<P> Traits valued in women of the samurai class were humility, obedience, self - control, strength, and loyalty . Ideally, a samurai wife would be skilled at managing property, keeping records, dealing with financial matters, educating the children (and perhaps servants, too), and caring for elderly parents or in - laws that may be living under her roof . Confucian law, which helped define personal relationships and the code of ethics of the warrior class required that a woman show subservience to her husband, filial piety to her parents, and care to the children . Too much love and affection was also said to indulge and spoil the youngsters . Thus, a woman was also to exercise discipline . </P> <P> Though women of wealthier samurai families enjoyed perks of their elevated position in society, such as avoiding the physical labor that those of lower classes often engaged in, they were still viewed as far beneath men . Women were prohibited from engaging in any political affairs and were usually not the heads of their household . </P> <P> This does not mean that women in the samurai class were always powerless . Powerful women both wisely and unwisely wielded power at various occasions . After Ashikaga Yoshimasa, 8th shōgun of the Muromachi shogunate, lost interest in politics, his wife Hino Tomiko largely ruled in his place . Nene, wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was known to overrule her husband's decisions at times and Yodo - dono, his concubine, became the de facto master of Osaka castle and the Toyotomi clan after Hideyoshi's death . Tachibana Ginchiyo was chosen to lead the Tachibana clan after her father's death . Chiyo, wife of Yamauchi Kazutoyo, has long been considered the ideal samurai wife . According to legend, she made her kimono out of a quilted patchwork of bits of old cloth and saved pennies to buy her husband a magnificent horse, on which he rode to many victories . The fact that Chiyo (though she is better known as "Wife of Yamauchi Kazutoyo") is held in such high esteem for her economic sense is illuminating in the light of the fact that she never produced an heir and the Yamauchi clan was succeeded by Kazutoyo's younger brother . The source of power for women may have been that samurai left their finances to their wives . </P> <P> Though many women engaged in battle commonly alongside samurai men in japan, most of female warriors (Onna - bugeisha) were not formal samurai . They usually were not allowed to wear two swords and did not form master - servant relationships with lords, nevertheless there are some exceptions . </P>

In the early modern era the japanese called their warriors