Voici quelques femmes qui ont choisi la voie des armes tout au long de l’histoire du Japon.

Jingû Kôgô 神功皇后, l’épouse de l’empereur Chûai 仲哀天皇, et la mère de l’empereur Ôjin 応神天皇 (qui sera déifié sous le nom de Yumiya Hachiman-jin 弓矢八幡神, le kami de la guerre). Certes ce personnage, qui aurait vécu à la fin du deuxième siècle, tient plus de la mythologie que de l’histoire. Elle est tout de même connue pour ses exploits durant sa campagne en Corée où elle mena vaillamment ses armées après la mort de son époux.

Tomoe Gozen 巴御前 (Dame Tomoe)（1157？-1247？）NAKAHARA no Tomoe 中原巴 (ou aussi NAKAHARA no Hajo 中原巴女) est la fille du vice-gouverneur de la province du Shinano : NAKAHARA Kanetô 中原兼遠, du clan KISO 木曽氏. Ce dernier recueillit le jeune MINAMOTO no Yoshinaka 源義仲 à l’âge de deux ans, lorsque son père, Yoshikata 義賢, mourut à la guerre, en 1156. Yoshinaka grandit dans les Monts Kiso, avec Kanehira 兼平, le frère aîné de Tomoe. Il prit le nom de KISO Yoshinaka. Par la suite il épousa Tomoe.

Tomoe is described in the epic chronicle *The Tale of the Heike* as being exceptionally beautiful, possessing rare strength and skill with the bow, both on horseback and on foot. She was a valiant warrior, capable of facing demons or gods, and who, on her own, was worth a thousand men. An expert at riding the most spirited horses, she appeared to the enemy as a captain of the first rank, clad in heavy armour, sword in hand. She followed her husband onto every battlefield, where she performed great feats of valour.

In 1184, during the Battle of Ujigawa in Ômi Province against Yoritomo’s troops, when they were reduced to a mere handful, she charged at full gallop straight into the midst of the enemy cavalry. She managed to unhorse their captain, a mighty warrior from Musashi, before beheading him. Unfortunately, it was on this very battlefield that she lost her husband and her brother, Imai Kanehira (今井兼平).

She subsequently married Wada Yoshimori (和田義盛). They had one child: Yoshihide (義秀).
In 1213, Yoshimori died in battle. On that day, Yoshihide travelled to Asahina, in the province of Awa. He was renamed ASAHINA Yoshihide 朝比奈義秀. Tomoe set off for the province of Etchû, where she became a nun.

Tomoe Gozen thus became a legend. She became a character in shuramono, those Noh plays in which the main characters are the spirits of great heroes.

Even today, during major annual festivals, a splendid geisha, clad in an ôyoroi and carrying a tachi, parades on horseback through the streets of Kyoto.

Aoi Gozen 葵御前 (“Lady Hollyhock”) (? – 1183), daughter of KURITA Hangaku 栗田範覚, excelled in the use of the naginata. Like Tomoe Gozen, she was a concubine of MINAMOTO no KISO Yoshinaka. It seems that brave Yoshinaka certainly knew how to surround himself with the right people! Aoi Gozen died in action during the Battle of Kurikara Pass.

Hangaku Gozen 坂額御前 (or Bangaku Gozen 板額御前), daughter of JÔ Kurô Sukekuni 城九郎資国, was a valiant warrior of the Kamakura period. She excelled with the bow, and in 1201 she faced Minamoto no Yoriie (the eldest son of Yoritomo), to come to the aid of her nephew, Jō Sukemori. She later married the great archer ASARI Yoshitô 浅利義遠 (the younger brother of TAKEDA Nobuyoshi 武田信義, founder of the Takeda clan!).

Tsuru-hime 鶴姫 (“Princess Crane”) is regarded as the “Joan of Arc of the Inland Sea”. In 1541, ÔHORI Yasufusa 大祝安房, commander of the Mishima war fleet near Ôsaka, was killed in action. His younger sister, ÔHÔRI Tsuru 大祝鶴, then aged sixteen, took up the mantle and commanded the fleet in his stead. She went on to win two battles. But during the third battle, she learnt of the death of her boyfriend, OCHI Yasunari 越智安成. She boarded a small boat alone and disappeared into a storm. Her armour can still be found today in the shrine of Ôwatatsumi no Kami (the god of the sea) on the island of Ômishima.

Kai-hime 甲斐姫 (“Princess of Kai Province”) was the daughter of Lord NARITA Ujinaga 成田氏長, daimyō of the Oshi fief in Musashi Province. From a very young age, she had been trained in bujutsu and excelled at the naginata. In 1590, whilst her father was at war at Odawara Castle, she assembled a makeshift army of three hundred men (peasants, women and the elderly) and managed to hold her own against an army of several thousand men who were attempting to storm her castle. She was only eighteen years old, yet she already ventured out on horseback to taunt the besiegers, firing arrows at them. She was nicknamed hime-bushō, ‘the princess-general’. She held out in this way until her father’s return a month later.

Impressed by her courage, TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 took her as his concubine. She was entrusted with the protection of his son Hideyori 秀頼. And after the fall of Osaka Castle in 1615, when the Toyotomi clan was destroyed, she continued to look after Naa-hime 奈阿姫, Hideyori’s daughter. She subsequently retired and became a nun.

Miyagino 宮城野 and Shinobu 信夫 were the two daughters of a peasant named Shirôzaemon 四郎左衛門. One day, he was unjustly killed by a bushi named TANABE Shima 田辺志摩, the sword instructor to the karô of the Sendai fief in Mutsu Province. Perhaps moved by the plight of the orphaned girls, then aged eleven and eight, TAKIMOTO Denhachirô 滝本伝八郎 took them into his service at his residence. This man was the sword instructor to Lord DATE Yoshimura 伊達吉村, the daimyô of the Sendai fief. Apparently, this daimyō did not hold his karô’s sword instructor in high regard, as he authorised TAKIMOTO to train the girls so that they might take their revenge. Miyagino specialised in the use of the naginata, whilst Shinobu specialised in the kusarigama. They were able to exact their revenge by killing TANABE.
Subsequently, they joined the rōnin rebellion instigated by Yui Shōsetsu 由比正雪 in 1651.
It should be noted that Miyagino and Shinobu are not normally female given names, but in this case, they are place names from Mutsu Province which they adopted as nicknames.

SASAKI Rui (佐々木留伊) was the daughter of SASAKI Takedayû (佐々木武太夫), a vassal of the Doi family (土井家) of the Furukawa fief in Shimôsa Province during the Edo period. She is referred to as an onna-shishō 女師匠 (shishō means ‘master’: both ‘instructor’ and ‘someone who excels in an art’). She graduated from numerous dojos in Edo: Ittō-ryū kenjutsu, Yagyū-ryū kusarigama, Sekiguchi-ryū torite-jutsu, and Shintō-ryū bajutsu.

YAMAMOTO Yaeko 山本八重子 was renowned for her mastery of the musket. She played a part in the fall of Aizu Castle at the start of the Meiji era.