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University of Hawai‘i at Hilo HOHONU 2015 Vol. 13
Women Warriors of Early
Japan
Rochelle Nowaki
History 310
Fall 2013
Source: Yoshitoshi. Hangakujo. Library of Congress,
Washington, D.C. 1885. Painting.
Women warriors were not a rarity in feudal
Japan. The onna-musha (女武者) lived within a warring
culture and with traditions of acquiring indispensable
skills in martial arts, archery, and horse riding. “Sengoku
battles often took the form of sieges wherein the entire
family would fight to defend the castle” so it was
necessary to be able to defend your family, children,
and yourself.1
The painting titled Boki ekotoba, dated to
1351, depicted a woman in armor, armed with naginata
and bow. A journal record of “predominately female
cavalry” is noted by Chancellor Toin Kinkata, who stated
they, “originated in western Japan...which suggests that
women from the west were most likely to serve in battle,”
away from the capital cities.2
The historic depictions of these females are
uncommon, however, because of the changes that grew
out of the political and societal turbulence starting in the
Kamakura Period. The apparent “paucity of references
indicates that women constituted a distinct minority of
warriors” but the opposite was more probable as evidence
recording their accomplishments were lost to warring
practices of the time.3
The existence and experiences
of the onna musha have changed over history and as a
result they are now viewed as a curious novelty of the
time instead of simply exceptional individuals.
Tomoe Gozen
Tomoe Gozen (巴御前) was perhaps the
most widely known onna-musha in Japanese history.
“The archetypal samurai woman warrior,”4
she was
chronicled in the Heike monogatari, which detailed her
involvement in twelfth century battles of the Gempei
Wars between the Taira and Minamoto clans. She was
famed for her expert horsemanship, exceptional skills in
archery and bravery in battle; Tomoe was “a powerful
fighter, the equal of a thousand, capable of dealing even
with demons or gods.”5
Lady Tomoe was the servant, lover and in some
reports, a wife, of General Minamoto Kiso Yoshinaka.
Tomoe's father was Nakahara Kaneto and more
significantly, her mother was menoto, Yoshinaka's
wet-nurse. “It was the custom in pre-modern Japan for
children of rank to be suckled by a menoto...an honor
usually bestowed as a reward for service. The menoto
and her family played an essential role in bringing up
and educating the child entrusted to them and they
identified their interests completely with the child's.”6
Yoshinaka and his blood siblings were predestined for
political competition with one another but his foster
siblings, Tomoe included, were not. Power was passed
on through male inheritance and literal blood-feuding
for political power was common in the noble families
This was likely the reason for his close relationship with
Tomoe, as there was no reason to fear her betrayal due
to the influence of political strategizing.
Yoshinaka was engaged in political competition
with his cousin Minamoto Yoritomo, who would later
establish the Kamakura Shogunate. Tomoe accompanied
Yoshinaka on his military campaigns and served him
loyally on the battlefield. Significantly, she was entrusted
with the authority as his “ippo no taisho, leading
commander,”7
to lead troops into battle.
The Heike monogatari describes her alleged
last fight on the battlefield at Awazu, after the mortally
wounded Yoshinaka orders her departure to send news
of his imminent death to his family in Shinano:
Tomoe made no move to go. But Yoshinaka
insisted until at last she said: “At least I would like
a worthy opponent. I would like to show you, my
Lord Kiso, my last combat in your service.”
So she lay in wait for an enemy. And there
appeared one famous for his strength throughout
the province of Musashi, Onda no Hachiro
Morishige, with thirty horsemen. Tomoe charged
in among them, went straight to Onda no
Hachiro, fiercely seized him and pinned his head
on the pommel of her saddle, then wrenched it
around, cut it off, and tossed it away. After that she
removed her armor and escaped toward the East.8
The chronicle of Tomoe Gozen in Heike
monogatari and its extended version Genpei josuiki
“attribute different adversaries to Tomoe,”9
contributing
University of Hawai‘i at Hilo HOHONU 2015 Vol. 13
to the mystery of this onna- musha's history. Similarly,
there remains much speculation about Lady Tomoe's
departure from the battlefield. Author Stephen Turnbull
states that Wada Yoshimori attacked her “using a pine
trunk as a club...and made her his concubine.”10
There
are similar reports that say Yoshimori took her as his wife
in hopes of producing strong warrior sons, gifted with
skills that would prove favorable for Yoritomo.
