* Image is for illustrative purposes only.Shizuka Gozen
静御前
Beloved Concubine of Minamoto no Yoshitsune and a Celebrated Shirabyoshi Dancer, the Tragic Woman Who Danced Her Longing for Yoshitsune at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu
Description
Shizuka the Shirabyoshi
Shizuka Gozen (dates unknown, late 12th century) was a shirabyoshi of the late Heian to early Kamakura period. A shirabyoshi was a female entertainer who sang and danced imayo songs in male attire, and Shizuka's mother, Iso no Zenji, is said to have also been a shirabyoshi. Shizuka was acclaimed as the foremost performer of her day, and her dancing and beauty were renowned in the capital.
Meeting Yoshitsune and the Flight
Shizuka Gozen became the beloved concubine of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the hero of the campaign against the Heike. Yoshitsune, hunted following his conflict with his elder brother Minamoto no Yoritomo, fled the capital and wandered from place to place. In 1185, when Yoshitsune fled to Mount Yoshino, it is said that as many of his followers departed, Shizuka alone—though a woman—followed Yoshitsune to the very end. But because Yoshino was a mountain forbidden to women, Shizuka parted from Yoshitsune there, was captured on her way down the mountain, and was sent to Kamakura.
The Dance at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu
In 1186, having been sent to Kamakura, Shizuka was made to perform a shirabyoshi dance at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu by order of Minamoto no Yoritomo. Although Yoritomo stood in a position of hatred toward Yoshitsune, Shizuka, undaunted, composed and danced to a poem yearning for Yoshitsune: 'Treading apart the white snow of Yoshino's peaks, how I long for the trail of the one who entered there.' Yoritomo was enraged on hearing this, but the Azuma Kagami records that Shizuka was pardoned through the intercession of Yoritomo's wife, Hojo Masako.
Shizuka and the World of Swords and Naginata
Shizuka Gozen was an entertainer, not a warrior who bore arms herself. Yet the turbulent Genpei era in which she lived was a time when Yoshitsune wore numerous famous swords including 'Hizamaru (Usumidori)' and warriors fought with tachi and naginata. The figure of Shizuka, dancing in male attire as a shirabyoshi, may be seen as one example of a woman of the age indirectly entering the world of arms, and her tragedy has been handed down against the backdrop of the sword culture of the Genpei War.
The Tragedy That Followed
Shizuka Gozen bore Yoshitsune's child in Kamakura, but because it was a boy the infant is said to have been killed by order of Yoritomo. Afterward Shizuka is said to have been returned to Kyoto with her mother, but accounts of her final years differ: one tradition holds that she died on her way to Oshu in longing for Yoshitsune, and places said to hold Shizuka's grave remain in various regions. Her single-hearted love for Yoshitsune and her noble dance as a shirabyoshi have been taken up countless times in later performing arts such as Noh, Kabuki, and Joruri, becoming an archetype of the tragic woman in love in Japanese culture.
Notable Swords
- The sword culture of the Genpei era, against the backdrop of Minamoto no Yoshitsune's famous blade 'Hizamaru (Usumidori)' (not a sword Shizuka herself bore, but the world of swords of the age symbolized by the tachi worn by the Yoshitsune she loved)
- The shirabyoshi dance and the martial world of the Genpei War (not a warrior who bore arms herself, but the figure of Shizuka dancing in male attire shows her indirect connection to the age of the tachi and naginata)