The fierce resistance on the beaches of Hakata
Bay and the cataclysmic encounters with typhoons - later known as the kamikaze - stand tall
in the popular memory of the Mongol invasions of Japan both within and outside of the country. Having covered the course of the two invasion
attempts previously, we will now cover the first clash between Mongol horse archers and
Samurai warriors, and their spirited defence of the islands of Tsushima and Iki. By the way, we have a podcast covering the
history of the Mongols, the links are in the description. Shoutout to March of Empires for sponsoring
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by downloading now through the link in the description! The island of Tsushima is situated between
the southern coast of Korea and the Japanese island of Kyushu. Only a short distance from Korea, Tsushima
was a prominent base for Japanese pirates to raid Korea, known as wakō. As Tsushima itself was mountainous with little
arable land, many turned to providing for themselves on the sea, either through fishing
or making the short trip to Korea. In the thirteenth century the raiders found
Korea a particularly vulnerable target, as the kingdom suffered continuously from a far
more fearsome enemy: Mongol horsemen of the Great Khan. Over a thirty-year period, Mongol forces repeatedly
invaded Korea, and the Korean King Gojong was forced to seek refuge on an island. During this destabilization, Japanese pirates
attacked Korea several times, though these attacks ended by the time King Gojong made
peace with the Mongols in 1259. It is these attacks which first brought the
Japanese, and Tsushima itself, to Mongol attention, alongside rumours of the great wealth of the
Japanese monarchs. When the new Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan began
sending envoys to Japan in the 1260s, demanding they accept his Heaven ordained rule, Tsushima’s
close proximity to Korea made it a natural stopover for the Khan’s messengers. However, the Japanese government, the Kamakura
Bakufu under Hojo Tokimune, repeatedly refused to even see Kublai’s envoys. One returning group of frustrated envoys in
1269 captured two fishermen from Tsushima, Tojiro and Yashiro. The two were brought all the way back to the
court of Kublai. There, the most powerful single individual
on the planet entertained two humble fishermen, showing off his grandeur and demanding that,
upon their return, they would tell Hojo Tokimune to show him proper respect, that the Khan
wished only to have the Japanese King at his court, and to bequeath his fame to posterity. On returning to Japan, the fishermen found
no more success than Kublai’s official envoys did. The continued diplomatic offenses were not
forgotten, and Kublai’s pretensions only increased with the declaration of the Yuan
Dynasty in 1271. With the fall of the key Song Dynasty stronghold
of Xiangyang, preparations soon followed for an invasion fleet against Japan. On the 2nd of November 1274 an armada of perhaps
20,000 Mongols, Northern Chinese, Jurchen, Khitans, and Korean soldiers and sailors aboard
nearly 1,000 ships set out from Happ’o on Korea’s southern coast. Tsushima was where the hammer blow would strike
first. By the evening of November 4th, the defenders
spotted the Mongol fleet off the Tsushima coast. Lacking naval powers beyond their small pirate
and fishing vessels, the Japanese had no way to harry the Mongols at sea. Tsushima was at that time controlled by the
Sō clan, whose head, Sō Sukekuni, was the deputy shugo, military governor, of the island. According to the Hachiman Gudokun, a Japanese
source written soon after the invasion, on Tsushima there was a shrine to Hachiman, the
Japanese god of war. Tradition holds that on the day the Mongol
fleet neared Tsushima, a fire broke out at Hachiman’s shrine - a foreboding omen. The fire was extinguished, and white doves
were seen gathering on the roof of the shrine. As doves were the messengers of Hachiman,
Sukekuni interpreted it as a warning from Hachiman: for why else would the god set fire
to his own shrine? Some modern authors have interpreted this
as the doves having caused the fire, perhaps from incendiaries tied to them and hence,
the opening salvo in the Mongol attack upon the island. Either way, news reached Sukekuni that a massive
fleet was approaching. Sukekuni rallied his forces: some 80 mounted
Samurai and their retainers. He led them through the night over rough terrain
to set up on the beach of Komoda, and prepare for the dawn. As the Yuan fleet neared Komoda beach early
on the morning of November 5th, Sukekuni sent a small vessel out to inquire as to the purpose
of their arrival. With the bakufu having rebuffed the Great
Khan’s envoys repeatedly, the time was well past for talk. Sukekuni knew chances of victory against such
a massive force were non-existent, yet lined the defenders of Tsushima up for battle all
the same as the smaller enemy landing craft neared the shore. The primary weapon of the samurai was the
bow, their valuable and iconic yumi, with which each warrior was highly skilled. Like the Mongols, the Samurai fought as mounted
archers, though their maneuvers on horseback could not compare to steppe nomads born into
the saddle. The wealthiest samurai were well protected
in their colourful and distinctive yoroi, though on a poorer island like Tsushima few
of the 80 samurai gathered by Sukekuni would be so well armoured. For sidearms, Sukekuni’s warriors had their
single curved blades, the predecessors of the famous katana, while the remainder of
his forces were armed with little beyond spears and naginata. In contrast, the forces sent against him were
varied, commanded by the Mongol general Ho-tan. Most of the infantry Ho-tan threw against
Sukekuni were Chinese and Korean levies raised by the Khan, armed with spears, large wicker
or bamboo shields, and protected by cloth and gambeson-like armours. As per Mongol tactics, these troops considered
most expendable were sent in the first waves, soaking up enemy arrows while the more valuable
