Hwang Sisters of Jima

Korean female warriors were, in historical sense, quite rare. Even if they had existed, there's only handful that were properly documented and survived as either legend or folk stories.

It is acceptable that in a highly conservative confucian society of the ancient and medieval Korea, women were given much less previledge than their Chinese and Japanese neighbours.

Famous historical examples of women who occupied position of power in Korean history, apart from the recently elected 11th President of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye, was Queen Seondeok of Silla in 7th Century AD. Although she was not known as a warrior, she was a patron of art and literature and built the famous Observatory Cheomseongdae.

Gisaeng, the equivalent of Japanese Gheisa, had much more previledge in learning arts, poetry, music and occupied important position in Georyeo and Joeseon as court entertainers. One such example was Hwang Jin-i, a Gisaeng renowned for her beauty and intellect.

In the sketch, 2 korean women were drawn in a sword-dance pose, a Gisaeng and a Warrior. The dance, or Geommu in korean, included gisaeng as one of the performers who performs with beauty and elegance. It is artistically more beautiful to portrays gisaeng with a sword, but would be inappropiate in combat given the clothing style.

On the other hand, the Warrior is depicted with heavy korean scale armor, a sword and composite bow. Such attires were often worn by the Hwarang, an elite warrior noble class composed of young males who were described as "flamboyant", a term that would more or less similiar to metro-sexual men in modern society. Daughters in Hwarang society were taught in the ways of the sword, but were rarely or never given the chance at all to join any battle or war.