Hangaku Gozen


Lady Hangaku was a onna bugeisha warrior, one of the relatively few Japanese warrior women commonly known in history or classical literature.

Early life

She lived during the end of the Heian and the beginning of the Kamakura periods. Her other names include Hangaku. She was the daughter of a warrior named Jō Sukekuni, and her siblings were Jō Sukenaga and Jō Nagamochi.

Career and capture

In 1180-1185 Tomoe Gozen fought in the Genpei War alongside men.
The Jō were warriors, allies of the Taira clan, in Echigo Province. They were defeated in the Genpei Wars, and lost most of their power. In 1201, together with her nephew Jō Sukemori, she raised an army in response to Sukemoto's attempt to overthrow the Kamakura Shogunate. Hangaku and Sukenaga took a defensive position at a fort at Tossakayama under attack from Sasaki Moritsuna. Hangaku commanded 3,000 soldiers to defend against an army of 10,000 soldiers loyal to the Hōjō clan.
Ultimately she was wounded by an arrow and captured; the defenses then collapsed. Hangaku was taken to Kamakura. When she was presented to the shōgun Minamoto no Yoriie, she met Asari Yoshitō, a warrior of the Kai-Genji clan, who received the shōgun's permission to marry her. They lived in Kai, where she is said to have had one daughter.

Culture references

Hangaku appears in the Azuma Kagami.
Hangaku is said to have been "fearless as a man and beautiful as a flower," and to have wielded a naginata in battle. Many storytellers and printmakers have portrayed her in their works, including Kuniyoshi, who produced a series of warrior women prints. This series also included such historical or literary figures as Tomoe Gozen, Shizuka Gozen, and Hōjō Masako.