page_title: Nakano Takeko
section_title: The civil war
hierarchical_section_title: Nakano Takeko / History / The civil war
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: A sinistra Hirata Kocho English: left: Hirata Kochō
context_page_description: Nakano Takeko was a Japanese female warrior of the Aizu Domain, who fought and died during the Boshin War. During the Battle of Aizu, she fought with a naginata and was the leader of an ad hoc corps of female combatants who fought in the battle independently.
  Takeko and other women stepped forward on the front line without permission, as the senior Aizu retainers did not allow them to fight as an official part of the domain's army. This unit was later retroactively called the Jōshitai. With the reforms of the Meiji era, the samurai class was abolished and a western-style national army was established, making Nakano Takeko one of the last samurai in history.
context_section_description: Her martial figure is linked to the time of the Boshin war, whose war events saw two adverse factions oppose in a civil conflict: the loyal supporters of the Tokugawa shogunate and the advocates of the restoration of the Meiji emperor, whose results were favorable to the latter would have brought the Japanese Empire to the end of the 19th century.
  During the conflict, Nakano Takeko worked in defense of the shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu and took part in the Battle of Aizu, in which she distinguished herself by fighting against a white weapon, brandishing a naginata, a Japanese weapon. In the clash with the overwhelming imperial forces, together with her mother and sister, she was head of an ad hoc body of female warriors.
  The Jōshitai (娘子隊, Girls' Army) was formed by these women: 
  The leader of the group, Nakano Takeko. She was 21 years old at this time.
  Takeko's mother and sister, Kouko and Yūko. At this time Kouko was in her 40s and Yūko was 16 years old.
  Hirata Kochō and younger sister Hirata Yoshi.
  Yoda Kikuko and the mother or older sister Yoda Mariko.
  The famous female warrior, Yamamoto Yaeko.
  Okamura Sakiko and older sister Okamura Makiko.
  A unnamed woman who was Watashi's concubine.
  Jinbo Yukiko, a female retainer of the Aizu clan.
  The students of Monna naginata dojo Monna Rieko, Saigo Tomiko and Nagai Sadako.
  The younger sister of Hara Gorō.
  Kawahara Asako and Koike Chiyoku.
  Through rain and sleet, the women went into battle autonomously and independently, since the ancient officials of Aizu, in particular Kayano Gonbei, did not allow them to wars, officially, as part of the army of domination. This unit was later retroactively given the name of a female army (娘子 隊 Jōshitai). It was Furuya Sakuzaemon, the commander of Aizu's troops, who designated her as the leader of the samurai women the day before her death.
caption: Hirata Kochō and another Onna-bugeisha.
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