The history of Japan is often told as stories of battles and warriors, emperors, samurai and shoguns, but women also played a prominent role. In this lecture, author Lesley Downer will explore key female figures in Japanese History, starting with Himiko the shaman queen and the powerful empresses of early Japanese history. She will also examine how some of the world’s greatest literature was written by the sophisticated ladies of the Heian court and how women fought in the battles of the Warring Period. She will discuss the powerful women behind the great warlords, notably Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s wife Nene and his beloved concubine Yodo-dono. Lesley will also show how in the Edo period (1603-1868) women had a surprising degree of freedom: courtesans ruled in the pleasure quarters while the women of the shogun’s palace exerted powerful control over their menfolk and women also fought in the Boshin War at the tail end of the period. She will also analyse examples of "modern girls" and liberated women of the Taisho era (1912-1926).

Lesley Downer has been living her life in and around Japan for almost 50 years. Her books on Japan include On the Narrow Road to the Deep North, Geisha and the four novels of the Shogun Quartet. She gave lectures on The World, an enormous apartment-filled ship as it was circling Japan. She appeared on Age of Samurai on Netflix and does regular radio broadcasts and podcasts. Her most recent book is The Shortest History of Japan, in which she pulls together all her knowledge and love of Japan and its culture.

If you have any questions, please call The Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk.

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