A rare vintage photograph of an onna-bugeisha, one of the female warriors of the upper social classes in feudal Japan.
Often mistakenly referred to as “female samurai”, female warriors have a long history in Japan, beginning long before samurai emerged as a warrior class.
Photo trail . . .facebook page to websites all over the internet.
I stumbled across this photo on Sunday afternoon, and it just made me want to pick up a pen, or my keyboard, and start writing. No, I don't have time to pursue a full length story, but I do have time to play a little with my writing for at least ten minutes when inspiration strikes.
Fun Stuff
There are so many awesome blog fests and book releases that it's hard to keep track of them all, but here's a few:
The Back from the Future Blogfest hosted by the amazing MPax with the lovely Suze of Subliminal Coffee, and Nicki Elson, for the Back from the Future Blogfest. Friday, March 1st! Check out the link for all the cool details.
Re-Introduce Myself Blogfest January 28th: (Brought to you by Mark Koopmans, Elise Fallson, and C.M. Brown, and Stephen Tremp).
The A to Z Challenge is coming soon. Are you ready?
And a couple of ongoing offerings:
The Knights of MicroFiction is a bloghop hosted by Kathy Mckendry and Jess on the 15th of
every month (except April, becasue the A-Z Challenge makes things crazy!). 
The Progressive Book Club, hosted by M.L. Swift on the third Wednesday of each month.
Celebrate the Small Things by Viklit every Friday. I'm looking forward to writing and reading these posts!
Writers4Writers (W4WS)
W4WS will resume
in February and take place every third Monday of each month. Next up we
spotlight writers Gwen Gardner, YA Fiction Author and Melissa
Bradley from Melissa’s Imaginarium. If
you’re not familiar with W4Ws, can check out the Writers4Writers Page.
And
Libby Heily's book Tough Girl is out!
So, are you signed up for some of these offerings? All of them? Have your read Tough Girl? and Has inspiration struck you lately?
Does it seem like things are suddenly very busy in the blogosphere!! Wow, lots going on.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is one cool pic of the Japanese warrior woman. I did a profile of a Japanese woman fighter from the 12th century on my blog once so, yes, there is a long tradition of women fighters in Japan.
LG - yes, it seems very, very busy all of a sudden.
ReplyDeleteI think warrior women are really fun to write about . . .so that's why this pic caught my attention.
Love the photo and the imagination spins it inspires. Thanks for keeping us all updated on all that's going on in Bloglandia.
ReplyDeleteThat picture inspires me as well! There are a million blogfests going on right now, don't forget that Alex is doing one too. I'm not sure I can do them all, but I'll do a few here and there :)
ReplyDeleteSigned up for several of those events and excited for Libby.
ReplyDeleteThe photo is very cool. That's an elaborate suit of armor.
Neat that Japan had female warriors. I wish Western culture valued women more and recorded more of our herstory. :)
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot going on. Thanks for mentioning Back From the Future.
Julie - Glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteJA - me too. I can't do them all, but I'm trying to do a smattering of them.
Alex - yes, it is.
M Pax - I know what you mean . . .it seems like women warriors in western culture were all rebels or criminals, or both.
That photo is great. I would frame it and stick it in my writing cave. :)
ReplyDeleteI hope I'm ready for the A to Z. The pressure is on now that I'm a host.
ReplyDeleteThat woman still looks so ladylike and pretty.
Brinda - great idea!!!
ReplyDeleteL. Diane - I'm excited for A to Z, and congrats on being a host!!!
That picture is phenomenal! I'm doing the Reintroduce Myself Bloghop but I haven't heard of the Back from the Future one. I'll have to check it out!
ReplyDeleteI'm strongly considering A-Z. I'd have to start planning right now, but it's awfully tempting to do it...
I'm hoping to do A-Z this year . . .pretty serious blogfest!! Mine is only a week long, lol.
ReplyDeleteYep, suddenly I'm signed up for a bunch of 'fests! It all seemed to happen within a few days ;)
ReplyDeleteThat pic is inspirational to me too! Guess I can already imagine a CTHD type deal, but Japanese instead of Chinese :)
Wow Tyrean - lots going on. So glad you're doing the book club! And thanks for mentioning it. :o)
ReplyDeleteThat's a great picture. Definitely lots of story ideas there!
ReplyDeletelook at your bulletin board! jam packed with goodies!
ReplyDeleteSamantha - there are a huge number of fun blogfests going on in the next few months.
ReplyDeleteTrisha - yes, it does seem to be happening fast!
J.L. - You're welcome!
Angie - I think so too!
Tara - definitely!
I admire the A-Z bloggers but can't do it myself. It's fun to hop around periodically to those that participate, however!
ReplyDeleteWow! A lot of great things happening around the blogs! I'm looking forward to the A-Z challenge the most. It's so much fun.
ReplyDeleteThat picture is rather inspiring!!
ReplyDeleteI'm planning on joining in the A to Z though I've no time for the others right now.
Oh I love that picture. My mother-in-law is from Japan. I'll have to ask her about that.
ReplyDelete