The Truth About Samurai Women | Tomoe Gozen
For the Love of History - world history, women’s history, weird history

The Truth About Samurai Women | Tomoe Gozen

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 4, 202637 min

She led 1,000 cavalry into battle, survived facing down 6,000 enemy warriors, and 800 years later, historians still can't agree on whether she was real. Meet Tomoe Gozen — the legendary female samurai commander at the center of Japan's most famous war. The British Museum's new Samurai Women exhibition has the internet arguing, some calling it revisionist and others calling it long overdue. So we're pulling this fan-favorite episode out of the archives to set the record straight: women didn't just witness samurai history; they fought it. In this episode: 🗡️ How the samurai class actually formed, starting with a scandal...

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 1 of 12 · 0:00

.

In January of 1915, Ernest Shackleton's ship, Endurance, became encased in the ice in the

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 32%A2 34%B1 24%B2 9%C1 1%
  • 90% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 134 words a minute: a natural pace.
  • 177 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

You're listening to an Airwave Media Podcast. In January of 1915, Ernest Shackleton's ship, Endurance, became encased in the ice in the Weddle Sea. Through determination, grit, and savvy, Shackleton would lead his men through a brutal winter,

0:16

then over hundreds of miles of Antarctic ice, followed by 800 miles across some of the roughest waters in the world. It is one of the most extraordinary and inspirational journeys in the history of exploration. this story and many others at the Explorers Podcast available wherever you get your podcasts

0:32

or at explorerspodcast.com. She had long black hair and a fair complexion and her face was very lovely. Moreover, she was a fearless rider whom neither the fiercest horse nor the roughest ground could dismay.

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (37 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy