Medieval Japanese culture, influenced by Confucian ideals, imposed strict gender roles. While Japanese women had more power than their European counterparts, they were still expected to be homemakers, subservient to men. Although soldiering was a predominately male profession, many samurai women trained in weaponry to protect their homes during their husbands’ absence. Throughout history, onna-bugeisha, women warriors, emerged, with some even ruling. Notably, one prominent figure was not even a samurai. Here are the stories of some of the most remarkable onna-bugeisha.
1. Akai Teruko, Strongest Woman of the Sengoku Period (1514-1594)
Akai Teruko exemplified the saying “Beware the old in a profession where many die young.” She was married to Yura Shigeru to secure political strength, also having been trained in the martial arts from childhood. The Yura clan, situated between the Odawara Hojo (named such here to differentiate them from the Hojo clan of the Heian and Kamakura periods) and the Uesugi domains, often acted as a buffer and intermediary for the two more powerful clans. It must be understood that alliances in feudal Japan shifted almost constantly, and Teruko could tell how best to maintain her family’s status and influence.
Shigeru died of illness, and Teruko became a nun, as was customary, taking the name Myoin-ni. She continued, however, to act as a political and military adviser to her son Kunishige, who lacked his father’s leadership skills. The Odawara Hojo, seeking to expand their territory and capitalizing on perceived weakness, attempted to subsume the Yura clan in 1584. Teruko, with a force of 3,000 warriors, helped to defend Kanayama-jo, their castle, for over a year. At the time she was 71 years old.
Akai Teruko fought in the Siege of Odawara against Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but surrendered, later siding with Hideyoshi to attack Matsuida Castle.
2. Ohori Tsuruhime, Guardian of Oyamatsumi-ji (1526-1543)
Ohori Tsuruhime is unique among the figures we have discussed so far: she was a Shinto priestess, not a member of the samurai class. The shrine she presided over was dedicated to Oyamatsumi, a kami of war, the sea, and mountains. As such, it was a spot of pilgrimage for samurai. From the time she was young, she trained in the martial arts.
The island where she lived lay at the border of the hostile Ouchi clan. Rather than wait for reinforcements, Tsuruhime armed herself and fought the invaders with such skill and ferocity that her self-proclaimed title of “Myojin of Mishima” must not have seemed so far-fetched to onlookers. “Myojin” is a title used for divinities in Shinto, and as such Tsuruhime has been called Japan’s own Jeanne d’Arc though Jeanne only commanded and was a standard-bearer; she was not often a combatant.
The invaders from the Ouchi clan came back several months later, and Tsuruhime snuck onboard an enemy ship and killed the captain in a duel. She continued the resistance until her fiancee was reported killed in combat, and out of grief, Tsuruhime leaped into the ocean and drowned.
3. Tachibana Ginchiyo, Warrior Nun (1569-1602)
Ginchiyo of the Tachibana clan was a rarity among samurai. While many of the women on this list found themselves having to fight as a front-line combatant, or who ruled as shogun in the case of Hojo Masako, Ginchiyo was prepared for leadership as a daimyo from the start. She was said to have had a fierce demeanor that intimidated many of her fellow samurai. When her father Dosetsu died of illness, per his wishes she was named the leader of the clan at the age of 16. She made all the women of the castle learn martial arts so that if the castle were attacked they would be able to fight. In particular, she taught them to use firearms. At the time, teppo or tanegashima rifles were the deadliest weapons on the battlefields of Japan, having been introduced in 1543.
In later years, Ginchiyo became a nun after divorcing her husband Muneshige. When her temple came under attack, she rallied the nuns to help defend it just as she had done for the Tachibana castle.
4. Yuki no Kata, Defender of Anotsu Castle (Unknown)
In 1600, the Western Army led by Ishida Mitsunari and the Eastern Army under Tokugawa Ieyasu were poised for a final clash. The winner would have an unchallenged path to the shogunate. Tomita Nobutaka, the daimyo of Anotsu, had been ordered to travel north with an army to fight Uesugi Kagekatsu, who had allied with the Western Army. Their castle was directly in the Western Army’s line of march along the Nakasendo.
