Yamato Nadeshiko



""I am a true Japanese woman, kind and graceful!""

- Mai Shiranui, Capcom vs. SNK 2

A complicated Japanese aesthetic and cultural concept. Breaking the expression down: "Yamato" is one of the older (and thus fancier) names for Japan and the Japanese culture; "Nadeshiko" is Japanese for Dianthus superbus, otherwise known as the carnation, a wildflower native to the Japanese highlands.

Broadly speaking, a yamato nadeshiko is the "flower of Japanese womanhood", a woman with attributes that were traditionally desirable in Japan from the perspective of male-dominated society; generally ascribed to people with traditional upbringings. Basically it revolves around acting for the benefit of the family and obeying and assisting authority figures (father, husband, sometimes father-in-law or older brothers, as well as older females of similar personality traits). Virtues include loyalty, domestic ability, wisdom, maturity, and humility.

This sounds like an Extreme Doormat, especially to modern Westerners, but don't be fooled; the nadeshiko is a wildflower, after all. A properly done yamato nadeshiko will show a subtle, but definitely present, touch of iron, in that she is unwilling to let circumstances hurt the ones she cares about or distract her from her goals or missions. (Conversely, in poorly done cases this can come across as a forced attempt at trying to convince the audience that the nadeshiko in question isn't just a doormat with no personality.) This is often accomplished so subtly that the target isn't quite certain how things got redirected -- a kind of influence judo, if you will. Older yamato nadeshiko are better at this, while a younger one will make up for it in determination -- especially when it comes to the man she loves, because that trumps everything else. Remember: this is just a trope, and all Tropes Are Tools.

A poorly done Yamato Nadeshiko will turn out like an Extreme Doormat. They are silent and submissive without the inner strength of a true Yamato Nadeshiko. This is a common stereotype of East Asian women in Western fiction and is often referred to derisively as the China Doll stereotype.

With some notable exceptions, physically yamato nadeshiko will be of medium height, willowy, modestly endowed, and good-looking without being too beautiful or too cute; they will have pale skin and long, dark hair with full, straight bangs and side-bangs. They'll dress in feminine fashions: skirts, blouses, low-heeled shoes, lace, ribbons and simple hair ornaments. The other option is impeccable lady-like style for adults. A Kimono Is Traditional is never a bad choice and is likely to be worn by nadeshiko brought up in the good old Kyoto style. Some may use jewelry and make-up, but not to the extreme. Their voices will often be gentle, calm, and warm as melted butter. Large rounded eyes are always a good bet. It is not unusual for geishas to be Yamato Nadeshiko.

Sometimes, these seemingly ultra peaceful ladies will also handle at least the basics of self-defense, even if they would rather not fight unless it can't be helped. This makes sense, since many nadeshiko came from samurai clans and thus were trained in fighting so they could defend their homes whenever the males were absent. If that's the case, they'll be very graceful and effective in the battlefield, and they're likely to be White Magician Girls or Barrier Warriors. If they're neither, they'll likely use polearms, lances (specifically naginata which daughters of samurai families were traditionally trained in and were more than once included in a yamato nadeshiko's dowry) or bow/arrows, and maybe even small tantou daggers that may be hidden in their clothes.

Yamato nadeshiko characters pop up a lot in Magical Girlfriend series (usually as the one who will win the male lead's heart) and as the "Betty" in Betty and Veronica Love Triangles. They tend to be very sympathetic, but their passive, reactionary nature puts them in danger of becoming Satellite Characters for more "interesting" people, as well as target of bashing from fans who prefer either Action Girl or Tsundere types (and not all of them being "so-called feminists"). The yamato nadeshiko is much more popular in Japan for obvious reasons.

Expect her name to end in "-ko" [子] or "-mi" [美], which mean "child" and "beauty", respectively. (Protip: "-ko" in words is analogous to the Western suffix "-ette"/"-elle"/"-ine", making any name feminine.)

You will sometimes find males who fit in the yamato nadeshiko role pretty well, personality and/or looks-wise (like Japan in Axis Powers Hetalia, obviously), but this is still rare.

More information on this concept can be found in the sci.lang.japan FAQ. Compare Stepford Smiler for a critical take, and Yandere for a girl who seems to be a yamato nadeshiko but hides a far more unstable psyche, as a Deconstruction of this Trope. Her sort-of early Western equivalent is the Determined Widow. A more passive Victorian era Western equivalent is the "angel in the house." Or as we call it, Proper Lady. An attempt to take this trope's appealing traits Up to Eleven while still playing it straight runs the risk of producing a Purity Sue.

This trope is commonly used in the portrayal of a Patient Childhood Love Interest character's personality.

Compare Proper Lady, Silk Hiding Steel, Spirited Young Lady, Princess Classic, Southern Belle, The Ingenue.

Note: This trope is for the Japanese Ideal in particular, or Eastern Asian Ideal in general. For the western/European ideal see Proper Lady. For a general 'proper on the outside, powerful on the inside' woman use Silk Hiding Steel. For tropes describing homemakers and housewives in general, use Housewife. To describe 'innocence' or 'gentleness' use The Ingenue. Polite or friendliness can be covered by Nice Girl.

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 * This is the standard portrayal of the OS-tan version of Windows 3.1.

