The Mongol Allied Invasion of Japan
by Lee Wha Rang and Elliott Long
Allied armies of Koryo and Kublai Khan invaded Japan in1274 and 1281.
Both invasions failed at the hand of Mother Nature. The sword wielding samurais
of Japan were no match for
the invaders, who were armed with gun-powder canons and superior fighting
tactics. The invaders succeeded in landing on Kyushu after occupying Tsushima and other nearby
islands. But gathering storms forced the invaders to pack up and leave.
After conquering much of China, Kublai Khan sent
armies to conquer Koryo but they were driven out time
and again, and after a decade of constant war with the Mongols, Koryo gave up and became a vassal state of the Mongols. Koryo's King Kojong sent his
crown prince to the Khan's court as a hostage. When Kojong died in 1274, the Khan gave one of his many daughters to the prince as his wife and sent him home as the 25th king,
Chung-ryol (충렬왕), of Koryo. The Mongol princess brought with her an army of
Mongol attendants, cooks, and guards, and turned the Koryo
court into a virtual Mongol home away from home.
Kublai Khan's interest in Japan was aroused in 1265
when Cho Yi (조이), a Koryo courtesan, informed him that Japan could be subdued
easily.
In 1266, the Mongolians
dispatched emissaries to Japan, with a letter commanding the Japanese to
submit to Mongol rule, or face invasion. A second set of emissaries were sent
in 1268, returning empty-handed like the first. Both sets of emissaries met
with the Chinzei Bugyo,
or Defense Commissioner for the West, who passed on the message to Shikken Hojo Tokimune, Japan's ruler in Kamakura, but also to the Emperor in Kyoto.
After discussing the letters with
his inner circle, there was much debate as to what to do, but Tokimune had his
mind made up; he had the emissaries sent back with no answer. They re-sent
emissaries time and time again, some through Korean emissaries, and some by Mongol
ambassadors in March 7, 1269; Sept 17, 1269; Sept 1271; and May 1272--each time
not even being permitted to land in Kyushu. The Imperial Court suggested surrender out of overwhelming
fear, but really had no say in the matter since its marginalization after
losing the Jokyu War.
The Kamakura shogunate under
Tokimune (Bakufu) ordered all those who held fiefs in Kyushu
(the area closest to Korea, and thus most likely to be attacked) to return to
their lands, and forces in Kyushu moved west, further securing the most likely
landing points. After acknowledging its impotence, the Imperial Court led great prayer services, and much
government business was put off to deal with this crisis.
In the following year, Kublai sent two emissaries He De (
흑적) and Yin Hong (은홍) to Koryo and asked King Kojong to
facilitate their entry to Japan. They were unable
to meet any Japanese officials and returned home empty-handed. The Khan's
attempt to subdue the Japanese peacefully failed and he decided to use brute
force to subdue Japan.
Photo: Koryo General Kim Bang-gyong
(김방경 金方慶, aka 충렬공 忠烈公 -- 1212-1300)
commanded the Koryo armies in both invasions. Picture of Kublai Khan.
Kublai asked Koryo to provide ships, sailors,
soldiers and provisions, and so, Koryo mobilized some
30,000 carpenters and built about 300 large ships. In October 1274, a Mongol
army of 20,000 commanded by Hol Don (忽敦) came to Koryo. The Mongol army was joined by a Koryo
army of 5,000 commanded by Kim Bang-gyong (김방경 - 金方慶). The allied army
left Masan in an armada of 900
ships manned by 6,700 Koryo sailors on 3 October, 1274.
Two days later, the Koryo army stormed Tsushima and occupied the
island and the Mongols occupied Iki island (壹岐島). On October 14th, the allied forces
occupied Hirado and then moved on to Hakata Bay (博多灣). Japanese forces
suffered heavy losses and retreated inland to defend Dazaifu.
The Japanese were inexperienced
in managing such a large force (all of North Kyushu had been mobilized), and the Mongols made
significant initial progress. It had been approximately 50 years since the last
major combat event in Japan (Go-Toba's adherents in 1221), leaving not a
single Japanese general with adequate experience in moving large bodies of
troops. In addition, the style of warfare that then was customary within feudal
Japan involved man-to-man duels of sorts, even on large
battlefields. The Mongols possessed foreign weapons which included superior
long-range armaments ("proto-grenades"), and easily had the upper
hand in land combat. The Japanese force at Hakata Bay needed time for reinforcements to arrive,
with which they would be able to overwhelm the Mongol Invaders. Around
nightfall, a severe storm caused the Mongol ship captains to suggest that the
land force re-board the sailing vessels in order to avoid the risk of being
marooned on Japanese soil. By daybreak, only a few ships had not set out to
sea. Those that had met their doom at nature's hand. Different accounts offer
casualty reports that suggest 200 Mongol ships were lost. However, Japanese
small boats were much swifter and agile than Mongol ships, and the Japanese
were able to board the remaining Mongol ships. Mongols without their long-range
land weapons and armor once in hand-to-hand combat stood little chance against
the samurai.
Meanwhile back in Kamakura, Tokimune was overcome with fear when the
invasion finally came, and wanted to defeat cowardice, so he asked Bukko
(his Zen master) for advice. Bukko replied he had to sit in meditation to find
the source of his cowardice in himself. Tokimune went to Bukko and said:
"Finally there is the greatest happening of my life." Bukko asked,
"How do you plan to face it?" Tokimune screamed "Katsu!"
