Failed Mongol invasions of Japan and the 'kamikaze'
- Date
- 1274 & 1281 CE
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- Japan & Korea (East Asia)
- Era
- Post-Classical / Medieval
- Significance
Kublai Khan twice attempted to subjugate Japan, drawing on the resources of his Yuan empire and the subdued Korean kingdom of Goryeo. The first expedition of 1274 landed in Hakata Bay with tens of thousands of Mongol, Chinese and Korean troops but withdrew after fierce resistance and a storm.
The far larger invasion of 1281 fielded a reported 100,000-plus men and thousands of ships, but the samurai held a defensive wall around Hakata Bay and, after weeks of fighting, a massive typhoon wrecked the fleet, drowning much of the force. The Japanese attributed their deliverance to the kamikaze, or 'divine wind', a belief that fed a powerful sense of divine protection and national distinctiveness for centuries. The campaigns marked a limit to Mongol expansion in the Pacific, strained Yuan and Korean resources, and reinforced the prestige of Japan's warrior class, even as the defending Kamakura shogunate struggled to reward its samurai afterwards.
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Empires active in 1274 & 1281 CE
- Mongol Empire1206 CE – 1368 CE
- Kanem-Bornu Empire700 CE – 1900 CE
- Song Dynasty960 CE – 1279 CE
- Solomonic dynasty1270 CE – 1974 CE
- Byzantine Empire330 CE – 1453 CE
- Kilwa Sultanate957 CE – 1505 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Mongol sack of Baghdad ends the Abbasid Caliphate10 February 1258 CE
- Mongol Invasions Topple the Pagan Empire of Burma1277-1287 CE (Pagan collapse, 1287)
- Battle of Ain Jalut halts the Mongol advance3 September 1260 CE
- Second Battle of Bach Dang: Dai Viet destroys the Yuan-Mongol fleet9 April 1288
- Mongol sack of Kiev and the fall of Kievan Rus'December 1240 CE
- Battle of Kirina founds the Mali Empire under Sundiata Keitac. 1235 CE
Further reading
The wider story
The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China
Accessible survey of Song China (Harvard History of Imperial China).
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