The story about Sahobime who escaped from strong samurai by being clad in a dress rotten by alcohol and wearing a wig after shaving her head might be a legend; however, women indeed had difficulty in running away and fighting back when grabbed by the hair as shown in the scene in the Battle of Dannoura that women who tried to commit suicide by drowning were captured by their hair's being entangled with a rake and were held captive.
酒で腐った衣をまとい、髪を剃り上げて鬘にすることで屈強の武士から逃れたサホビメの物語は伝説だとしても、壇ノ浦の戦いの際、入水した女性達が長い髪を熊手で絡め取られて捕虜となった様に、髪を捕まえられると逃走や抵抗が難しくなってしまう。