("Victory!") as if he wanted to scare all the enemies in front of
him. Bukko responded with satisfaction: "It is true that the son of a lion
roars as a lion!" Since that time, Tokimune became instrumental in the
spreading of Zen Buddhism and Bushido in Japan among the samurai.
Drawing: The Koryo-Mongol armies relied on gunpowder
cannons, missiles, and teamwork, while the Japanese relied on man-to-man
combats.
On October 21st, the allied forces returned to their ships for re-supply and
rest. But a storm suddenly came upon the invasion fleet and the invaders gave
up their operations and returned to Masan.
Undaunted by this failure, Kublai sent another 'peace' delegation to Koryo in 1275, asking the king to deliver a message to the
Japanese shogun. The king sent Suh Chan (서찬) to Japan with the
letter from Kublai but the Japanese executed Suh and
sent back his severed head. The Khan was enraged and ordered another invasion
of Japan.
Drawing: An artist's rendition of a Koryo warship
based on contemporary drawings and relics and a Samurai ship. The Koryo
navy provided naval know-how to Kublai's landlubber
generals. Photo's courtesy of Archeology.org.
The Mongols built a fortress near Masan and stationed a
large garrison army there, and Cheju-do was turned
into a vast pasture for Mongol army horses. The Japanese Shogun knew of the
invasion plan and mobilized forces to defend Japan.
Stone fences were build along the coast and the populace was armed.
In 1281, the Khan formed two mighty armies: the Eastern Route Army (東路軍) of 30,000 led by
Hong Da-gu, a Mongol general, augmented by a Koryo army of 10,000 commanded by Kim Bang-gyong and the Southern Route Army (江南軍) of 100,000 led by Bom Mun-ho (范文虎), a Chinese
general. Bom's army was mostly former Sung Chinese
soldiers pressed into Kublai's service.
The Eastern Route Army, in 900 Koryo ships, departed
from Masan on 3 May and
occupied Tsushima, and proceeded to occupy nearby islands. On
June 6, it attacked Hakata but was driven back and landed at Shiganoshima. Several days later, the army was driven back
from Shiganoshima and returned to Iki
and then to Hirado.
Photo: The Koryo-Mongol invaders used canon balls
filled with explosives. Gunpowder was new to the Japanese samurais. Photo courtesy of Archeology.org.
The Southern Route Army of General Bom arrived in
3,500 Chinese ships in mid-July, and the combined forces began to push back the
outnumbered defenders. By the end of July, the invaders were victorious and
well on the way to occupying Kyushu. Then a severe
storm kicked up on July 29 and some Mongol generals panicked and sailed to the
safety of Masan: nearly half of the
invasion fleet left the battle area. To make the matter worse, an epidemic
spread among the soldiers, killing several thousands.
On August 1, another storm kicked up forcing most of the remaining ships to
return to Masan leaving behind a
token army of about 20,000 soldiers. The Japanese descended on the outnumbered
invaders and killed all but about 10,000 Chinese soldiers. Of the 9,960 Koryo army and 15,029 sailors, 19,397 Koreans made it back
home. The Mongol generals and army, fearing severe punishment by Kublai, went
into hiding in Koryo. The Chinese captives became
slaves in Japan and few of them made
it back to China. It has been
claimed that many of the Chinese defected and that some officers sabotaged the
Mongol ships and canons. Kublai wanted another invasion and asked Koryo to
build more ships and stock up army provisions. But a major rebellion delayed
him and the plan was dropped when Kublai died.
Japanese history books claim that a Buddhist monk Il Yun
(一然) saw the invasion
fleet and began to chant. As he kept up his chant, winds became stronger and
stronger, and soon, the waves began to dance wildly rocking the enemy ships.
Eventually the ships began to break up and sink. Thus the myth of kamikaze (神風) was borne. The
Mongols slaughtered, as in other Mongol campaigns, tens of thousands of
Japanese, including women and children.
Contrary to the claims made by Japanese historians, the Koryo-Mongol
invaders lost no more than about 10-15% of the men and ships. The Mongol and Koryo commanders knew of the oncoming storms and returned
the armada to Koryo ports mostly intact. The Japanese
claims are inconsistent with Koryo and Mongol
archives - and most importantly with archeological evidence: only few
shipwrecks and other footprints of the failed invasions have been discovered.
It is true that the 'divine' winds drove the invaders away but the winds did
not wipe out the mighty armada.
Despite their ultimate failure, the
invasion attempts are of importance,
setting a limit on Mongol expansion, and ranking as nation-defining events in Japanese history. They are referred to in many works of fiction, and are the earliest events for which the word kamikaze, or "divine wind", is
widely used. In addition, with the exception of the Occupation at the end of World
War II, these failed invasion attempts are the closest Japan has ever come to being invaded within the last 1500 years. Besides national boundaries, the
significance was that the Zen Buddhism of Hojo Tokimune and his master Bukko
had gained credibility, and the first mass followings of Zen teachings among
samurai began to flourish.
Read about the Relics of the Kamikaze. Article published in Archeology magazine.
Read about the Excavation of Takashima beach.
Essay written about Koryo under the Mongols.