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The Mongol Invasions of Japan 1274 and 1281

The Mongol Invasions of Japan 1274 and 1281

Illustrated by Richard Hook, Osprey, 2010
96 pages, copious illustration, ISBN978 1 84603 4565

Review by Sir Hugh Cortazzi

Richard Turnbull has specialised in the study of the samurai and Japanese warriors. His latest book on the Mongol invasions of Japan provides a colourful introduction to these important episodes in Japanese medieval history. Turnbull has drawn not only on published studies by previous scholars but also on translations which he has made from the Hachiman Gudokan, a work “believed to date from not long after the invasions as it was intended to be used as a lever to obtain rewards [for the samurai fighters against the invaders] from Kamakura” where the bakufu then had its headquarters with Hōjō Tokimune controlling the nominal shogun.  This account is “complemented by the text and illustrations of the famous Mōko Shūrai Kotoba (Mongol Invasions Scroll), the painted scrolls with accompanying narrative commissioned by an ambitious samurai called Takezaki Suenaga who sought reward for his services.

As Turnbull points out, the numbers involved in medieval battles “are notoriously prone to exaggeration.”  He estimates that in the first invasion of 1274 the Mongol force may not have been much more than 3,600 strong and the Japanese defenders about 6,000.  He notes that for the first time in Japanese history the invaders used gunpowder in “exploding bombs.”  These bombs surprised and puzzled the Japanese warriors whose body armour of metal and leather was much lighter than that worn by medieval knights in Europe. Turnbull speculates that the first invasion which lasted only one day may only have been intended as a quick probing raid.  The invaders nevertheless lost one in three of their force.

The second attempt seven years later was a much larger affair. “Six hundred warships” were ordered by the Mongols from South China. There were supposed to be 40,000 troops on the eastern route from Korea and 100,000 Southern Chinese.” But these numbers were certainly exaggerated. The Japanese were prepared and, anticipating an attack in Hakata bay, which lay at the end of the route from Korea via Tsushima and the island of Iki, had built around the shore of Hakata Bay a strong defensive wall. The wall, which still survives in part, prevented the invaders from gaining a foothold in the bay.  Instead they took possession of two islands in the bay from which they planned to launch raids against Hakata, but the typhoon, which struck the area and became known as the divine wind or kamikaze, destroyed many of the Mongol ships and had a devastating effect on the morale of the attackers who were already weakened by disease. Inevitably the defeat of the Mongols created many myths not least about the divine wind which was used by Japanese nationalists to boost the idea of Japan as the land of the gods.

Turnbull draws attention to archaeological evidence discovered in recent years. In 1994, three large wood-and-stone anchors were found and in 2001 the remains of one of the Mongol ships were discovered.

Many questions remain unanswered. For instance did the Mongol leaders really think that they could conquer and keep the Japanese islands under their hegemony?  Their intelligence about Japan was inevitably limited but did they not realise that Hakata bay was so well defended?  Why did they not attempt multiple attacks on a number of Japanese targets?