661. Dawn of the Samurai: The Shōgun Triumphant (Part 4)

With her lovely white skin and long hair, Tomoe had enchanting looks, an archer of rare strength, a powerful warrior, and on foot or on horseback a swordsman to face any demon or god. She was a fighter to stand alone against a thousand. She could ride the wildest horse down the steepest slope. In battle Kiso clad her in the finest armour, equipped her with a great sword and a mighty bow, and charged her with the attack on the opposing commander. She won such repeated glory that none could stand beside her.

So that's one of the most celebrated descriptions of a samurai ever written. It comes from the tale of the Heike, which introduces the character of Tomoe Gozin, Lady Tomoe, the archetype of a female warrior. So Tom Holland, who is Tomoe and what is she doing in battle? with Lord Kiso, who is the mighty warlord whose exploits dominated the last episode of this tremendous epic series about the great civil war of the samurai. I think before we come to Tomaway we should uh just remind listeners of where we are.

in the sweeping epic that is the samurai civil war. So Kiso, Lord Kiso, mentioned in the passage that you read, he belongs to the Minamoto, who are one of the two great clans in 12th century Japan. And in the previous episode we heard how he annihilated two armies that had been sent against him by the Taira, who are the great dynastic rivals of the Minamoto. Kiso advanced on Kyoto, the imperial capital. He expelled the Tyra and he took it over himself, but in doing this he provoked the jealousy of his cousin, the scheming and ruthless and politically visionary head of the Minamoto clan Yoritomo, the warlord of a port very near what today is Tokyo called.

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