Mongol Invasions
Melinda Landeck, University of Kansas
Khubilai Khan(1215-1294)
•Khubilai served as a regional governor and army commander, leading the conquest against the southern Song.
•Hecontributed to the foundation of the Yuan dynasty, which he would ultimately come to rule.
Khubilai Khan
• 1250s: Leads attacks against sites in China.
• early 1260s, assumed the title of Great Khan and control of all of the Mongol troops
Khubilai’s empire
China under Mongolian Rule: The Yuan Dynasty 1271-1368 •The Yuan dynasty was officially established by ethnic Mongols under Khubilai Khan in 1271. It is the first non-Han dynasty to rule an unified China.
• An admirer and student of Chinese culture, Khubilai and his successors identified themselves as the rulers of China
.
The first invasion
The troops ravaged the islands of Tsushima and Iki, including piercing the hands of women and hanging them on their boats.
The first invasion
Mongol forces landed in1274 in Hakata Bay,
The following day brought the "Battle of Hakata Bay".
Japanese responses to the first invasion:•Better organization of the warriors resident on Kyushu•Construction of forts, earthen embankments, and other defensive structures along the coast of Hakata Bay and other potential points of vulnerability. •Samurai were assigned to coastal watch and guard duty, and a system of rewards for vigilant service instituted • Prayers and
religious services were offered for the protection of the country.
• A Korean invasion plan was conceived but later scrapped.
Portion of the Mongol wall near Hakata
The Second Invasion, 1281• Two-pronged attack of Yuan fleet,
coming both from Korean pennisula and from southeast China
• Japanese forces were able to repel the Mongol invaders
Fudging the numbers: inaccurate troop countsThe Japanese made no official tally of the combatants and the numbers suggested by other unofficial medieval chroniclers have been demonstrated to be highly prone to exaggeration.
The kamikaze (“divine wind”) myth
Probably did not actually exist
Mongol scroll of Takezaki Suenaga, 1293 (?)
See Conlan, Thomas D. In Little Need of Divine Intervention. Ithaca, NY: Cornell East Asia Series, 2001. See also Ebrey, p. 192 Images of the scroll at the Kyushu Museum website: http://record.museum.kyushu-u.ac.jp/mouko/01_all_h800.html
Takezaki Suenaga
Images of the full scroll at the Kyushu Museum website:http://record.museum.kyushu-u.ac.jp/mouko/01_all_h800.html
竹崎季長Gokenin (houseman) retainer to the Kamakura government (under the Hojo regency) located in Higo province, close to the site of the Mongol’s landing on Japanese shores.
Commissioned the scrolls in support of his request for monetary rewards for service
Scrolls show evidence of illustrations by several artists and at least four other textual scribes, one of whom may have been Suenaga.
Inspections and Rewards
Images of the full scroll at the Kyushu Museum website:http://record.museum.kyushu-u.ac.jp/mouko/01_all_h800.html
The Kamakura government required tangible “proof” of battle service
Adachi Yasumori initially informed Suenaga that since he had not taken enemy heads or lost any of his own men, he was ineligible for rewards.
Ultimately, Suenaga was awarded an edict of commendation (onkudashibumi) and a single horse.
