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Asian female warriors whose exploits match Wonder Woman’s

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Wonder Woman poster. (Photo: Warner Bros via Uproxx)

Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman was one of the highlights of “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice”, and her own standalone trailer blazed a new path for superheroines at Comic-Con.

Diana of Themyscira, daughter of Zeus and warrior princess of the Amazons from Greek mythology, is a familiar face to many comicbook fans. But did you know that our own part of the world in Asia is home to many legendary female warriors, whose supposed real-life exploits more than match the fictional character? Here are some of them.

Yuenü, China

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Photo illustration of a Chinese swordswoman (Photo: Getty Images)

Yuenü, as she is known, was a swordswoman from the state of Yue during the 5th century BC who had a huge influence on Chinese martial arts.

But she just wasn’t a swordswoman, she also started learning archery from a young age from her father, and her skills were so renowned that the king of the time invited her to the court. During this time, the state of Yue was at war with the state of Wu, and the king was desperately looking for military geniuses to help him with the war.

At the court, the swordswoman wowed the king with her abilities and her thoughts on using the sword that she was given the title “Lady of Yue”, or “Lady of the Southern Forest” and tasked with teaching the king’s army. Her skills were supposedly simple but powerful, and she showed the ability to take on several opponents at a single time. She said her abilities were developed to protect the forest she stayed.

Her skills and her training would continue to influence Chinese martial arts for centuries to come, which means all those wuxia novels and the choreography from every Chinese martial arts movie owe much to her.

Khutulun, Mongolia

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Claudia Kim as Khutulun on Netflix’s “Marco Polo”. (Photo: Netflix)

Khutulun was the daughter of Kaidu, a Khan of Mongolia, as well as the niece of Kublai Khan, who at the time had already established the Yuan Dynasty in China. You might recognise her if you’ve watched Netflix’s Marco Polo, where she’s played by South Korean actress Claudia Kim.

In one of the more popular stories about Khutulun, the Mongolian princess said that any man who wanted to marry her had to defeat her in a wrestling match. Of course, she also demanded their horses as forfeit if they lost, and she managed to obtain a respectable 10,000 horses from this.

Khutulun was her father’s favourite child and advisor. According to some sources, he wanted to name her as his successor, but her male relatives blocked that.

Khutulun helped her father win many battles, including against her cousin’s Yuan Dynasty, and her constant defeating of suitors meant she didn’t marry for a long while, leading to her enemies accusing her of having an incestuous relationship with her father. She eventually married one of her father’s men to stop the rumours.

Empress Jingū, Japan

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A Tsukioka Yoshitoshi from 1880 depicting Empress Jingū landing in Korea. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Jingū was a consort to the Japanese Emperor who took over as ruler when he died until the time of her son’s ascension to the throne almost 70 years later. While some historians decided that she wasn’t really an empress and more like a regent, let’s hear about some of her deeds before you decide if you want to let her be the empress or not.

Jingū was born Okinagatarashi-hime (Hime means “princess” in Japanese), so she clearly was no stranger to being royalty. After her husband died, Jingū took over the Chrysanthemum throne in year 201 and decided to take over Korea.

Legend says she did it with the help of tide-controlling divine jewels without shedding a drop of blood, but you generally don’t get pictured with a naginata (Japanese polearm) and sword and labelled an onna bugeisha (female master of martial arts) by using gem magic to win battles.

While her Korean exploits are generally rejected (because there’s not much evidence of Japanese rule in Korea during that time period), Jingū still left enough of an impression on Japanese culture. She was the first woman featured on a Japanese banknote (although because cameras didn’t exist back then it wasn’t an exact replica), and she got her own official tomb in Nara despite the fact that no one knows where she’s actually buried.

Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi, Java

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A Majapahit temple in East Java. (Photo: Jakarta Post Travel)

Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi was a princess of the Rajasa dynasty, the daughter of Raden Wijaya of Majapahit. She ascended to the throne after her half-brother Jayanegara died, with the support of her mother, Gayatri Rajapatni.

As political intrigue is not limited to any one part of the world or George R R Martin’s Game of Thrones, some theorise that Tribhuwana’s half-brother’s death had been orchestrated by her loyal advisor, Gajah Mada (Jayanegara’s reign wasn’t a very popular one, by the way). She appointed Gajah Mada as prime minister after her ascension, and like any good queen from that era, set out to expand her empire.

Her expansion of Majapahit lands extended the empire to Bali and parts of the Melayu kingdom (present day Malaysia), and was continued under the reign of her soon, whom she had to abdicate to after the death of her mother.

Tribhuwana’s role, however, wasn’t limited to asking people to fight her battles. While she had capable generals, Tribhuwana also led the army herself on several occasions on the battlefield, crushing rebellions in Sadeng and Keta herself.

Suriyothai, Thailand

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ML Piyapas Bhirombhakdi as Queen Suriyothai in the 2001 Thai movie “The Legend of Suriyothai”. (Photo: YouTube screengrab)

Suriyothai was a Siamese queen in the 16th century. Not much about her is known from records, but she was married to Prince Tien of the Ayutthaya kingdom before he became King Maha Chakkraphat.

Six months into Maha Chakkraphat’s reign, the kingdom was invaded by neighbouring Burma. The size of the Burmese force was much larger than the Siamese border guards, so they basically steamrolled them until the king mobilised his forces at a town just outside the capitol of Ayutthaya.

Suriyothai accompanied her husband into battle on a smaller war elephant (because horses weren’t really common in the region), dressed in male military attire. The King and a viceroy of the Burmese army engaged in single combat, which was pretty much cut short when the King’s elephant decided it wasn’t having any of it and charged away from the viceroy.

Of course, the viceroy gave chase, and Suriyothai decided to charge her elephant to save her husband’s life. The Burmese viceroy, unaware that he was fighting a woman, cut her down together with her daughter who was behind her. While Suriyothai died in that battle, her sacrifice drove her sons to ward off the viceroy, while their father the king rallied the army and managed to retreat from certain doom.

Her story was made into a 2001 Thai movie (with much creative discretion), “The Legend of Suriyothai”.