PDF EPUB} Scorpion (Warrior Woman of the Samurai #6) by India Millar Scorpion

Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Scorpion (Warrior Woman of the Samurai #6) by India Millar Scorpion. It is said that the gods become offended when mere humans try to usurp their supremacy in directing earthly affairs. Keiko learns this in a way that leaves her with nothing but crushing grief. To catch a traitor, Keiko must lower herself to serve the man who betrayed her, forced to become his slave. When she loses the thing that has come to mean more to her than anything else in the world, she does not know if she can–or should–continue fighting. If life is only suffering, she would rather die an honorable death. She is alone, abandoned by the world, and it is only by the strangest twist of fate that a figure from her past returns and promises to help her turn disaster into triumph. Scorpion (Warrior Woman of the Samurai #6) by India Millar. Though Samurai women received martial arts training, they rarely fought in battle. With their husbands in combat almost continuously, 16th century samurai women provided for the defense of their homes and children. Their wartime roles included washing and preparing the decapitated bloody heads of the enemy, which were presented to the victorious generals. Like their samurai husbands, personal honor was paramount for samurai women. They carried small daggers and were always prepared to die to maintain their honor and family name. After Tokugawa Ieyasu unified Japan, the role of women changed. Their samurai husbands, no longer fighting wars, had become bureaucrats. Women were now encouraged to supervise their children's education and manage the home. Travel was highly restricted for samurai women during the years of the Tokugawa Shogunate. Forbidden from traveling alone, they were required to carry travel permits, and were usually accompanied by a man. Samurai women often were harassed by the authorities when passing through the government inspection posts. IMAGE CREDITS Top: Samurai woman/Tsubouchi Memorial Theater Museum Left: Samurai woman/Tokaido Hiroshige Museum. On the Tokaido Road View scenes from the Tokaido Road. HAIR AND WARDROBE In the highly regulated society of the Tokugawa Shogunate, samurai women were allowed to wear silk kimonos. Unmarried women and young girls wore long-sleeved kimonos called "furisode." Married women blackened their teeth and wore the regular sleeve length (thus easily identifying their marital status). Before the Tokugawa era, the majority of women wore their hair long and straight. In the Edo period, women experimented with more elaborate hairstyles; the most popular emphasized a rounded curve of hair on the back of the head. Scorpion (Warrior Woman of the Samurai #6) by India Millar. A number of legends of female samurai warriors exist in the history of Japanese armour. While much literature describes these female warriors who donned armour and fought on the battlefield, there are very few extant examples. In the late Muromachi period, do-maru and haramaki armours with large breast plates and small waists began to appear. These types were probably made for men of small stature and were shared by both men and women. These types were called hime yoroi (princess armour) in the later period. The social restrictions of the samurai class would have greatly limited a woman's freedom, thus it must have been extremely rare to produce female armour. The Oomishima shrine in Japan contains a do- maru yoroi armour as an Important Cultural Property as it is believed to be the only existing female do-maru armour in Japan. The shrine's tradition claims that this do-maru armour was worn by Princess Tsuru in the battle of Oomishima in the tenth year of Tenmon (1541). Compared to a haramaki armour which opens traditionally from the back with a seita (back plate) which covers the open area, this armour has a seita on the front. This armour is consequently called a semaki armour. The semaki armour should therefore be considered an extremely rare discovery of an unusual female armour. The following are studies of the armour's exceptional characteristics: Firstly, the size of the head-protecting section of the helmet is remarkable. Compared to the size of the do, it is substantially bigger and shallower. This enlargement of the helmet size can be attributed to the fact that female warriors had more hair than their male counterparts. The crown area of the helmet utilises the style of the Kamakura period which allowed space for male warriors to place their mage (topknots). In addition, unlike a haramaki armour which normally requires assistance to be put on, this armour can be worn without help from the back, similar to a kimono. To spare women from immodest embarrassment and taking into consideration the importance of ease in wearing, this design must have been invented. The breast plate can be easily adjusted and