Kublai Khan and the Mongols Invasions of Japan

The Mongol Invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281 devastated Japanese resources and power in the region, nearly destroying the samurai culture and Empire of Japan entirely before a typhoon miraculously spared their last stronghold. Although Japan started the war between the two rival empires with hefty troops of honorable samurai, the sheer force and brute strength of their Mongol invaders pushed the noble warriors to their limits, making them question their very code of honor in facing these fierce combatants. The impact of nearly two decades of struggle between their rulers would echo on throughout Japanese history, even through the Second World War and the very culture of modern-day Japan. Precursor to Invasion In 1266, the Mongol ruler  Kublai Khan  (1215–1294) paused in his campaign to subdue all of  China, and sent a message to the Emperor of Japan, whom he addressed as the ruler of a small country, and advised the Japanese sovereign to pay him tribute at once—or else. The Khans emissaries returned from Japan without an answer. Five times over the next six years, Kublai Khan sent his messengers; the Japanese  shogun  would not allow them even to land on Honshu, the main island.   In 1271, Kublai Khan defeated the Song Dynasty and declared himself the first emperor of Chinas Yuan Dynasty. A grandson of Genghis Khan, he ruled over much of China plus Mongolia and Korea; meanwhile, his uncles and cousins controlled an empire that stretched from Hungary in the west to the Pacific coast of Siberia in the east. The great khans of the Mongol Empire did not tolerate impudence from their neighbors, and Kublai was quick to demand a strike against  Japan  as early as 1272. However, his counselors advised him to bide his time until a proper armada of warships could be built—300 to 600, vessels which would be commissioned from the shipyards of southern China and Korea, and an army of some 40,000 men. Against this mighty force, Japan could muster only about 10,000 fighting men from the ranks of the often-squabbling samurai clans. Japans warriors were seriously outmatched. The First Invasion, 1274 From the port of Masan in southern Korea, the Mongols and their subjects launched a step-wise attack on Japan in the autumn of 1274. Hundreds of large ships and an even larger number of small boats—estimated between 500 and 900 in number—set out into the Sea of Japan. First, the invaders seized the islands of Tsushima and Iki about halfway between the tip of the Korean peninsula and the main islands of Japan. Quickly overcoming desperate resistance from the islands approximately 300 Japanese residents, the Mongol troops slaughtered them all and sailed on to the east. On November 18, the Mongol armada reached Hakata Bay, near the present-day city of Fukuoka on the island of Kyushu. Much of our knowledge about the details of this invasion comes from a scroll which was commissioned by the samurai Takezaki Suenaga (1246–1314), who fought against the Mongols in both campaigns. Japans Military Weaknesses Suenaga relates that the samurai army set out to fight according to their code of bushido; a warrior would step out, announce his name and lineage, and prepare for one-on-one combat with a foe. Unfortunately for the Japanese, the Mongols were not familiar with the code. When a lone samurai stepped forward to challenge them, the Mongols would simply attack him en masse, much like ants swarming a beetle. To make matters worse for the Japanese, the Yuan forces also used poison-tipped arrows, catapult-launched explosive shells, and a shorter bow that was accurate at twice the range of the samurais longbows. In addition, the Mongols fought in units, rather than each man for himself. Drumbeats relayed the orders guiding their precisely coordinated attacks. All of this was new to the samurai—often fatally so. Takezaki Suenaga and the three other warriors from his household were all unhorsed in the fighting, and each sustained serious wounds that day. A late charge by over 100 Japanese reinforcements was all that saved Suenaga and his men. The injured samurai drew back a few miles from the bay for the night, determined to renew their nearly hopeless defense in the morning. As night fell, a driving wind and heavy rain began to lash the coast. Close Call with Domination Unbeknownst to the Japanese defenders, the Chinese and Korean sailors on board Kublai Khans ships were busy persuading the Mongolian generals to let them weigh anchor and head further out to sea. They worried that the strong wind and high surf would drive their ships aground in Hakata Bay. The Mongols relented, and the great Armada sailed out into open waters—straight into the arms of an approaching typhoon. Two days later, a third of the Yuan ships lay on the bottom of the Pacific, and perhaps 13,000 of Kublai Khans soldiers and sailors had drowned. The battered survivors limped home, and Japan was spared the Great Khans dominion—for the time being.  