1)not a female samurai, its literally 1880 cosplay attempting to portray a historical bugeisha (Nakano Takeko)
2)photograph is post meiji restoration, meaning samurai are gone
3)while bugeisha did exist, they were very, very rare. Being a woman in pre meiji Japan came with role allocations. Too many times history revisionists get their wires crossed because they are so desperate to show "yes, women could fight too" without realizing samurai were more about positions of feudal warlords and retainers for the shogunate than "guaranteed warrior badass". And as another poster stated, it was 100% a masculine term. There were no "female samurai". Yes, there were women allowed to study archery or the naginata to defend their livelihoods, but seldom received the authority of their samurai counterparts. It is also telling we can only find five or six examples of historical bugeisha, many borderline on the mulan propaganda level – "see what this woman did for her country, but don’t think to emulate her because we don’t allow women on our infantry".
![Female Samurai, Early 1800s, Japan [1024x1600]](https://i.redd.it/acs0kp9mt2y51.jpg)
severance26
Just a tiny note- samurai is sadly a masculine term. But there were female warriors throughout Japanese history.
SlavKing1986
Also i believe it’s impossible for photography to have reached japan before the 1840ies, so the dating must be incorrect as well.
DancewithRance
1)not a female samurai, its literally 1880 cosplay attempting to portray a historical bugeisha (Nakano Takeko)
2)photograph is post meiji restoration, meaning samurai are gone
3)while bugeisha did exist, they were very, very rare. Being a woman in pre meiji Japan came with role allocations. Too many times history revisionists get their wires crossed because they are so desperate to show "yes, women could fight too" without realizing samurai were more about positions of feudal warlords and retainers for the shogunate than "guaranteed warrior badass". And as another poster stated, it was 100% a masculine term. There were no "female samurai". Yes, there were women allowed to study archery or the naginata to defend their livelihoods, but seldom received the authority of their samurai counterparts. It is also telling we can only find five or six examples of historical bugeisha, many borderline on the mulan propaganda level – "see what this woman did for her country, but don’t think to emulate her because we don’t allow women on our infantry".