Tomoe Gozen (, ) was an

onna-musha ''Onna-musha'' (女武者) is a term referring to female warriors in pre-modern Japan. These women fought in battle alongside samurai men. They were members of the ''bushi'' (warrior) class in feudal Japan and were trained in the use of weapons ...

from the late

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japan ...

Japanese history The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inventi ...

. She served

Minamoto no Yoshinaka , , or Lord Kiso was a general from the late Heian period of Japanese history. A member of the Minamoto clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was his cousin and rival during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and the Taira clans. Yoshinaka was born in Musas ...

during the

Genpei War The was a national civil war between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the downfall of the Taira and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto no Yoritomo, who appointed himse ...

and was a part of the conflict that led to the first

shogunate , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

. Her family had strong affiliations with Yoshinaka. Her story in the ''

Tale of the Heike is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Heike () refers to the Taira (), ''hei'' being the '' on'y ...

'' influenced several generations of samurai. Tomoe is often celebrated in books, music, poems, films, historical novels and culture in general.

Early life

Tomoe's father, Nakahara Kanetō, was a strong supporter and foster father of Yoshinaka, having raised him since he was two. Her mother was Yoshinaka's

wet nurse A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, or if she is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cu ...

. Two of her elder brothers also served Yoshinaka as generals.

Genpei War

She commanded, under the leadership of Yoshinaka, 300 samurai against 2,000 warriors of the rival

Taira clan The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divide ...

during the war. After defeating the

Taira The Taira was one of the four most important clans that dominated Japanese politics during the Heian, Kamakura and Muromachi Periods of Japanese history – the others being the Fujiwara, the Tachibana, and the Minamoto. The clan is divided ...

in 1182 and driving them into the western provinces, Yoshinaka took

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

and desired to be the leader of the

Minamoto clan was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during th ...

. 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 Minamoto no Yoshinaka made his final stand at Awazu, after fleeing from his cousins' armies, which confronted him after he attacked Kyoto, burning the Hōjūjiden, and kidnapping Emperor Go-Shirakawa. During the pursuit he was joined by his ...

on February 21, 1184, where Tomoe Gozen took at least one head of the enemy. 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 Imai no Shiro Kanehira and he said that he would be ashamed if he died with a woman. There are varied accounts of what followed. At the

in 1184, she is known for beheading Honda no Morishige of Musashi. She is also known for having killed

Uchida Ieyoshi was a samurai warrior of the Minamoto clan, Kiso Minamoto clan who was most famous for dying at the hands of Tomoe Gozen, the famous onna-musha, whom he failed to capture in battle at the Battle of Awazu. In 1184, during the Genpei War, Minamot ...

and for escaping capture by

Hatakeyama Shigetada was a samurai warlord of the late Heian and early Kamakura period Japan. He fought in the Genpei War, though originally for the Taira clan, he switched sides to the Minamoto clan for the Battle of Dan-no-ura, and ended the war on the winning si ...

. After Tomoe Gozen beheaded the leader of the Musashi clan, she presented his head to her master Yoshinaka.

Notes

References

* Faure, Bernard (2003). ''The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender''. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ; ; . * 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. ; . * Kitagawa, Hiroshi and Bruce T. Tsuchida, ed. (1975). ''The Tale of the Heike''. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press. ; . * McCullough, Helen Craig (1988). ''The Tale of the Heike''. Palo Alto, California: Stanford University Press. ; . * Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth (2005). ''Japan Encyclopedia''. Cambridge:

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...

. ; .

External links

Famous Women of Japanese History
. The Samurai Archives Japanese History Page. * Shea, L
"Tomoe Gozen - Female Samurai"
Bella Online, 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gozen, Tomoe 1150s births 1247 deaths 12th-century Japanese women 13th-century Japanese women 12th-century Japanese people 13th-century Japanese people Japanese folklore Japanese women in warfare Women warriors Samurai Minamoto clan Women of medieval Japan Women in 12th-century warfare People of the Genpei War People of Heian-period Japan