While Kublai Khan sat at his capital in Dadu (modern-day Beijing) and brooded over his fleets misfortunes, the samurai waited for the  bakufu  in Kamakura to reward them for their valor, but that reward never came. Uneasy Peace: The Seven-year Interlude Traditionally, the bakufu gave a land grant to noble warriors at the end of battle so they could relax in times of peace. However, in the case of the invasion, there were no spoils to dole out—the invaders came from outside of  Japan,  and left no booty behind so the  bakufu  had no way to pay the thousands of samurai who had fought to fend off the Mongols. Takezaki Suenaga took the unusual step of traveling for two months to the  Ã¢â‚¬â€¹Kamakura shoguns  court to plead his case in person. Suenaga was rewarded with a prize horse and stewardship of a Kyushu island estate for his pains. Of the estimated 10,000  samurai warriors who fought, only 120 received any reward at all. This did not endear the Kamakura government to the vast majority of the samurai, to say the least. Even as Suenaga was making his case, Kublai Khan sent a six-man delegation to demand that the Japanese emperor  travel  to Dadu and kowtow to him. The Japanese responded by beheading the Chinese diplomats, a terrible infringement of the Mongol law against abusing emissaries. Then Japan prepared for a second attack. The leaders of Kyushu took a census of all available warriors and weaponry. In addition, Kyushus landowning class was given the task of building a defensive wall around Hakata Bay, five to fifteen feet high and 25 miles long. Construction took five years with each landholder responsible for a section of the wall proportional to the size of his estate. Meanwhile, Kublai Khan established a new government division called the Ministry for Conquering Japan. In 1980, the ministry devised plans for a two-pronged attack the following spring, to crush the recalcitrant Japanese once and for all. The Second Invasion, 1281 In the spring of 1281, the Japanese got word that a second Yuan invasion force was coming their way. The waiting samurai sharpened their swords and prayed to Hachiman, the Shinto god of war, but Kublai Khan was determined to smash Japan this time and he knew that his defeat seven years earlier had simply been bad luck, due more to the weather than to any extraordinary fighting prowess of the samurai. With more forewarning of this second attack, Japan was able to muster 40,000 samurai and other fighting men. They assembled behind the defensive wall at Hakata Bay, their eyes trained to the west. The Mongols sent two separate forces this time—an impressive force of 900 ships containing 40,000 Korean, Chinese, and Mongol troops set out from Masan, while an even larger force of 100,000 sailed from southern China in 3,500 ships. The Ministry for Conquering Japans plan called for an overwhelming coordinated attack from the combined imperial Yuan fleets. The Korean fleet reached Hakata Bay on June 23, 1281, but the ships from China were nowhere to be seen. The smaller division of the Yuan army was unable to breach the Japanese defensive wall, so a stationary battle evolved. Samurai weakened their opponents by rowing out to the Mongol ships in small boats under cover of darkness, setting fire to the ships and attacking their troops, and then rowing back to land. These night-time raids demoralized the Mongols conscripts, some of whom had only recently been conquered and had no love for the emperor. A stalemate between the evenly-matched foes lasted for 50 days, as the Korean fleet waited for the expected Chinese reinforcements. On August 12, the Mongols main fleet landed to the west of Hakata Bay. Now faced with a force more than three times as large as their own, the samurai were in serious danger of being overrun and slaughtered. With little hope of  survival—and little thought of reward if they triumphed—the Japanese samurai fought on with desperate bravery. Japans Miracle They say that truth is stranger than fiction, and in this case, its certainly true. Just when it appeared that the samurai would be exterminated and Japan crushed under the Mongol yoke, an incredible, miraculous event took place. On August 15, 1281, a second typhoon roared ashore at Kyushu. Of the khans 4,400 ships, only a few hundred rode out the towering waves and vicious winds. Nearly all of the invaders drowned in the storm, and those few thousand who made it to shore were hunted and killed without mercy by the samurai with very few returning to tell the tale at Dadu. The Japanese believed that their gods had sent the storms to preserve Japan from the Mongols. They called the two storms  kamikaze, or divine winds. Kublai Khan seemed to agree that Japan was protected by supernatural forces, thus abandoning the idea of conquering the island nation. The Aftermath For the Kamakura  bakufu, however, the outcome was disastrous. Once again the samurai demanded payment for the three months theyd spent warding off the Mongols. In addition, this time the priests who had prayed for divine protection added their own payment demands, citing the typhoons as evidence of the effectiveness of their prayers. The  bakufu  still had little to dispense, and what disposable riches they had  were given to the priests, who held more influence in the capital than the samurai. Suenaga did not even try to seek payment, instead commissioning the scroll where most modern understandings of this period come from as a record of his own accomplishments during both invasions. Dissatisfaction with the Kamakura  bakufu  festered among the ranks of the samurai over the following decades. When a strong emperor, Go-Daigo (1288–1339), rose in 1318 and challenged the authority of the  bakufu, the samurai refused to rally to the military leaders defense. After a complex civil war lasting 15 years, the Kamakura  bakufu  was defeated and the Ashikaga Shogunate assumed power over Japan. The Ashikaga family and all the other samurai passed down the story of the kamikaze, and Japans warriors drew strength and inspiration from the legend for centuries. As late as  World War II  from 1939 to 1945, Japanese imperial troops invoked the kamikaze in their battles against the Allied forces in the Pacific and its story still influences the natures culture to this day. Sources and Further Information Miyawaki–okada, Junko. The Japanese Origin of the Chinggis Khan Legends. 8.1 (2006): 123.  Narangoa, Li. Japanese Geopolitics and the Mongol Lands, 1915–1945. 3.1 (2004): 45.  Neumann, J. Great Historical Events That Were Significantly Affected by the Weather: I. The Mongol Invasions of Japan. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 56.11 (1975): 1167-71.