Chieko Mulhern proffered that Yoshimori
believed “…So valiant a woman would surely bear
him valiant sons.”11
Folkloric hero Asahina Yoshihide,
famed for his “colossal strength,” was described in
legends as Tomoe's son with Yoshimori. Furthermore,
varied accounts say that despite her gender, Tomoe
was destined for beheading by Yoritomo for her role as
enemy commander.
Other sources say that Tomoe escaped her
imprisonment, went into hiding and eventually became
a nun who died at age ninety.12
Whatever the case may
be of her eventual fate, Tomoe Gozen and her reputation
as ideal onna-musha endured. She has been celebrated
in Kyoto's Jidai Matsuri, Festival of the Ages, which
commemorates ancient Kyoto history and culture, with
a portrayal in the festival's parade dedicated to historical
medieval figures. Tomoe has been immortalized in
anime, videogames, movies, and books, including
a historical science-fiction-fantasy trilogy written by
Jessica Salmonson, titled The Tomoe Gozen Saga.
The Jito
During the Kamakura Era, women in the Kanto
region commonly held the position of regional land
stewards, known as jito. This title involved the duties of a
provincial manager, tax collector, and policing force that
would enact, enforce and protect the daimyo-controlled
lands. The Shogun appointed individuals, typically
men, to these positions but the titles and authority
could be passed in succession through a man's will to
his widow or children. It is notable that “no other law
except indifference excluded women from this kind of
authority.”13
Women in the Kamakura were also legally
authorized to appoint others to this position in their
place if they were so inclined.
Although it was implied that these titles would
necessitate martial training for carrying out enforcement
or policing duties on the estate, there has been little
direct evidence that would substantiate any methods or
training that these women completed to gain necessary
skills. Nevertheless, these women were preponderantly
of bushi class so it was not remarkable that they would
have been trained in self-defense, to wield tanto (small
blades) or naginata (polearms).
Hangaku Gozen
Hangaku Gozen was a member of the Taira clan
who lived with her family in Echigo. Also known as
Hangaku Itazaki, she was the daughter of Jo Sukenaga,
who was defeated by Kiso Yoshinaka in battle. She joined
her uncle, Jo Nagamochi, and cousin, Jo Sukemori, in
the Kennin Rebellion of 1201, and became an integral
part of their defensive operations at Torisaka Castle.
Hangaku was noted for her leadership and
bravery during the three month long defense during
which she and Sukemori led forces of men against
Sasaki Moritsuna's bakufu army, who were loyal to the
Kamakura Shogunate. “Dressed as a boy, Hangaku stood
on the tower of the castle and all those that came to
attack her were shot down by her arrows which pierced
them either in their chests or their heads.”14
The rebel
defenses were eventually struck down and Hangaku's
fighting stopped only after she was wounded by an
arrow that pierced her thigh.
She was captured and presented, “fearless as a
man and beautiful as a flower,”15
as a prisoner of war
to the Shogun Minamoto Yoriiye, who was intrigued by
her beauty and reputation. Lady Hangaku was precluded
from ritual suicide by the Shogun's orders to marry his
retainer, Asari Yoshito. Later, she reportedly delivered a
son, but there is little record of the remainder of her life.
Tsuruhime of Omishima Island
Tsuruhime was born to the Chief Priest of
Oyamazumi Shrine, Ohori Yasumochi, on the island
of Omishima during a time of conflict between the
Kono clan, under which her family was ruled, and
the Ouchi clan, which strove to take control of the
region. Tsuruhime inherited her father's position when
he died of illness and she also assumed leadership of
Omishima's defense against the threat of the invading
Ouchi military. In 1541, the sixteen-year old Tsuruhime
led an attack against the raiding Ouchi army. “Trained
since childhood in the martial arts...she took charge of
the military resistance” and successfully defended the
island.16
It was recorded that Tsuruhime believed she
was a manifestation of Mishima Myojin, Omishima
Island's guardian kami. She was empowered not merely
because of her inherited position, but moreso because of
her divine belief that it was her life's purpose to defend
the people of Omishima Island and the Kono clan.
