Martial Arts History Museum Announces First-Ever Warrior Women Exhibit

The Martial Arts History Museum announced the first-ever Warrior Women Exhibit, a groundbreaking installation opening this summer that honors the critical and often unrecognized role of women in warfare, cultural preservation, and the protection of indigenous lands. Founder and President Michael Matsuda emphasized the historical significance, stating that female warriors represent a vital part of martial arts history and that many wars would not have been won without them, signaling the museum's support for women within the martial arts community.

Curated by Kumu Michelle Manu, a 10th Degree Black Belt and teacher of the sacred Hawaiian art of Lua, the exhibit represents the first global initiative to center on women as protectors, strategists, and carriers of martial knowledge. Manu, a modern-day woman warrior and cultural educator, declared that the exhibit aims not merely to add women into history but to correct the record of what has always been true, addressing centuries of minimized or obscured contributions. She asserted that women were never absent from the history of war, only from the way it has been told, and that this exhibit restores balance, accuracy, and truth by revealing what was never missing.

The Warrior Women Exhibit Gala, featuring the official ribbon cutting, is scheduled for Saturday, August 22, 2026, at 4:00 pm PDT at the Martial Arts History Museum in Glendale, California, marking the first time women are being honored in a martial arts museum. For more information about the museum's mission to promote appreciation of America's cultural diversity through martial arts as a gateway to understanding how Asian history became part of American history, visit https://martialartsmuseum.com. Details on Dr. Kumu Michelle Manu's work as a metaphysician, master martial artist, and cultural educator, including her integration of ancient knowledge with quantum physics, can be found at https://michellemanu.com. Ticket sales for the gala are to be announced, with media inquiries directed to the event's contact.