8 min read · Sep 12, 2023
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Nestled within the turbulent waters between the southern coast of Korea and the Japanese island of Kyushu lies Tsushima. Tsushima, between the 13th and 16th centuries was home to notorious marauders, known as, Wokou. The Japanese pirates often raided the shores of Korea due to the rugged and mountainous terrain of Tsushima, which offered little arable land to its inhabitants.
In the 13th century, the raiders found Korea to be a vulnerable target as they were suffering from the wrath of the Mongol Empire, horsem*n in particular. Over three tumultuous decades, the Mongol hordes terrorized the Korean peninsula. King Gojong of Korea, desperate to escape the Mongol wrath, sought refuge on a remote island. During the destabilization, Japanese pirates attacked Korea several times. However, they ended when King Gojong made peace with the Mongols in 1259.
It was the attacks of the Wokou and the wealth of Japanese Monarchs that shifted Mongol attention towards Japan, specifically Tsushima. In the 1260s, Kublai Khan dispatched his envoys to Japan, demanding submission and homage from its leaders. However, the Japanese government, Kamakura Bakufu, under Hojo Tokimune, refused to acknowledge Kublai’s imperious demands.
In a fateful turn of events in 1269, Kublai’s envoys captured two Tsushima fishermen, Tojiro and Yashiro, during their return voyage. The captives were transported to Kublai’s court, where the formidable Khan exhibited power and wealth. He demanded that upon their return to Tsushima, the fishermen tell Tokimune to pay him the respect he deserved and that all he wanted was for the Japanese king to be present within his court. Yet, these requests fell on deaf ears, and Tokimune’s defiance further inflamed Kublai’s ambitions.
Tokimune’s unyielding stance was aimed to protect the people of Japan; however, the choice brought unwavering consequences to the nation. In 1271, following the fall of the Song Dynasty in Xiangyang, Kublai Khan set his sights firmly on Japan, laying the groundwork for a massive invasion.
On September 2nd, 1274, an armada of staggering proportions, consisting of 20,000 Mongols, Northern Chinese, Jurchen, Khitans, and Korean soldiers and sailors aboard nearly 1000 formidable ships, embarked from the southern Korean port of Happo towards Tsushima as their initial target.
By November 4th, the Japanese spotted the Mongolian Empire off the Tsushiuma coast. Besides surface layer damage inflicted by small pirate ships and fishing vessels, the Japanese had no way to ward the Mongols off of their coast. The island was under the dominion of the So Clan, led by Sō Sukekuni, the deputy Shugo and military governor of Tsushima.
According to the Hachiman Gudokun, a source chronicling these difficult times, a shrine dedicated to Hachiman, the Japanese God of War, stood in Tsushima. Legend tells of a fateful omen when the shrine was set ablaze as the Mongol fleet approached the shores, a prelude believed to have been sent from the heavens. White doves gathered upon the shrine’s roof, a traditional sign of Hachiman’s presence. Sukekuni took the sign as a dire warning and soon prepared his men for that which awaited them.
Sukekuni swiftly rallied his forces, an elite group of 80 mounted samurai, postioned them on the shores of Komoda and awaited the coming dawn. As the Yuan fleet neared Komoda on the morning of November 5th, Sukekuni dispatched a vessel to inquire about the purpose of their arrival. However, after the repeated refusals to meet with Kublai Khan’s envoys, diplomacy had run its course and the Mongols refused to speak.
Aware of the impossible odds against them, Sukekuni and his samurai defiantly lined up along the shoreline. Armed with the deadly Yumi, traditional Japanese longbows, the samurai awaited the Mongol onslaught. While the samurai were gifted warriors, who fought on horseback, their riding technique was inferior to the Mongols, who as nomads, were born into the saddle.
The wealthiest samurai adorned themselves in colorful Yoroi armor, and since Tsushima was a poorer island, few of the 80 warriors were well armored. Sukekuni’s samurai’s sidearms occupied curved blades, precursors to the famed katana, while the rest of his force wielded blades and naginata.
The Mongol forces, commanded by General Ho-tan, primarily used Chinese and Korean soldiers to attack the Japanese. As part of traditional Mongol strategy, Ho-Tan armed his Chinese and Korean forces with spears, large wicker shields, and rudimentary armor. These dispensable warriors were the first wave, intended to absorb the samurai’s arrows. Simultaneously, while the samurai were rushed and occupied, the elite Khitan, Jurchen, Turkic, and Mongol horse archers had time to safely disembark from the ships.
Slow to occupy their positions and build their formations due to their sea voyage and horse debarkation; the Mongols abandoned their customary tactic of outflanking their enemies. Per traditional customs, the battle commenced with a resounding whistling arrow fired into the sky by the samurai, while Mongol drums signaled their relentless advance.
Sukekuni’s samurai mowed down the initial wave of Mongol forces marching up the beach. Challenges for single combat by the samurai went unanswered by the Chinese and Koreans, who sought refuge behind their unwieldy shields. As the Yuan forces drew near, Sukekuni wisely pulled his men back to the tree line, where the terrain slowed the Mongol advance.
