If ever there was an event that helped to shape a nation, it was the unsuccessful second invasion of Japan by the Mongols in 1281. In the years prior to that, Khubilai Khan, the Mongol Emperor of China had been having nothing more than success in overwhelming and subjugating both China and Korea. The skill of his armies on the land was nothing short of amazing and his enemies found it nearly impossible to stop him. Naturally, he wanted all he could get and so turned his attentions to Japan, which lay only a few hundred miles away from Korea across the Tsushima Straits.

However, the Mongols were not exactly qualified seamen and so it was left to first the Koreans and later to the Song Chinese to build a fleet and provide men for much of his invading armies. All of this was prefaced by sending emissaries to Japan to convince them of the wisdom of allowing themselves to be subjugated by the Mongol emperor. This did not play well with the Japanese who, despite their continued fighting amongst themselves, were not about to let a bunch of foreigners take over.

So the first invasion of 1274 took place. The Mongols quickly overran the Japanese on Tsushima, and Iki island doing the usual plundering, burning and killing or enslavement of the locals. They then landed at Hakada bay on Kyushu and started pushing back the samurai defenders. However, a storm came up and scattered the invasion fleet, forcing the Mongols to retreat to Korea and abandon the attempt.

Several years pass and the Mongols had finally subjugated the Song Chinese, so it was their turn to provide ships and men. This time, it was to be a two-pronged attack, however, one of the Mongol commanders decided to start early before the second group arrived. Again Tsushima and Iki islands were subjected to the depravities of the Mongol armies. When they arrived at Hakada bay, this time the Japanese were ready, having build walls at all the landing sites from which they drove the invaders back into their boats. Then began a series of small attacks on the Mongols in their boats and on a small island in Hakada bay were many were stationed. Meanwhile, the second group had split up and invaded Takashima and further north on Honshu island. The Honshu invasion was pretty much a disaster and nature intervened  in the other battles by sending a typhoon which effectively wiped out the Mongol invasion fleets. It is this typhoon that was called the Kamikaze or Divine Wind that saved the Japanese as the Mongols never tried again. This lone event convinced the Japanese that they were favored by the gods and would always be protected from invaders.

Stephen Turnbull does a superlative job of telling the story of these invasions. There is so much myth involved and so little historical record of these events that untwisting myth from reality is quite difficult. Yet it is done with clarity and Stephen tells a good story. This is all superbly illustrated by Richard Hook and enhanced by period artwork and photos of the few artifacts and images of the locales in which the battles were fought.

It makes for superb reading of a pivotal event in Japanese and world history. It is a book I very much enjoyed and highly recommend to you.

February 2010

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