ANALYZE POWER STRUGGLES

“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.”

“And Yoritomo, very cross that Kiso, his cousin, is threatening to upstage him, had sent his two younger half brothers to lead a two-pronged attack on Kyoto. And their mission was effectively to destroy Kiso and to bring Kyoto under the control of Yoritomo.”

“He doesn't command armies himself and so he's always trying to kind of play the various samurai warlords against one another. All these various warlords who are marching into Kyoto, trying to seize control of it, they still need the legitimacy that the backing of Go Shirakawa, this cloistered emperor, can provide.”

“And the reason that he's doing that is that in the east, he has sent his beloved foster brother to hold back the advance of the Minamoto forces. Only last year he had left Shinano, his great stronghold, leading an army of 50,000. Now passing the brook at Shinomiya, he had only six riders with him.”

“And so she charges this samurai captain, the guy who's famed for his strength. And we're told she caught him in an iron grip, forced his head down to her pommel, kept it pinned there, twisted it round, cut it off and tossed it away. And then she abandoned her arms and armor and fled toward the east.”