The samurai showcased their unmatched swordsmanship, temporarily halting the Mongols. Saito Sukesada, one of Sukekuni’s closest comrades, massacred numerous Yuan soldiers and a Mongol officer. Standing defiantly over the officer’s lifeless body, Sukesada called out for any Mongol willing to face him in battle. The response came in a barrage of Mongol arrows that pierced Sukesada’s chest, ending his courageous stand.
In retaliation, Sukekuni unleashed a final cavalry charge into the ranks of his foes. Despite their unyielding bravery, the defending Japanese samurai were ultimately overwhelmed, leaving Tsushima vulnerable to the Mongol movement. Within a week, the island fell prey to the relentless invaders, towns were set ablaze, countless lives were lost, and women of the Sō family chose death in the form of suicide over Mongol captivity.
The horrors inflicted upon the captive prisoners were a primary reason for the concerning numbers of suicides. Yuan and Japanese accounts recount the gruesome practice of threading wire through the palms of prisoners, primarily women, stripping them naked and stringing their lifeless bodies along the edges of Yuan ships as a human necklace. By November 13th, Tsushima had fallen, and Ho-Tan’s fleet set its course for the next target: Iki.
On the island of Iki, Deputy Shugo Taira Kagetaka had the opportunity to prepare his forces. He urgently summoned reinforcements from Kyushu, sending women and children to Hinotsume Castle for their safety. Kagetaka, accompanied by 100 mounted samurai and their loyal retainers, took up a defensive position on the northern beaches of Iki, determined to slow the Mongol invaders.
Kagetaka’s forces bravely held their ground for hours, impeding the Mongol advance but unable to halt it entirely. As the Yuan foothold on Iki expanded, Kagetaka reluctantly retreated to Hinotsume Castle. However, the fortress’s brittle walls offered little protection against the advanced, unrelenting Mongol weaponry.
As a last ditch effort to protect the future of Japan from the Mongol Empire, Kagetaka entrusted his daughter, Katsura-Hime, with a lone samurai to bear news of the impending war to the Bakufu government, all the while preparing for a final, hopeless stand as the Mongols encircled the castle walls.
Within the castle, women and townsfolk joined the defense, hurling anything they could find at the Mongol invaders. Yet, catapults and Mongol arrows swiftly silenced their resistance. As Kagetaka attempted to save his people and sally through the gates of the castle, he was met with horror. The Mongols were pushing Japanese prisoners before them with wire threaded through their palms, acting as living cover for Mongolian archers.
As his dwindling forces faced the growing flames and mounting casualties, Kagetaka witnessed his family take their own lives before he joined them in a final act of defiance. Iki soon fell to the Mongol forces, who unleashed atrocities upon its residents. Katsura-Hime tragically never reached the safety of the mainland with her boat falling as she sailed too close to Mongol archers.
Survivors such as Katsura’s loyal bodyguard, who witnessed the horrors of Tsushima and Iki, took word of the Mongol terror to the rest of Japan. In popular Japanese tradition, upon learning of the horrors, Hojo Tokimune stated that this would be the most momentous occasion of his life. When asked as to how he intended to reply to the Mongol invasion, Tokimune shrieked, “Katsu!” — Victory.
The Mongols, despite their overwhelming might, never found victory in the mainlands of Japan, specifically Hakata Bay, Kyushu. The determined Japanese resistance was bolstered by an unexpected storm, which came to be known as the ‘Kamikaze’. Many believe that the Kamikaze was a divine wind sent by the gods that forced the remnants of the Yuan fleet to retreat. However, undeterred by this setback, Kublai Khan, following the conquest of the Song Dynasty, launched an even grander armada against Japan in 1281.
In that fateful year, the Mongol forces returned to Tsushima and Iki. Though local defenses swiftly fell, details of this second invasion remain mysterious. Among the few recorded accounts, the legacy of Saito Sukesada lived on through his son, Sō Moriaki, who continued his father’s courageous legacy by confronting the Mongols on the shores of Tsushima.
As part of the legacy, it’s recorded that the cries of children hidden in the mountains of Tsushima alerted the Mongols of their families’ presence, leading to the massacre of 300 innocent souls. Ultimately, the 1281 invasion proved an even greater failure than its predecessor, as thousands of Chinese, Mongols, and Koreans perished in the treacherous waters off the Japanese coast. Local defenses on Tsushima, Iki, and neighboring islands remained vigilant during the following decades, ever-watchful for the prospected Mongol return, a threat that never came to fruition.
Embolded by the retreat of the Mongols, Japanese pirates began raiding and attacking Korean shores throughout the Yuan and Ming eras, eventually reaching as far as Malaysia. Today, on Tsushima and Iki, there are numerous memorials that are a testament to the bravery and courage of the samurai who defied the Mongols, while against insurmountable odds, in an effort to preserve their nation.
