Autumn storm -
Something will have to now
Those five houses?..
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Contemporaries about the Mongols. And it so happened that in 1268, 1271 and 1274. Kublai Khan (Kublai Khan), the emperor of China, repeatedly sent his envoys to Japan with an unveiled demand: to pay him tribute! The attitude of the Japanese towards China at that time was similar to the attitude of the younger brother to the elder. And it is not surprising, because all the best in Japan came from China - tea and writing, martial arts, laws and religion. It was believed that China is a great country worthy of all respect and admiration. Today it is not known in what words and in what language Khubilai's messengers spoke to the Japanese, but it is undoubted that they had to deal not only with the emperor's courtiers, but also with the samurai from the bakufu - this new and ambitious military government of Japan. But ambition is ambition, but the bakufu did not have the slightest experience in international diplomacy, and where did it come from? In addition, the samurai from the bakufu knew about the events in China only from the words of Buddhist monks who fled from the mainland from the Mongols. The Kamakura shogunate treated them very favorably, some of these fugitives even made very decent careers in Japan, but … was this source of information about the Mongols sufficiently objective, or was it a story about "savages riding furry horses"? And what could Buddhist monks tell about the military strength of the Mongols? Well, it is known that the founder of the Japanese school of Nichiren believed that the Mongol invasion of China was a sign of global decline. That is, most likely, the Bakufu believed that way and therefore underestimated the strength of the Mongols.
The beginning of the first invasion
The aristocrats at the court of the emperor in Kyoto were accustomed to submitting to powerful China, at least they were ready for this morally. Therefore, they wanted to agree to the demands of the Mongols and pay tribute to them, but the young regent Hojo Toki-mune decided that they should refuse. He appealed to the samurai with an appeal to forget the feuds and protect the country from invasion. We started by setting up guard posts in the north of Kyushu Island. Well, Khubilai decided that he would not give up this willfulness just like that and ordered the Koreans to build 900 ships, since it was impossible to invade Japan on land. Ordered - done. The ships were built, and in October 1274 the Mongols set out to fight overseas.
They had no idea that typhoon season was beginning in Japan at this time. First, they landed on the island of Tsushima, which lay just halfway between Korea and Kyushu, and then on the island of Iki, lying not far from the coast of Japan. In the battles with the invaders, two military leaders, Sho Susekuni and Tairano Kagetaka, who were close associates of the local governor and the local samurai detachments, were killed.
Then the Mongols reached the Hakata Bay in the north of Kyushu and landed there. There they were met by soldiers of a completely unusual appearance. Moreover, the battle began with the fact that a young horseman rode out of their ranks, shouted something loudly at them, for some unknown reason, he fired a loudly whistling arrow (kabura or kaburai - the "whistling arrow" of the beginning of the battle) and single-handedly rushed at the Mongols. Naturally, they immediately shot him with bows, having no idea that, according to samurai rules, one warrior should start a battle, who announced his name and the merits of his ancestors to the enemies and released a "whistling arrow."Perhaps it was once a Mongolian custom. After all, the Japanese language belongs to the Altai language group. But it was only so long ago that the "new Mongols" completely forgot about him.
Too rational Mongols
According to the samurai, the Mongols fought, in our language, "too rationally", which was unworthy of glorious warriors who had equally glorious ancestors. The samurai are already accustomed to observing very strict rules of behavior for warriors on the battlefield, but here?.. The Mongols entered the battle not one by one, but at once in numerous detachments, did not recognize any single fights, but also showed absolute contempt for death and killed everyone who got in their way. The worst thing is that they used exploding shells, the explosions of which terribly frightened the samurai horses and brought panic into their ranks.
The samurai of the island of Kyushu suffered heavy losses and withdrew from the coast to the city of Dazaifu, which was the administrative center of Kyushu, and here they took refuge in an ancient fortress, waiting for reinforcements. But the Mongol commanders, too, won the victory at such a high price that they thought about it. In addition, if the Mongols fought traditionally bravely, then the Koreans, who were also recruited into the army, tried in every possible way to evade the battle, and it was obvious that you could not rely on them. Therefore, they decided not to risk it and, fearing a night counterattack, returned to their ships. Well, at night a heavy downpour broke out, a strong storm began and it all ended with the fact that when the samurai scouts went ashore the next morning, they did not find a single Mongol ship in the bay. It is believed that the conquerors then lost 200 ships and 13,500 soldiers, that is, almost half of the army. Well, the survivors … got away, pick up, hello back.
