![cover image](https://wikiwandv2-19431.kxcdn.com/_next/image?url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Niijima_Yae_big_portrait.png/640px-Niijima_Yae_big_portrait.png&w=640&q=50)
Niijima Yae
Japanese warrior, nurse, and scholar (1845–1932) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Niijima Yae (新島八重), born Yamamoto Yae (山本八重) (1 December 1845 – 14 June 1932), also known as Yamamoto Yaeko (山本 八重子), was a Japanese onna-musha, educator, nurse, and scholar of the late Edo period who lived into the early Shōwa period.[1] Her samurai family belonged to the Hoshina clan, loyal to the Tokugawa Shogunate.[1] Skilled in gunnery, she helped defend the Aizu Domain during the Boshin War, earning her the nicknames “Nightingale of Japan” and “Bakumatsu Joan of Arc”.[1]
Niijima Yae | |
---|---|
新島八重 | |
![]() | |
Born | Yamamoto Yae (山本八重) (1845-12-01)1 December 1845 |
Died | 14 June 1932(1932-06-14) (aged 86) |
Resting place | Doshisha Cemetery, Kyoto, Japan |
Nationality | Japanese |
Other names | Yamamoto Yaeko (山本八重子) |
Occupation(s) | Nurse, former soldier |
Spouses | |
Children | none |
Parents |
|
Relatives | Yamamoto Kakuma (brother) |
Military career | |
Allegiance | Aizu Domain |
Years of service | 1868 |
Battles/wars | Battle of Aizu |
Yaeko served as a nurse during the Russo-Japanese War and Sino-Japanese War,[1] and became the first woman outside of Imperial House of Japan after the Meiji Restoration (originated in 1870s) to be decorated for her service to the country.[2] She was famously known as the wife of Joseph Hardy Neesima, the founder of Doshisha English School in 1875, and with a help of American missionary Alice J. Starkweather, they co-founded the Doshisha Girls’ School a year later.