Anime & Manga

 * Shizuka Minamoto from Doraemon is the prime example for Japanese's anime & manga society. She's a soft spoken, nature loving, and caring girly girl who addresses the Failure Hero Nobita using honorific. She's shown to be pretty good at almost everything except violin.
 * Belldandy in Ah! My Goddess, which pretty much standardizes Kikuko Inoue's typecasting. Though the in story reason for her being a yamato nadeshiko is that if she wasn't, the universe would be in serious danger. She presents an interesting case in that she so deliberately invokes this Trope personality-wise but actually doesn't fit many of the above-defined physical descriptions, not to mention the fact that she's a Norse goddess who would have no reason to have ever even heard of Japan, let alone, take on their ideal of femininity. Kikuko Inoue count: 1
 * Yukiko from Gun X Sword is one. Both before and after becoming part of Van's crew.
 * Mercedes Herrera / de Morcerf in Gankutsuou also fits the role to a very large extent. Kikuko Inoue count: 2
 * Hisui from Wish is one of this in the CD drama. Only... uh, Hisui is genderless. Kikuko Inoue count: 3
 * Hinata Hyuuga of Naruto, who is exceptionally kind, polite, soft-spoken and devoted to Naruto and her friends.
 * Haku is a rare male case of this trope. He's a kind, soft-spoken, androgynous (if not outright feminine-looking) boy who probably has some significant domestic ability aside from that which we see onscreen (the herb-picking). He bows to Zabuza's authority but retains that hint of steel the article talks about...when it comes to protecting Zabuza.
 * Mikoto Uchiha. A Tall, Dark and Bishoujo Hot Mom who cares very much for her sons, Itachi and Sasuke, and tries to keep the peace between them alongside praising Sasuke in front of her husband Fugaku. Along with Kushina Uzamaki, she was an extremely powerful kunoichi and held in high regards. She is fiercely loyal to Fugaku and it's hinted that she played a part in the.
 * Despite being much older than most of the other examples here at 29, Haruka Shitow of RahXephon is a perfect example of this. She's sweet, fun, wise, and respects authority, but that doesn't stop her from being quite the Badass.
 * Kasumi Tendo in Ranma ½ is this trope incarnate, being the responsible eldest sister, and when Mrs Tendo died, she became the house's mother figure. She even has a traditional view on sex and marriage, chastising Ranma and Akane when she thinks they've been sneaking around having sex. She adopted a public face of yamato nadeshiko, but allowed her own selfish and snarky (though always feminine and polite) side to show at home. Later on, she was Flanderized to follow this trope unto the point of parody. Kikuko Inoue count: 4
 * Note that Kasumi's Tsundere younger sister, Akane, actually wants to grow up into a yamato nadeshiko (even going so far as to using the very feminine "atashi" to refer to herself), while still being a martial artist. But she's such a Tomboy spitfire that she just... can't.
 * There were also two characters in the manga that tried to get revenge on Shampoo for beating them up as kids by using some weird flowers that turned whoever wore them into a yamato nadeshiko, even if they were male.
 * Nodoka Saotome, Ranma's mother, is the very image of the yamato nadeshiko. But then she hears how someone is menacing Akane or Ranko and she gets out her sword... Even if she's actually clumsy with it, there's a reason Arrogant Kung Fu Guy Genma calls her a "formidable woman." She's clumsy with the sword, but she doesn't let that get in the way of being lethal with it; it may even be her lack of skill that makes her worthy of such fear. Something in a similar vein to Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass, only without the transition. She is a quantum version of the trope.
 * In a filler episode in the anime, Ranma himself becomes a caricature/parody of a yamato nadeshiko when he hits his head and becomes perhaps even more girly than Kasumi, to the point where "she" squeals in disgust at having to wash his boxers, faints when Akane accidentally cuts her finger, and upon instinctively punching Happosai offers to strip naked and let him grope her all he likes just to make up for it.
 * Akari Unryuu is occasionally derided as a Relationship Sue because she plays this trope perfectly straight, without any 'little quirks' like the aforementioned characters have. Rumiko Takahashi saying she created her for the explicit purpose of giving Ryoga a happy ending after he became something of an Ensemble Darkhorse didn't really help.
 * Let's not forget Satsuki, Sentarou's girlfriend via Perfectly Arranged Marriage. For added hilarity, she and Kasumi gets along so well that Kasumi can perfectly understand her almost non-existent speech.
 * Konatsu is a "genius" kunoichi (female Ninja) and a yamato nadeshiko. Of course, since this is Ranma ½, Konatsu is male.
 * Rather interestingly played with in another iller episode. We meet a guy who wants Ranma to marry his daughter Kaori, and she seems to be pretty much the perfect one: always in a bridal kimono, chaste, humble, almost an Extreme Doormat. But when she, Akane and Ranko enter a race to see what to do... Kaori shreds her bridal clothes an rises to the challenge, and we see that she's a Tall, Dark and Bishoujo Cute Bruiser who will do anything in her power to win Ranma's "hand in marriage".
 * One of the rare villainous versions of the yamato nadeshiko archetype: Reiko Aya aka Sailor Aluminium Siren from Sailor Moon. Kikuko Inoue count: 5
 * Somewhat subverted by Usagi's Hot Mom Ikuko, who more often than not acts like this but is also more nagging than the standard (specially in the anime) and is hinted to have Usagi's dad quite whipped.
 * Michiru Kaiou is mainly The Ojou, but she also shows strong YN vibes - specially in her devotion to her girlfriend Haruka and their Outer Senshi mission.
 * Aoi Sakuraba in Ai Yori Aoshi is a textbook example of this trope, to the point where other characters actually use the term in discussing her. She always wears a kimono, which is rare even for a yamato nadeshiko; although there is a bit of justification given in that her family business is making kimonos, and it wouldn't do for her to be seen wearing something other than her family's product. It's also justified in that she wants to be a perfect yamato nadeshiko for Kaoru in every way, and has been practicing at it since childhood. Since she comes from a very traditional family, you would expect her to be a very traditional example. This makes her devotion to Kaoru specifically all the more significant, since brazenly defying family for the sake of love is emphatically non-traditional.
 * Oddly, English-born Christine "Chris" Robbins from Itazura na Kiss acts more like a Yamoto Nadeshiko than any other girl in the series. She's beautiful, domestic, submissive, and graceful. She also makes delicious Japanese food and [[media:itazura-162.jpg|wears a kimono regularly]]. To top it all off, she even admits in episode 19 that she had read a book about the concept of yamato nadeshiko.
 * Midori in Midori no Hibi, though she is also a Genki Girl at the same time, rather than the usual calm yamato nadeshiko style. She's also much more open minded than this trope requires.
 * Nanase in Yumeria. Voiced by ... guess who? Not "modestly endowed", however. Kikuko Inoue count: 6
 * An entire episode centered on this idea in Steel Angel Kurumi: Encore, which went so far as to have a character actually named "Nadeshiko". She, of course, exemplified this concept, and much humor resulted in the Genki Girl main character trying to imitate her.
 * Megumi is challenged to a "Yamato Nadeshiko Cup" in Tenshi na Konamaiki.
 * The plot of yamato nadeshiko Shichi Henge aka The Wallflower aka Perfect Girl Evolution is to transform the leading lady into this archetype. She has the domestic skills and looks (when she isn't drawn chibi-style); she's just made the conscious decision to let all the other traits slide, becoming a withdrawn and very creepy Strange Dark Action Girl.
 * Chitose from the Galaxy Angel gameverse is played straight as a yamato nadeshiko. Like everyone else in the the anime, her game self is parodied quite a bit, with her trying to be perfect but usually failing to even be tolerable.
 * Yakumo Tsukamoto, Tenma's little sister, in School Rumble, is sort of a deconstruction of this concept. Her seeming perfection hides her inability to interact with others (the manga shows that she has trouble making friends), her Heavy Sleeper tendence gets in the way of housework, and her devotion to Tenma and Harima causes her to ignore her own emotional needs.
 * That said, she is kind, good-hearted, a good cook, helpful to her sister (and Harima), and Tall Dark and Bishojo (well, more so than Tenma)
 * The name of the titular ship in Martian Successor Nadesico is a reference to this term, as it resembles the Yamato from Uchuu Senkan Yamato.
 * Cherry from Saber Marionette J is a yamato nadeshiko by virtue of her "motherly" role, but this is often overridden by her Tsundere and Covert Pervert traits.
 * The Mysterious Thief Freyr in Matanei Loki Ragnarok refers to Mayura Daidouji as "Yamato Nadeshiko", although she doesn't quite fit the standards for this trope.
 * Lena in Shamanic Princess quilifies, despite having more or less a European theme to her.
 * Hikari Horaki in Neon Genesis Evangelion. Despite being a minor character, she appears in a lot of Japanese market pictures and figure sets. Such is the power of the yamato nadeshiko slash mother figure (when the best mother figure is a 14 year old girl, you KNOW the world is messed up [see Eureka Seven]).
 * At least in the anime, Hikari comes across as a Type B Tsundere who seems deredere because of the contrast with her best friend Asuka. Maybe people remember Hikari as a yamato nadeshiko mostly because of how her story arc ends? (It's actually discussed whether Hikari is a Type B Tsundere or a YN who happens to be friends with two kids (Asuka and Touji) who are THAT good at irritating people.)
 * Rei II has shades of this after she defrosts, particulary in Rebuild where she tries to get her love intrest and his father who also happens to be the closest she herself had for a father to get along by inviting them to a home cooked dinner. She is also quiet, serious, would die for any of those two at any given moment and reacts with a Luminescent Blush to being told that she'd make a good housewife.
 * Parodied in Muteki Kanban Musume when Miki Onimaru (normally a mean cranky waitress) got drunk and started to act like one, even to the point of loathing violence and acting submissively.
 * Misae Ikari from Paranoia Agent uses most of episode 11, "No Entry", exemplifying this concept. It's something of an Neon Genesis Evangelion-style Deconstruction of the trope, as much of her "selfless" behavior appears to be the result of unusually realistically-depicted clinical depression.
 * Momoko from Sumomomo Momomo takes the entire series to demonstrate the concept, going from stalker to devoted companion,.
 * Parodied in Tenjho Tenge, where Aya Natsume in the very first chapter becomes an obnoxious, ridiculously over-the-top Clingy Jealous Girl mixed with yamato nadeshiko because of a family tradition: any woman from the Natsume clan must give their lives to the first one who sees their naked skin, and Souichirou had the tough luck of being thrown into the dressing room while Aya was showering inside.
 * Sakura's dead mother, Nadeshiko, in Cardcaptor Sakura. Oh look, another one. However, she was a rather atypical YN lady, because of her utter cluelessness and clumsiness when she was young. She only started resembling the trope after getting married to...
 * Sakura and Touya's father Fujitaka. He is a perfect example, though male.
 * Among Sakura's friends, the one who embodies the trope more closely is Rika Sasaki. Sakura thinks that Rika's very beautiful and mature, if not more than the other girls. Tomoyo also follows the torpe to a degree, but she's more The Ojou.
 * Maki Matsumoto, the beautiful and sweet owner of the local pawn and toy shop.
 * Sakura herself kinda takes up some of the traits of the trope as the series advances.
 * Another male example would be Yukito Tsukishiro, Touya's best friend and Sakura's crush . In fact, Yukito's kindness and YN traits were so strong that
 * And last but not least, Kaho Mizuki is a YN too, and specially in the anime where she's more quiet and aloof than in the manga.
 * Nadeshiko Fujisaki from Shugo Chara would definitely be this (it's even right there on her name) if she wasn't, well...
 * Her Shugo Chara also applies...except that she's well...
 * Subverted in Ouran High School Host Club: Tamaki often imagines Haruhi, who is actually a Bifauxnen, as one; before coming to Ouran and cutting her long hair, she resembled one, as well.
 * In the Ouran High School Host Club manga
 * Mayl, the love interest for ten-year-old Lan in Mega Man Battle Network, clearly aims to be his yamato nadeshiko when they grow up. In the Distant Finale, she's succeeded.
 * Subverted in Rurouni Kenshin, where Tomoe Yukishiro is sweet, hardworking, so calm and collected she looked borderline cold...  She actually opens up a bit  . And several years later, Kenshin falls for the Tsundere Kaoru,
 * Played straight with Yahiko's girlfriend Tsubame and her boss/adoptive mother Tae Sekihara.
 * And with the two girls from the Oniwabanshuu (Masukami/Omasu and Omime/Okon), when they're off-duty. Sort-of Justified Trope since they work as waitresses in the Aoiya when not kicking ass alongside the group, while the guys are the cooks of the place.
 * Sayo Mutou aka Magdaria is a more cynical version, though she defrosts with Sanosuke's help.
 * The Gundam meta-series has more than one, too:
 * Mirai Yashima from Mobile Suit Gundam is more this than The Ojou, considering her down-to-Earth behavior and motherly disposition. She's even more of one in the sequels (Zeta Gundam and Chars Counterattack) where she's married to Bright Noah and has two children with him.
 * Anti Villainous example: Nanai Migeru, Char's second-in-command and lover from Chars Counterattack.