Yuki no Kata, his wife, organized and led the defense—the ideal of the samurai woman writ large. She and less than 2,000 held the castle against 30,000 long enough for Nobutaka’s forces to double back and help. In the pursuit of an enemy, he became surrounded. Yuki took up a naginata and led a detachment to clear a path for her husband to escape. The Western commander allowed them to retreat, voicing his respect for the sheer courage and ferocity of their defense.
5. Hojo Masako, The Nun Shogun (1157-1225)
After the Gempei War, the Minamoto clan were the virtually undisputed rulers of Japan under Minamoto Yoritomo. He perished in an accident, leaving his young son Yoriie as an heir. Yoritomo’s wife, Hojo Masako, took command instead, acting as the real power. The Hojo family had strategically married into positions of authority in the shogunate, thereby wielding far-reaching influence in the politics of the day. While Masako did become a Buddhist nun, it was in name only because she remained in the palace and took an active role in government. Through her efforts, a council of regents came into existence. Their responsibility was to rule in the stead of an underage shogun.
Among these regents was Yoriie’s grandfather, Hojo Tokimasa, and Yoriie was said to have detested him. Masako, having seen that Yoriie was less than competent, arranged for his exile and replaced him with her second son Sanetomo. After his death, Masako and her brother Yoshitoki appointed the infant Yoritsune as shogun and Masako continued to act as the de facto ruler until her death. It resembled the practice of cloistered rule that was common among the Imperial line prior to the existence of the shogunate.
6. Hangaku Gozen, Heroine of the Kennin Rebellion (Unknown)
Hangaku Gozen made a name for herself through her impeccable archery and stalwart defense of Tossaka Castle during the 1201 Kennin Rebellion, an attempt by Taira sympathizers to overthrow the newly established Minamoto shogunate. The Jo clan, of which Hangaku was a member, took the opportunity of rising unrest within the shogunate to attempt a coup in January, attacking the capital with the goal of forcing the Emperor to depose the Minamoto clan. This did not happen, and Jo Sukenaga was captured and beheaded.
Hangaku, along with her cousin Sukemori, knew that retaliation for their uncle’s failed rebellion was forthcoming and resolved to make a final stand at Tossaka Castle. She took a defensive position atop the castle’s highest tower with her bow and is said to have killed a hundred of the enemy soldiers by felling them with a single shot each. An arrow pierced her thigh, and Hangaku was bound in chains and taken to the court of Minamoto Yoriie, the current shogun. She was then married to one of his retainers and had a child, but no records mention what became of her afterward.
7. Tomoe Gozen, The Warrior Worth a Thousand (Unknown)
Perhaps the most well-known samurai woman is Tomoe Gozen. She was the wife of Minamoto Kiso/Yoshinaka, and was said to be one of the most formidable fighters of Heian-era Japan. In the war epic Heike Monogatari she is described as “a warrior worth a thousand.” She wielded a tachi, the long, curved sword used from horseback, as well as the yumi, the longbow of the samurai, to deadly effect. Often, Yoshinaka would send her out as his second-in-command. Tomoe’s last known and most famous action was at the Battle of Awazu in 1184. Yoshinaka had been fatally wounded and had ordered her away, saying he didn’t want to die in the presence of a woman, preferring instead to be beside his foster brother.
She reluctantly obeyed, pausing just long enough to kill several of the rival Minamoto soldiers as a final demonstration of loyalty. After that, no one knows for certain what became of Tomoe. Some accounts say that she walked into the sea, taking her husband’s severed head to prevent it from becoming a war trophy. Others say that she simply fled the field after the battle and became a nun. These are legends; no historical record confirms the fate of Tomoe.
