Asia
-
Onna-bugeisha – the female samurai
Some of the most mighty and fearsome Japanese warriors were the Onna-bugeisha. Their family backgrounds differ from noblewomen to peasant farmers. They were members of the bushi (samurai) class in feudal Japan and were trained in the use of weapons to protect their household, family, and honor in times of war. An eight century span produced some of the most famous female warriors, Tomoe Gozen, Nakano Takeko, and Hōjō Masako, just to name a few. The naginata was their signature weapon of choice. Around the 12th century Japanese women were responsible for raising their children with the proper samurai upbringing, they were also allowed rights to inheritance and to bequeath…
-
Pearl Harbour…. Welcome to the War, America!
On 7th December 1941, at shortly before 8am, Japan launched an attack on the US Naval fleet based at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. America at that point were maintaining their stance of neutrality, however due to interests of USA, Britain and the Netherlands specifically, in Southeast Asia, Japan had decided that interference from those countries was a high risk at odds with their own aims in the area, specifically their recent invasions of Manchuria in 1931 and China in 1937. Japan had her sights set on further expansion into Malaya and the Dutch controlled area of the East Indies in the hopes of exploiting the natural resources there, particularly rubber and…
-
Empress Theodora- Purple is the Noblest Winding Sheet
Born the daughter of a bearkeeper and an acrobat, the prospects for the new baby girl born in the vast city of Constantinople were not that great. Likely she would become a performer like her parents, and if she was lucky the mistress of a wealthy man who would take care of her. At that time an actress was little more than a courtesan and debarred from polite society. If she was unlucky, she would die in poverty like so many others. However, fate had more in store for the young girl her parents named Theodora. It would take her to the highest places in the world, far beyond anyone’s…
-
Prostitution: the world’s oldest profession?
Many people have heard prostitution being referred to as the oldest profession in the world and it may well be one of them. It was first referred to as such by author Rudyard Kipling in back in 1888, however, the trade of money or goods in exchange for sex goes back way before then. The earliest mention of prostitution occurs in records dating back to 2400 BCE. Karkid, the Sumerian word for female prostitute appears in lists of professions from that period. The ancient Mesopotamian religious practices seem to have effectively given birth to the sex trade. The Sumerians worshipped Ishtar, the goddess of love, fertility, and war, born anew…
-
Man’s Best Friend
“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.” – Unknown A dog’s loyalty to his owner was proven through the sad tale of Hachiko. Around 1924, Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo, took Hachiko, a golden brown Akita, as a pet. Throughout his owner’s life, Hachiko would accompany him to the nearby Shibuya Station and would patiently wait to greet him at the end of each day at…
