During the fifth and sixth centuries, Zen Buddhist monks and nuns brought yoga and Indian fist-fighting techniques similar to modern karate from India to China. These fighting techniques proved useful in war-torn China. In fact, learning to fight was as common as learning to cook or drink tea. The survival of men, women and even children depended on their ability to protect themselves. Those who excelled became notable warriors.

Thirteen-year-old Shuen Guan is a perfect example. Her ability to fight with swords, spears and even her own hands earned her the nickname “Little Tigress”. According to a legend, she saved her city from a bandit attack by fighting her way through the attackers and returning to a neighboring general and his troops. Her heroic deeds were finally honored by the Emperor of China.

But not everyone can have as many talents as Shuen Guan. Specialization had a definite place in war-torn China. After learning a basic fighting skill, the tendency was to add moves and techniques to suit a particular skill or body type. For a woman named Ng Mui, that meant redirecting her blows from an attacker’s midsection to the head and kicking her lower legs.

Specialization allowed people to become masters of their own styles. Mui was so proficient in her style that, to demonstrate her effectiveness, she demonstrated her moves to the martial arts masters themselves, who quickly realized that her methods would work for them as well as her.

That Mui was a woman is quite impressive. But what makes her extraordinary for martial arts students practicing her style today is the fact that she was a Buddhist nun! She came from a Shaolin monastery in southern China during the Ching dynasty.

One of Ng Mui’s students, Yim Wing Chun, continued this style after Mui’s death. Over time this system became known as Wing Chun kung fu.

Interestingly, although developed for a woman, Wing Chun kung fu became the style of choice for many men. In fact, this style of kung fu grew in popularity over the centuries and became the preferred style of the late martial artist turned actor Bruce Lee, who introduced and popularized this style in the West in the 1960s and 1970s. For those too young to remember, visit any video store where you’ll find a wide selection of Bruce Lee movies. Even though a movie might get a B rating, it’s worth watching just to watch Lee’s extraordinary athletic abilities.

Judo also has some distinctly female roots. While kung fu emerged from China, judo has its roots in the fighting systems of feudal Japan, which from the 10th to the 18th century found itself awash with samurai, highly skilled fighters who, often on horseback, fought with swords. bows and arrows, swords and swords. and spears.

In the early part of this period, samurai women shared the battlefield with the men and occasionally commanded them. These martial matriarchs were often trained in the use of weapons, especially spears and small daggers.

One of the favorite weapons among mounted samurai was the naginata, a long pole, five to nine feet long, with a sword at the end. Occasionally called “the woman’s spear,” the naginata was the weapon of choice for Itagaki, a general in charge of three thousand warriors in 1199. Her experience and courage supposedly inspired her troops and put the enemy to shame.

Another famous female warrior from the same era was Tomoe. Her name means “circular” or “twist”, and was probably given to her because of her mastery of the naginata, which is used to make circular movements.

Warrior women continued to fight until one of the last civil wars in Japan. In 1877 a battle was fought with a group of 500 women in their ranks. These women, armed with naginatas, fought against Japanese government troops. Unfortunately, his skills were no match for the weapons his opponents wielded.

If you were lucky enough to be a female born into a ninja family, you would most likely be taught, along with your brother if you had one, from the age of five or six, to be a superior athlete. At the age of twelve or thirteen, you could move on to weapons training.

Ninjas were the ultimate James Bond: super agents who were not just superior fighters, but masters of disguise. Men often dressed as women and vice versa.

In the mid to late 19th century, as the need for samurai diminished, the influence of women in the martial arts declined. Unless women came from a military family, it was considered scandalous for them to train alongside men in martial arts schools. If there was any training, it was done in private.

Scandalous or not, many women wanted to practice a martial art, and they did. In 1893, Sueko Ashiya became the first student of Jigoro Kano, who founded judo in Japan. Shortly after confronting Ashiya, Kano began teaching his wife, daughter, and friends.

In the mid-1920s, Kano opened a women’s section at her school so that her female students could train in a suitable environment. Although it was a breakthrough that guaranteed many women the opportunity to train, Japanese women today still train only in the women’s section and, except in special situations, are not allowed to train with men.

But don’t think that old habits die hard only in the East. Until around 1976, the belts worn by women practicing martial judo had to have a white stripe down the middle if the women wanted to compete in national competitions. However, the ruling was reversed thanks to a few determined women who demonstrated their disapproval of the rule by fighting in competition wearing only white belts, refusing to wear a colored belt with a stripe.

Consider another rule that prevented women from reaching the same rank as men. The original Kano school prohibited female black belts from being promoted above 5th dan, while men could go as high as 12th dan. In 1972, the school received letters from women around the world protesting this rule and asking the school to promote one of its leading female students, Keiko Fukuda, who had received her fifth degree black belt in 1953. letter writing worked, and Fukuda became the world’s first female sixth dan, nearly twenty years after becoming a. fifth dan

Karate also never traditionally distinguished between male and female. Karate originated in Okinawa as a defense against Japanese invaders who stripped the natives of their weapons. In addition to using their hands and feet, the Okinawans used agricultural tools to attack their oppressors. Women and men practiced their skills alone in the woods or fields using sickles or bamboo poles. Over time, even an inoffensive-looking farm girl reaping her crops became a force to be reckoned with.

Sport karate became increasingly popular and widespread in the 1940s. While competition was originally limited primarily to men, women now compete in both combat and kata tournaments. There are even some mixed form competitions and occasionally mixed matches between men and women.

Today, notable female martial artists can be found in all styles of martial arts, from boxer Kathy Long to champion karate champion Cynthia Rothrock. These women, and others like them, are the modern equivalents of the warrior women of centuries ago. Her determination to break into the sport is a shining example for all female martial artists.