 * Queen Dianna Soleil from Turn a Gundam counts as one too, mixing it with The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask.
 * Aina Sakhalin from Mobile Suit Gundam The 08th MS Team is more or less a cross between this trope and The Ojou. Helps that she's voiced by you know who. Kikuko Inoue count: 7
 * Gundam Seed has Lacus Clyne (with heavy emphasis on the wisdom), a yamato nadeshiko who uses her Idol Singer status to become a political juggernaut because her family business just happens to be politics  Slightly subversive in her status as the leader of the Three Ships Alliance; her yamato nadeshiko side is decidedly more obvious in Gundam SEED Destiny, particularly the first half where she spends her days as a homemaker/mother figure to a gaggle of orphans. This looks to have been subverted by the ending to Destiny, though, which implies
 * Special Edition not so much implies, as outright states it. Though, this very situation subverts the trope: in Japan traditionally yamato nadeshiko could and did control things (there were even women Empresses), but did it discreetly and indirectly, as direct control was considered crass for women. So Lacus would come out more as The Ojou -- she has the behavior, but not the mindset and is too much ambitious for classical yamato nadeshiko. Who, in her situation, would be.
 * We shall not forget Kira Yamato's Hot Mom, Caridad Yamato, who was very sweet and soft-spoken aswell as Tall, Dark and Bishoujo.  Kikuko Inoue count: 8
 * Anew Returner from Mobile Suit Gundam 00.  Subverted later:
 * In Digimon Adventure 02, one of Genki Girl Miyako Inoue's image songs is called Yamato Nadeshiko Panic; the lyrics are about how much she wants to be more of a yamato nadeshiko. . Note that the song was actually released after the finale, along with image songs for the girls from predecessor Digimon Adventure and successor Digimon Tamers.
 * Toshiko Takenouchi, Sora's very traditional mother (she's the owner of an ikebana school and is seen wearing kimonos in a flashback), combines this with Education Mama at first. Satoe Tachikawa, Mimi's mom, is this and Adult Child. And let's not forget Yoshie Izumi, Koushiro's mom...
 * Renamon, in spite of being a yellow kitsune, is a Lady of War completely devoted to her tamer Ruki. She's a very furry yamato nadeshiko, you might say.
 * Ruki's grandmother Seiko is a yamato nadeshiko too. Specially notorious because of the heavy emphasis on her wisdom and subtle touch of iron, and no to mention there's an episode in which she dolls up in a kimono and attends a kabuki performance.
 * Saeko Busujima from Highschool of the Dead, with an Heir to the Dojo twist. The other twist is
 * Yuriko Takagi aka Saya's mother. Whenever her husband Souchirou is speaking, Yuriko can be seen maintaining a demure composure...
 * Momo Hinamori from Bleach, to the extent that a Shinigami can be. Meaning, she can burn you with Tobiume's fire blasts if she gets pissed off...
 * Speaking of Tobiume, in the Zanpakuto Rebellion filler arc, the mainfestation of Momo's weapon seemed to feel she epitomized this concept and took pride on it. While her appearance was spot-on, her personality left something to be desired.
 * A more by-the-book yamato nadeshiko would be the beautiful, feminine, ultra-polite and graceful Miyako, former 3rd officer of the 13th division and wife of its lieutenant, Kaien Shiba. When remembering her, Rukia Kuchiki says that Miyako was her idol and pretty much her ideal woman. Her voice? Sumi Shimamoto, in one of her rare appearances in the modern times.
 * The 4th Captain, Unohana Retsu, counts as well, mixing this with Team Mom traits. She's what happens to this trope when it grows up some and Took a Level In Badass on the way to Never Mess with Granny.
 * In the flashbacks, Ichigo Kurosaki's Missing Mom Masaki is mentioned to have always been sweet and gentle, never getting angry towards anyone, and ultimately sacrificing her life to save little Ichigo from a Hollow . She might have been a yamato nadeshiko, then, with said traits getting passed onto her youngest daughter Yuzu after her death.
 * A villainous example: Sun Sun, the most feminine and collected of Harribel's all-female fraccion.
 * A yamato nadeshiko from Imperial China (sort of) is Rangyaku from The Twelve Kingdoms. An orphan who works as the housekeeper and cook for an old man named Enho and takes care of her brother Keikei, she's the most polite and sweet girl in the kingdom of Kei.
 * An older version is Queen Chuukin, the sovereign of the kingdom of Sai. Her kirin Sairin fits in quite well, too.
 * Setsuna Sakurazaki of Mahou Sensei Negima was once described as this by Weasel Mascot Chamo for being quiet and fair-skinned with raven-black hair (at least in the original translation). Keep in mind, however, that once we actually get to know her, she drops this façade and instead becomes a Badass sword-slinging Samurai-type. Meanwhile, Konoka Konoe, being a Princess formerly living in a Big Fancy Temple Complex and heiress to an ancient family who leads a prominent Magical Organization seems to approach this quite effectively, especially during her Omiais when she wears a kimono. More noticable when she eats the magical aging pills.
 * In Negima Neo, Setsuna gets dolled up as a princess by Konoka. And she looks the part quite well. (And at the same time, Konoka dresses up as a Shinsengumi... oh my, she can pull off a nice Bifauxnen.) This is the reverse of the original, where Setsuna drew squees from random passersby with her "Bishonen swordsman" outfit.
 * Akira Okochi fits in as well. She's been getting her yamato nadeshiko points up recently, what with her sisterly concern for her friend Ako Izumi's feelings for Negi
 * Sango of Inuyasha is an interesting version of the trope, a willowy dark-haired pretty-not-beautiful girl who follows her family tradition... by being a demon-slayer. Her existence is testament to the idea that the traditional family girl can still be handy to have around in a tight spot.
 * Might be inspired by the fact that, in the old Japanese times, the daughters of the samurais were required to know how to defend themselves and their homes in case they were under attack. The naginata polearm is an almost exclusively female Weapon of Choice; it lets her keep the attackers at bay, using the distance to her advantage and reducing the chance to have the Action Girl hurt.
 * Kikyou was a Miko, yet she acted a lot like a yamato nadeshiko... until her death. After quite the stint as a Dark Magical Girl, she slowly loses her rage against the world and reverts to her original yamato nadeshiko self.
 * Nunnally and Euphemia in Code Geass might be Britannian, but they both yamato nadeshiko traits. Especially Nunnally, since Euphie is a bit more rebellious.
 * Kallen's biological mother, Mrs. Kouzuki, apparently fits in the mold, but she's actually a Deconstruction. She is devoted to her daughter and her dead son, but the war left her psychologically damaged and she was addicted to a drug that makes you relive happier times. Kallen also thought her mother was still devoted to her biological father, who basically just used her, not realizing her true reasons until she witnessed the depth of her mom's psychological damage.
 * Another Britannian one is Cecile Croomy, Count Lloyd Asplund's beautiful lab assistant. She'd be the perfect yamato nadeshiko if not for two things: her status as a Britannian... and her creative cooking. Kikuko Inoue count: 9
 * The Black Knights have Nagisa Chiba. She's a Lady of War Action Girl when in her Knightmare, is in love with her commander and friend Todou, and can wear a beautiful kimono with ease
 * Let's not forget Sayoko Shinozaki, the sweet maid who takes care of Nunnally and Lelouch in Ashford.
 * Aiko from Himechan no Ribon fits this personality, even though nobody else in her family shows a personality like this. Her younger sister, Hime-chan, wished she was more like her but over time she realises she should be herself.
 * In The Prince of Tennis manga and OAVs, Sakuno Ryuzaki is portrayed as more mature and less klutzy, fitting the yamato nadeshiko mold pretty well. The anime series also gives us Narumi Iijyuin, whose twin younger sister Kurumi is a Shorttank.
 * Choutarou Ohtori is a male yamato nadeshiko, especially in the anime. Tall? Check. Polite? Check. Wise Beyond Their Years? Check. Focused on his goals? Check. Very competent in his "mission"? Check. Very devoted to his partner Shishido? Oh baby, Check, Please!.
 * Shuuichiro Oishi is the very incarnation of a Gender Flipped yamato nadeshiko, considering he's a male Team Mom who's extremely devoted to Tezuka and Eiji and later makes many sacrifices for the team.
 * The mothers of the players, logically, also are like this: special mention goes to Kaidoh's mother Hazuki, Tezuka's Hot Mom Ayana and Fuji's mother Yoshiko (sho is called one in manga canon).
 * Ryoma's mother Rinko is somewhat of an exception. She was a rather fiery Type B Tsundere when young, but even when she's much more mild now, she still doesn't give Nanjirou the whole control of their relationship and is hinted to be the main breadwinner of the household (he's a lazy monk, she's a lawyer).
 * Genderflipped and very much toyed with in regards to Seiichi Yukimura. The local Ill Boy looks and acts the part eerily well with his long-ish and wavy black-blue hair, pale skin, very polite speech patterns, extremely soft voice and quiet off-courts behavior... but he's a Magnificent Bastard Determinator in regards to tennis. Not to mention that his very stern and masculine-looking sub-captain Genichirou Sanada, who looks and often acts like the archetypical Japanese male, actually defers to him quite a bit.
 * Takashi Kawamura's normal self (as in, not Burning Taka) has many personality traits belonging to the yamato nadeshiko archetype. Soft-spoken, devoted to his friends and his goals, domestic, an excellent chef, close to his father, etc...
 * Nanako Meino, Ryoma's Tall, Dark and Bishoujo Cool Cousin. She's a bit of a subversion, though: while certainly sweet and compliant, she's not afraid to tell her uncle Nanjirou what she thinks of him. Very politely, mind you.
 * Depending on which series you are watching and how you watch it a decent number of the cast of Tenchi Muyo! characters fall in this category. Sasami, Ayeka and Kiyone all can be considered this, although the last two often fall out of this due to excessive Flanderization. Interestingly, the same influences often cause Sasami to become more of one.
 * What might be oddest is in that in one or two spots, this looks like what Ryoko wants to be. For someone whose personality seems to be a laundry list of what a yamato nadeshiko is not...
 * Subverted/Deconstructed with Kaede Fuyou in Shuffle: She seems to be this at the start, being unfailingly gentle and subservient, but when her love interest Rin starts falling for someone else aka their common friend and sempai Asa Shigure, well...
 * Note that Kaede is actually quite a spin in both yamato nadeshiko and Yandere, since her madness does not only come from Rin falling for Asa.
 * Also, Kaede was a Yandere in the anime. The original games have her as a more or less normal yamato nadeshiko... though one of the sequels, which sheds more light on her past, has a few touches from the anime.
 * Inverted with Sumire Kanou from Toradora!. She is described as having the looks and elegance of a yamato nadeshiko, and is the Student Council President. However, don't judge a book by its cover. Has black hair in the light novels, but has blue hair in the anime.
 * To the public eye, Yukimura Tokine from Kekkaishi is a picture-perfect embodiment of this trope. However, those who know of her secret work as a kekkaishi know that she is a scarily competent and rather ruthless Action Girl who not only has the tendency to hit allies who annoy her over the head and but also cold-heartedly executes enemies.
 * Regarding cooking (or in this case baking), Yoshimori is more proficient than her...
 * Akira Sakou in Girls Saurus is The Ojou who lives in a Big Fancy House and is an extremely traditional yamato nadeshiko (and is explicitly described as resembling and behaving like Nadeshiko herself)... however, she subverts this by being a hardcore Bokukko with very complicated gender identity issues outside of home, and it's implied that her attraction to Shingo is out of a strange inversion of Sitch Sexuality, because he's the only boy who (she thinks) thinks of her as a boy.
 * Anezaki Mamori of Eyeshield 21 is a girl with loyalty, domestic ability, wisdom, maturity, and humility... and is definitely a force to be reckoned with, protecting her surrogate siblings and standing up to badass football players. This only seems to elevate her standing in the eyes of other characters.
 * Also, played with in regards to Karin Koizumi. The best quarterback in the whole country is... a sweet girl who adores piano playing and shoujo manga and was pretty much forcefully recruited by the Teikoku Alexanders.
 * Iono from Iono the Fanatics is a queen from a foreign country who, on the surface, is very much a yamato nadeshiko, and she's even described as such by two government officials. However, her weak spot for black-haired girls also prompts her security officer to nickname her "horny queen", which is much more fitting.
 * Tohru Honda of Fruits Basket fits this trope almost perfectly. She's just more... clumsy, naive and more prone to hide things (in the manga) than the standard.
 * Subverted by her mother Kyouko. After marrying Katsuya, she is happy to be a loving mother and housekeeper and finally experience living in a happy family, which she couldn't due to her Abusive Parents... and then, in Uotani's backstory, we see that she beats the tar out of a group of delinquents to save Arisa. In 's flashback to when little Tohru went missing, we also see her threaten to "rain death upon [the police's] miserable souls" if they don't find her baby.
 * Yuki in No Bra is an example of this. She's a biological male who looks, acts, and identifies as female; however, the term transsexual has yet to be said, and everyone besides her love interest Masato believes her to be biologically female. She's friendly, domestic, and defers to Masato. Even when he told her to get her hair cut, something she didn't want to do, she did it with little complaint.