Khitan, Jurchen, Turkic and Mongol horse archers disembarked from the ships. Generally lightly armoured but highly experienced,
their composite bows made them a deadly counter to the samurai. The sea voyage and need to lead their horses
from the landing craft meant they could only slowly get into their formations, preventing
them from immediately trying to outflank their enemies as was their usual practice. While the Mongols readied their horses, the
Korean and Northern Chinese troops were sent against the samurai. Per Samurai tradition, battle began with a
whistling arrow sent high into the air; per Mongol tradition, drums marked the start of
their own advance. Sukekuni’s skilled archers took a heavy
toll on the foe marching up the beach. As the Yuan forces neared them, challenges
for single combat by the Samurai went unanswered by the Chinese and Koreans, marching as they
were behind rather un-samurai-like large shields. Unused to the press[ure?] and greatly outnumbered,
Sukekuni pulled his men back to the treeline where the Yuan advance was slowed. Here, the swordsmanship of the samurai made
itself known. One of Sukekuni’s closest comrades, Saito
Sukesada, brought down several of the Yuan soldiers and one senior Mongol officer. Standing over the fallen officer, Sukesada
shouted threats at the Mongols, calling on any who dared face him in battle. The Mongols responded with arrows, three of
which pierced the armour of Sukesada’s chest and ended him. In the tradition held in the history of the
Sō family, seeing the doom that awaited them, Sō Sukekuni loosed the remainder of his arrows
into the Yuan, and led one final futile cavalry charge into his foe. In the end the defenders were slaughtered,
leaving the island open to the Mongols, and over the following week Tsushima was overrun. Towns were burnt, many were slaughtered, and
a number of women of the Sō family committed suicide lest they fall into Mongol hands. A worse fate awaited the prisoners. Both Japanese and Yuan sources attest that
wire was threaded through the palms of the prisoners, mainly women, who were strung along
the prows of the Yuan ships as a gruesome necklace. By the 13th of November, Tsushima had fallen
and Ho-tan ordered the fleet to the next island, Iki. Here, the deputy shugo Taira Kagetaka had
had time to prepare his forces, sending word to Kyushu for aid. After sending women and children to Hinotsume
Castle, he took 100 mounted Samurai and their retainers to meet the Yuan fleet on the northern
beaches of the island. Kagetaka’s forces held them off for a few
hours, slowing down the Yuan landing, but were unable to prevent it. As the Yuan foothold grew, Kagetaka had no
choice but to withdraw to Hinotsume Castle in the evening. Here, the small wooden walls would not long
provide shelter against the warriors who had taken Xiangyang. Kagetaka sent his daughter, Katsura-hime,
with a single samurai to take word to the bakufu, and prepared for a hopeless last stand
as the Yuan encircled the castle. Women and townspeople within the castle joined
in the defence, hurling what they could at the enemy. Catapults and Mongol arrows made short work
of those on the walls, and when Kagetaka attempted to lead a valiant sally through the gates,
he found the Mongols pushing captive Japanese before them, wire threaded through their palms,
living cover for Mongolian archers. His numbers dwindling, Kagetaka led what was
left to the castle. As fire began to engulf the fort and his remaining
men gave them what time they could, Kagetaka watched his family commit suicide before he
too joined them in his final act of defiance. Iki was thus overrun, and slaughter and other
atrocities followed. Katsura-hime never made it to shore, her boat
coming too close to Mongol arrows. Survivors, such as Katsura’s Samurai bodyguard,
brought news of the terrors on Tsushima and Iki to the rest of Japan. In popular tradition, upon learning of these
horrors the regent, Hojo Tokimune, stated that this would be the most momentous occasion
of his life. When asked by a nearby priest how he intended
to reply to the Mongol invasion, Tokimune shrieked “Katsu!” - Victory. As we covered before, the Mongols would not
find victory on the shores of Hakata Bay, where stiff Japanese resistance and an unexpected
storm pushed the remnants of the fleet back to the Yuan realm. Undaunted by the efforts of this small archipelago,
Kublai threw another, even larger fleet against Japan after he had conquered the Song Dynasty. In 1281 his forces returned to Tsushima and
Iki, though little information is provided on these second encounters other than the
fact local defences once again fell quickly. One detail provided is that Saito Sukesada’s
son, Sō Moriaki, continued in his father’s legacy and fought the Mongols on the beaches
of Tsushima. Another is that the crying of children in
the mountains of Tsushima alerted the Mongols to the presence of families hiding there,
resulting in the deaths of 300. Ultimately, the invasion of 1281 proved an
even greater disaster than the first, and thousands of Chinese, Mongols, and Koreans
met their end in the sea off the coast of Japan. Local defenses on Tsushima and the Japanese
islands continued to be maintained during the following decades for the possibility
of a Mongol return, which was threatened but never materialized. Emboldened, Japanese pirates once more began
to threaten the coast line, continuously attacking Korea throughout the Yuan and Ming eras, and
in time ranging as far afield as Malaysia. On Tsushima and Iki, memorials stand to the
brave samurai who stood against unstoppable odds, local heroes who gave their lives for
the defense of their islands, small garrisons against perhaps the most fearsome army in
history. Once again, thanks to March of Empire for
sponsoring this video! This free to download medieval MMO strategy
game is perfect for the fans of history and Wargaming. Play as a Highland King, Northern Tsar or
Desert Sultan! New Update called Wings of Liberty adds new
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