Tomoe Gozen in the Heike Monogatari
Tomoe Gozen's appearance in the tale is brief, but descriptive. It is quite apparent from the narrative that Tomoe is among the very best of Minamoto Yoshinaka's warriors. Tomoe's appearance takes place during the Battle of Awazu in which Minamamoto Yoshitsune's forces attack and destroy Yoshinaka's.
Below are the passages from the Heike Monogatari in which Tomoe Gozen is mentioned.
Kiso no Yoshinaka had brought with him from Shinano two female attendants, Tomoe and Yamabuki. Yamabuki had fallen ill and stayed at the capital. Of the two, Tomoe was especially beautiful, with white skin, long hair, and charming features. She was also a remarkably strong archer, and as a swordswoman she was a warrior worth a thousand, ready to confront a demon or god, mounted or on foot. She handled unbroken horses with superb skill;; she rode unscathed down perilous descents. Whenever battle was imminent, Yoshinaka sent her out as his first captain, equipped with strong armor, an oversized sword, and a mighty bow; and she performed more deeds of valor than any of his other warriors. Thus she was now one of the seven who remained after all the others had fled or perished. ...
Again they galloped through enemy bands- here four or five hundred, there two or three hundred, or a hundred and forty or fifty, or a hundred- until only five of them were left. Even then, Tomoe remained alive.
“Quickly, now," Lord Kiso said to Tomeo. “You are a woman, so be off with you; go wherever you please. I intend to die in battle, or to kill myself if I am wounded. It would be unseemly to let people say ‘Lord Kiso kept a woman with him during his last battle' "
Reluctant to flee, Tomoe rode with the others until she could resist no longer. Then she pulled up. “Ah! If only I could find a worthy foe! I would fight a last battle for His Lordship to watch," she thought.
As she sat there, thirty riders came into view, led by Onda no Hachiro Moroshige, a man renowned in the Musashi Province for his great strength. Tomoe galloped into their midst, rode up along Moroshige, seized him in a powerful grip, pulled him down against the pommel of her saddle, held him motionless, twisted off his head, and threw it away. Afterwards, she discarded the armor and helmet and flead to the eastern provinces.
Work Cited:McCullough, Helen C., trans. The Tale of the Heike. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1988. (p 291-292)