Latest revealing about the world's most feared samurai legend!

Dominating 1000 men, Tomoe Gozen is not only a beautiful and charming samurai woman but also brutally famous and not afraid of anything.

Although most of the scary samurai warriors of Japan are men, there are still some women who throw away social norms to become good warriors and "dead" - like female boxers. The scary and notorious 12th century religion Tomoe Gozen .

Although the story of Tomoe Gozen is hidden and kept secret, she is known to be particularly beautiful but also very scary. What really impressed me about the legend of Tomoe Gozen was not only that she was a samurai girl, but she was also an elite warrior - and something that even other male warriors were afraid of.

Legend has it that Tomoe Gozen is lovely but fierce, loyal but extremely cruel.

Time to produce "elite warrior woman"

The term samurai means guardian, and was originally used to describe a noble level of noble warriors.

Samurai first appeared in the 8th century but until the 11th century, they had real power. They became loyal warriors for feudal lords called daimyo, who were constantly involved in power struggles. After about 1600, the samurai became a social class in their own way and gained certain privileges including being allowed to carry two swords.

Most samurai were men, just like in the Western world at the time, women in ancient Japan were also destined to marry, give birth and take care of their families while men took part in the war. , except for women married to samurai. These women are said to be highly educated, able to protect their homes and families, and some even bring small swords hidden in their clothes.

Even some women in the 12th to the 19th century became warriors of their own accord. Indeed, even before the rise of samurai, there were Japanese women trained to tell protecting their homes and families from invading forces. They are known as onna-bugeisha , meaning literally female warriors .

An onna-bugeisha named Ishi-jo carries a traditional naginata.

Onna-bugeisha often uses weapons like kaiken (new samurai sword only) and naginata (sword with long handle and long curved blade). The naginata became a symbol associated with onna-bugeisha, both a weapon and a sign that they were warriors. The daughters of samurai lineage will bring a naginata to her husband's house, as a dowry.

Tomoe Gozen is one of those warriors.

The female warrior legend is beautiful and equally cruel

Although Tomoe Gozen is one of Japan's most famous female warriors, most of her story is based on legend, not necessarily true in history.

It is also not certain that this is her real name because at that time, using real names to call women was considered rude."Tomoe" may refer to the pattern of the armor on her shoulders, and "Gozen" is an ancient form of honorific that is used to honor women with status.

One of the main sources of information about her is The Tale of Heike - a historical document dating from around 1240, synthesizing folk songs, stories, and various texts to create an epic epic. .

The story is about a war between two Taira families, also known as Heike, and Minamoto family. Tomoe is a samurai under Minamoto no Yoshinaka - a Minamoto general.

It is said that Tomoe's mother used to be the nurse of this general, and Tomoe from an adopted sister became one of his most loyal generals. Depending on the historical text you read, she is later the wife or concubine of Yoshinaka. The story tells that she directly commanded 1,000 soldiers

Tomoe is technically not an onna-bugeisha but an onna-embeda - a woman who goes directly to the battlefield, instead of defending at home. And she is not the only one: archaeological evidence shows that women constitute a small proportion of the Japanese military at that time.

According to The Story, Heike describes: " Tomoe is particularly beautiful, with long black hair and white complexion; moreover, a talented rider, she can handle bad horses and cross dangerous places. Yang sword dance is like a god of the devil, the enemy of thousands . "

Although she was given the name of a naginata, she often killed her enemy with a katana - a long, straight sword usually reserved for male samurai.

Minamoto no Yoshinaka, whom even though Tomoe Gozen was with him as concubine or servant, she always fought and protected him.

However, Yoshinaka won many victories in the Genpei War (1180 - 1185) against the Taira, his glory and poor leadership turned the Minamoto clan into an enemy. In 1184, his army was massacred and when he fled the capital of Kyoto, he had only 5 6 soldiers on his side, among them Tomoe.

According to a documentary, during the retreat from the capital, Tomoe encountered two famous generals. The first general, Hatakeyama Shigetada, was defeated completely by Tomoe, so much so that he had to flee to honor his family from being unclean by the fact that he was killed by a woman. The second person, Uchida Ieyoshi, was beheaded by her.

Perhaps he wanted her to run away for a suppuku, or he wanted her to tell him about his death to his family, or he didn't want to die in front of a woman - or all. Despite the reasons, Tomoe refused to run away. According to The Story of Heike, she wanted to kill the last "worthy rival" for Yoshinaka's honor. It was unclear who this bad enemy was, each one told a different story, but it was said that when an enemy group approached, Tomoe rode straight on, grabbed the leader and slapped him on the saddle.

In a legend, Tomoe beheaded an enemy soldier on a saddle.

Like most of Tomoe's life, the story of her after the final battle is still unknown.

A description of Tomoe in Awemo Battle.

It is said that she survived the battle, now at the age of 28, and later became a nun until she died at the age of 90. According to the Story of Heike, she was defeated by General Wada Yoshimori and must become his wife or concubine.

There is another story that tells Tomoe that he killed all of Yoshinaka's enemies to avenge and bring his leader down into the sea so no one can blasphemy.

But she was unspeakable but her bravery and brutality were imprinted in folklore. A Noh play about her was made - one of 18 samurai war plays out of a total of 200 Noh plays from the 15th century, and she was honored at the Jidai festival held on October 22 every year. Memorial to historical figures in Kyoto.

She starred in the trio of fictional novels The Tomoe Gozen Saga written by American novelist Jessica Amanda Salmonson, and also appeared in popular culture.

Perhaps we will never know the true identity of Tomoe Gozen and her true exploits, but these stories of courage and mighty power will forever be transmitted.

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