Tomoe Gozen

This article is about the female samurai. For the 1981 Jessica Amanda Salmonson novel, see Tomoe Gozen (novel).
Tomoe Gozen
巴 御前
Tomoe Gozen, by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Tomoe Gozen, by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
LeaderMinamoto no Yoshinaka (commander)
Personal details
Born1157
Died1247
NationalityJapanese
OccupationOnna-musha
Military service
AllegianceThe Minamoto clan (Specifically Minamoto no Yoshinaka)
Years of serviceOne (1182)
Battles/warsBattle of Awazu

Tomoe Gozen (巴 御前, Japanese pronunciation: [tomo.e][1]) was an onna-musha, a female samurai, mentioned in The Tale of the Heike.[2] There is doubt as to whether she existed as she doesn't appear in any primary accounts of the Genpei war. She only appears in the epic "The tale of the Heike".[3][4] She served under samurai lord Minamoto no Yoshinaka during the Battle of Awazu,[5] part of the Genpei War in the late Heian period, which led to the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate.[6][7]

  1. ^ Note: Gozen is not a name, but rather an honorific title, usually translated to "Lady", though the title was rarely bestowed upon men as well.
  2. ^ "Tomoe Gozen | World History Commons". worldhistorycommons.org. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  3. ^ "These 3 samurai women were heroes of shogun era Japan". History. 2024-09-27. Archived from the original on March 7, 2024. Retrieved 2024-09-27.
  4. ^ Brown, Steven T. (1998). "From Woman Warrior to Peripatetic Entertainer: The Multiple Histories of Tomoe". Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies. 58 (1): 183–199. doi:10.2307/2652649. ISSN 0073-0548. Although more than a little hyperbole embellishes the extant accounts of Tomoe's military exploits, there is little disagreement over the basic outline of Tomoe's involvement in the Genpei Wars.
  5. ^ Toler, Pamela D. (2019-02-26). Women Warriors: An Unexpected History. Beacon Press. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-8070-6432-0.
  6. ^ Pennington, Reina (2003). Amazons to Fighter Pilots - A Biographical Dictionary of Military Woman (Volume Two). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 437–438. ISBN 978-0-313-32708-7.
  7. ^ Turnbull, Stephen (2012-01-20). Samurai Women 1184–1877. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 36–37. ISBN 978-1-84603-952-2.