 * Miyuki Kobayakawa in You're Under Arrest. When she's not working at her traditionally male job (cop, if you hadn't guessed by the title) or up to her elbows in the engine compartment of either her patrol car or her personal vintage Toyota S800.
 * Parodied with Miyuki's coworker and friend Aoi Futaba, a Wholesome Crossdresser who looks and acts the part so damn well that Yoriko says she's more feminine than any of the girls in Bokuto station at one point. Also noticeable because Aoi is one of the few (if not the only) yamato nadeshiko roles played by Rica Matsumoto, making her a huge case of Playing Against Type.
 * In Ikki Tousen Great Guardians, there's Hakufu's sweet and polite "adoptive sister", Sonken Chuubou (Sun Quan)
 * This trope is also parodied in the last episode of Dragon Destiny, where  dresses up in a formal kimono, takes up ikebana flower arrangment... and utterly fails.
 * Windows 95-tan is often depicted this way, being the oldest of the 32-bit Windows operating systems.
 * Jun Fudo of Devilman Lady tries desperately to embody this trope, due to her self-esteem problems and her Abusive Parents. It backfires massively when she starts turning into a demon.
 * Axis Powers Hetalia plays with the trope quite a bit:
 * Japan is the character who plays with this trope the most, to such an extent that it's not completely clear if he's more of a straight than subverted/parodic example or the other way around. On one hand, he's polite, soft-spoken, humble, mature (especially when compared to the rest of the cast), usually wears a kimono or yukata, is shown to have domestic abilities (and not to mention he puts on a female kimono and apron when he plays house), and Word of God actually uses the term "Yamato Nadeshiko" to describe what he would have been like as a female. On the other hand, he's also a socially awkward Inscrutable Oriental who once turned against his family (which is his political commentary), and his YN traits are used for humor/parody as often as they're played straight (e.g. he can be too polite for his own good or doesn't let his politeness get in the way of him being a touch passive-aggressive). Possibly the best way to describe him is as a blend of both Inscrutable Oriental and yamato nadeshiko, with the latter being more obvious when he's with people/nations he feels comfortable around.
 * And that's not even getting into all the different ways fanfics play with this trope in regards to him. Some of them play his yamato nadeshiko traits fairly straight (especially when he's paired with Kindhearted Cat Lover Greece), but others present him as a Stepford Smiler who either snapped under the pressure of trying to maintain the "perfect, obedient son" role in his family (which is where the Yandere came from) or used his YN exterior to mask a dark interior, others depict him as having developed into a YN over time and especially after the trauma of Imperial Japan and World War II (which, ironically, made the yamato nadeshiko archetype known and popular), and still others show him as an Extreme Doormat version of the trope in regards to a Bastard Boyfriend (most likely pirate!England).
 * Subverted very discreetly, however, seeing as in the manga and CD drama ("The World's Pervert Ambassador") Japan lays bare his Otaku side and proudly proclaims that everybody should turn to the 2D "Moe" universe because it wouldn't soil the body (although it will soil the heart, just a tiny bit). This prompted the fandom (speculated to be made mostly of fangirls) to assume that Japan spends his free time reading/drawing manga, doujinshi, and snapping pictures of the Hetalia pairings during the World Meetings (referring to his tendency to always carry a camera while touring other countries). The Japanese fandom is the most affected - doujinshis that depict fanon (or practically canon, in Hetalia's case) pairings sometimes have Japan going out of his way to get them together so he would have more material to sell to Hungary-san/his own doujinshi works. YN's of either gender are definitely not allowed to reveal their carnal desires, especially of the fujoshi variety...
 * A good example of the above would be the fan game "JOKER" (Jones/Kirkland...we already know what we're getting into) where Japan is usually his normal composed, mature self. As the game goes on, and numerous elements of affection between America and England get more explicit by the scene (and also as they continue to meet various past selves of England throughout the game), his calm demeanor breaks down even more frequently. In several scenes he is even shown actually working on a doujinshi. The other characters have by now gotten over the shock of having a potential pedobear/voyeur among their midst, and ridicule him in appropriate times (when chibi!England is around), although Hong Kong has recently taken up the habit of knocking Japan unconscious if his ramblings venture into dangerous waters for the rating.
 * Taiwan seemed to be another good candidate to be a yamato nadeshiko, being dainty-looking and dressing rather girlishly. But both the "East Asia" sketches and her speaking part in China's CD's drama track characterize her as a Plucky Genki Girl instead, who isn't shy about making fun of her older brother China's "hipness" or telling him to leave Japan alone. So yeah, it looked like she would be a second YN, but it was systematically Jossed.
 * Hungary, who appeared to do most of the housework with Chibitalia in the past scenes, and is depicted as the kind elder sister for HRE and Chibitalia, as well as practically married (and divorced, but still) to Austria, was the epitome of a YN for the most part of the series. Then we found out that she used to think she was male, hung around with Prussia and got into scuffles, and, as Word of God says, is essentially the most manly out of all the characters in APH, despite keeping a rather girlish outlook with her long hair. Also, she's a closet fujoshi.
 * Ironically? Austria, Hungary's husband, can be easily seen as a Rare Male Example. He's a stern, serious, and very traditional Princely Young Man with Tall, Dark and Handsome looks who acts as the Team Dad for several European nations, is seen needing Hungary's Action Girl protection, and sometimes acts as her Mission Control.
 * The most straight up example, in the end, would be the Zashiki Warashi, a Stringy Haired Ghost Girl who lives in Japan's Big Fancy House.
 * Although, a Zashiki Warashi is a spirit who enjoys playing innocent pranks on residents of an old house, and being a young girl she wouldn't be happy sitting still and patiently as a YN is supposed to. That is, if anyone can get her to, seeing as she's an energetic ghost.
 * The prefectures of Akita, Iwate and Yamagata (the second, third and last in the chibi round, respectively) are female and have the YN looks.
 * So does the prefecture of Kyoto, but she seems to be more about the poise and the will of iron than the kindness. Justified Trope because Kyoto was the former capital of Japan; since it's one of the bastions of Japanese tradition and culture despite its growth and evolution, it makes sense that its Moe Anthropomorphism has the looks and likely the personality of a yamato nadeshiko.
 * In Nyotalia, the female interpretation of Japan acts exactly like a YN. She has straight bangs, wears flowers in her hair, is usually seen in a kimono or a black, more feminine version of Japan's military uniform, and is described by Estonia as "quiet-looking". However, given the flip side of her male counterpart's nature...
 * Liechtenstein is probably the only character to be played straight with this trope in APH. She used to have long, braided pigtails, but she cut them so that she could be more like her brother. She is quiet and dainty, uses a formal speech which is reserved for women of high standing/respectful house. There are no hints of the Otaku elements that are seen in Japan and Hungary as of yet, although she does get excited over cute things, like her brother's drawings and Kugel Mugel (who is actually a boy, but she thinks is a girl). Even her Mochi self is gentle, loving and innocent - much too so, for Estonia eventually decides that she would be happier staying in Mochiland when he thinks about the "kids" back at home (specifically Mochimerica, who enjoys swearing, beating up the other kids, eating fatty food and so on) the kindly Scottish lady who once fed Mochi America too many snacks and made him so fat he took up a whole room, and Mochirussia, (who comes to "play" with Mochimerica sometimes...) even though he really wants to adopt her. He decides to search for a tougher, more resilient but still cute Mochi to take home, and winds up with Mochispain.
 * In Deadman Wonderland, Karako likes to claim that she is one. Everyone else disagrees, though.
 * Kaede Kimura in Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei tries to be a true yamato nadeshiko to Itoshiki Nozomu (she actually uses the term). But her years spent overseas, as well as a mental breakdown she suffered when she returned to Japan, have left her with a second, more dominant personality: Kaere, who has a stereotypical aggressive foreigner attitude. Hilarity Ensues.
 * Also parodied with Matoi Tsunetsuki, who wears a kimono and acts like a parody of the trope in regards to Itoshiki-sensei. Then again, she also combines and parodies this with the Stalker with a Crush trope.
 * Tsubaki from Soul Eater. How else would she be able to put up with Black Star?
 * Forget him. Her 'touch of iron' is shown for the first time when she confronts her big brother Masamune, in a pair of chapters/episodes which refer to both aspects of the trope.
 * Shamal from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha As, as it fits to her "role" as "the mother" in The Three Faces of Eve Wolkenritters. Except that she can't cook.
 * Heck, when off-duty, Nanoha herself is very much a yamato nadeshiko. If she's working, though, expect some serious "befriending"... and once that's done, she'll be back to her YN self.
 * It Runs in The Family, considering her Hot Mom Momoko.
 * Francoise/003, and  in Cyborg 009.
 * Hermione from Romeo X Juliet, with the exception of her stress-triggered Yandere Freak-Out in one episode.
 * Also Romeo's Hot Mom, Portia. Juliet's best friend Cordelia is a borderline case, though towards she's a bit of a Type B Tsundere.
 * Sakura-chan's four older sisters from Pokémon. Satsuki (Jolteon), Sumomo (Vaporeon), Tamao (Umbreon) and Koume (Flareon) can wear fancy headgear and kimonos gracefully, serve you the most delicious green tea, play the shamisen beautifully and arrange flowers like pros... and kick your ass in style with their Mons. Little Sakura is still too young to fully qualify, but she and her Eevee/Espeon are definitely getting there.
 * was originally trained by a princess. Bonus points for being voiced by you-know-who! Kikuko Inoue count: 10
 * Though she isn't seen much, Daisy, Green's older sister, from Pokémon Special. She's kind, polite, good at nursing Pokémon, brewing tea, and helps her grandfather out in his studies, and later Bill.
 * Ash's mom Delia/Hanako, as well as Erika the Gym Leader. The latter gets bonuses for wearing a kimono, too, and beng the sweetest girl until you insult her perfume and Grass Pokémon Gym.
 * Bonus points for Erika, by being a grass gym leader she's associated with FLOWERS.
 * Shimako Todou from Mariasama ga Miteru. Sachiko also shows some traits, though she's more of The Ojou.
 * Toyed with in G Gundam. When Rain Mikamura gets the Rising Gundam to use in battle, it has a heat naginata polearm that can become a bow with heat arrows as its main weapon, following the example of the yamato nadeshiko who's trained in weapon handling to defend herself and her household. Rain has many traits, personality wise: she is extremely devoted to Domon, to her Professor father and their mission, but is also quite more fanservicy, stubborn and outspoken than the standard.
 * Parodied in Hamtaro with Charlotte/Sakura, Philip/Ichiro's girlfriend . She can play the part well when needed and has been raised as one by her very Overprotective Dad... but you'd never know it if you met her outside her Big Fancy House, since she's a Genki Girl bordering on Wild Child whenever she gets out.
 * Ren Mikihara from Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu, a minor addition to the side-story cast, along with student body president Atsunobu Hayashimizu, whom she clings to.
 * It might be worth noting that briefly in one episode Kaname dresses up as and acts like an archetypical YN and goes unrecognized by other characters who know her. She lampshaded it herself, saying that she always wanted to be "more classy", but this position in their family was already taken by her older sister, so she had to become a Tsundere instead.
 * In Slam Dunk, we have two highschool-aged examples: Oda's girlfriend Youko Shimamura and Akane Mizusawa from the fourth OAV. Female lead Haruko Akagi would count as well (and Youhei does describe her as a yamato nadeshiko in the beginning) if she was less accident-prone and Oblivious to Love, but she's likely to grow up into one. Let's give her a few years.
 * A grown-up example is Anzai-sensei's wife, who even dresses up in a kimono.
 * Kiminobu Kogure can be seen as one of the very rare male examples.
 * Mikuru Asahina from Haruhi Suzumiya is this trope mixed with all-too-generous portions of Extreme Doormat. Her seiyuu, Yuko Goto, is known for voicing these types of characters (though not to the extent of, say, Kikuko Inoue or Sayaka Ohara), though she (definitely) isn't one herself and does not appreciate people treating her like she is.
 * Yuki Nagato also has more than her share of yamato nadeshiko traits (quiet, humble, calm, defers to Kyon quite a bit), but she's also a mix of at least a half dozen other character types.
 * Twilight Suzuka from Outlaw Star is something of a hybrid. She is half this trope, and half Hot Chick with a Sword.
 * Princess Freya from the Asgard saga in Saint Seiya. Also Chinese Girl Shunrei, Seiya's childhood friend Miho, and to a smaller degree, Saori herself after her Character Development.