The Ouchi returned four months later in a
raid led by Commander Obara Nakatsukasa no Jo.
Tsuruhime directed the surprise attack against the Ouchi
forces, striking Obara one evening during a moment of
respite, while he enjoyed entertainment and sake on his
flagship. “Using a bear paw rake she climbed on board
and sought out the general for single combat.”17
Obara
was described to be surprised, not solely by the instance
of attack, but particularly because it was a woman who
was in command. Armed with a sword, Tsuruhime
swiftly defeated Obara while the defense army and Kono
allies exploited their weapons advantage and unleashed
a barrage of horokubiya, “spherical exploding bombs,”18
against the Ouchi fleet and drove them to retreat.
Tsuruhime's armor was collected in 1543 after
she died by ritual suicide through drowning, following
the death of her lover in battle against the Ouchi.
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Tsuruhime was eighteen years old. Her suit of armor was
enshrined at Oyamazumi Temple.19
The Shinto shrine's
assemblage of military armament and weaponry has
historically been an important site of worship by warriors
and military. These warriors made offerings and prayed
to Mishima Myojin for protection in battle. Over time,
Tsuruhime's armor and other famous warriors' offerings
became religious treasures and icons of worship.
The Sato Wives
Two Sato brothers served as Minamoto
Yoshitsune's bodyguards for many years and were killed
in his service. Their widows, Wakazakura and Kaede,
observed common Confucian practices of mourning
by wearing their late husbands' suits of armor over
kimono. The custom was performed to show honor and
filial piety and reportedly, also to appease and console
the Sato mother-in law, Otowa. The Sato wives were
immortalized in an undated scroll that hangs in Ioji
Temple, which was constructed in honor of the fallen
Sato warriors. The artwork depicts the widows in full
armor, presented before their mother-in-law, Otowa,
who is pleased with this tribute of devotion and loyalty
to her slain sons.
Folk history venerates these women as examples
of honor as “some variations of the story portray them
[the widows] as actual warriors who donned the armor
to fight and seek revenge, rather than as merely an act
of memorialization.”20
Author Stephen Turnbull stated,
“At no time did a samurai's wife show herself in a better
light as a brave warrior than when she faced the defeat
of her clan, the fall of her castle, and the death of her
husband.”21
However, there has been no clear evidence
that reveals whether the widows were simply grieving
samurai wives or if the scroll's depiction illustrates
the widows fulfilling their roles in a vengeful act of
bereavement.
The Ikko-ikki
Feudal Japan was a time of fighting amongst the
clans for political power. Social chaos and turbulence
followed any change in the regional ruling powers,
the daimyo, fueling rebellion amongst members of the
bushi who had adopted True Pure-Land Buddhism. The
Jodo-Shinshu teachings “promised an easy salvation for
everyone who prayed to Amida Buddha, and…had a
great appeal for the common people.”22
“Hierarchical
in organization and exceptionally militant,”23
the sect
attracted not only members of the bushi, but also “lowranking
samurai, village headmen, and small landowners
[who] came together in a self-supporting alliance,”24
known as Ikko (Single-Minded) ikki (league). Members
of these alliances “were as a rule unrelated both where
ties of kinship or vassalage were concerned. The group
signed an oath of loyalty to a common cause, valid until
the task had been accomplished.”25
Rioting was a common tactic utilized by ikki
to maintain some sort of balancing influence over the
provincial rulers of higher ranks. For instance, Tsuchiikki
were those united to seek economic justice against
heavy taxation and cancellation of inordinate debt.
