Florida State University Libraries 2017 Women Warriors: Defending Aizu During the Boshin War (1868-1869) Erin Trumble Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact
[email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES WOMEN WARRIORS: DEFENDING AIZU DURING THE BOSHIN WAR (1868-1869) By ERIN TRUMBLE A Thesis submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with Honors in the Major Degree Awarded: Summer 2017 The members of the Defense Committee approve the thesis of Erin Trumble defended on April 10 2017. 2 Contents Preface……………………………………………………………………………………………..4 Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..7 Chapter 1: Women in Samurai Culture and the Weapons of Female Warriors………………….12 Chapter 2: Background of the Boshin War and Meiji Restoration………………………………27 Chapter 3: Siege of Tsurugaj Castle and the Women Warriors, Nakano Takeko and Yamamoto Yaeko…………………………………………………………………………………………….43 Chapter 4: Women in Media and the Modern View of Female Warriors……………………….61 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….78 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………..80 3 Preface In the summer between my sophomore and junior years at college, I decided, somewhat arbitrarily, that I wanted to study Japanese history. I felt that my high school education regarding Japanese history had not been enough, and I wanted to know more, particularly because Japanese history and culture was so much different from the western cultures that were the focus of my high school history classes. My initial foray into Japanese history was anything but scholarly; I looked at various websites claiming they told the entire “history of Japan.” Naturally, these websites were extremely superficial and displayed little understanding of Japanese culture and the intricacies of events.