A large number of women warriors throughout Japan's history upend the popular notion that all samurai were men.
Known as Onna-Bugeisha, these females who fought beside and against male samurais are an important part of Japan's military history. To protect their homes and villages as well as assist in larger defensive campaigns against rival clans, they received an extensive amount of training. Unlike their Y-chromosome peers, they preferred a long pole with a blade on the end called a naginata which counterbalanced their smaller stature. They were also experts at ranged weapons such as bows and the traditional martial art Tantōjutsu. Throughout history, numerous Onna Bugeisha gained significant fame for their battlefield successes, including Empress Jingu who lead a conquest of modern-day Korea, riding into battle while pregnant; Tomoe Gozen whose 12th-century exploits included taking 300 samurais into battle against a force of 2,000 and being considered the nation's first true general.

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Learn more about Onna Bugeisha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onna-bugeisha

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