or was a Sengoku period female warrior ( Onna-musha). She was the daughter of Ōhōri Yasumochi, a chief priest of

Ōyamazumi Shrine is located on the island of Ōmishima in the Seto Inland Sea. The shrine is dedicated to the gods who protect sailors and soldiers. Because of this, many ''daimyō'' and other military leaders have made offerings at the shrine in hopes of mili ...

on the island of Ōmishima in Iyo Province. She went to battle several times, and her claim to divine inspiration coupled with fighting skills has led to her being compared with Joan of Arc. Tsuruhime's legacy established her as one of the most recognizable female warriors in Japanese history.

Life

Ōhōri Tsuruhime was born in 1526. She was the third daughter of Ōhōri Yasumochi, chief priest ( Kannushi) of the

, on the island of Ōmishima, north of Iyo province and about 30 miles southeast of

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui h ...

. The island is in the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka ...

of Japan (Setouchi). The Shinto shrine was founded in 594 and is dedicated to Ōyamatsumi, the older brother of the Japanese sun goddess

Amaterasu Amaterasu, also known as Amaterasu Ōmikami () or Ōhirume no Muchi no Kami (), is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. One of the major deities (''kami'') of Shinto, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the ''Kojik ...

, the god of mountains, seas and wars. The temple was a place of pilgrimage for samurai, who left weapons and armor as a sacrifice. It gradually became a museum of weaponry. At that time the island was under threat from the growing power of Ōuchi Yoshitaka (1507-1551) from Yamaguchi on the mainland of Honshu. Yoshitaka owned the regions of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

and Chūgoku. In 1534, a war broke out between the Ōuchi clan and the Kōno clan (野氏) from Shikoku, which owned the Ōyamatsumi Temple. Tsuruhime's two elder brothers were killed during a conflict. In 1541, when Tsuruhime was 15 years old her father died of illness, and she inherited the position of chief priest. She had been trained since childhood in the martial arts, and when the Ōuchi made further attacks against Ōmishima, she led an armed resistance to defend the island. She proclaimed herself the avatar of Myojin of Mishima (三島明神), a powerful kami shrine. She led an army into battle and drove the Ōuchi samurai back into the sea when they raided Ōmishima in 1541. Four months later the invaders returned. Tsuruhime led troops with a surprise counterattack on the enemy ships. While an Ōuchi general, Ohara Takakoto, was being entertained on his flagship, he came under attack by Tsuruhime in a raid. She successfully boarded general Takakoto's ship and summoned him to a duel. According to another version, Tsuruhime secretly climbed onto the ship where the Ouchi samurai were feasting. At first Takakoto mocked her presumption, but Tsuruhime won the duel and killed Takakoto. One account states that "Takatoto's disrespectful words to Tsuruhime were sharp, but not as sharp as the sword with which she stabbed him in return." This was followed by a deluge of hōrokubiya (焙烙火矢; spherical exploding bombs) from Tsuruhime's allies to destroy many ships, which drove the Ōuchi fleet away. In 1543, when Tsuruhime was seventeen, she rejoined battling the Ōuchi.

Sue Harukata was a samurai who served as a senior retainer of the Ōuchi clan in the Sengoku period in Japan. He was the second son of Sue Okifusa, a senior retainer of the Ōuchi clan. His childhood name was Goro, and previously had the name Takafusa (). ...

's fleet defeated the Kono clan's troops. Tsuruhime was overcome with grief after hearing that her fiancé, Yasunari Ochi (born in 1522), had been killed in action. Tsuruhime set up an ambush, in which she defeated Ouchi's army. According to legend, she committed suicide by drowning due to grief for her beloved. Her last words were:

As Mishima's ocean as my witness, my love shall be engraved with my name.

Though she is romanticized to have died when she was young, there are no known contemporary records that confirm it.

Legacy

The Dō-maru armor kept in

is considered the armor worn by Tsuruhime in battle. In 1959, the armor was included in the Lists of National Treasures of Japan. The Shrine holds festivals and processions in honor of Tsuruhime. The procession is led by a woman dressed in a Tsuruhime costume. Kyōtei boat races are held and many people attend the celebrations. Tsuruhime became more famous among the general public by the 1966 book ''Sea, Woman & Armor - Jeanne d'Arc of Setouchi'' (海と女と鎧―瀬戸内のジャンヌ・ダルク), written by the author Mishima Yasukiyo (三島安精).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ōhōri Tsuruhime 1526 births 1543 deaths Japanese military personnel who died by suicide Japanese women in warfare People of Sengoku-period Japan Suicides by drowning in Japan Women in 16th-century warfare Women of medieval Japan 16th-century women rulers 16th-century Japanese women 16th-century Japanese people 16th-century suicides People from Ehime Prefecture

Life

Legacy

See also

References