usually concealed for surprise attacks.
When a warrior was wounded and survived, in most cases bled to death from the wounds of razor-sharp blades, treatment was primitive. In a 14th century medical manual, the following is the treatment for stomach wounds:
Cover the intestines with dried feces, then close the wound with mulberry sutures and spread cat-tail pollen over the area. Activities to be avoided were anger, laughter, thought, sex, activity, work, sour foods and sake.
The feces were most often horse dung.
One of the most famous samurai in Japanese history was a woman, a warrior of the Genpei War from 1180 to 1185.
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 a battle was imminent, Yoshinaka sent her out as his first captain, equipped with strong armor, an oversize sword, and a mighty bow; and she performed more deeds of valor than any of his other warriors. [II]
Minamoto no Yoshinaka was Tomoe’s master and after defeating the Heike he took Kyoto to become the leader of the Minamoto clan. Yoritomo, his cousin, sought to stop Yoshinaka so he sent his brothers Yoshitsune and Noriyori to kill him. Yoshinaka and Yoritomo warriors fought the Battle of Awazu on February 21st, 1184, where it was said that Tomoe Gozen took the head of one of the enemy. Yoshinaka’s samurai fought bravely, but were outnumbered and were defeated. With only a few of his soldiers left, Yoshinaka told Tomoe Gozen to flee because he wanted to die with his brother Imai no Shiro Kanehira, a half-brother. She left the battlefield and sometime later became a Buddhist nun in Echizen. Different stories have filtered down in history, but she is a real historical figure.
Tomoe Gozen has been immortalized in many ways, such as a character in the novel and 2010 miniseries film entitled Riverworld where she is depicted wielding two swords in the style of Musashi Miyamoto and the Go Rin No Sho of the Book of Five Rings.
Gozen was not her surname, but given as an honorary title to women, thus Tomoe-Gozen. [III]