Rare and Surprising Photographs of the True Last Samurai

Samurai were the military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan.

Samurai is a masculine term, but in the Japanese Bushi class – the social class Samurai came from – many women also received training in martial arts and strategy. These women were known as Onna-Bugeisha. When the remains from the site of The Battle of Senbon Matsubara in 1580 were DNA-tested, 35 out of 105 bodies were found to be female.

Samurai were also very open-minded when it came to sexual relationships. Same-sex relationships were encouraged. The practice was known as wakashudo.

The Samurai were far more educated than most warriors of their time. Samurai literacy rates were extremely high.