Tomoe Gozen

Tomoe Gozen (巴 御前, ) was an onna-musha, female warrior, from the late Heian period of Japanese history. She served samurai lord Minamoto no Yoshinaka during the Genpei War and was a part of the conflict that led to the first shogunate.

Her story in the Tale of the Heike influenced several generations of samurai. Tomoe is often celebrated in books, music, poems, films, historical novels, and culture in general.

Genpei War
She commanded, under the leadership of Yoshinaka, 300 samurai against 2,000 warriors of the rival Taira clan during the war. After defeating the Taira in 1182 and driving them into the western provinces, Yoshinaka took Kyoto and desired to be the leader of the Minamoto clan. His cousin Yoritomo was prompted to crush Yoshinaka, and sent his brothers Yoshitsune and Noriyori to kill him.

Yoshinaka fought Yoritomo's forces at the Battle of Awazu on February 21, 1184, where Tomoe Gozen took at least one head of the enemy. Although Yoshinaka's troops fought bravely, they were outnumbered and overwhelmed. When Yoshinaka was defeated there, with only a few of his soldiers standing, he told Tomoe Gozen to flee because he wanted to die with his foster brother Imai no Shiro Kanehira and he said that he would be ashamed if he died with a woman.

There are varied accounts of what followed. At the Battle of Awazu in 1184, she is known for beheading Honda no Morishige of Musashi. She is also known for having killed Uchida Ieyoshi and for escaping capture by Hatakeyama Shigetada. After Tomoe Gozen beheaded the leader of the Musashi clan, she presented his head to her master Yoshinaka.