the design allows female warriors to remove it when necessary in order to take rest from the battlefield. Thirdly, the reverse of the do - composed of small plates - is covered with deerskin, not only to beautify every aspect of the armour but also to allow for a silk kimono to remain undamaged when worn underneath. Behind this extraordinary finishing of the do reverse there must have been the intention of presenting a female warrior as both a noblewoman who could wear a valuable kimono as well as adding grace to her death when her armour was removed. The red menpo adds a heroic and determined character to the armour with the elegant shortened moustache. The contrasting colour of the armour and the mask is rather feminine. The kote (arm guard) also exhibits a female characteristic. Generally, a kote has a cover on all five fingers. However, the kote of this armour has no cover on its thumbs. As women generally have a weaker grip, this cover-less design enables female warriors to take a firm grip of their swords. This delicate design is particular to women. The neck plates and sleeves also represent a Japanese view of women. Japanese tradition defines the ideal for women as 'not stretching out nor going forward'. Men's behaviour is based on the reverse idea of stretching oneself out to be seen as large as possible. For example, when women sit formally, their knees have to be placed together while seated. Contrarily, men have to extend their knees in order to exhibit their manhood. In keeping with these Japanese customs, the neck plates of this armour are called sudare (curtain) shikoro and the sleeves sudare sode. The reference above explains the reason why this armour has long sleeves. Lastly, the maedate has a bon-ji and half moon in gold which symbolises Daikokuten as the wearer's guardian deity. Daikokuten is known as a Goddess of Battle and War in Buddhism, while in Japan since the Heian Period she has been considered a deity of the household. A household deity seems to be appropriate for a female warrior. Daikokuten in Japan is also associated with wealth and prosperity. This large maedate conceals the size of the helmet and exhibits the wearer's pride and self-awareness as a female warrior. Kenuichio Harada Silver Samurai. The acclaimed screenwriter teams up with artist Jorge Fornés for January's 'Wolverine: Black, White, & Blood' #3! Biography. Biography. Keniuchio Harada is the mutant son of the former Japanese crimelord Shingen Harada. As a youth, Harada mastered the attendant disciplines of the medieval samurai and sought employment as a warrior for hire. He first worked for the criminal Mandrill and clashed with the blind hero Daredevil. Harada then served the Viper, an agent of the terrorist organization Hydra, as her bodyguard. In that capacity, Harada battled opponents such as the costumed crimefighter Spider-Man, the martial arts master Shang-Chi, and the team of mutant trainee heroes the New Mutants. Following his father’s death, Harada sought the leadership of Shingen’s Clan Yashida from his half-sister Mariko Yashida, but was opposed by the ronin Yukio and Mariko’s lover, the mutant adventurer Wolverine. Later, Harada worked with Wolverine to free American private investigator Jessica Drew from the influence of Black Blade of Muramasa, a sword mystically imbued with its creator’s madness. Wolverine himself fell under the sword’s spell, but managed to overcome his possession after which Harada took up the sword, finding himself worthy of its power. After Mariko’s death, Harada claimed leadership of Clan Yashida and was briefly employed by the Japanese government as leader of their fledgling super-team Big Hero 6. Ultimately, his inability to lead Clan Yashida allowed the Mongolian crimelord Haan Kaishek to take control, and he allied with Wolverine to defeat the Kaishek’s. However, the disgrace of losing leadership was too great for Harada, and he returned to his mercenary ways. Eventually falling into the service of Hydra once more, Harada was dispatched to battle the female ninja Elektra and was seemingly killed. Revealed to have survived, the Silver Samurai resumed his criminal career following an encounter with the mutant Blindspot. Allied with known terrorist Lady Deathstrike, Harada attempted to establish himself as the "Silver Shogun," leader of the Yakuza. He was also briefly a prisoner in The Raft as part of a super-villain stockpiling conspiracy, but he escaped and returned to Japan. Harada subsequently became a member of the Japanese Prime Minister's security cadre. During the course of his duties, Harada faced Wolverine, who cut off his hand in search of information on the Muramasa Blade. Black Scorpion. The City of Angels is falling apart, and crime pervades the city to the core. The mayor is corrupt, the police are inept, the city needs a figure to take control of the situation.

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