The Mongol Invasion in

Japan

Introduction:
The Mongol invasion took in 1274 and 1281,
Kublai khan sent two huge fleet from Korea
and China to Japan and the samurai warriors
vigorously defended their shores.

First invasion, 1274

The Mongols and their subjects launched
an attack on Japan in the autumn of 1274.
Hundreds of large ships and an even larger
number of small boats—estimated between
500 and 900 in number—set out into the Sea
of Japan.
First, the invaders seized the islands of
Tsushima and Iki; Quickly overcoming
desperate resistance from the islands'
approximately 300 Japanese residents, the
Mongol troops slaughtered them all and
sailed on to the east.

Japan’s Samurai code

The samurai army setout to their code which
is “bushido” it’s basically a warrior would
step out, announce his name and prepare for
one-on-one, so zero stealth kills.
Unfortunately for the Japanese, The Mongols
do not follow the code, When a lone samurai
stepped forward to challenge them’ the
Mongols simply attack him like a swarming
bees.
To make matters worse for the Japanese, the
Yuan forces also used poison-tipped arrows,
catapult-launched explosive shells, and a
shorter bow that was accurate at twice the
range of the samurai's longbows. In addition,
the Mongols fought in units, rather than each
man for himself. Drumbeats relayed the
orders guiding their precisely coordinated
attacks. All of this was new to the samurai—
often fatally so.
Close Call
Unbeknownst to the Japanese defenders, the
Chinese and Korean sailors on board Kublai
Khan's ships were busy persuading the
Mongolian generals to let them weigh anchor
and head further out to sea. They worried
that the strong wind and high surf would
drive their ships aground in Hakata Bay.
The Mongols relented, and the great Armada
sailed out into open waters-straight into the
arms of an approaching typhoon. Two days
later, a third of the Yuan ships lay on the
bottom of the Pacific, and perhaps 13,000 of
Kublai Khan's soldiers and sailors had
drowned.
The battered survivors limped home, and
Japan was spared the Great Khan's
dominion-for the time being. While Kublai
Khan sat at his capital in Dadu (modern-day
Beijing) and brooded over his fleet's
misfortunes, the samurai waited for
the bakufu in Kamakura to reward them for
their valor, but that reward never came.

The Second Invasion, 1281

In the spring of 1281 seven years later, the
Japanese got a word that a second invasion is
coming in their way, The samurai sharpened
their swords and prayed,but Kublai Khan was
determined to smash them this time, and he
knew the last time was just simply “bad luck”
due to the weather
 this second attack, Japan was able to
muster 40,000 samurai and other fighting
men. They assembled behind the defensive
wall at Hakata Bay, their eyes trained to the
west.
The Mongols sent two separate forces this time an
impressive force of 900 ships containing 40,000
Korean, Chinese, and Mongol troops set out, while an
even larger force of 100,000 sailed from southern China
in 3,500 ships. The Ministry for Conquering Japan's
plan called for an overwhelming coordinated attack
from the combined imperial Yuan fleets.
The Korean fleet reached Hakata Bay on June 23, 1281,
the smaller division of the Yuan army was unable to
breach the Japanese defensive wall, so a stationary
battle evolved. Samurai weakened their opponents by
rowing out to the Mongol ships in small boats under
cover of darkness, setting fire to the ships and attacking
their troops, and then rowing back to land.
On August 12, the Mongols' main fleet landed to the
west of Hakata Bay. Now faced with a force more than
three times as large as their own, the samurai were in
serious danger of being overrun and slaughtered. With
little hope of survival—and little thought of reward if
they triumphed—the Japanese samurai fought on with
desperate bravery.

Japan’s Miracle
Just when it appeared that the samurai
would be exterminated and Japan crushed
under the Mongol yoke, an incredible Miracle
happened.
August 15, 1281, a second typhoon roared
ashore at Kyushu. Of the khan's 4,400 ships,
only a few hundred rode out the towering
waves and vicious winds. Nearly all of the
invaders drowned in the storm, and those few
thousand who made it to shore were hunted
and killed without mercy by the samurai with
very few returning to tell the tale at Dadu.
The Japanese believed that their gods had
sent the storms to preserve Japan from the
Mongols. They called the two
storms kamikaze, or "divine winds." Kublai
Khan seemed to agree that Japan was
protected by supernatural forces, thus
abandoning the idea of conquering the island
nation.

Aftermath
However, the outcome was disastrous. The samurai
demanded payment for the three months, they'd spent
warding off the Mongols. In addition, this time the
priests who had prayed for divine protection added their
own payment demands, citing the typhoons as evidence
of the effectiveness of their prayers.
The bakufu still had little to dispense, and what
disposable riches they had were given to the priests.
Suenaga did not even try to seek payment, instead
commissioning the scroll where most modern
understandings of this period come from as a record of
his own accomplishments during both invasions.
After a complex civil war lasting 15 years, the
Kamakura bakufu was defeated and the Ashikaga
Shogunate assumed power over Japan. The Ashikaga
family and all the other samurai passed down the story
of the kamikaze, and Japan's warriors drew strength and
inspiration from the legend for centuries.
The Mongols would also fail in their attempts to
conquer Vietnam and Java, but after 1281 CE, they did
then establish a lasting peace over most of Asia,
the Pax Mongolica, which would endure until the rise
of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE). Kublai Khan
never gave up on the diplomatic route either and
continued to send unsuccessful missions to persuade
Japan to join the Chinese tribute system.
SOURCES
World History Encyclopedia:
https://www.ancient.eu/article/1415/the-
mongol-invasions-of-japan-1274--1281-ce/
ThoughtCo: https://www.thoughtco.com/the-
mongol-invasions-of-japan-195559
WikiPediA:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasi
ons_of_Japan