🌸 Noire Henro-san: Woman Warrior

Ōhōri Tsuruhime

Samurai Shrine

Oyamamuchi no Okami, brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu, is god of the mountains, seas, and combat. He is enshrined at Oyamamuchi. Since then, countless warriors and samurai came to pray for success in battle. Many that were victorious returned to leave their armor at the shrine.

Female Samurai

For centuries before the unification of Japan, women samurai warriors (onna-musha) defended their homes and lands. They were powerful, fearsome, and eventually revered.

After the power and influence of the samurai system diminished, so did the role of women. They were subjugated and relegated to thankless duties with no rights. In the ensuing years, former onna-musha and onna-bugeisha took up the battle for womens rights.

Tsuruhime

Ōhōri Tsuruhime (1526–1543) was a Sengoku period onna-musha or female samurai warrior. Her father was Ōhōri Yasumochi, a chief priest of Ōyamazumi Shrine.

Her brothers were killed during the turmoil of pre-unification. She took over her father’s duties after he died. Out of necessity, Tsuruhime battled against significant invaders who threatened her people’s home and land. Known for her fighting skills, she was successful and won important battles.

According to legend, she committed suicide by drowning due to grief for her beloved fiancé who had been killed in action. Her last words were: 

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

Tsuruhime’s legacy established her as one of the most famous female warriors in Japanese history.

The armor bodice that belonged to Tsuruhime is in the National Treasury samurai armor archives on the grounds of Oyamamuchi Shrine.

A walk around town

I used my last day in Omishima to walk around and absorb the mountain magic, power spot, and psuedo-tropical vibrations. It was a wonderful day.

More than once, I experienced feelings of guilt for taking time away from my pilgrimage path to enlightenment. Just as many times, I realized that being here is a part of the journey. My ohenro path will not be a straight line to the eighty-eighth temple, to Mount Koya, home, and beyond.

Everything that I have experienced, now and in the days to come reinforces my courage and is meant for me.

Courage comes in different packages and speaks different languages. There is a courage called defiance, and there is a courage called perseverance. There is a courage that shouts and a courage that whispers.

-Lerone Bennett

I’m better now.

Click on video:

This was another encounter with a statue of Tsuruhime on my walk around town.

This shop sells meat, including its specialty, wild boar. In some cultures the boar is seen as embodying warrior virtues. Killing one is seen as proof of one’s valor and strength.

Pilgrims walking in Spain and Japan are warned to be on the lookout and stay clear of these fearsome creatures. Now it feels like a bit of poetic justice to taste wild boar meat at last night’s barbecue!

This is a nice wine shop that caters to the town.

The parks are well-maintained.

Stop… and smell the roses!

Time to get back on the pilgrimage trail on Shikoku island.

See you next time.

I did not forget…

Veterans Day Stories

Read:

Women are vets too, Meet the Organization That Acts Like it, by Ray Stoeve, Yes Magazine, September 18, 2013.

and

Combat Veterans Tell Us What We Need to Know About War, Nancy Hill, Yes Magazine, January 8, 2020.

Veterans day in the United States is
November 11, 2024

Baadaye and Mata ne

Shirley J ❤️

This and several posts this summer will chronicle my pilgrimage in Japan where I am walking the 1200 kilometer-long Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage. Read my announcement here.

I am excited, and I am here, still walking. And just know this, I will return to tell the tale!