"Ready To Battle Against Gods and Demons": Tomoe Gozen

Today, I’d like to tell you about my favorite character in the entire Genpei War (1180-1185). In a few days, the second and final part of the series will be out on History on Fire and hopefully you’ll choose to hear about an epic chapter of Japanese history from yours truly (if you have missed part 1, you can fix that here). But in the meantime, I’ll give you a sneak preview about the one and only Tomoe Gozen.

Of course, when discussing people from over 800 years ago, separating fact from fiction is a fool’s errand. The story of Tomoe Gozen is no exception. Sources are extremely thin, and their reliability is anyone’s guess. But in Japan she is considered a historical figure. In a museum there, I even saw a naginata (a weapon similar to a halberd) that supposedly once belonged to her. So, with this warning in mind, let’s see how she briefly shows up in The Tale of the Heike, the literary masterpiece that chronicles the Genpei War.

The year was 1184, and members of the Minamoto clan took a break from fighting the Taira clan in order to kill each other. Specifically, Minamoto Yoritomo sent his younger brothers to remove from the earthly plane their cousin, Kiso Yoshinaka, since he perceived him as a possible rival for control of the clan. Kiso was a wild and rather hilarious character. I won’t go much into his background here since I want to get to Tomoe Gozen soon, but I have to share an anecdote because it’s too good to pass.

Kiso had occupied Kyoto, after taking it from the Taira. But now, a larger Minamoto army under his cousins was coming to take it from him, so it was time to split from town in a hurry. Kiso being Kiso, however… he couldn’t quite bring himself to leave Kyoto without a last roll in the hay with one of his favorite lovers. One of his men was so mad that Kiso wasn’t taking the situation with the necessary urgency that he decided to impress the seriousness of their predicament in a rather radical way. As a way of saying, “Kiso, stop having sex and let’s get out of town immediately”, this samurai committed seppuku. I’d imagine that having someone ritually disemboweling himself right out of your door would indeed be a mood killer, so Kiso interrupted his amorous activities and got back on his horse.

Kiso’s own forces were largely demolished in the running battles that followed. Hopelessly outnumbered, his samurai fought bravely, but one after another they were cut down. During these fights, Kiso had by his side one of the most celebrated warriors of the entire Genpei War. Her name was Tomoe Gozen. And yes, I used my pronouns correctly. Tomoe Gozen was a woman, the most famous female samurai in history. In a different passage of The Tale of the Heike, the text reads “A woman is a poor, weak thing, incapable of controlling her destiny.” This line definitely doesn’t apply to Tomoe, who is easily the most intense woman in the story.

We often hear of women from samurai families being trained in the use of weapons, but typically this was done so they could be ready when their homes were under attack—not for going on military campaigns. Or, so it was thought until recently. This is still a highly debated topic, but there’s some archaeological evidence indicating female samurai fighting in the army may have been more common than it has been believed so far. Either way, Tomoe Gozen is one of the very few whose name has been preserved in history. It’s unclear if Tomoe was just a samurai serving Kiso, or was his lover. What we do know is that she was at his side during this battle.

The Tale of the Heike dedicates few, but beautiful lines to Tomoe.

“Tomoe had long black hair and a fair complexion, and her face was very lovely; but she was also a fearless rider, who could not be thrown by neither the fiercest horse nor the roughest ground; and with such skill she handled sword and bow that she was a warrior worth a thousand, ready to battle against gods and demons. Many times she had taken the field, fully armed, and won great fame in duels against the bravest captains, and so in this last fight, when all the others had been killed or had fled, among the last seven there rode Tomoe.”

Not that it’d make much difference in the end, but 300 more warriors joined these seven in trying to break through enemy lines. Kiso asked how large was the army surrounding them, and was told 6,000 samurai stood against them. Cheerfully, Kiso replied, "Then we are well matched! If we must meet death, let it be by galloping against a worthy foe and falling outnumbered."

In the ensuing fight, only fifty of Kiso’s men are able to break through enemy lines. More fighting trimmed that number down to five. Tomoe Gozen was among them.

At this point, Kiso tried to get her to leave and save herself. He told her, “Since you are a woman, it would be better that you now make your escape now. Go wherever you please. I have made up my mind to die in battle or kill myself if I’m wounded. It would be unseemly to let people say ‘Lord Kiso kept a woman with him during his last battle.’”

Tomoe wasn’t thrilled with this plan. She commented, “Ah, if only I could find a worthy enemy! I would fight one last battle for my Lord to watch.”  

The Tale of the Heike tells us what happened next, “As she sat there, Onda no Hachirō Moroshige, a man renowned in Musashi Province for his great strength, came riding up with 30 followers. Tomoe, immediately charged in their midst, flung herself upon Onda, grappled with him, pulled him from his horse, pressed him calmly against the pommel of her saddle and cut off his head. Then stripping off her armor she fled away to the eastern provinces.”

These passages I quoted are the extent of Tomoe Gozen’s presence in The Tale of the Heike. Brief, but epic.

At some point, I may make a short YouTube video about her story (speaking of which, if you haven’t subscribed for free to the History on Fire YouTube channel, it’s here). But for now, I invite you to check out the upcoming podcast episode of History on Fire, where not only will I go into Tomoe’s story, but also in the stories of several other amazing characters of the Genpei War.