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Description
Sometime ago, I was on 's Discord and several members were coming up with a theme for this year's Mayternity. Eventually, they decided on Mayternity Through Time, which portrays with different times and cultures. This was a very neat idea and was a challenge I wanted to try out as I have done little historical drawings, especially when it came to pregnancy. However, due to other obligations, I wasn't about to join this community event. But that wasn't going to stop me from taking up this challenge.

This time around, we're looking at pregnancy in Japan. I was thinking about having this drawing take place before the Edo Period of Japanese History. That later changed when I was thinking about having this drawing match early photographs from Japan. Doing a little research, I found that photography wasn't introduced to Japan until 1848, which was near the end of the Edo Period.

Before drawing, I knew I wanted to do a female samurai despite the fact my brain told me that was only a thing in anime. Then, I discovered that were a group of female warriors within the samurai class. They were called the Onna-bugeisha, which means the female martial artist. They were trained in weapons to protect their family, household, and honor in times of war. The popular choice of weapon for Onna-bugeisha was the Naginata, which was also a weapon used by samurai. There are few Japanese artworks that featuring an Onna-bugeisha, one of which features one with a child strapped to her back around doing some beheading. So, fighting with a naginata while pregnant isn't too far fetched.

During the time of the Edo Period, the role of the Onna-bugeisha changed along with those of the Samurai. They were mainly used as pawns to achieve dreams of greater success and power. Their ideals of selflessness and devotion turned into roles of passive, quiet, and civil obedience. If they were to travel anywhere, they had to be accompanied by a man. By the time of the 17th century, women, including the Onna-bugeisha, were viewed as nothing more than child bearers. Damn, these women deserved better treatment. One of the most famous Onna-bugeisha of the Edo Period was Nakano Takeko, who died during the Battle of Aizu during the Boshin War. It's unknown what became of the Onna-bugeisha once the Meiji Era rolled in.

The skin texture I used in this drawing was made by .

Colored Version: fav.me/dbqeghy

Update
After giving it some thought, I decided to redo the aged photo look of this drawing with the help of a video from Blue Lightning TV on Youtube. I must say that I'm happier with the results of this time.

Description
Sometime ago, I was on 's Discord and several members were coming up with a theme for this year's Mayternity. Eventually, they decided on Mayternity Through Time, which portrays with different times and cultures. This was a very neat idea and was a challenge I wanted to try out as I have done little historical drawings, especially when it came to pregnancy. However, due to other obligations, I wasn't about to join this community event. But that wasn't going to stop me from taking up this challenge.

This time around, we're looking at pregnancy in Japan. I was thinking about having this drawing take place before the Edo Period of Japanese History. That later changed when I was thinking about having this drawing match early photographs from Japan. Doing a little research, I found that photography wasn't introduced to Japan until 1848, which was near the end of the Edo Period.

Before drawing, I knew I wanted to do a female samurai despite the fact my brain told me that was only a thing in anime. Then, I discovered that were a group of female warriors within the samurai class. They were called the Onna-bugeisha, which means the female martial artist. They were trained in weapons to protect their family, household, and honor in times of war. The popular choice of weapon for Onna-bugeisha was the Naginata, which was also a weapon used by samurai. There are few Japanese artworks that featuring an Onna-bugeisha, one of which features one with a child strapped to her back around doing some beheading. So, fighting with a naginata while pregnant isn't too far fetched.

During the time of the Edo Period, the role of the Onna-bugeisha changed along with those of the Samurai. They were mainly used as pawns to achieve dreams of greater success and power. Their ideals of selflessness and devotion turned into roles of passive, quiet, and civil obedience. If they were to travel anywhere, they had to be accompanied by a man. By the time of the 17th century, women, including the Onna-bugeisha, were viewed as nothing more than child bearers. Damn, these women deserved better treatment. One of the most famous Onna-bugeisha of the Edo Period was Nakano Takeko, who died during the Battle of Aizu during the Boshin War. It's unknown what became of the Onna-bugeisha once the Meiji Era rolled in.

The skin texture I used in this drawing was made by .

Colored Version: fav.me/dbqeghy

Update
After giving it some thought, I decided to redo the aged photo look of this drawing with the help of a video from Blue Lightning TV on Youtube. I must say that I'm happier with the results of this time.