Attempted second invasion
By 1279, the Mongols also captured southern China, so that Khubilai Khan had an entire army and a significant part of the Song dynasty's fleet. A new embassy was sent to Japan demanding obedience, but the Japanese interrupted it. The Mongols did not forgive anyone for this, so Kublai Khan immediately ordered the Chinese to build 600 more ships and prepare the army to march against Japan. Waiting for a new invasion, Hojo Tokimune ordered the construction of a protective wall along the coast of the northern part of Kyushu Island. It was built of earth and stones, and its height was 2 m, and the width of the foundation was not more than 3. It is clear that such a fortification could not be called formidable. But such an obstacle against the Mongol cavalry is better than none - the samurai decided and the wall was erected.
Combat on land and at sea
Khubilai's new expedition was divided into two armies: the Eastern and the Southern. The first was planted on 900 ships and consisted of 25 thousand Mongolian, Korean and Chinese soldiers and another 15 thousand sailors. In July 1281, she sailed from East Korea, while the Southern Fleet, four times outnumbering the Eastern, went to meet him at the island of Iki. The troops of the Eastern Army again landed on the islands of Tsushima and Iki, but its commanders decided to try to capture Kyushu before the approach of the Southern Army. The Mongol troops again began landing at the northern cape of the Hakata Bay, but met with fierce resistance from the forces of Otomo Yasuyori and Adachi Morimune. They had to anchor off the coast. It was then that they were attacked by light boats, on which samurai sailed up to them and either set fire to the enemy ships with incendiary arrows, or took them on board and … also set them on fire. In addition, July in Japan is the hottest month and, in addition, the month of rains. Due to the heat, dampness and crowding of people on board, food supplies began to rot. This led to diseases from which about 3,000 Mongols died, and their morale fell.
The wind of spirits comes to the rescue
Only in mid-August, ships with the Southern Army went to sea and also headed towards Kyushu. But then on the night of August 19-20, light ships of the samurai attacked the ships of the conquerors and inflicted losses on them. And on August 22, what the Japanese themselves later called kamikaze - "divine wind" (or "wind of spirits") - a typhoon that scattered and sunk 4 thousand ships and caused the death of 30 thousand soldiers. In fact, the Southern Army after that ceased to exist as a combat unit.
True, the Eastern Fleet, which was at that time in Hirato Bay, this time practically did not suffer. But then the generals of the invading armies began to argue about whether it was worth continuing the campaign, which had begun so unsuccessfully under such conditions. The Mongols from the Eastern Army believed that it should be continued, but the surviving Chinese, of whom most of the Southern Army consisted, did not agree to this in any way. Then one Chinese commander simply fled to China on the surviving ship, leaving his soldiers to fend for themselves. And as a result, it was decided to immediately leave these unkind shores. Thus, many warriors found themselves on the island of Takashima, having lost the support of the fleet and … all hope of returning home. Soon all of them, that is, both Mongols and Koreans, were killed, but the samurai spared the Chinese.
40 years of vain dreams
Emperor Khubilai did not like the outcome of his planned invasion at all, and he tried to repeat it several times, but the uprisings of the Chinese and Vietnamese prevented him from doing so. In Korea, he even ordered an army to be assembled again, but such a massive desertion began among the Koreans that he had to abandon his plans. For forty years Khubilai dreamed of capturing the "golden islands", but his dream remained a dream.
The documents tell …
Information about the invasion made its way into the documents of many temples and the bakufu office. And not just hit, there are many scrolls that tell about the heroic deeds of the samurai. The fact is that in Japan it was customary to demand from the suzerain, and in this case it was the bakufu, the award for valor. And the samurai sent messages there, where they scrupulously listed all the heads they had cut off and captured trophies. The monks did not lag behind! So, one abbot of the monastery wrote that through the prayers of his brethren, the deity of their temple from the top of its roof threw lightning into the Chinese fleet! This is how this remarkable document appeared, which has survived to this day and is called the "Scroll of the Mongol invasion" - "Myoko shurai ecotoba". It was made for the samurai Takenaki Sueaki, who, like many others, expected a reward from the bakufu Kamakura for his participation in the war, and therefore ordered his artist to display his courage in detail. The drawing, most likely made under the supervision of this samurai, historically very faithfully depicted both weapons and armor of that time. It describes both episodes of these significant events for Japan, but it is still an important historical source.
References:
1. Mitsuo Kure. Samurai. Illustrated history. Per. from English W. Saptsina. M.: AST: Astrel, 2007.
2. Stephen Turnbull. Samurai. Military history of Japan. Translated from English. P. Markov, O. Serebrovskaya, Moscow: Eksmo, 2013.
3. Plano Carpini J. Del. History of the Mongals // J. Del Plano Carpini. History of the Mongals / G. de Rubruk. Journey to the Eastern Countries / Book of Marco Polo. M.: Thought, 1997.
4. History of Japan / Ed. A. E. Zhukova. Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1998. Vol. 1. From ancient times to 1968.
5. Stephen Turnbull. The Mongol Invasions of Japan 1274 and 1281 (CAMPAIGN 217), Osprey, 2010.