 * Andromeda Shun is a male example, being a soft-spoken Adorably Precocious Child who fits eerily well personality-wise.
 * A harsher example is Mermaid Thetys, who is very polite and devoted to Poseidon as well as a skilled Dark Action Girl who manages to fight on even terms with the High Heel face Turned Shaina and force her into a draw.
 * Hiromi Yuasa from True Tears is an obvious textbook example of this trope.
 * Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple has Kenichi's little sister Honoka, who's a yamato nadeshiko in progress. She's pretty much the only girl in the series (other than Kenichi's mom, who also qualifies) who isn't an Action Girl.
 * Mako from Initial D acts a LOT like one, bar her very fanservicey clothing... until she gets into her car.
 * Isumi of Hayate the Combat Butler has most of the traits, and those she doesn't can be attributed to her age. Plus she's a Barrier Warrior capable of fighting the Big Bad / Dragon to a stalemate.
 * Played with in D.Gray-man, where the pale and dark-haired girl who loves serving coffee around and is a total sweetie towards her friends...is also a fearless Kick Chick Action Girl and Ms. Fanservice with a REALLY nice set of legs. Ladies and gentlemen, here's Lenalee Lee!
 * While Otae has the mild mannerisms, warm smile and naginata in Gintama, she's a total subversion of a yamato nadeshiko. Hinowa fits the description better.
 * Sawako Kuronuma from Kimi ni Todoke. Not only does she fit the looks of the trope with her long, dark hair, she also has a penchant for skirts and girly clothing. And let's not forget the domestic traits. She takes turns cooking for her family, makes cookies to thank others for small favors and makes all of her own Christmas gifts by hand.
 * Both Mirei and her mother from the Tokyo Babylon OAV, with Psychic Powers as a bonus.
 * Subaru and Hokuto's grandmother is an older and harsher version, too.
 * Miyazaki from the OAV is another male example - and possibly the one who was the basic design for Fujitaka and Aoki, considering his looks and behavior.
 * In the Vampire Princess Miyu manga, Ranka is one of these. In the anime, she's less YN-ish but she can still make herself look like one real well.
 * And then there's Miyu's mother, whose devotion to her daughter and wish to give her a normal life leads her to either  to free her from the terrible and lifelong duty of being the Guardian.
 * Miya Alice from Dangaioh is this when not in action. Justified Trope since it turns out she is a Japanese schoolgirl kidnapped and made into a Super Soldier due to her latent Psychic Powers.
 * Kana Ushiro from Bokurano is a YN in training. Takami "Komo" Komoda has some whiffs of it (and is voiced by Mamiko Noto), but she's more of The Ojou.
 * Yukio Washimine from Black Lagoon is a Deconstruction. At the tender age of 17, she's the heiress of the Washimine Clan and is fully willing to take it over as it's the family tradition. It Gets Worse for her, needless to say.
 * Rihoko from Witchblade combines this skillset with a Cheerful Child persona, which makes the people around her melt. She's very good at steering her Adult Child mom, Masane.
 * Cake baking, clothes mending, soft toy making, and cute bento lunch cook Asuka from Otomen is quite close to this this trope. The one big exception is that he's a guy.
 * However, he almost wins a yamato nadeshiko competition on behalf of the girl he loves (who is anything but a yamato nadeshiko).
 * Megumi Ouka from Voltes V is this and an Affirmative Action Girl with Charles Atlas Superpower. Then again, she was trained in Japanese virtues by her mother parallel to her Training From Hell with her dad...
 * Yamamoto-sensei in Hanamaru Kindergarten...shame she's so dense. Hinagiku is a 5 year old version of this, skillfully commanding her mafia don father when he gets a bit scary.
 * Kotori Monou from X 1999. Voiced in the TV series by Mamiko Noto, too.
 * Seiichirou Aoki is a male example, specially considering that Fujitaka from CCS is basically his Expy. They're voiced by the same guy, for fer's sake! (if we don't count the TV series, yeah)
 * Horrifyingly subverted with from Mirai Nikki, who plays the part and kinda looks like one, but
 * On the other hand,
 * Miya Asama from Sekirei is a more iron-willed yet perfectly graceful example. She will have her way and make you like it.
 * Tiffa Addil from Gundam X grows from a Shrinking Violet into this, as a part of her Character Development.
 * Altenna from Noir is one of the rare villainous examples. She's very beautiful, motherly, soft-spoken, sincere about what she believes in - but considering what she's so dedicated to, she's also creepy as hell.
 * Anju Kitahara and Ryouko Momoi from Marmalade Boy. Three guesses as to who voices Anju, and the two first don't count! Kikuko Inoue count: 13.
 * Haruka of Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu shows shades of this trope, but its her mother who takes the cake. When her husband charges into a random house armed with a sword and his own personal army, she calmly walks in and manages to convince him to leave their daughter alone, and give his blessing for her hobby. Also notable as one of the few uses of Battle Aura and Glowing Eyes of Doom where the person in question is just standing there calmly.
 * Ruka Souen from Vampire Knight. There's also a villainous example in Shizuka Hio.
 * Sara from Shokojo Sera is one in training. She was voiced by, well...
 * Kimura-sensei's wife. Or better said, "his waifu".
 * Very cruelly deconstructed in Sakura Gari. When Masataka stops by Dr. Katsuragi's house, he meets his beautiful, polite and soft-spoken wife Asayo, who seems to be the perfect example of the trope. Then, Masataka notices the bruises on her neck and wrists, and the deal becomes a LOT more unsettling. It Gets Worse later, when one of the servants rubs medicinal ointments on Asayo's horrible bruises and she quietly and softly says it's her own fault for upsetting him.
 * And later?
 * Mu-Yoen of Pig Bride is very much the Korean equivalent of this trope.
 * Manami, the eldest Kasuga twin in Kimagure Orange Road. In her gentlest moments, the Tsundere Madoka strongly resembles one too.
 * Akemi, the Kasuga's deceased mother, also was one. Most exemplified in her and Takashi's backstory,
 * Nicely subverted by Kino's Journey. There are two characters named Kino, and it's the  one who fits this trope. The  ... eh, not so much.
 * In an episode of Detective Conan in which Ran and Sonoko get fortunes at a rooster festival telling them what their boyfriends' "ideal type" is, Ran's tells her to be this. The words "yamato nadeshiko" can be heard in the dialogue.
 * Many female characters (whether more or less around or only peripheral) invoke the trope in different ways, like Heiji Hattori's Hot Mom Shizuka who wears kimonos with ease and is not to be trifled with. Even more than one female Sympathetic Murderer falls into this, like
 * And we also have a Rare Male Example in the soft-spoken, naive, Tall, Dark and Handsome Dr. Tomoaki Araide.
 * Lady Kendappa from RG Veda is willowy, dark-haired, gentle, artsy and ladylike.
 * Head maid Mariel in Hanaukyo Maid Tai, particularly in the first season. Although she's always obedient to Taro's wishes, she can usually get him to do what she wants anyway. The best example is in episode 10, where she gets him to do his chores by by saying she'll have to lay off maids if he doesn't.
 * Invoked and discussed in Haikara-san ga Tooru, where main character Benio Hanamura has the looks and even wears traditional clothes... but does not want to become one and thus stop being The Ladette, no matter what her very traditional father says. She starts taking up some of the traits (more going by the will of iron) as she gets involved in a Perfectly Arranged Marriage with Nice Guy Shinobu Iijyuin, though.
 * Benio's love rival, Larissa, is quite more of a yamato nadeshiko..
 * And the most straight-up YN in the series is Miss Kichiji. Justified Trope: she's a Geisha, so being a yamato nadeshiko is her main work gig.
 * Invoked in Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. Grandis acts like a yamato nadeshiko around Captain Nemo to get his attention. This makes Samson and Hanson very jealous.
 * Arguably, Electra has more than one whiff of the trope. Yeah, she's voiced by her. Kikuko Inoue count: 14.
 * If you can see through her Ms. Fanservice traits, you'll notice that with her kindness, dedication and humble personality, Iori Yoshizuki from Is'' fits fairly well in the trope. Voiced by Kumi Sakuma, even!
 * Saiyuki has a male example in Cho Hakkai, complete with Politeness Judo: watch the group's antics carefully, and you'll see that while Sanzo is nominally in charge, if Hakkai wants something done, it happens. He'll also break your arm without ever losing his smile...but only if you're threatening innocents or his True Companions.
 * For some, Yaone might fit just as well, if not better.
 * Slightly parodied in Yaiba with the beautiful Lady of War "Nadeshiko Yamato", a one-shot character.
 * Hitomi Shizuki from Puella Magi Madoka Magica. She's very ladylike, soft-spoken, determined when she has a goal (which isn't necessarily good, as shown by ), and good at very traditionally Japanese things like Japanese dance, tea ceremonies and piano playing. She even attends after-school classes for them, feeling that she should learn them even if it means less time for school duty.
 * Madoka's father, Tomohisa, is a Rare Male Example. He's soft-spoken, homey, and a Supreme Chef who takes care of the home while his Hot Mom wife Junko is the breadwinner.
 * Mami also fits this trope. She's feminine, polite, good at cooking, acts like a mother figure towards the other girls, and has a graceful fighting style. In one scene, she calmly sips tea immediately after a battle.
 * The protagonist of Wandering Son, Shuichi Nitori. He's a soft-spoken, docile boy who's good at baking and is quite feminine. He says what he feels, and has spoken up for his friends at times. Nitori wants to be a girl, thus making him fit the trope. Noticeably, he's at a sharp contrast to basically every other character; as none of them act like him. In recent chapters, he's begun to break more out of this trope but still fits.
 * Anri Sonohara from Durarara. She has a passive, soft-spoken and gentle personality, although she won't let others push her around all the time. To seal the deal, she wears yukata on occasion.
 * Considering her role  this could be questioned considerably. Then again, considering that she is , maybe not that much. This is Durarara, after all, and almost nobody is what they seem.
 * Grandma Sakae from Summer Wars. Not only does she fit the build, running her extended family by traditional values, but she also wields a naginata with skill.
 * In Black Butler, Soma's Battle Butler Agni is seen as a Rare Male Example.
 * Played with in Maison Ikkoku, where Kyoko Otonashi acts the part, but is really a Tsundere, leaning towards the deredere part.
 * Ui Hirasawa from K-On!! fits this trope to a T. Everything she works for being for the good of the family? Check. Loyal? Check. Really good at cooking and cleaning? Check. Mature? Check. Arguably moreso than any other character on the show. Polite? A given.
 * Mawaru Penguindrum has three of these. First we have the Takakura matriarch, Chiemi, who fits in here to a T (Kikuko Inoue count: 16). Then we have the girl and youngest child of the Takakura family, Himari. And then we have the youngest Takakura son, Shouma, who is such a male YN that even Himari refers to him as such, and so does their older brother Kanba.
 * Some 4chan members have referred to Shouma as "waifu"... something only "reserved" to females, due to him being a male YN and so damn Moe.
 * Sister Princess has an odd example. Haruka is from Germany and yet she acts more traditionally japanese than any of the cast. Wearing kimono, conducting tea ceremonies, practicing with a naginata etc.
 * Ryougi Shiki of Kara no Kyoukai has the looks and always prefers a kimono over casual dress, yet is a Badass Cute and Psycho Knife Nut.
 * Happiness: Saya. Explicitly referred to as such by Hachisuke.
 * Nanako Misonoo from Oniisama e... is basically one in training, as well as the main character. She likely got it from her Hot Mom, who also is one of these.
 * Kazemakase Tsukikage Ran, being a show about Ronin in Japan, has a few of these. One of them in particular is a lord's mistress: she's kind, gentle, family / house oriented, looks the part with a fancy kimono and
 * Cruelly played with in an episode of Hell Girl. An beautiful orphan girl named Inori seems to be the very incarnation of this ideal, and is offered a nice marriage prospect with the handsome son of the sponsor of her Orphanage of Love. Except that there's a catch:
 * Yune is a cute little girl from Ikoku Meiro no Croisee. She goes to Paris from Japan and introduced in a gorgeous kimono. Culture Clash is half the premise. The other half is proto-feminism, and it Anviliciously points out the problems with this trope.
 * Yumi, Mayu's mother in Morita-san wa Mukuchi, personifies this--aside from her fits of jealousy against her husband.
 * Ureshiko in Okusama wa Mahou Shoujo is a clear example, rather predictably. (Kikuko Inoue count: 17)
 * Rey of Saint Beast is a male example. He's the most typically feminine and domestic member of the team but is perfectly competent in a fight and stronger than he seems.
 * Yukari from Family Compo fits this trope pretty well.
 * Hinako Aikawa from Bitter Virgin definitely has a lot of the traits associated with this archetype - she's sweet, humble, and outwardly extremely vulnerable, but she shows plenty of unexpected courage in confronting those who harm her or people she cares about (albeit, understandably, usually only if they're female, due to her personal trauma).
 * Hinako Aikawa from Bitter Virgin definitely has a lot of the traits associated with this archetype - she's sweet, humble, and outwardly extremely vulnerable, but she shows plenty of unexpected courage in confronting those who harm her or people she cares about (albeit, understandably, usually only if they're female, due to her personal trauma).

