Tomoe Gozen

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Tomoe Gozen portrayed by Kikuchi Yōsai
Memorial stone at Gichū-ji ( 義 仲 寺 ), near Ōtsu in Shiga prefecture

Tomoe Gozen ( Japanese 巴 御前 , German about: "Lady Tomoe"; * around 1157 ; † around 1247 ), obsolete Tomowe , was one of the few female warriors ( onna bugeisha ) in Japanese history.

Live and act

Until the battle of Awazu

Tomoe Gozen came from the Shinano province , according to Heike Monogatari . Later she was Yoshinaka's guardian. This was not uncommon, as many Japanese women at the time were trained in handling weapons (especially the Naginata ) to defend their homes or to serve as ashigaru . Tomoe Gozen quickly earned the respect of her male comrades for her riding, archery and kenjutsu skills . Tomoe Gozen is also described in detail in Heike Monogatari , where her beauty (“white skin, long hair and an extremely enchanting face”) as well as her skills and bravery are praised again.

The widespread Kakuichi version of Heike Monogatari describes Tomoe as a binjo (servant, subordinate) that Yoshinaka brought from Shinano . But in the following text she is referred to as Ippō no Taishō (leading commander). The Enkei Bon version of this text did not mention Tomoe as binjo , but as bijo (beautiful woman). Despite such ambiguities, Tomoe is described in all versions as a feared warrior who could take on "thousands", even with "demons or gods" and rode untamed horses ( 荒 馬 乘 り , arauma-nori ).

Her origin is presented differently from version to version: In Heike Monogatari no relationship is mentioned, but in some versions (e.g. Gempei Seisuiki) she appears as the daughter of Nakahara no Kaneto, who was Imai Kanehiras and Higuchi Kanemitsu's father, or in Gempei Tojoroku as the daughter of Higuchi Kanemitsu.

Battle of Awazu

After the Taira (Heike) were defeated in the Gempei War and driven westward, Minamoto no Yoshinaka sat at the head of the clan and chose Kyōto as his seat. His cousin Minamoto no Yoritomo was extremely angry about this and commissioned his two brothers Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Minamoto no Noriyori to kill him. This conflict culminated on February 21, 1184 in the Battle of Awazu . When it became apparent that Yoshinaka's defeat, who was already heavily outnumbered the whole time, is said to have released Tomoe Gozen from her duty, as he said: “It would be a shame to say that Kiso Yoshinaka was in his last Kampf was accompanied by a woman. “He chose his favorite servant Imai Kanehira, who was his adoptive brother, as the only accompaniment in Awazu (see Heike Monogatari).

Although she resisted this order, her oath forced her to obey. Before doing her master's wish, however, she looked for a final, worthy opponent on the battlefield. Their choice finally fell on Onda no Hachirō Moroshige , who was famous for his strength in his home province of Musashi . Tomoe stormed forward, took Moroshige in one-on-one, and triumphed over him. She pinned her opponent to the pommel of her saddle, "turned his head off" (a euphemism for "behead" that appears frequently in these war reports) and threw him away. Then she stripped of her armor and rode to an eastern province.

End of life

There are also different versions of the rest of life. According to the Gempei Seisui Ki , she was later ordered by Minamoto no Yoritomo to Kamakura , where she married Wada no Yoshimori , a Samurai-Dokoro, and gave birth to Asahina (Saburō) Yoshihide . After he was killed in 1213 when the Hōjō destroyed the Wada , Tomoe is said to have entered a monastery, where she remained until her death at the age of 91.

Other female warriors

Tomoe Gozen was not the only female warrior in the service of Yoshinaka. The Heike Monogatari mentions a Yamabuki Gozen from Suwa, who was the daughter of Kanazashi Morizumi, and the Gempei Jōsuiki an Aoi Gozen who was killed at the Battle of Kurikara. On the opposite side, the taira , there was a Hangaku Gozen , also called Itagaki.

reception

Tomoe Gozen was the main character in fantasy and historical novels several times:

Computer games

  • In the mobile game Rise of Kingdoms, Tomoe Gozen is an unlockable commander.

literature

  • Royall Tyler: Tomoe: The Woman Warrior . in Chieko Irie Mulhern: Heroic With Grace. Legendary Women of Japan . ME Sharpe, 1991, ISBN 0-87332-552-4 , pp. 129-161
  • Helen Craig McCullough: The Tale of the Heike . Stanford University Press, Palo Alto 1988, ISBN 0-8047-1418-5 , p. 291.
  • Stephen R. Turnbull: The Samurai. A Military History . Routledge Shorton , Abingdon 1996, ISBN 1-87341-038-7 , p. 64.
  • David E. Jones: Women Warriors. A history . Brassey's, Dulles 2000, ISBN 1-57488-206-6 , p. 37.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ OsakaPrints.com: Kinoshita Roshû (1807-79) ( Memento of the original of July 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / osakaprints.com
  2. ↑ Tyler p. 134

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Tomoe Gozen
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 巴 御前 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION female samurai
DATE OF BIRTH around 1157
DATE OF DEATH around 1247