Tomoe Gozen

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Infobox officeholder Tomoe Gozen (Template:Lang, Template:IPA<ref name="gozen"/>) was an onna-musha, a female samurai, mentioned in The Tale of the Heike.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There is doubt as to whether she existed as she does not appear in any primary accounts of the Genpei War.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> She supposedly served under the samurai lord Minamoto no Yoshinaka during the Battle of Awazu,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> part of the Genpei War in the late Heian period, which led to the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>

Genpei War

File:Tomoe Gozen Killing Uchida Ieyoshi at Battle of Awazu no Hara (1184) MET DP135504.jpg

"Tomoe Gozen Killing Uchida Ieyoshi at Battle of Awazu no Hara (1184)", print by Ishikawa Toyonobu, c. 1750.

Under the leadership of Yoshinaka she commanded 300 samurai against 2,000 warriors of the rival Taira clan during the war. After defeating the Taira in 1182 and driving them into the western provinces, Yoshinaka took Kyoto and desired to be the leader of the Minamoto clan. His cousin Yoritomo was prompted to crush Yoshinaka, and sent his brothers Yoshitsune and Noriyori to kill him.

Yoshinaka fought Yoritomo's forces at the Battle of Awazu on February 21, 1184,<ref name=Turnbull2>Template:Cite book</ref> where she is known for beheading Honda no Morishige, leader of the Musashi Clan.<ref>Faure, Bernard. (2003). Template:Google books; Kitagawa, p. 521.</ref> She presented his head to her master Yoshinaka.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Although Yoshinaka's troops fought bravely, they were outnumbered and overwhelmed. When Yoshinaka was defeated there, with only a few of his soldiers standing, he told Tomoe Gozen to flee because he wanted to die with his foster brother.

There are varied accounts of what followed. She is also known for having killed Uchida Ieyoshi and for escaping capture by Hatakeyama Shigetada.<ref>Joly, Henri L. (1967). Legend in Japanese Art, p. 540.</ref> She then retired to become a Buddhist nun, remaining so supposedly until 1247 AD.<ref name=ww>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

References

• Faure, Bernard (2003). The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Template:ISBN; Template:ISBN; Template:OCLC.
• Joly, Henri L. (1967). Legend in Japanese Art: A Description of Historical Episodes, Legendary Characters, Folk-lore Myths, Religious Symbolism, Illustrated in the Arts of Old Japan. Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle. Template:ISBN; Template:OCLC.
• Kitagawa, Hiroshi and Bruce T. Tsuchida, ed. (1975). The Tale of the Heike. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. Template:ISBN; Template:OCLC.
• McCullough, Helen Craig (1988). The Tale of the Heike. Palo Alto, California: Stanford University Press. Template:ISBN; Template:OCLC.
• Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth (2005). Japan Encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Template:ISBN; Template:OCLC.

External links

• Famous Women of Japanese History Template:Webarchive. The Samurai Archives Japanese History Page.
• Shea, L. "Tomoe Gozen - Female Samurai". Bella Online, 2009.