:Tomoe Gozen

{{short description|Female samurai}}

{{about|the female samurai|the 1981 Jessica Amanda Salmonson novel|Tomoe Gozen (novel)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| native_name = {{lang|ja|巴 御前}}

| image = File:Kokon hime kagami Tomoe onna by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.jpg

| battles = Battle of Awazu

| allegiance = The Minamoto clan

(Specifically Minamoto no Yoshinaka)

| occupation = Buddhist Nun (After the Battle of Awazu){{cite web|url=https://hilo.hawaii.edu/campuscenter/hohonu/volumes/documents/WomenWarriorsofEarlyJapanRochelleNowaki.pdf|title=Women Warriors of Early Japan|date=2013|access-date=December 3, 2024}}

| nationality = Japanese

| birth_date = 1157

| death_date = {{death year and age|1247|1157}}{{cite web|url=https://historyofjapan.co.uk/2020/02/14/lady-tomoe/|title=EP31 Lady Tomoe|date=February 14, 2020|access-date=December 3, 2024}}{{cite web|url=https://www.girlmuseum.org/trailblazers-the-age-of-girls-tomoe-gozen/|title=Trailblazers — The Age of Girls: Tomoe Gozen|date=August 23, 2018|access-date=December 3, 2024}}

| leader = Minamoto no Yoshinaka (commander)

| alt = Tomoe Gozen, by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

| caption = Tomoe Gozen, by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

| serviceyears = One (1182)

| honorific_prefix = Gozen / Lady Note: Gozen is not a name, but rather an honorific title, usually translated to "Lady", though the title was rarely bestowed upon men as well.

| military_blank1 = Military role/occupation

| military_data1 = Onna-musha (Before the Battle of Awazu)

}}

Tomoe Gozen ({{lang|ja|巴 御前}}, {{IPA|ja|tomo.e|ja}}Note: Gozen is not a name, but rather an honorific title, usually translated to "Lady", though the title was rarely bestowed upon men as well.) was an onna-musha, a female samurai, mentioned in The Tale of the Heike.{{Cite web |title=Tomoe Gozen {{!}} World History Commons |url=https://worldhistorycommons.org/tomoe-gozen#:~:text=Tomoe%20Gozen%20was%20a%20Japanese,late%20Heian%20period,%20in%20Japan. |access-date=2024-09-27 |website=worldhistorycommons.org}} There is doubt as to whether she existed as she doesn't appear in any primary accounts of the Genpei war. She only appears in the epic "The tale of the Heike".{{Cite web |date=2024-09-27 |title=These 3 samurai women were heroes of shogun era Japan |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/samurai-women-shogun-legends |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240307223924/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/samurai-women-shogun-legends#selection-5041.0-5041.73 |archive-date=March 7, 2024 |access-date=2024-09-27 |website=History |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Brown |first=Steven T. |date=1998 |title=From Woman Warrior to Peripatetic Entertainer: The Multiple Histories of Tomoe |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2652649 |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=183–199 |doi=10.2307/2652649 |jstor=2652649 |issn=0073-0548 |quote=Although more than a little hyperbole embellishes the extant accounts of Tomoe's military exploits, there is little disagreement over the basic outline of Tomoe's involvement in the Genpei Wars.}} She served under samurai lord Minamoto no Yoshinaka during the Battle of Awazu,{{Cite book |last=Toler |first=Pamela D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hYyFDwAAQBAJ&pg=181 |title=Women Warriors: An Unexpected History |date=2019-02-26 |publisher=Beacon Press |isbn=978-0-8070-6432-0 |pages=181 |language=en}} part of the Genpei War in the late Heian period, which led to the establishment of the Kamakura shogunate.{{Cite book|title=Amazons to Fighter Pilots - A Biographical Dictionary of Military Woman (Volume Two)|last=Pennington|first=Reina|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-313-32708-7|location=Westport, Connecticut|pages=437–438}}{{Cite book|last=Turnbull|first=Stephen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_VS1CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA36|title=Samurai Women 1184–1877|date=2012-01-20|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-84603-952-2|pages=36–37|language=en}}