Conflict between ikki and feudal provincial government
was so common that “just as every member of JodoShinshu
shared fully in its peacetime activities, so did
they share in the responsibilities when conflict loomed.”26
It was logical to accept that women were, at the very
least, taught defensive skills to protect their families
or even basic combative tactics with weapons and
“certainly by the 1580s, the experience of a century of
war had taught them that if they lost to a samurai army,
a massacre of every member of the community would
follow.”27
An Ou Eikei Gunki account explained how a
force of female ikki combatants successfully defended
Omori Castle against a warring landlord, in 1599, using
a stone-throwing wooden tool:
Every single one of the two or three hundred
women from inside the castle came out and began
to throw down an abundance of large and small
stones which they had already prepared, shouting
as they defended, whereupon more than twenty
men were suddenly hit and died. Many more were
wounded. In fact, and regrettably, because of the
women's act of opportunity in throwing stones,
driven by necessity and scrambling to be first,
they jumped into the moat and fled outside the
palisade. This treatment inspired those within the
castle. [Then] about twenty arquebuses opened
fire. This was not enough to frighten [the women],
and the throwing of small stones from the shadows
of the moat was like a hailstorm. To the irritation
of Shiyoshi, they struck Ishii Ukon Koremichi in
both eyes and killed him. Similarly, they struck
in one eye the horse that Kutsuzawa Goro was
riding. Saying 'to stay too long in that place and be
hit by women's stones would be a failure bringing
ridicule for generations to come,' they returned to
the original place of attack.28
While it remains impossible to numerate
the onna-musha who participated in battle, “women
warriors were common enough that their presence did
not elicit surprise or, for that matter, commentary”29
T.D. Conlan postulated that gender was regarded less
important than social rank; “Warrior women were
treated virtually indistinguishably from their men. When
Kamakura was sacked, many were butchered.”30
The
record of the history of Japanese men of bushi class is
extensive, bearing witness to contributions and military
involvement of individuals and groups of significance.
Reasonably, we expect an analogous amount of written or
artistic evidence about the involvement or contributions
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of women, contemporary with those historic events.
However, this remains untrue.
Ukiyo-e woodblock prints illustrate women
in battle, often presenting the women in full armor,
wielding naginata (polearm), or a bow. The artists
Yoshitoshi, Toyohara Chikanobu, and Katsukawa
Shuntei represented Tomoe Gozen fighting in battle
in nineteenth century prints. “Hangakujo,” also by
Yoshitoshi, was painted around 1885 and depicted
Hangaku Gozen in full armour on a white horse. By
the time of these productions, several centuries past the
historical dates, both Tomoe and Hangaku Gozen were
already legendary figures celebrated in early literature,
traditional tales and Noh plays.
Confounding more accurate substantiation of
these women was the production of artwork in which
male kabuki actors depicted heroic female characters.
It was common for artwork in the Tokugawa period to
reflect culture of the time, “the kimono in its various forms
has often been similar if not identical. Men and women
are dressed exactly alike...sometimes even their hairdos
are the same...there are pictures of young men (without
shaved pates) and women who cannot be distinguished
one from another.”31
Yoshitoshi's 1848 CE print, titled
“Three actors in the roles of Wada Yoshimori, Tomoe
Gozen, and Yamabuki,” is one such example.
The depictions and accounts of these women
warriors date back to the early eleventh century, yet
direct evidence is extremely rare. Warring practices of
feudal daimyo Oda Nobunaga, “a hard and ruthless
campaigner,”32
utilized pillaging and raiding of defiant
villages, temples and castles to seize control of new
territory and expand regional rule. It is not far from
logic to expect that countless records or narratives were
destroyed in this process and thereby erased the original
historical accounts of the onna-musha.
Additional studies will require utilization of
alternative sources of primary evidence. For instance,
newly unearthed archaeological specimens could
be DNA tested to validate the presence of women in
defense of castles and villages, or in combat on the feudal
battlefields of Japan. Future research on these Japanese
women warriors will hopefully yield more information
that further enlightens modern historians about feudal
events, feudal life, cultural changes and the fascinating
achievements of simply exceptional women.
