| During the fifth and sixth centuries, Zen Buddhist | | | | These women, armed with naginatas, fought against |
| monks and nuns brought from India to China yoga | | | | Japanese government troops. Unfortunately, their |
| and Indian fist-fighting techniques similar to modern | | | | skills were no match against the guns carried by their |
| karate. These fighting techniques came in handy in | | | | opponents. |
| war-torn China. Indeed, learning to fight was as | | | | If you were lucky enough to be a female born into a |
| common as learning to cook or pour tea. Survival for | | | | ninja family, chances are you would be taught, along |
| men, women, and even children hinged on their ability | | | | with your brother if you had one, starting at the age |
| to protect themselves. Those who excelled became | | | | of five or six, to be a superior athlete. By the age of |
| notable warriors. | | | | twelve or thirteen, you might move on to weapons |
| Thirteen-year-old Shuen Guan is a perfect example. | | | | training. |
| Her ability to fight with swords, spears, and even her | | | | Ninja were latter-day James Bonds: super-agents who |
| bare hands earned her the nickname "Little Tigress." | | | | were not only superior fighters, but masters at |
| According to one legend, she saved her town from | | | | disguise. Men often dressed as women, and vice |
| an attack by bandits by fighting her way through the | | | | versa. |
| attackers and returning with a neighboring general | | | | In the mid- to late 1800s, as there became less of a |
| and his troops. Her heroic deeds were eventually | | | | need for samurai, women's influence in the martial |
| honored by the emperor of China. | | | | arts declined. Unless women came from a military |
| But not everyone could be as multi-talented as Shuen | | | | family, it was considered scandalous for them to train |
| Guan. Specialization had a definite place in war-torn | | | | alongside men in martial arts schools. If any training |
| China. After learning a basic fighting skill, the tendency | | | | went on, it was done in private. |
| was to add moves and techniques to suit a particular | | | | Scandalous or not, many women wanted to practice |
| ability or body type. For one woman named Ng Mui | | | | a martial art, and did. In 1893, Sueko Ashiya became |
| that meant redirecting her punches from the | | | | the first women student of Jigoro Kano, who |
| midsection of an attacker to the head, and throwing | | | | founded judo in Japan. Soon after he took on Ashiya, |
| kicks to the lower legs. | | | | Kano began teaching his wife, daughter, and their |
| Specialization enabled people to become masters of | | | | female friends. |
| their own styles. Mui was so proficient at her style | | | | In the mid-1920s, Kano opened a women's section of |
| that to prove its effectiveness, she demonstrated | | | | his school so his female students could train in a |
| her moves on martial arts masters themselves, who | | | | proper environment. Though a major breakthrough |
| quickly came to realize that her methods would work | | | | that guaranteed many women the opportunity to |
| as well for them as they did for her. | | | | train, Japanese women today still train only in the |
| That Mui was a woman is impressive enough. But | | | | women's section, and except for special situations |
| what makes her extraordinary to martial arts | | | | are not allowed to train with men. |
| students who practice her style today is the fact | | | | But don't think that old habits die hard only in the |
| mat she was a Buddhist nun! She came from a | | | | Orient. Up until about 1976, the belts worn by female |
| Shaolin monastery in southern China during the Ching | | | | judo martial artists had to have a white stripe running |
| Dynasty. | | | | down the middle if the women wanted to compete |
| One of Ng Mui's students, Yim Wing Chun, carried on | | | | in national competitions. The ruling was changed, |
| this style after Mui's death. Eventually, this system | | | | however, thanks to a few determined women who |
| became known as Wing Chun kung fu. | | | | demonstrated their disapproval of the rule by fighting |
| Interestingly, though developed for a woman, Wing | | | | in competitions wearing only white belts, refusing to |
| Chun kung fu became the style of choice among | | | | wear a colored belt with a stripe in it. |
| many men. In fact, this style of kung fu grew | | | | Consider another rule that prevented women from |
| stronger in popularity as the centuries rolled by, and | | | | achieving the same rank as men. Kano's original school |
| became the preferred style of the late martial | | | | prohibited black belt women from being promoted |
| artist-turned-actor Bruce Lee, who introduced and | | | | higher than fifth dan, while men could go as high as |
| popularized this style in the West in the 1960s and | | | | twelfth dan. In 1972 the school received letters from |
| 70s. For those too young to remember, visit any | | | | women all over the world protesting this rule and |
| video store where you'll find a wide selection of | | | | asking the school to promote one of its leading |
| Bruce Lee movies. Though as grade B as a movie | | | | female students, Keiko Fukuda, who had received |
| can get, they're worthwhile watching just to observe | | | | her fifth-degree black belt in 1953. The letter-writing |
| Lee's extraordinary athletic abilities. | | | | campaign worked, and Fukuda became the first |
| Judo, too, has some distinctly female roots. While | | | | woman sixth dan in the world-almost twenty years |
| kung fu grew out of China, judo has its roots in the | | | | after becoming a. fifth dan. |
| fighting systems of feudal Japan, which from the | | | | Karate also never traditionally distinguished between |
| tenth to the eighteenth centuries found itself awash | | | | male and female. Karate originated in Okinawa as a |
| in samurais-highly skilled fighters who, often on | | | | defense against Japanese invaders who stripped the |
| horseback, battled with bows and arrows, swords, | | | | natives of their weapons. In addition to using their |
| and spears. | | | | hands and feet, Okinawans utilized farm tools to |
| In the early part of this period, samurai women | | | | attack their oppressors. Women and men would |
| shared the battlefield with men-and occasionally | | | | practice their skills alone in the forests or fields using |
| commanded them. These martial matriarchs were | | | | sickles or bamboo polls. Eventually, even a |
| often trained in the use of weapons, especially | | | | harmless-looking farm woman reaping her crops |
| spears and small daggers. | | | | became a force to contend with. |
| One of the favored weapons among samurai on | | | | Sport karate became increasingly popular and |
| horseback was the naginata, a long pole, from five to | | | | widespread in the 1940s. While competition was |
| nine feet, with a sword at the end. Occasionally called | | | | originally limited primarily to men, women now |
| "the woman's spear," the naginata was the weapon | | | | compete in both sparring and kata tournaments. |
| of choice for Itagaki, a female general in charge of | | | | There are even some mixed forms competitions, and |
| three-thousand warriors in 1199. Her expertise and | | | | occasionally mixed sparring between men and |
| courage supposedly inspired her troops and shamed | | | | women. |
| the enemy. | | | | Today, notable female martial artists can be found in |
| Another famous woman warrior of the same period | | | | every style of martial art-from kick boxer Kathy |
| was Tomoe. The name means "circular" or "turning," | | | | Long to karate champion Cynthia Rothrock. These |
| and was probably given to her because of her | | | | women, and others like them, are the modern-day |
| mastery of the naginata, which is used by making | | | | equivalents of the women warriors of centuries ago. |
| circular movements. | | | | Their determination to carve a niche for themselves |
| Woman warriors continued to fight up until one of | | | | in this sport is a shining example to every female |
| the last civil wars in Japan. In 1877, a battle was | | | | martial artist. |
| fought with a group of 500 women in its ranks. | | | | |