RELATED TOPIC:
AN ACCOUNT OF MY HUT, BY CHÔMEI

RELATED TOPIC:
KENKÔ's ESSAYS IN IDLENESS

RELATED TOPIC:
NOH DRAMA

H. Paul Varley :: Some of the believers in the salvationist sects of Buddhism became convinced that their apocalyptic view of the world was true when in the late thirteenth century, on two occasions, in 1274 and 1281, forces from Mongol China invaded Japan.

The force landed at Hakata Bay in northern Kyushu. This was the traditional entry point from the continent in pre-modern times, and they met the samurai defenders from Kyushu.

One of the warriors, Kyushu warriors, who fought against the Mongols, was a man called Takezaki Suenaga. He fought in both defenses against the Mongols, and he commissioned the painting of the scroll that has come down to us as the Mongol Scroll. Parts of this scroll have been badly damaged, but it still is a wonderful representation of these extraordinary events in thirteenth-century Japan.

Well, actually the samurai, even though they fought stoutly enough, were really no match for the world-conquering Mongols. But, as luck would have it, the very night of the first day a typhoon blew up. The Mongols were obliged to return to their ships and return to the open sea. Many of the ships were lost, and the others straggled back to the continent. So, the Japanese were saved by this typhoon.

Well, Kubilai Khan was not finished. He decided to invade Japan again, and he sent another force in 1281. This force was of incredible size. The figure, the total number of troops — and this is a figure that is accepted by historians — was about one-hundred forty thousand. So, one-hundred and forty thousand men, an armada carrying that many men, were sent to invade Japan. This was far and away the largest seaborne invasion in the world before the Allied landing in France on D-Day in World War II.

Once again, a typhoon blew up, the Mongols had to return to their ships, go out to the open sea. Ships were lost, and others returned to the continent. So, on both occasions, the Japanese were saved by these typhoons. These typhoons became known as kamikaze, or divine winds, winds of the gods. Interestingly, the gods that are involved, the gods who supposedly sent these winds, were Shintô deities.