Comic Books

 * The main character in Desire's issue of Sandman: Endless Nights seems to fit fairly well into this trope.
 * In the X-Men books, Wolverine was in love with Mariko Yashida for a good portion of Claremont's run after Jean Grey's death, and even after she came back, he stayed devoted to Mariko, though by then he was Loving From Afar. Mariko herself was a perfect example of this, determined to free her family from its underworld ties at any cost...and ultimately, any cost was what it took.
 * Since Yoko Tsuno is the daughter of a very traditional Japanese family, her mother Masako is a yamato nadeshiko. The trope might have been invoked in "The Devil's Organ", when Yoko shows up to a formal party in Germany in a kimono and leaves everyone starstruck... then she quickly subverts it by pointing the Moebius with a rifle

Fanfiction

 * In Kyon: Big Damn Hero, Tsuruya is surprised that her father thinks of her as a wildflower while she's dressing up for the.
 * This trope is used in Cat Tales in practice if not by name.
 * In the Katawa Shoujo fanfic Weekend At Hisaos, Shizune's deceased mother is implied to have been this. Her "touch of iron" comes into play when she argues with her husband over his hiring tutors to make Shizune talk, and gets him to stop.

Film

 * Audrey Hepburn is one of the few Western women to this day who measures up to Japan's standards of a yamato nadeshiko. In fact, both Relena Peacecraft/Darlian of Gundam Wing and Lacus Clyne of Gundam Seed were based upon Hepburn's Princess Ann from Roman Holiday, with Relena's dress being modeled after Princess Ann's royal dress from the film.
 * For the record, Audrey even got a namesake in Gundam Unicorn - "Audrey Burne"
 * Eve from Love On The Side.
 * Tomoe, the female romantic lead from The Twilight Samurai aka Tasogare Seibei. Since the film is set in nineteenth century Japan, the trope doesn't seem out of place; if anything, Tomoe is the most "modern" major character in the film. Nevertheless, she's a convincing if not outright iconic yamato nadeshiko.
 * Her name even includes the word "Moe." What moe could you ask for?
 * Played completely straight by Xiao Qiao in Red Cliff, the reason why Japanese Love Lin Chiling (a Taiwanese model-and-first-time actress, known for exhibiting this behavior even in Real Life).
 * In some form of distaff Hilarious in Hindsight karma, trailers for Lin Chiling's new movie Treasure Hunter have her wielding a Blade on a Stick in her first major fight scene.
 * Mutsuta's wife in Akira Kurosawa's Sanjuro. She never raises her voice, and appears to have two emotions: Happiness at pretty things and serenity at everything else. Yet the rude, badass ronin who appears to have only contempt for her gets totally bossed around by her.
 * Lady Kaede from Kurosawa's Ran definitely springs to mind, though the character type is certainly played with. Beautiful, gentle, graceful, mature and the perfect lady.
 * Lyddie in Saving Sarah Cain.
 * Taka in The Last Samurai
 * Invoked in Mulan: "Men want girls with good taste, calm, obedient, who work fast-paced. With good breeding and a tiny waist."
 * Mulan herself plays with the trope a bit. She has the looks, is extremely devoted to her parents and desperately tries to fit in as a perfectly feminine and demure daughter... without much success. However, when she learns that her already old father will have to go to war, she shows the core of steel part by dressing up as a male and taking his place, not for glory or to rebel against her family but to save her dad's life and the family honor.
 * Leah in A Stranger Among Us
 * Not so much deconstructed as utterly destroyed in Audition. Asami Yamazaki appears at first to be the sort of beautiful, demure woman that every Japanese man would love to have for a wife. However, in the last third, we discover that  her core of steel is made of razor wire and needles, and she's a complete psycho.
 * A rare male example in the film Gohatto. The protagonist is a quiet, demure Bishonen who even wears his hair in a Hime Cut.
 * Millie in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is an example in territorial America. She embodies every ideal of femininity at the time: she's not afraid of working hard; she cooks, cleans, and sews for seven men, and yet turns a house of barbarians into a matriarchy through sheer force of personality.

