Tomoe Gozen
Encyclopedia
Minamoto no Yoshinaka
was a general of the late Heian Period of Japanese history. A member of the Minamoto samurai clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was his cousin and rival during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and the Taira clans....
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Tomoe was a rare female samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
warrior (onna bugeisha
Onna bugeisha
An was a type of female warrior belonging to the Japanese upper class. Many wives, widows, daughters, and rebels answered the call of duty by engaging in battle, commonly alongside samurai men. They were members of the bushi class in feudal Japan and were trained in the use of weapons to protect...
), known for her bravery and strength. She is believed to have fought and survived the Genpei War
Genpei War
The was a conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the late-Heian period of Japan. It resulted in the fall of the Taira clan and the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate under Minamoto Yoritomo in 1192....
(1180–1185).
History
According to one historical account,After defeating the Heike and driving them into the western provinces, Minamoto no Yoshinaka
Minamoto no Yoshinaka
was a general of the late Heian Period of Japanese history. A member of the Minamoto samurai clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo was his cousin and rival during the Genpei War between the Minamoto and the Taira clans....
(Tomoe's master) took Kyoto and desired to be the leader of the Minamoto clan
Minamoto clan
was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were demoted into the ranks of the nobility. The practice was most prevalent during the Heian Period , although its last occurrence was during the Sengoku Era. The Taira were another such offshoot of...
. His cousin Yoritomo
Minamoto no Yoritomo
was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate of Japan. He ruled from 1192 until 1199.-Early life and exile :Yoritomo was the third son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, heir of the Minamoto clan, and his official wife, a daughter of Fujiwara no Suenori, who was a member of the...
was prompted to crush Yoshinaka, and sent his brothers Yoshitsune
Minamoto no Yoshitsune
was a general of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura period. Yoshitsune was the ninth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, and the third and final son and child that Yoshitomo would father with Tokiwa Gozen. Yoshitsune's older brother Minamoto no Yoritomo founded the Kamakura...
and Noriyori
Minamoto no Noriyori
was a late Heian period general, who fought alongside his brothers Minamoto no Yoritomo and Minamoto no Yoshitsune at a number of battles of the Genpei War. The sixth son of Minamoto no Yoshitomo, he was spared along with his brothers in 1160 by Taira no Kiyomori following Yoshitomo's death.He...
to kill him. Yoshinaka fought Yoritomo's forces at the Battle of Awazu
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...
on February 21, 1184, where Tomoe Gozen purportedly 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
Imai Kanehira
Imai Kanehira was the milk brother of Minamoto no Yoshinaka. He became joint commander of Yoshinaka's faction during the Genpei War after Yoshinaka met up with him at Seta. He fought with the forces of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, who wanted to bring an end to Yoshinaka's tyranny. Imai commanded...
and he said that he would be ashamed if he died with a woman.
There are varied accounts of what followed. At Battle of Awazu
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...
in 1184, she is known for beheading Honda no Moroshige of Musashi. She is also known for having killed Uchida Ieyoshi and for escaping capture by Hatakeyama Shigetada
Hatakeyama Shigetada
was a samurai who fought in the Genpei War, in Japan. Originally fighting for the Taira clan, he switched sides for the battle of Dan-no-ura, and ended the war on the winning side....
.
After the battle, according to Heike Monogatari she gave up the sword. It is also said that she was defeated by Wada Yoshimori
Wada Yoshimori
was an early Kamakura period military commander. A gokenin of the Kamakura shogunate, he was the first director of the Samurai-dokoro.He was the son of Miura Yoshiaki and grandson of Sugimoto Yoshimune, making him a descendant of the Heike. Among his sons were Wada Yoshinao, Asahina Yoshihide, and...
and became his wife. After Wada died, she was said to have become a nun in Echizen. These different stories are what give the story of Tomoe Gozen its intrigue. She was never proven to have been a historical figure so she could also be an invention of the author of Heike Monogatari. However, the grave of Yoshinaka's other female attendant Yamabuki Gozen does exist and most of the incidents in The Tale of the Heike are believed by historians to be true.
