Page 40 - WDT Winter 2018 japan

HISTORY LESSON & TIMELINE

Archaeologists believe that the ancestors of the first Japanese Palaeolithic peo-
ple originated from Southeast Asia migrating through Korea beginning about
300 BC. For over a thousand years Japan was made up of many regional states
Aheaded by warlords and Emporers. They mostly warred with each other but
eventually became united under Shogunates sharing power with the royal families. There is
one point nearly 800 years ago that Japanese shifted and shaped Japanese thinking and
culture that still reverberates today.

In 1274, Kublai Khan and his army and navy of Mongols, Chinese and Koreans vastly out-
numbering the Japanese invaded Japan with an armada of nearly 800 ships and boats.
Things were going well for the invaders, who routed the meager Japanese forces on three
small Japanese islands. Fate intervened for the Japanese in the form of a major typhoon.
The storm forced Khan’s soldiers back to the ships. The fierce storm wiped out most of the
ships -- the two hundred that survived were easy prey for fast Japanese boats and Samurai
warriors.

The Mongols didn’t give up. Seven years after their first defeat they sent two invading arma-
das from Korea and China with over 4,000 ships carrying 70,000 soldiers and sailors. This
time the Japanese navy and armies were ready and turned back the Mongol fleet at Tsu-
shima. Despite the early success, the Japanese were heavily outnumbered and were about
to be overwhelmed by the Mongol hoard. Miraculously, a massive typhoon again thwarted
the Mongols. The Japanese celebrated the storm by calling it kamikaze which means the
divine wind. In just two days the typhoon tore apart and sank much of the attacker’s fleet.

The two victories over the Mongols still reverberate as historic, nation-defining, events in
Japan. Rightfully the Japanese attributed their victories over the Mongols to the divine winds.
To them, it meant the gods were on their side; they were invincible. Japan became more
militant and eyed lands beyond its islands, and fought wars with China, Russia, and eventu-
ally America beginning with their attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1945, their national illusion of
invincibility shattered with the atomic bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Afterwards, Japan
focused on rebuilding and peace, incorporating that spirit into their constitution to make
sure history does not repeat itself.

40 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018