
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:29,040
Speaker 5: would say that in twenty twelve when this happened, But

654
00:37:29,160 --> 00:37:33,440
Speaker 5: it was incredibly embarrassing and terribly offensive. Thanks so much

655
00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:36,280
Speaker 5: for putting out such a great podcast with such great topics.

656
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:38,680
Speaker 5: I recommend it to so many people I know, women

657
00:37:39,080 --> 00:37:44,080
Speaker 5: and men, so thank you so much. Susan and oh

658
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Speaker 5: boy to that saleswoman. If you're listening, please never do

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00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:52,120
Speaker 5: that to a human body again, so we will now

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00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:53,480
Speaker 5: want to hear your stories. Mom.

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Speaker 4: Stuff at houseof works dot com is our email.

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Speaker 5: Address and for links to all of our social media

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00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:00,000
Speaker 5: as well as all of our blogs, videos, and podcast

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00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:02,640
Speaker 5: pass with this one, including our sources. So you can

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00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:07,319
Speaker 5: learn more firsthand about the warrior women of Japan. Head

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00:38:07,360 --> 00:38:09,680
Speaker 5: on over to stuff Mom Never told.

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Speaker 4: You dot com. But more on this and thousands of

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Speaker 4: other topics does it, How stuffworks dot com