Myōrin (妙林) or Yoshioka Myorin-ni (吉岡妙林尼) was a late-Sengoku period female warlord onna-musha. She was the wife of Yoshioka Akioki a samurai warlord, and served Otomo clan in Bungo. She was the heroic woman who defended the Otomo clan in the Kyūshū campaign against Shimazu's army. Her contributions to the Kyushu campaign were so significant that they completely changed the course of history and she was highly praised by Japan's most powerful man at the time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Later, she was named Guardian of Tsurusaki, an honorary title due to her heroic acts.
Biography
Her real name, origin, year of death are unknown but her father was Kyosuke Hayashi. Myōrin-ni was just her Dharma name when she became a Bhikkhunī. She married Yoshioka Nagamasu's son, Yoshioka Akioki. In 1578 Akioki died in the Battle of Mimigawa against Shimazu army, thus his son Yoshioka Munemasu succeeded Yoshioka clan at the age of ten; because he was very young, Myorin took over the administration and acted as counselor for Munemasu. Luís Fróis describes that a woman ruled an area that is currently the Ōita city—that woman was probably Myorin. She in fact proved to be highly capable in the peacetime administration of the castle, but the course of her life had completely changed. Bolstered by their victory over Ryūzōji Takanobu at the Battle of Okitanawate in 1584, the Shimazu of Satsuma moved against the Ōtomo in 1586, concentrating their attacks upon the three fortresses of Funai, Tsurusaki and Usuki, a series of battles known as Kyushu campaign. The last pass to Satsuma conquer Kyūshū island.
Kyushu campaign
In December 1585, Shimazu Iehisa the commander of Shimazu army, ordered his general to siege Tsurusaki castle with 3,000 soldiers. As Munemasu was at Usuki castle with Otomo Yoshihige, there remained quite limited soldiers in the castle. But Myōrin decided to resist against Shimazu, she strengthened small Tsurusaki castle digging the moats, placing the fences and boards as wall. Beside many pitfalls were made at the muddy ground around the castle, hidden by grasses. As the narrow path at the south of the castle is an expected approach route, a combination of wall and pits was added to stop the enemy. Ropes with bells were placed along the forest. Myōrin gathered local residents and armed, then waited for the arrival of Shimazu army.
Siege of Tsurusaki Castle
In 1586 Myorin led the defense of Tsurusaki Castle against an attack. The army of 3,000 men was led by the three Shimazu generals who expressed surprise on discovering that a woman was defending the castle. Myorin appeared on the walls dressed in full armour and carrying a naginata, she was accompanied by small number of soldiers, farmers and maids. Negotiations were set in motion and Myorin was offered substantial reward in gold and silver if she would surrender the castle, but she made it clear that she was prepared to defend it to the death.
The traps caused the Shimazu army to retreat several times, she commanded a Teppo (firearm) unit on the front line. The success of Myorin's strategies increased the morale of Yoshioka and Otomo's soldiers. Shimazu army once retreated and repeated their attack from different points, but Myorin rejected these attacks 16 times. The defense of Tsurusaki under her was kept up with vigor, the garrison losing only one man during the main assault and taking 63 heads of the Satsuma attackers. The heroic Myorin was clearly in the thick of the fighting because during one assault she held a deep arrow wound and was captured.
Under the control of Shimazu
Shimazu's army suffered a lot of damage and was left with few supplies. At that time the enemy commanders advised Myorin to make peace after she had been surrounded, so she agreed. Yoshioka's army left Tsurusaki, and entertained the commanders of Shimazu's army with a party. However, this was just a Myorin's plan, she planned to gain confidence from the enemy commanders, for being a nice person she earned the respect of Nomura, a Shimazu general. She lived months of peace under Iehisa's rule, during which time she already planned to rebel against them to gain Tsurusaki's leadership again.