learn/[id]

ERA

1 min read

「

ERA

'You Are a Woman — Flee' — The Final Parting of Yoshinaka and Tomoe Gozen

Tomoe Gozen, Yoshinaka's concubine, was a renowned female warrior. As Yoshinaka faced his end at the Battle of Awazu, he ordered her to flee: 'You are a woman.' She first took one last enemy head, then disappeared from history.

A deep read

Tomoe Gozen, described in the Tale of the Heike as white-skinned, long-haired, beautiful, and ‘worth a thousand warriors,’ fought alongside Yoshinaka through the Genpei War. At Awazu in 1184, with defeat certain, Yoshinaka ordered her to flee as a woman. She took one last enemy head, then vanished from history.

Minamoto clan kabuto — Yoshinaka fought the Taira as a Minamoto warrior, with Tomoe Gozen at his side in many battles

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Noh performance — Tomoe Gozen's story has been dramatized in Noh and Kabuki, living on as Japan's most famous female warrior legend

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

Tsurugaoka Hachimangu — sacred site of the Minamoto, where the history of the Genpei War era can be felt

Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0

── END ──

This article was

♡ Helpful

⤴

Key Figures

Kiso Yoshinaka