A true warrior, a woman, a leader.

Tomoe Gozen, was famed for both her beauty and skill as a martial artist. She is one of the most famed Females in Samurai History, and was a true example of a female warrior. She is described as a fearless warrior with great skill, one who “went into battle like a man”. Men both feared and admired her, she had the traits of a God, and no one defied her.

Gozen spent most of her years in the Heike Wars during the 12th Century. She was married to the famous General, Kiso Yoshinaka. Most of what is known about this grand warrior comes from stories and legends. You see, Gozen was not simply a female who knew how to defend her home well with a naginata like most females. Nor was she a female ashigaru (light foot soldier). She was indeed a high level samurai who possessed great skills in archery, riding, and kenjutsu. This meant that she was skilled in the Katana (kenjutsu refers to martial artists who specialize in the Katana).

Gozen was also fiercely loyal to her general; Minamoto no Yoshinaka. She became one of his senior captions in battle and even led his troops. Men respected her, and she fought right along with thing. If anything, this alone proves her worth as a Samurai, as men generally perceived woman as weak and inferior. Much of her life however is shrouded in mystery; there are many tales that account what happened to her. What is known for certain however is this, after Yoshinaka defeated the Heike in one of their battles, Yoshinaka desired to become the leader of the Minamoto clan. However, Minamoto no Yoritomo sent his brothers to kill Yoshinaka. Yoshinaka fought his foes in what is known as the battle of Awazu in 1184 on February 21. Yoshinaka and his troops were however, outnumbered and defeated. It must be noted also, that Gozen came out with at least one head of the enemy. When Yoshinaka was defeated he ordered Goken to flee on the principle that it would be shameful for him to die with a woman. What happened afterwords is cloudy, much mystery still surrounds Goken, and some believe her to be some sort of Goddess.

In short, Tomoe was beautiful and strong. She would have been ready to confront the devil himself. She was a warrior worthy of respect, she outweighed many male warriors in terms of courage, worth, and skill. She was and always will be a true Samurai.

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Sasaki was a great warrior for sure, but unlike most great warrior he was not remembered for his triumph, but rather for his loss. A brutal loss at that, Kojiro fought the legendary Miyamoto Musashi and lost. But before the loss, Sasaki was a prominent and famous swordsman, although he was like Musashi a bit odd when it came to weaponry choice. You see, he utilized a nodachi with a 90 cm straightedge blade. This weapon was also nicknamed the clothes drying pole because of its length. Surprisingly Sasaki was able to manipulate this sword in such a way that he fought with grace and speed. He was indeed a great warrior, and he was most certainly Musashi’s greatest challenge.

As a fighter, he went by the name of Ganryu, which literally meant large rock flow. This was also the name of the school that he taught at. Ganryu became famous at first, after he was honored by Lord Hosokawa Tadoki as the chief weapons master. Ganryu developed also, with his strange weapon, a unique style of fighting. It was called the Turning wallow cut, and was named after the animal. It was so called because the technique was an exact replica of the motion of a swallow’s tail in flight. His technique was quick and exact, and most likely involved a quick striking motion downward fooled by a quick strike upwards.

Soon, Ganryu had developed quite some fame, at the same time Musashi had developed into a famous warrior as well. Naturally the two were rivals, and as well Musashi wanted to challenge him to a duel. So he asked the lord Hosokawa Tadoki for permission to duel with Ganryu. Obviously, the lord agreed and the duel was set for April 13 1612 on the island of Ganryujima. This was a remote island, and was required so that none of Ganryu’s students would interfere.

As you may already know, Musashi arrived late, three hours late to be exact. At that he came gloating and taunting his rival. So naturally, Kojiro attacked first, but did nothing more than cause Musashi’s hair to swish in the air. Although, that is not to say that Kojiro did not cause any damage, because he came very close to victory several times. He lost it when Musaashi delivered a final blow to his skull with a wooden bokken.

This is not the only version of the story however; there are debates as to what really happened, but they generally run along the same lines. There are some that debate also that Musashi cheated in order to win, although we hope that this is not the case, as it is nice to think of the existence of a true Great among the warriors.

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Sure you have seen powerful swordsman in popular anime, films, and the like. But it is really impeccable when one hears of a real life “manslayer”. Miyamoto Musashi certainly was a great swordsman and he is considered to be perhaps the greatest swordsman of all time. Musashi, as he is known, gained his fame by remaining triumphant throughout various duels in his lifetime.

Musashi was born in 1584; his father was a skilled martial artist and master of the sword. When he was young, he won two out of three matches against Master Swordsman Yoshioka. It was then that he was granted the title “Best in Japan”. So, at this point it is obvious that this swordsmanship runs in the family. In terms of schooling, Musashi studied at Yoshioka ryu school. And, according to his book: The Book of Five Rings, Musashi fought in his first duel at the age of 13 against Arima Kihei. This was also his first victory. After that, at the age of 15, Musashi started in his travels, at which he also took part in several duels.

At the age of 20, Musashi arrived at the Yoshioka School to duel. Legend has it that he defeated all three brothers, and masters of the school. After leaving the school and Kyoto, and traveled all over Japan in an effort to hone in on his skills. On April 14, 1612, at age 28 Musashi dueled his most famous duel of all time. He fought with Sasaki Kojiro who wielded a nodachi. A nodachi, is a very large field sword. Musashi quickly defeated his opponent with a bokken, a wooden training sword. From 1614 to 1615 Musahi also joined the service. He helped in the battle between the Toyotomi and the Tokugawa. Musahi fought for the Toyotomi.

In 1643, sensing his declining health, Musashi retired from his dueling days to become a hermit and write. It was at this time that he wrote The Book of Five Rings. He died in June 1645 because of thoracic cancer, which is notable in its own sense, because he did not die in battle. Musashi was certainly a famous swordsman, there have been, in fact 36 films made about him, and 6 of those with the title Miyamoto Musashi.

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