clioshiddenportraits:Hangaku Gozen (Lady Hangaku), also known as Itagaki Gozen, was born in the Jou
clioshiddenportraits:Hangaku Gozen (Lady Hangaku), also known as Itagaki Gozen, was born in the Jou family, linked to the Taira clan, which lost the Genpei war (1180-1185). Being forced to serve the war winners, now leaders of the shogunate, the remaining members of the Jou family, Hangaku, her brother and nephew, responded starting the Kennin rebellion (1201-1203). Hangaku would have defended the Torisaka castle for three months, her soldiers only surrendering after she was wounded by an arrow. After that she was brought to the capital, the vassals of Minamoto Yoriie were impressed by her deeds, and one of them asked for permission to marry her, unfortunately there’s no registry about her thoughts of such arrangement…Hangaku’s story appears in the entries of Azuma Kagami (Mirror of the East), a daily record of the Genpei war and early Kamakura period, comprising more than 80 years. Also known as Houjobon (Houjo’s Book), after the family that primarily compiled and possessed it, the book was organized decades later of the events, collecting from various registers and being strongly biased to the Houjo’s side of the history. It’s no certain how much of it is reliable, yet it turned into the “bible” of shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu who ordered its print in the 17th century, becoming the most known chronicle about that age.In the environment Hangaku lived women were expected to be able to defend their home, family and themselves of dishonor. Such capacities were mostly seen during sieges to castles of which lord was away, even so there’re stories of women who engaged in open battle and are accounted as the most valuable soldier on field, I’ll be telling about more of these women in the next posts.The japanese version of Azuma Kagami is avaiable online and the session of the Genpei War is avaiable in english through the Japanese Historical Text Initiative. Also there’s a book by Stephen Turnbull, called ‘Samurai Women 1184-1877’, that covers all known cases and general context of these warriors.That illustration took a lot of research, but it’s finally complete phew… -- source link
#hangaku gozen#onna bugeisha#samurai#japanese history#illustration