Literature

 * Given that the Yamani Isles are a Fantasy Counterpart Culture for Japan, it is no surprise that Yamani women typically end up being this.
 * Adele Ratignolle from Kate Chopin's novel The Awakening. Her submissiveness and devotion to her family and husband make her a foil to the protagonist Edna.
 * Mariko Buntaro from Shogun almost personifies the trope in her public life, although she subverts it by refusing her husband in private. In the end, she
 * Hardly surprising, given that Mariko-san is an Expy of a Real Life yamato nadeshiko: Tama "Gracia" Hosokawa. See Real Life below.
 * Denise Baudu from Zola's The Ladies Paradise. Completely selfless, everything she does is for the benefit of her brothers. She also shows humility under extreme provocation, and there is iron at the core of her character: she will not allow her ideals to be compromised, either through threat, hardship, or temptation. Denise is described as 'formidable in her gentleness'.
 * Older Than Print: Discussed in The Tale of Genji. Despite this trope being known as the "perfect Japanese woman," the characters come to the conclusion that a perfect doormat is almost certain to snap eventually, and so it's better for a woman to tactfully but unmistakably bring up grievances with her husband and not simply take any indiscretions on his part lying down.
 * Discussed in Obasan by Joy Kogawa, where Naomi discusses how her female relatives were like that.
 * Sisterhood series by Fern Michaels: Despite Yoko Akia referring to herself as Chinese in Weekend Warriors, Free Fall establishes her as Japanese, so she is definitely this trope. She is mostly polite and soft-spoken. However, make no mistake, this 4 feet 8 inches tall, 90-pound woman can and will engage in major Waif Fu if the situation calls for it. In fact, she has never lost a fight (at least that has been shown or told about in this series), and she pinned her future husband Harry Wong to the ground in a sparring match. It is quite telling, because Harry can flatten just about anybody in a fight, and he states afterwards that that was the first time in his life that he had ever been pinned to the ground.

Live Action TV

 * Swan Shiratori, Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger's mechanic, fits this description perfectly, though not being as tall or long-haired as most anime examples.
 * The following season Mahou Sentai Magiranger yields a better example, Ozu Miyuki, literally the mother of the core 5 Rangers. Even her superhero identity is named MagiMother. MagiBlue, Urara is an example-in-training and tall, long-haired, sweet Team Dad Makito has elements of a male version.
 * A subverted example turns up two seasons later in Juuken Sentai Gekiranger. Masashi Miki, a single mother of one and more of a guardian and mentor to the Rangers than the actual grandmaster ShaFu,
 * Also subverted with Ran, whose mother wants her to become a yamato nadeshiko and to that end tries to arrange a marriage for her. After the Gekirangers spend the episode trying to foil this plan, Ran finally gives up and just explains that she is too busy saving the world to get married any time soon.
 * Explicitly stated as the dream of Mako in Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (she even has a character song about it!) but unfortunately her cooking skills leave a lot to be desired.
 * Engine Sentai Go-onger has Ren/Go-on Blue, a male example: tall, polite, the most mature and responsible of the bunch, and the one who does all the team's cooking. His teammates even call him "mother."
 * Gekisou Sentai Carranger's Naoki/Blue Racer is perhaps not a straight-up example of the male variety, due to the comedic nature of the show and the Jerkass behaviour of the main characters - but he has the modest, polite, calm and domestic side down perfectly.
 * Airi Nogami, Ryotaro's older sister in Kamen Rider Den-O, who is pretty, caring, an excellent cook, and completely, completely unflappable. Upon being told that Ryotaro was being held hostage by an armed robber, her immediate reaction was to go back to preparing coffee. When one of her regulars asked how she could be so calm, she muttered "That's right", then went off...to make "Ryo-chan" some special hostage snacks. Cue mass Face Fault.
 * The wisdom part comes to play in a rather surprising form:
 * Trope Codifier: Oshin.
 * As proof that these types of characters don't have to be Extreme Doormats, Matsu of Toshiie to Matsu is one of these: a traditional Samurai lady of the house raised in the Sengoku era whose indomitable will very few people are willing to come up against. (Though her husband does get a little bit of ribbing from his co-workers due to her tendency to go very tsun on him when she suspects him of infidelity.)
 * Played with stunning level of complexity in the 2008 NHK drama Atsuhime. The title character, Atsuhime (Princess Atsu; later Lady Tenshoin) grows from a tomboyish, adventurous village princess to becoming the consort of the Obfuscating Stupidity Shogun Iesada. She skillfully and proactively (yet subtly) navigates around the issues and problems of the late-Tokugawa period (although not always successfully), marking her a remarkable exception inside a feudal world where women prefer behind-the-scenes scheming.
 * In the Japanese drama series Tumbling, Wataru's mother is a perfect example - but when the going gets tough, we see where her son gets his fighting spirit from.
 * Park Myeong-yi, the mother to the main character in Dae Jang Geum, and her husband live as lower caste commoners but she is a wonderful cook for her family as well as very calm but strict with her daughter.
 * Alyssa Enrile/White Tiger Ranger Power Rangers Wild Force. Princess Shayla leans more toward Silk Hiding Steel.
 * Keiko O'Brian in Deep Space Nine.

Music
"I bought you, I love you, I want to subjugate you tonight I claim you, I name you, Can't wait, you need to do me for life"
 * mc chris has a song from his album Part Six: Part Two called "Japanese Maid" about a Japanese mail-order bride who, in his words, is "[his] wife and [his] slave" who "does everything right" and is "oh so polite". Her role, like a good Japanese wife per Confucian ideals, is to keep house and fuck (which she does flawlessly), to the delight of mc chris:


 * The Deep Purple song "Woman From Tokyo".
 * Arguably, the girl described in Luis Miguel's "La Incondicional" ("The Unconditional One").
 * The Japanese singer Riyu Kosaka has a song called "Yamato Nadeshiko", which fits the trope pretty well, as you would expect.

Mythology and Religion

 * Kaguya-hime of the Japanese folktale The Legend of the Bamboo Cutter. She was sweet, polite, gentle and completely devoted to her adoptive parents. While she did ask her suitors to do impossible things as the condition to marry any of them (which meant, they all failed and she blew them off), it wasn't because of hate or cruelty, but because.

Theatre

 * The "I Want" Song "A Quiet Girl" from Wonderful Town seems to be about this type.
 * Cio-Cio San, the main character in Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly. She converts into Christianity, since it is her husband's religion, never mind that it gets her disowned by her relatives. Then he leaves for America, supposedly while she is still pregnant, and is absent for three years: she waits faithfully, even if the matchmaker and the American consul try to convince her that he has abandoned her and that she should remarry. When he returns with a new American wife, a girl named Kate, she gives her small son to her... and kills herself to avoid a scandal. Needless to say, the opera has huge Values Dissonance, probably had already at the time it was written in. The best part? It was Based on a True Story.

