FAIRY TALES/LEGEND: Tomoe Gozen AND Ame No Murakumo No Tsurugi
TOMOE GOZEN
Her father, Nakahara Kanetō was a strong supporter of Yoshinaka and also her foster father, who raised her since she was two. Her mother was Yoshinaka's wet nurse. Two of her elder brothers also served Yoshinaka as generals.[6] She is best known for her participation in the Battle of Awazu in 1184.
According to epic account written at the beginning of the 14th century,
In 1182 she commanded 300 samurai in a struggle against 2,000 warriors of the rival Taira clan. After defeating the Taira and driving them into the western provinces, Yoshinaka took Kyoto and desired to be the leader of the Minamoto clan. His cousin Yoritomo was prompted to crush Yoshinaka, and sent his brothers Yoshitsune and Noriyori to kill him. Yoshinaka fought Yoritomo's forces at the Battle of Awazu on February 21, 1184, where Tomoe Gozen purportedly took at least one head of the enemy. Although Yoshinaka's troops fought bravely, they were outnumbered and overwhelmed. When Yoshinaka was defeated there, with only a few of his soldiers standing, he told Tomoe Gozen to flee because he wanted to die with his foster brother Imai no Shiro Kanehira and he said that he would be ashamed if he died with a woman.[8]
There are varied accounts of what followed. At the Battle of Awazu in 1184,[9] she is known for beheading Honda no Morishige of Musashi.[10] She is also known for having killed Uchida Ieyoshi and for escaping capture by Hatakeyama Shigetada.[11] After Tomoe Gozen beheaded the leader of the Musashi clan and presented his head to her master Yoshinaka.[12]
- Tomoe Gozen's life, set in a fantasy Japan, is the subject of a trilogy of novels by Jessica Amanda Salmonson (The Disfavored Hero, The Golden Naginata and Thousand Shrine Warrior, 1981–1984).
- Tomoe Gozen is the basis of the Persona of Chie Satonaka in the 2008 video game Persona 4.
- Tomoe Gozen is a playable commander in the Rise of Kingdoms online game, with an archery & support specialization.[13]
- Tomoe Gozen is one of the supporting characters in the 2010 Syfy series Riverworld.
- Tomoe Gozen appears as an enemy at first with her alias as 'Archer of Inferno', but becomes a playable Archer-class servant in the mobile game Fate/Grand Order.
- A character based on Tomoe Gozen appears in the Stan Sakai comic book series Usagi Yojimbo, named Tomoe Ame.
- Tomoe Gozen appears as a character in the podcast Film Reroll.
- Tomoe Gozen appears as a character in the manga and anime Nurarihyon no Mago.
- Tomoe Gozen appears in Heian Shrine's Jidai Matsuri (Festival of the Ages), which is held on October 22 each year.
- Tomoe is the name of a character in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice who serves as both a mentor and guardian to multiple characters throughout the game. While meant to be distinct from the historical figure, they are repeatedly described as a master of both sword and bow, obviously taking inspiration from Tomoe Gozen.
- Tomoe Gozen appears in the Samurai Deeper Kyo manga by Akimine Kamijyo (1999-2006), where she initially appears as Saisei, until it is revealed she is Tomoe Gozen, but resurrected as a zombie to help the antagonists.
- Tomoe Gozen is mentioned in the Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir series, where she is revealed to be a past Miraculous holder.
- A character named Tomoe is featured in Ghost of Tsushima, inspired by Tomoe Gozen.[14]
AME NO MURAKUMO NO TSURUGI
The history of the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi extends into legend. According to Kojiki, the god Susanoo encountered a grieving family of kunitsukami ("gods of the land") headed by Ashinazuchi (足名椎) in Izumo Province. When Susanoo inquired of Ashinazuchi, he told him that his family was being terrorized by the fearsome Yamata no Orochi, an eight-headed serpent of Koshi, who had consumed seven of the family's eight daughters and that the creature was coming for his final daughter, Kushinada-hime (奇稲田姫). Susanoo investigated the creature, and after an abortive encounter he returned with a plan to defeat it. In return, he asked for Kushinada-hime's hand in marriage, which was agreed. Transforming her temporarily into a comb (one interpreter reads this section as "using a comb he turns into [masquerades as] Kushinada-hime") to have her company during battle, he detailed his plan into steps.
He instructed that eight vats of sake (rice wine) be prepared and put on individual platforms positioned behind a fence with eight gates. The monster took the bait and put one of its heads through each gate. With this distraction, Susanoo attacked and slew the beast (with his sword Worochi no Ara-masa[1]), chopping off each head and then proceeded to do the same to the tails. In the fourth tail, he discovered a great sword inside the body of the serpent which he called Ame-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi. He presented the sword to the goddess Amaterasu to settle an old grievance.
Although the sword is mentioned in the Kojiki, this book is a collection of Japanese myths and is not considered a historical document. The first reliable historical mention of the sword is in the Nihonshoki.[2] Although the Nihonshoki also contains mythological stories that are not considered reliable history, it records some events that were contemporary or nearly contemporary to its writing, and these sections of the book are considered historical. In the Nihonshoki, the Kusanagi was removed from the Imperial palace in 688, and moved to Atsuta Shrine after the sword was blamed for causing Emperor Tenmu to fall ill. Along with the jewel (Yasakani no Magatama) and the mirror (Yata no Kagami), it is one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan, the sword representing the virtue of valor.