In popular culture
As one of the very rare examples of warrior womenWoman warrior
The portrayal of women warriors in literature and popular culture is a subject of study in history, literary studies, film studies, folklore and mythology, gender studies, and cultural studies.-Archaeology:...
in Japanese history, Tomoe has been incarnated as characters in several anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
.
- In the 2005 NHKNHKNHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
taiga dramaTaiga dramais the name NHK gives to the annual, year-long historical fiction television series it broadcasts in Japan. Beginning in 1963 with the black-and-white Hana no Shōgai, starring kabuki actor Onoe Shōroku and Takarazuka star Awashima Chikage, the network has hired a producer, director, writer, music...
Yoshitsune, Tomoe Gozen was one of the main characters, portrayed by actress and model Koike Eiko. - Jessica Amanda SalmonsonJessica Amanda SalmonsonJessica Amanda Salmonson, born January 6, 1950, is an author, editor and writer of fantasy and horror fiction.-Author:Salmonson is the author of the Tomoe Gozen trilogy, a fantasy version of the tale of the historical female samurai Tomoe Gozen...
wrote "The Tomoe Gozen Saga", a trilogyTrilogyA trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
of fantasyFantasyFantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novelNovelA novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s respectively titled Tomoe GozenTomoe Gozen (novel)Tomoe Gozen is a novel by Jessica Amanda Salmonson, published in 1981. Set in an alternate universe resembling feudal Japan, the book combines the tale of historical female samurai Tomoe Gozen with the legends and creatures of Japanese mythology to create an action-adventure fantasy...
, The Golden Naginata, and Thousand Shrine Warrior. The first was reissued in a corrected and revised edition as The Disfavored Hero. - Saisei, a character in the mangaMangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
Samurai Deeper KyoSamurai Deeper Kyois a manga series written and illustrated by Akimine Kamijyo. The manga was serialized from October 15, 1999 to May 10, 2006 in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine, and collected over 38 volumes....
, turned out to be the resurrected Tomoe Gozen. She is accurately portrayed, wearing beautiful armor and being highly skilled with her naginata. - Tomoe Gozen is one of the characters resurrected on the planet of RiverworldRiverworldRiverworld is a fictional planet and the setting for a series of science fiction books written by Philip José Farmer . Riverworld is an artificial environment where all humans are reconstructed. The books explore interactions of individuals from many different cultures and time periods...
, in both the science fiction novels of Philip José FarmerPhilip José FarmerPhilip José Farmer was an American author, principally known for his award-winning science fiction and fantasy novels and short stories....
and the 2010 miniseries adaptation of the same nameRiverworld (2010 film)- Caretakers :The caretakers appear as blue-skinned robe-clad figures who watch over the humans. They were the beings who created Riverworld and are occasionally described as "demons." The caretakers are mostly divided between two separate factions: the Salvationists and the Second Chancers -...
; in the latter she is depicted as wielding two blades (one definitely a katana and the other, smaller-tsuka blade potentially being an elongated tantō) in the style of Musashi MiyamotoMiyamoto Musashi, also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman and rōnin. Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his excellent swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a very young age...
and the Go Rin No ShoThe Book of Five Ringsis a text on kenjutsu and the martial arts in general, written by the samurai warrior Miyamoto Musashi circa 1645. There have been various translations made over the years, and it enjoys an audience considerably broader than only that of martial artists: for instance, some business leaders find its...
, or Book of Five Rings. Miyamoto did not write his revolutionary treatise on swordplay and philosophy until at least four hundred years after the (potentially) historical Tomoe's death.
External links
- Woodblock print of Tomoe Gozen in battle. Electric Samurai: The Asian Network.
- Famous Women of Japanese History. The Samurai Archives Japanese History Page.
- "Samurai Warriors: Miyamoto Musashi and Tomoe Gozen". h2g2H2g2h2g2 is a British-based collaborative online encyclopedia project engaged in the construction of, in its own words, "an unconventional guide to life, the universe, and everything", in the spirit of the fictional publication The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy from the science fiction comedy series...
. - Shea, L. "Tomoe Gozen - Female Samurai". Bella Online, 2009.