Video Games

 * Despite having a Japanese Fantasy Counterpart Culture in Wutai, Final Fantasy VII technically does not have a yamato nadeshiko, just Yuffie. Though if Aerith had been born there she definitely would be because she fulfills the other qualifications: more traditionally feminine than the other girls and occupies the 'comforting, mothering figure' aspect - which she comments on in Advent Children). As it stands, she's Silk Hiding Steel.
 * For the same reason and despite her appearance, Tifa from fits this more so than Aerith. She's first seen greeting Cloud after he came back from his mission, is an excellent cook and bartender, and basically fits Team Mom role all the way to the end.
 * Yuna, from Final Fantasy X, can be seen as this if you squint. She's a gentle and feminine girl whose something like a shaman, wears a dress resembling a kimono, and grew up on an island. She loosens up in the sequel
 * Nakoruru from Samurai Shodown is a Cute Bruiser and The Beast Master version of the trope. Also, Haohmaru's lover Oshizu and Ukyou's lady of liege Kei Odagiri.
 * It's now normal for Tales (series) leads to get paired with a Tsundere by the story, but in Tales of Phantasia, the tsundere went to best friend Chester, and the main character got Mint, who is such a perfect example of this trope that she basically gets it as a title.
 * Fon Master Ion is arguably a male example. He's polite and friendly almost to a fault (and is rather feminine looking), but you don't want to get him mad.
 * Believe it or not, Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters is one. And very proud of it, since in her own words, she's "the number one Japanese girl". It's quite more evident when she's outside the fighting ring, of course: i.e., in the KOF: KYO game, Mai cheerfully and gladly puts on a very fancy kimono and [[media:000s8dcq.png|hosts a tea ceremony for Kyo and his girlfriend Yuki]].
 * Also Shizuka Kusanagi, Kyo's Hot Mom. Always in a kimono, uses a naginata, is very sweet and compliant as well as extremely sneaky and sly. ..
 * Yukiko Amagi in Persona 4. Granted, it kind of comes with her job, being the heiress of a traditional-style Japanese inn, but she embodies so much of it that.
 * Interestingly, normal Yukiko also ends up subverting the trope in action, even if appearance-wise she matches the trope to a T (what with being the tallest of the main female cast, the long black hair, etc):
 * She also loses the YN attitude when she's competetive: "I'll destroy you in one blow!"
 * Fuuka from Persona 3 could fit this as well, especially after overcoming her shyness through Character Development.
 * The Pokémon Gardevoir. It looks vaguely like a pretty human female, and it devotes itself to protecting and serving its trainer, to the extent of sacrificing itself for them.
 * On that subject, Froslass. She even looks like she's wearing a kimono! Specially considering she's a Yuki-Onna.
 * Also, the Kimono Girls/Apprentice Geishas. They were the inspiration for the aforementioned Sakura-chan and her sisters, actually.
 * And Erika the Gym Leader, including wearing a kimono and practicing ikebana (floristry).
 * In Street Fighter, Rainbow Mika's tag-team partner is actually named yamato nadeshiko, and she's a short-haired brunette fighter.
 * The most straightforward example is Hokuto from the Street Fighter EX continuity. She's calm, cool, very Tall, Dark and Bishoujo and the Onee-Sama to her sister Nanase, as well as a Lady of War when she fights.
 * Most of the Harvest Moon games have at least one. Interestingly for this Trope, said character is almost never the easiest to marry:
 * The original and Magical Melody: Maria--not to be confused with the Meganekko Mary/Maria, though.
 * Back to Nature/Friends of Mineral Town: Elli, the cute nurse with Giant Poofy Sleeves.
 * A Wonderful Life/DS: Celia, whose semblance to this trope in the HM series is only topped by...
 * Celia actually became even more of a yamato nadeshiko in DS.
 * Tree of Tranquility/Animal Parade: Anissa, who so epitomizes this it's hard to know what else to say about her. Renee has hints of this as well.
 * Islands of Happiness/Sunshine Islands: Actually, it's harder to find a better example in those games. Alisa seems close, but  Sabrina's also fitting.
 * Dawn Star from Jade Empire is arguably a Chinese version.
 * A Western example, albeit not a Love Interest, is 1st Lieutenant (later Lieutenant Colonel) Mariko "Spirit" Tanaka in Wing Commander. She's also the only Japanese character in the first game.
 * Sayaka Minazuki from the Fatal Frame IV.
 * The Seijyun Girls Academy in Rival Schools is a high-class all-girls school that pretty much trains its students to become yamato nadeshikos. Subverted, though: not only it's also the home to an all-female gang led by Aoi "Zaki" Himezaki, but the girl who suits the archetype the most
 * The Boss from Metal Gear Solid. A mother figure to everyone in her Quirky Miniboss Squad and a literal mom to one of them. It is precisely her absolutely unwavering sense of loyalty and duty that compels her- clearly against her own instincts- to sacrifice her own men and ultimately condemn herself to being forever remembered as a traitor- all for the sake of protecting her country, accomplishing her mission, and averting a nuclear holocaust. Her occupation and role in the game are likely the reason we don't see...gentler skills she may have like flower arranging. Guess who does her voice? Kikuko Inoue count: 18
 * Suikoden II has Yoshino Yamamoto. Softly-spoken, wears a kimono, devoted to her husband Freed; she ticks all the domestic boxes. When you go to recruit her, she's busy with the laundry. Last but not least, she's wields a naginata in battle and is significantly stronger than her husband - who is actually in the military.
 * Suikoden III has her daughter Sanae Yamamoto. She is just as capable as her parents and shares the same personality as her mother.
 * Morenatsu, with its nearly all-male Cast Full of Gay, has Kyōji has a male version.
 * More Chinese than actual Japanese, but Litchi Faye-Ling has a lot of yamato nadeshiko element. Kind, sensible, soft-spoken, nurturing and pretty much Friend to All Children, as well as being tall, long haired and having Hime Cut for the ones not in ponytail. Although her dress of choice is kind of skimpy, she tried her best to dress as modest as possible (except her infamous boobies usually get in the way, forcing her to reveal some of her skins). It's no wonder Bang Shishigami fell in love with her. She's not THAT submissive, though, and can fight damn well and gracefully with her staff. Word of God claimed that she is one of the few Good people in the series, despite
 * In an uncommon Hentai example, there's Moonlight Lady's Yuriko Kuraki: graceful, elegant, mysterious... yet not afraid to do what she has to in order to reach her goals (including sleeping with her son-in-law-to-be).
 * Tytti Norbuck from Super Robot Wars Gaiden exemplifies this quite a bit despite being Finnish and her actual job (an F-1 Racer), she's incredibly loyal, homely, graceful and in La Gias she's more into its politics, as well as being the most properly and modestly dressed lady while surrounded with a lot of skin-revealing buxom ladies (while she's also buxom herself). Now if only she didn't have a weird sense of taste, thereby guaranteeing anything she cooks will... suck. Kikuko Inoue count: 19
 * Oichi in her later incarnations in Samurai Warriors.
 * Touhou: Yuyuko Saigyouji is something of a subversion. She's whimsical and prefers pulling pranks on her servant/guardian, but she can be serious if the time comes.
 * Kaguya Houraisan (who is the Kaguya-hime of legends) can be seen as one, having all the qualities, but like Yuyuko, can be childish and frivolous.
 * Fujiwara-no-Mokou might be an inadvertent Deconstruction of this trope. She has all the get-up to be a yamato nadeshiko, down to being a Fujiwara, the clan who married their daughters to Japanese Emperors to secure their political power. The mess she's in was caused by, amongst other things, her desire to uphold her father's honor after the aforementioned Kaguya scorned him. She's now an anti-social white-haired Bifauxnen who is anything but feminine.
 * Ran Yakumo fulfill all the duties expected from a lady of the house (does that make Yukari the husband?), and is also a very good mother-figure for Chen.
 * Flora/Nera, one of the potential marriage candidates in Dragon Quest V, is a Yamato Nadeshiko type. Contrary to the usual, however, she's significantly less popular than her more tomboyish counterpart Bianca -- as evidenced in an episode of Lucky Star where this choice is referenced. Kagami's choice of Bianca is treated as being more sympathetic... and Konata's brief discussion of why you might pick Flora is purely about gameplay advantages, not character traits.
 * Likely, Guy's fiancèe Rena from Final Fight. Not only she has the looks, but she also possesses rather polite speech patterns and wears a dark-colored kimono.

Visual Novels

 * Iris from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations. She dresses and acts the part. On the other hand,
 * Umineko no Naku Koro ni has Natsuhi Ushiromiya, who tries her hardest to play this trope straight. It helps that she comes from a family of Shinto priests, and was raised in a very traditional Japanese household. Unfortunately she will often let her pride cloud her judgement, and she has too much of a Hair-Trigger Temper to truly be a Yamato Nadeshiko. Shannon fits the archetype better than Natsuhi does, clumsiness aside.
 * Virgilia, as well. An elegant witch and Beatrice's mentor who will drop more than a few hints in order help Battler succeed. For a bonus, yep, she's voiced by *her*. Kikuko Inoue count: 11.
 * One of the complains that Kyrie Ushiromiya had against Asumu, Rudolf's first wife and Battler's mother, was how much she resembled the archetype and how it made her look more desirable to Rudolf than an assertive female like her.
 * Nagisa Furukawa and her mother Sanae from Clannad. Sanae-san's main flaw as a yamato nadeshiko is that she's a Lethal Baker. Kikuko Inoue count: 12
 * Mei Sunohara, the kid sister of Tomoya's friend Youhei, is a yamato nadeshiko crossed with Cheerful Child. Whenever she visits Youhei, the first thing she does is clean his (truly filthy) room.
 * Uraha in AIR is an interesting take of this trope. It helps that she's voiced by... well, just guess. Kikuko Inoue count: 15
 * Sakura Matou from Fate/stay night. However, it turns out that her yamato nadeshiko persona was a role she adopted as a way to make herself appeal to Shirou.
 * Her mother, Aoi, however, wants to and tries to fit this trope to a T, being entirely unwilling to argue with her husband's decisions, . However, she lacks the "iron core". And it really, REALLY doesn't end up well for her either.
 * Lilly Satou from Katawa Shoujo has some elements of this, even though she's only half Japanese.
 * The "touch of iron" part is most evident when she has to deal with Shizune.
 * Actually, she's a rather... interesting spin on the trope.
 * Meredith Baker from the Bliss Stage Visual Novel is exactly this... except that she's black.
 * Touko in Suika intentionally takes on this role. Her passivity and devotion is actually somewhat disturbing to Yoshikazu, her boyfriend.
 * Yukari in Kara no Shoujo fits this extremely well. She even wears traditional Japanese clothing around the house. However, she's also a slight cloud cuckoolander and has some rather questionable taste, which rather detracts from the impression, or rather puts it in a comical light.

Webcomics

 * Ronin Galaxy: Ai is a pretty direct example of this trope. She goes from being a naginata-wielding home defender one second, to a proper, tea pouring geisha-type the next.

Web Original

 * Whateley Universe example: Generator's late mother, who was even first-generation Japanese. Generator would like to become this, and is trying to learn how to cook. She's already a great babysitter and wants to become a mother some day . But right now she's more of a Yandere and is regarded by most of the Super-Hero School as a loony.
 * The YN of Contemplating Reiko is the mother of the protagonist: Fumiko. She's the demon world version of this trope: a doting mother and Housewife whose hobbies include flower arranging, caligraphy, tea ceremony, katana wielding, drinking booze, and bounty hunting.

Western Animation

 * In Kim Possible there's Yori, who crushed on Ron in Season 2 and 3 is very submissive and deferrent despite her impressive martial-arts skills (as a female Heir to the Dojo). When Kim and Ron finally hook up in season four, Yori calmly accepts it (to Ron's dismay), claiming it to be destiny. (Which saves her from the Die for Our Ship that a yamato nadeshiko love interest usually goes through.)
 * The ill-fated Tang Shen, as described in Leonardo's "Tale of Master Yoshi" in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003.
 * Fluttershy from My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic has a lot of elements of a yamato nadeshiko. In addition to being very soft spoken, she is easily the most maternal of the main characters and possesses pretty much all of the domestic skills traditionally admired by men. However, despite being very reserved, she does have moments of true bravery and assertiveness when her friends are depending on her. She shouted a dragon into submission, as well as a Cockatrice in a separate incident (her Death Glare was able to overpower its petrifying gaze).
 * Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender can do this perfectly, and in fact she looks a LOT like one when she shows up in a white dress in her parents's home - except she really, really dislikes it. She'd prefer to punch a rock into your face, instead.
 * Mai could potentially fill in the yamato nadeshiko shoes rather well, though she's much more deadpan than the standard.
 * Princess Ursa, Zuko's mother, also could pull this rather well. She's softspoken, beautiful, calm and very proper, teaching Zuko about small things in the ways of life and wondering what's wrong with Azula when she's in full Creepy Child mode. And she shows the core of iron via.

Real Life

 * This term likely originated with the Chiran Nadeshiko Unit of WWII, a group of middle-school girls who provided comfort and companionship to Kamikaze pilots while serving as a subtle reminder of what they were sacrificing themselves to protect. The program was highly publicized for propaganda purposes, but befriending successive waves of airmen (most of them little more than teens themselves) only to watch them sent off to die inflicted a severe psychological toll on the girls. The program finally ended after repeated air raids convinced the authorities that the airfield had become far too dangerous for children. Some surmise that the modern concept of yamato nadeshiko in general stems from wartime propaganda intended to buck up the home front.
 * This concept is present in Indian/Hindu culture as well. In Telugu it goes by the name of Bharatiya Nari ("Indian woman").
 * Tama "Gracia" Hosokawa, daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide. Converted to Christianity by her handmaid, she chose to die (according to some sources, she killed herself; to others, she was murdered and her killers made it look like suicide) rather than renouncing her ideas and her family honor. In fact, the aforementioned Mariko from Shogun is an Expy of Gracia.
 * The term was the reason the Japanese female soccer team gained the Fan Nickname "Nadeshiko Japan". After winning The World Cup in 2011, the girls totally justified it!