Kusanagi is allegedly kept at Atsuta Shrine but is not available for public display. During the Edo period, while performing various repairs and upkeep at Atsuta Shrine, including replacement of the outer wooden box housing the sword, the Shinto priest Matsuoka Masanao claimed to have been one of several priests to have seen the sword. Per his account, "a stone box was inside a wooden box of length 150 cm, with red clay stuffed into the gap between them. Inside the stone box was a hollowed log of a camphor tree, acting as another box, with an interior lined with gold. Above that was placed a sword. Red clay was also stuffed between the stone box and the camphor tree box. The sword was about 82 cm long. Its blade resembled a calamus leaf. The middle of the sword had a thickness from the grip about 18cm with an appearance like a fish spine. The sword was fashioned in a white metallic color, and well maintained." After witnessing the sword, the grand priest was banished and the other priests, except for Matsuoka, died from strange diseases. The above account therefore comes from the only survivor, Matsuoka.[3]
In The Tale of the Heike, a collection of oral stories transcribed in 1371, the sword is lost at sea after the defeat of the Heike in the Battle of Dan-no-ura, a naval battle that ended in the defeat of the Heike clan forces and the child Emperor Antoku at the hands of Minamoto no Yoshitsune. In the tale, upon hearing of the Navy's defeat, the Emperor's grandmother, Taira no Tokiko, led the Emperor and his entourage to commit suicide by drowning in the waters of the strait, taking with her two of the three Imperial Regalia: the sacred jewel and the sword Kusanagi.[4] The sacred mirror was recovered in extremis when one of the ladies-in-waiting was about to jump with it into the sea.[5] Although the sacred jewel is said to have been found in its casket floating on the waves, Kusanagi was lost forever. Although written about historical events, The Tale of the Heike is a collection of epic poetry passed down orally and written down nearly 200 years after the actual events, so its reliability as an historical document is questionable.
Another story[5] holds that the sword was reportedly stolen again in the sixth century by a monk from Silla. However, his ship allegedly sank at sea, allowing the sword to wash ashore at Ise, where it was recovered by Shinto priests.
AGE: 17 Yrs Old.
RANKS: Huntsman In Training.
BIO: COMING SOON.
INFORMATION COMING SOON
INFORMATION COMING SOON
User can control actions of the targets by dancing, this may include even inanimate or dead targets, but only the target's body, not their minds.
FAIRY TALES: The Dancing Fire Maid and The Red Shoes.
IN THE FIRE-FAIRY
A group of gold prospectors, including an old man Yefim (alternative translation: Grandpa Efim[23]) and an 8-year-old boy Fedyunka, called "Tyunka" by his father, sit around a fire in the woods. A tiny girl suddenly jumps out of the fire.
She finishes her dance and disappears, while the prospectors look as if spellbound and almost forget the experience afterwards. The only person who clearly remember the maid is Fedyunka. He also hears the cry of an eagle-owl as if the bird is laughing at him. Yefim explains that the girl was the Fire-Fairy, a sign of gold: "If the dancer shows herself, there's gold in that place".[25] Next morning the prospectors start digging in the area, but cannot seem to remember the exact place where the maid had danced. Fedyunka blames the owl, but no one believes him. Children at the factory give him a nickname "Dancing Tyunka" (Russian: Тюнька Поскакушка, tr. Tjunka Poskakushka). The only person who doesn't laugh at him is Yefim. They become close friends. One day they see the Fire-Fairy again, and again the eagle-owl scares her away. Fedyunka is convinced that the Fairy would have shown them the way to gold if the owl had not hooted.
In the winter Fedyunka's father leaves to work in the mine, and the boy stays with his evil step-mother. He decides to live with Yefim instead. On his way to the village he sees the Fire-Fairy again. He follows her and gets lost in the forest, but the maid dances around him, and the snow melts. The winter turns into summer, flowers bloom, birds start singing on a birch tree. The Fairy laughs at Fedyunka and gives him an old spade that leads him out of the forest. Next day Fedyunka and Yefim go back to the birch tree and find a lot of gold. They cannot keep the secret for long, and eventually the landlord takes hold of the place, but Fedyunka and Yefim live in wealth for many years.
IN THE RED SHOES
A peasant girl named Karen is adopted by a rich old lady after her mother's death and grows up vain and spoiled. Before her adoption, Karen had a roughly-made pair of red shoes; after, she has her foster mother buy her a pair of red shoes fit for a princess. Karen is so enamored of her new shoes that she wears them to church, but the old lady tells her, "This is highly improper: you must only wear black shoes in church". But the following Sunday, Karen is unable to resist putting the red shoes on again. As she is about to enter the church, she meets a mysterious old soldier with a red beard. "Oh, what beautiful shoes for dancing," the soldier says. "Never come off when you dance," he tells the shoes, and he taps each of the shoes with his hand. After church, Karen cannot resist taking a few dance steps, and off she goes, as though the shoes controlled her, but she finally manages to stop them for a few minutes.
After her adoptive mother becomes ill and passes away, Karen can't even attend her foster mother's funeral. And then an angel appears to her, bearing a sword, and condemns her to dance even after she dies, as a warning to vain children everywhere. Karen begs for mercy but the red shoes take her away before she hears the angel's reply.
Karen finds an executioner and asks him to chop off her feet. He does so but the shoes continue to dance, even with Karen's amputated feet inside them. The executioner gives her a pair of wooden feet and crutches. Thinking that she has suffered enough for the red shoes, Karen decides to go to church so people can see her. Yet her amputated feet, still in the red shoes, dance before her, barring the way. The following Sunday she tries again, thinking she is at least as good as the others in church, but again the dancing red shoes bar the way.
When Sunday comes again Karen dares not go to church. Instead she sits alone at home and prays to God for help. The angel reappears, now bearing a spray of roses, and gives Karen the mercy she asked for: her heart becomes so filled with peace and joy that it bursts. Her soul flies on to Heaven, where no one mentions the red shoes.
AGE: 17 Yrs Old.
RANKS: Huntsman In Training.
BIO: COMING SOON!
WEAPON: COMING SOON!
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