|
Japan Mongol Invasions
The repulsions of two Mongol invasions were momentous
events in
Japanese history. Japanese relations with China had been
terminated
in the mid-ninth century after the deterioration of late
Tang China
and the turning inward of the Heian court. Some commercial
contacts
were maintained with southern China in later centuries,
but
Japanese pirates made the open seas dangerous. At a time
when the
bakufu had little interest in foreign affairs and
ignored
communications from China and Koryo (as Korea was then
known), news
arrived in 1268 of a new Mongol regime in Beijing. Its
leader,
Khubilai Khan, demanded that the Japanese pay tribute to
the new
Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) and threatened reprisals if they
failed to
do so. Unused to such threats, Kyoto raised the diplomatic
counter
of Japan's divine origin, rejected the Mongol demands,
dismissed
the Korean messengers, and started defensive preparations.
After
further unsuccessful entreaties, the first Mongol invasion
took
place in 1274. More than 600 ships carried a combined
Mongol,
Chinese, and Korean force of 23,000 troops armed with
catapults,
combustible missiles, and bows and arrows. In fighting,
these
soldiers grouped in close cavalry formations against
samurai, who
were accustomed to one-on-one combat. Local Japanese
forces at
Hakata, on northern Kyushu, defended against the superior
mainland
force, which, after one day of fighting was decimated by
the
onslaught of a sudden typhoon. Khubilai realized that
nature, not
military incompetence, had been the cause of his forces'
failure
so, in 1281, he launched a second invasion. Seven weeks of
fighting
took place in northwestern Kyushu before another typhoon
struck,
again destroying the Mongol fleet.
Although Shinto priests attributed the two defeats of
the
Mongols to a "divine wind" (kamikaze), a sign of heaven's
special
protection of Japan, the invasion left a deep impression
on the
bakufu leaders. Long-standing fears of the Chinese
threat to
Japan were reinforced, and the Korean Peninsula became
regarded as
"an arrow pointed at the heart of Japan." The Japanese
victory,
however, gave the bushi a sense of fighting
superiority that
remained with Japan's soldiers until 1945. The victory
also
convinced the bushi of the value of the
bakufu form
of government.
The Mongol war had been a drain on the economy, and new
taxes
had to be levied to maintain defensive preparations for
the future.
The invasions also caused disaffection among those who
expected
recompense for their help in defeating the Mongols. There
were no
lands or other rewards to be given, however, and such
disaffection,
combined with overextension and the increasing defense
costs, led
to a decline of the Kamakura bakufu. Additionally,
inheritances had divided family properties, and landowners
increasingly had to turn to moneylenders for support.
Roving bands
of ronin further threatened the stability of the
bakufu.
Data as of January 1994
|
