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 female warrior (onna bugeisha) of the late Edo period who lived into the early Shōwa period. Skilled in gunnery, she helped defend Aizu during the Boshin War, earning her the nickname of the “Bakumatsu Joan of Arc”. Yaeko served as a nurse during the Russo-Japanese War and Sino-Japanese War, and became the first woman outside of Imperial House of Japan after the Meiji Restoration to be decorated for her service to the country.[1]