Did Tomoe Gozen really pull off a Japanese Thermopylae?

by 300IQPrower

I'm trying to get a fact check on the claim Tomoe Gozen, the female samurai general from the Heian period, won a battle against 6000 Taira cavalry with 300 men and only 5 survivors including herself. Much as I'd love to believe this, every place i find this listed under her accomplishments is a 'fun fact' type site with no direct sources on this claim in particular, and I've also seen heavy variance in the actual numbers of Taira soldiers which is further raising my doubts.

Morricane

That is a rather bastardized reference to the only episode in the Kakuichi-bon variant of the Heike monogatari in which Tomoe is mentioned. The Kakuichi-bon is the most popular and widely circulated performance text of the famous tale and the only variant translated into English.

Tomoe appears in Book Nine, “The Death of Kiso,” which depicts the death of Kiso Yoshinaka.

As should be famously known, that was not a death at the hand of Taira soldiers, but by men in service of Minamoto no Yoritomo, Yoshinaka's cousin, after the two had fallen out with each other and Yoshinaka antagonized the imperial court under Retired Emperor Goshirakawa. (Yoshinaka's last mistake was attacking Goshirakawa's residence after alienating him due to trying to meddle with the issue of imperial succession.)

The episode in question begins as follows:

Lord Kiso had brought with him from Shinano two beauties:

Tomoe and Yamabuki.

Yamabuki was unwell and stayed in the capital.

With her lovely white skin and long hair, Tomoe had enchanting looks.

An archer of rare strength, a powerful warrior,

and on foot or on horseback a swordsman to face any demon or god,

she was a fighter to stand alone against a thousand.

She could ride the wildest horse down the steepest slope.

In battle, Kiso clad her in the finest armor,

equipped her with a great sword and a mighty bow,

and charger her with the attack on the opposing commander.

She won such repeated glory that none could stand beside her.

And that is why, when so many had already been cut down in their flight,

Tomoe remained among the last seven.

With these last seven, Yoshinaka managed to rendezvous with Imai Kanehira, who had been holding Ryūge Pass and whose forces were whittled down to a mere fifty men. They succeeded at gathering three-hundred of Yoshinaka’s scattered forces, and proceeded to face six-thousand men under the command of Kai province’s Ichijо̄ no Jirо̄. Yoshinaka’s forces broke through these until they faced two-thousand men under command of Doi Sanehira, a well-known vassal of Yoritomo.

The episode continues here as follows:

They [Yoshinaka’s men] broke through that, too, and, farther on,

through four or five hundred, through two or three,

through a hundred and forty or fifty,

then a hundred, each time at a cost,

until Kiso had only four left.

This last remnant band of five

still included Tomoe.

Lord Kiso said to her, “Go, woman, go quickly, anywhere, far away. For myself, I shall die in battle or, if wounded, take my own life, and it must not be said that at the end I had a woman with me.”

She still did not go, but he kept pressing her until at last she reflected, “All I want is a worthy opponent, so that he can watch me fight, my last fight.”

And while she waited,

Onda no Hachirо̄ Moroshige, a man from Musashi famed for his strength, rode up with thirty men. Tomoe charged, caught him in an iron grip, forced his head down to her pommel, kept it pinned there, twisted it around, cut it off, and tossed it away.

Then she abandoned her arms and armor and fled toward the east.

After this, Yoshinaka is left alone with his comrade-in-arms Imai Kanehira, who secures his retreat, but to no avail: both men each meet their end.

In the most variants of the Heike, this is the only account of Tomoe. Other variants use a bit of a different wording, or embellish the account: some mention her age (which ranges from 23 to “in her thirties,” depending on the variant), etc. The fourteenth-century Genpei jо̄suiki, a highly expanded version of the Heike monogatari, does make mention of her in several other battles (this version of the tale also claims she later married Wada Yoshimori, one of Yoritomo’s top vassals, although this is highly unlikely, since that also claims she would give birth to one of his sons who however already was nine years old at the time...so, yeah).

That being said, Tomoe is an entity that only appears in the confines of the Heike monogatari: there is no mention of her existence in any other source, such as diaries or chronicles. But, leaving the question of the Heike monogatari's historicity aside, as the episode here shows, this is not a feat “Tomoe did,” but is depicting the last stand of Kiso Yoshinaka, whom Tomoe accompanied. According to the story, they all died, except for Tomoe, who fled on the orders of her lord. This can hardly be called “won a battle.”

To conclude, your example refers to the Heike monogatari, which is, of course, fictionalizing its source material; we especially shouldn't read too much into the numbers, which are almost always exaggerated by some unknown factor in these tales (on this issue, I'd suggest taking a look at William Wayne Farris' by now classic study Heavenly Warriors). Tomoe was merely present in the last battle of her lord Kiso Yoshinaka, and the story ends with the complete destruction of Yoshinaka’s forces. Tomoe herself is ordered to flee the battlefield, which she does. That makes her, in the story, the sole survivor of Yoshinaka’s forces, although, as I said, there are no known accounts of Tomoe outside of this story whatsoever, which makes Tomoe's very existence a disputed matter.

Source citations from:

Royall Tyler, trans. The Tale of the Heike. Penguin Books: New York, 2012.

Mayanee

Tomoe Gozen never existed. She is basically sandwiched into the Heike Monogatari with about 2 sentences and never mentioned before these sentences and never mentioned after this again. Yoshinaka always gives tasks to his right hand/second in chief Imai Kanehira or the other Kiso Shitenno (for example Higuchi Kanemitsu, the older brother of Imai) when Imai is not available throughout the Heike Monogatari.

The Azuma Kagami (historical chronicles of the Hojo) which only mentions historical characters does not mention Tomoe at all but definitely mentions Yoshinaka and Imai when mentioning the Kiso forces.

Tomoe in media depictions is in my opinion misused to downplay Imai the other main character (next to Yoshinaka) of the Kiso plotline. There have often been interpretation and anecdotes of Yoshinaka and Imai as a mixture of childhood friends (Yoshinaka and Kanehira have known each other since Yoshinaka was 2 and Kanehira 4), master and servant and also lovers (Motokiyo Zeami's noh LGBTQ play Kanehira for example). They also share many similarities with AchillesxPatroclus and AlexanderxHephaestion. Tomoe portrayals in media often flat out steal plotlines that actually belong to Imai (for example knowing Yoshinaka since childhood).

Interestingly though Azuma Kagami mentions an entirely different female warrior. Hangaku Gozen from the Jo clan whose family fought against the Kiso forces. Hangaku later is brought in front of Minamoto no Yoriie (Yoritomo's son) and a vasall called Asari Yoshito then decides that he wants her as his wife. This is likely the basis for the Tomoe marries Wada Yoshimori legend.