Bumping links up out of LJ comments from the Trust/Betrayal Blu-Ray review (the liner notes finally explained Tomoe's mystery bleeding scene in ep3 as menstruation):

Early 20th century Japanese instructions for making pads, with some woodcut illustrations for comparison.

A book chapter of bawdy classical poetry about menstruation.

An 1877 account of menstruation in Japan (English translation; originally written by a German doctor)-- in this case, the "usual" T-shaped cloth pad is referred to as kama (no translation given), rather than uma (horse). He also mentions women rolling small nut-shaped paper tampons, and of an "old pernicious custom" (now abolished) of samurai girls never being officially told about menstruation by their parents, but instead being slipped "books which contained an accurate description of menstruation, and at the same time obscene allusions." (Snert.)

Another Google Books search suggest that kama may be a typo (or possibly a reado) for koma, "pony": 駒

Not entirely related, but still in the same general area of female maintenance: linked diagram and simple translation about wrapping sarashi (the long chest/abdominal cloth bindings).

By Haru Matsukata Reischauer; the book is a dual biography of both of her grandfathers, who were born toward the end of the Shogunate. Various excerpts of interest, mostly about her paternal grandfather; my attention span went plotz about halfway through the book, so I returned it to the library.( Read more... )