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Notes
1
K. Friday, Japan Emerging: Premodern History to 1850
(Colorado: Westview Press, 2012), 270.
2
T.D. Conlan, State of War: The Violent Order of
Fourteenth-Century Japan (MI: Center for Japanese
Studies, University of Michigan, 2003), 128-9.
3
Ibid, 129.
4
S.R. Turnbull, Samurai Women: 1184-1877 (New York:
Osprey Publishing, 2010), 36.
5
P.H. Varley, Warriors of Japan as portrayed in the War
Tales. (Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1994),
104.
6
C. I. Mulhern, Heroic with Grace (NY: M.E. Sharpe,
1991), 139.
7
P.H. Varley, Warriors of Japan as portrayed in the War
Tales (Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 1994),
104.
8
C. I. Mulhern, Heroic with Grace (NY: M.E. Sharpe,
1991), 146.
9
C. I. Mulhern, Heroic with Grace (NY: M.E. Sharpe,
1991), 141.
10
S.R. Turnbull, Samurai Women: 1184-1877 (New York:
Osprey Publishing, 2010), 37.
11
C. I. Mulhern, Heroic with Grace (NY: M.E. Sharpe,
1991), 147-8.
12
Ibid, 148.
13
M.R. Beard, The Force of Women in Japanese History
(Washington, DC: Public Affairs Press, 1953), 65.
14
M.R. Beard, The Force of Women in Japanese History
(Washington, DC: Public Affairs Press, 1953), 72-73.
15
M.R. Beard, The Force of Women in Japanese History
(Washington, DC: Public Affairs Press, 1953), 72-73.
16
S.R. Turnbull, Samurai Women: 1184-1877 (New York:
Osprey Publishing, 2010), 38.
17
S.R. Turnbull, Samurai Women: 1184-1877 (New York:
Osprey Publishing, 2010), 40.
18
S.R. Turnbull, Samurai Women: 1184-1877 (New York:
Osprey Publishing, 2010), 40.
19
S.R. Turnbull, Samurai Women: 1184-1877 (New York:
Osprey Publishing, 2010), 38.
20
S.R. Turnbull, Samurai Women: 1184-1877 (New York:
Osprey Publishing, 2010), 10.
21
S.R. Turnbull, The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War
(Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2008), 148.
22
C. Blomberg, The Heart of the Warrior (Kent: Japan
Library, Curzon Press Ltd., 1994), 99.
23
C. Blomberg, The Heart of the Warrior (Kent: Japan
Library, Curzon Press Ltd., 1994), 99.
24
S.R. Turnbull, The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War
(Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2008), 150.
25
C. Blomberg, The Heart of the Warrior (Kent: Japan
Library, Curzon Press Ltd., 1994), 99.
26
S.R. Turnbull, The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War
(Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2008), 150.
27
S.R. Turnbull, The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War
(Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2008), 151.
28
S.R. Turnbull, The Samurai Swordsman: Master of War
(Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2008), 152.
29
T.D. Conlan, State of War: The Violent Order of
Fourteenth-Century Japan (MI: Center for Japanese
Studies, University of Michigan, 2003), 129.
30
T.D. Conlan, State of War: The Violent Order of
Fourteenth-Century Japan (MI: Center for Japanese
Studies, University of Michigan, 2003), 128.
31
P.H. Varley, Japanese Culture (Hawaii: University of
Hawaiì Press, 2000), 348.
32
P.H. Varley, Japanese Culture (Hawaii: University of
Hawaiì Press, 2000), 142.
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tomoegozen. 1888. Painting. Library of Congress.
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Tomoe Gozen). 1804-1818. Painting.Library of
Congress. /www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2008661224/.
2 December 2013.
unknown. Boki ekotoba. 1351. Painting. Samurai
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unknown. Konito suso sugake odoshi domaru (Armor
of Tsuruhime of Omishima). 16th century. Armor.
Oyamazumi Shrine, Omishima Island.
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Yoshitoshi. Wada yoshimori tomoe gozen yamabuki.
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68