`` Cathedral `` By Raymond Carver And The Jewelry - 977 Words

The Reader will always be a vital part to literature, for obvious reasons but also for not so obvious reasons. Without the reader the age old question of â€Å"If a tree falls in the middle of a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?† starts to apply to literature. A book’s meaning does not exist until a reader picks it up and adds his/her own interpretation of what a story is trying to convey. The two stories I chose are stories that brought out many interpretations not only from me but my colleagues as well. â€Å"Cathedral† by Raymond Carver â€Å"The Jewelry† by Guy de Maupassant are the chosen books I found had various interpretations and even passions that were displayed while discussing these two works in our discussions. The reason for discussing these stories is the sexual undertones that are possibly hidden within the text, the roles of the wives in relation to their husband, and allegations of infidelity in respect to the wives of the stories. Some Colleagues felt that there are negative characteristics of the relationships of the protagonists of the story that affect the wives and their marital vows towards their husbands. Let’s begin with â€Å"Cathedral† a story that described a couple whom are married and the wife has a friendly long distance relationship with a man who is blind. This seems to create a bit of stress on the marriage. Many in our discussion believed the tension between the husband and wife was because the husband was jealous of the ongoingShow MoreRelatedComparing Two Dramatic Comedies: Raymond Carver’s Cathedral and Guy de Maupassant’s The Jewelry827 Words   |  4 PagesA reader looking for a story where there is drama, but still humor will be satisfied with Raymond Carver’s Cathedral and Guy de Maupassant’s The Jewelry. Both have some form of wit developed through a plot structure that appeals to the most common of people. Carver prese nts a man who is so narrow-minded that he is unable to grasp the idea of knowing a person who is blind. Maupassant creates a story of a man who is blind to the fact of the true actions of his wife and the lies she construed during

Emotional Turmole in Frankenstein free essay sample

Emotions are the energy that undermines peoples actions; while their mind is irrational and lucid, everyone is subjected to emotions. In Mary Wollstonecrafts novel Frankenstein, she displays how Dr. Victor Frankenstein and the Monster experience a variety of emotions , feelings of Shame, Happiness, and Pain are all felt by the two main characters as they venture throughout the story. Victor Frankenstein and the monster both experience shame. For example when Victor illustrates shame is when he decides to create an animated monster but was cared of his own creation, once his monster sprung to life. Victor saw the monsters pale yellow skin and monstrous eight feet high and was disgusted by it and was shamed of what he created. He abandoned his creation hoping it would disappear. Another example of when Victor shows shame was when Victors life was threatened by the monster because the monster wanted a female friend and forced Victor to create another monster. We will write a custom essay sample on Emotional Turmole in Frankenstein or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Victor starts to build on the monster in a remote island in Scotland but is ashamed his own selfishness; building another monster to save imself when the monster could case destruction and death on other humans Just like how his original creation killed his brother, William Frankenstein died. In anger at himself he tears up his half created monster. The monster also shows shame. The monster shows shame when he looks into the water of the pond and sees his own reflection and exclaims in agony Why did you form a monster so hideous (93). The monster realizes that he is hideous and is ashamed of himself. He is then struck with anger and seeks revenge on Victor for giving him a repulsive face. Another example when he demonstrates shame was when he passed by the town and the people would shriek and hit him. Learning from that experience he did not go into town again and became ashamed of himself so he hid in the forest, sheltering himself in the dirt hovel that was next to the cottage of the DeLacey family. Victor and the monster also experienced happiness but it doesnt last long. The first time Victor was ever truly happy was when he was a child and he was also content when he was with his girlfriend and soon to be wife, Elizabeth Lavenza. Another moment of happiness for Victor was when he finished his creation that he has been working on for two years. He describes it as Beautiful! -Great God! his teeth of pearly whiteness (35). The monster shows happiness too when he is around nature, he appreciates and is happy with nature because nature is the only thing that doesnt make insult him for his looks. His was also blissful when he demanded Victor to make him a mate and Victor agreed. Victor and the monster additionally feel pain; emotionally and physically. Victor first feels emotional pain when his mom and his best friend Henry died. Victor undergoes emotional pain when Justine was executed and Victor becomes increasingly melancholy. He considers suicide but restrains himself by thinking of Elizabeth and his father. Another example is when Felix DeLacey hits the monster Molently with a stick (97) in fear that the monster will harm his family . The monster suffers pain when he is like a newborn, still clue less to the new world he is in and decides to touch he tire that is warm and soothing. He soon discovers the tlames could burn his hands. The monster also goes through emotional pain when Victor Frankenstein dies and the monster cries for him because the monster has no purpose in life and is emotionally frustrated. Both characters experience a series of emotions and have each changed emotions in comparison this are very similar yet they are very different. As both characters experienced pain, happiness, and shame it greatly affected their lives and how they behaved to each other.