Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Genkō Kassenki: Battle Record of the Mongol Invasions
Genkō Kassenki: Battle Record of the Mongol Invasions
Genkō Kassenki: Battle Record of the Mongol Invasions
Ebook234 pages3 hours

Genkō Kassenki: Battle Record of the Mongol Invasions

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars

()

Read preview

About this ebook

The epic tale of how the samurai warriors of Japan fended off the Mongol armada in 1274 and again in 1281 has all the ingredients of a compelling thriller: political intrigue, shifting alliances, espionage, damsels in distress, heroic warriors, courageous leaders, and even divine intervention.


Fans of the anime series Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion, as well as the video game Ghost of Tsushima, will be particularly interested in the real adventure behind them presented here.


This is a completely revised version of Nakaba Yamada’s 1916 Ghenko: The Mongol Invasion of Japan edited for easy reading among modern audiences, featuring updated maps and graphics. It is a must for Japanophiles, samurai enthusiasts, martial artists, military historians, and history buffs alike.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherPublishdrive
Release dateNov 16, 2019
ISBN1708830766
Genkō Kassenki: Battle Record of the Mongol Invasions

Related to Genkō Kassenki

Related ebooks

Asian History For You

View More

Related articles

Related categories

Reviews for Genkō Kassenki

Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings

0 ratings0 reviews

What did you think?

Tap to rate

Review must be at least 10 words

    Book preview

    Genkō Kassenki - Nakaba Yamada

    Editor’s Introduction

    The story of how Japan’s samurai warriors repelled the invading Mongol horde has the makings of an epic blockbuster on par with Game of Thrones or the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae.  It’s got everything…from heroic warriors, damsels in distress, harrowing escapes, political intrigue, assassinations, hostage trading, human shields, and even mysterious divine intervention.


    The recent anime series Angolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion and the action-adventure video game Ghost of Tsushima demonstrate renewed interest in this pivotal episode from Japanese history. 


    Many aspects of pre-modern Japan were shaped by the experiences of this massive armed attack on the island nation’s sovereignty by a foreign power between 1274 and 1281.  The Divine Wind that ultimately devastated the Mongol fleet and made their continued assault untenable would later be invoked during World War II in the form of suicide attacks by kamikaze pilots. 


    Like the Great Pacific War, otherwise known as World War II, Japan is not blameless for the conflagration with the Mongol Empire.  Japanese pirates had been raiding the coasts of what we now call Korea and China for a very long time before these territories came under the control of Kublai Khan and, as their protector, it was instinctive for the Mongols to address these attacks upon their dynasty. 

    Though proud to be Japanese and eager to share this story with a Western audience, the author of this book admits these provocations.  Nakaba Yamada was at Oxford University in England in 1916 when he wrote Ghenko: The Mongol Invasion of Japan.  At the time, Japan had only been fully open to trade and discourse with the rest of the world for less than fifty years and the book was made as a way to foster mutual understanding between distant cultures. 


    Japan embraced rapid industrialization and rose as a force to be reckoned with as the world witnessed its victories in the 1895 Sino-Japanese War and 1905 Russo-Japanese War.  Great curiosity surrounded this island nation that was ascending in The East and the enthusiastic Yamada wrote with the intention to forge common ground with Western audiences.   


    Yamada presented Ghenko as a story with deep similarities to England’s victory over the Spanish Armada in 1588.  Both were aided greatly by the elemental force of wind and, in this way, both Japan and England were said to enjoy protection through Heavenly Grace.  Yamada remarks how both the Spanish and Mongol Empires had fallen into the dustbin of history while Japan and England had continued as sovereigns of the sea.


    From our modern perspective, we can look at Yamada’s writing as a testimony of what international relations were like prior to World Wars I & II.  We can also see attitudes of ethnocentrism, nationalism, and hubris.  These outlooks indicate how Japan would soon find itself in conflict with other actors within the international system.  Yet also in this story we see the intelligence, fortitude, and discipline of the Japanese people underlying the success of post-war Japan today.


    Therefore, I would ask the modern reader to value Yamada’s telling of the Mongol Invasion for what it is, a heroic battle record as told by the victors.  Try to overcome presentism and judgements of the past using present-day values.  Appreciate the story in the context in which it was presented.   


    To this end, I have edited every sentence to make the text more presentable to modern readers.  Paragraphs are shorter to make what was a wall of words easily digestible.  Some anachronistic terms have been replaced to better convey the author’s intent today.  I have also changed the transliteration of many Japanese words for consistency. 


    Anyone familiar with other productions of this work will notice the title I use drops the h to align with modern translations of the kanji used in Genkō.  Similarly, where Yamada used Kiushu and Kioto I have rendered, in the modern parlance, as Kyushu and Kyoto.  Several other modifications along these lines, too numerous to list, make this presentation of Yamada’s work more enjoyable for a contemporary audience. 


    Whereas the original, and many commercially available scanned copies, include plates of photos and maps, I have dispensed with them since they have deteriorated over time, add little to the story, and unnecessarily bog down the digital file size.  In their place I have added just a few maps and other illustrations to provide context on the geographic locations involved in the battle record.


    There is much to be learned about samurai culture and the warrior traditions of Japan from the various kassenki or recorded battle accounts.  The Genk­ō Kassenki is on par with other, more notable, ones like the Taiheiki or Heike Monogatari.


    Within it you will find tales of heroism and sacrifice, leadership and infighting, tactical innovations and the impact of geopolitics.  Yamada’s telling provides value to samurai enthusiasts, martial artists, military scientists, adventure gamers, and Japanese history buffs of all stripes. 


    The samurai had to adapt their tactics and technologies to deal with the unique problems presented by the Mongols.  Japanese battle etiquette at that point in history involved individual challenges and pronouncements of one’s heritage, followed by single combat.  The Mongols ignored such formalities and destroyed anyone presenting themselves as a target in a hail of arrows or mass swarm.  Mongols also confounded the samurai with hurled bombs, a sort of stone grenade filled with gunpowder that caused tremendous damage and confusion within Japanese ranks.


    In response, the samurai built fortifications to prevent the Mongols from rushing in mass and forced the invaders into channelized terrain where they could engage in individual or small group melee.  They also conducted night raids on the Mongol flotilla using small boats and the element of surprise under the cover of darkness.


    Piercing the thick leather armor worn by the Mongols proved difficult for the swords used by the samurai at the time.  This would prompt sword smiths to innovate the stronger and more resilient katana that has since become iconic of the samurai.


    This an extremely important point in samurai history and highly instructive for students of the political economy of conflict.  Japan’s first military government was just under one hundred years old and control of the Kamakura Bakufu had long since transitioned away from the Minamoto Clan that had founded it in 1185 and over to the related Hojo Clan who wielded ultimate authority as regents to figurehead shoguns. 


    Under the Hojo, a clear law code, rules governing inheritances, and an inclusive Council of State composed of leading feudal lords provided a relatively high degree of stability.  The Hojo implored warriors to be frugal in their daily lives and promoted Zen Buddhism as a practice of developing mental fortitude in the face of mortal danger. 


    Despite prevailing through the leadership of the charismatic regent Tokimune, the conflict with the Mongols ultimately ushered in the end of the Hojo Clan and the Kamakura Shogunate.  Mobilizing resources to contend with the crisis weighed heavily upon the alliance of warrior houses who expected remuneration and rewards for their efforts. 


    Since vanquishing the Mongols yielded no loot or territory to divide among the fighters, faith that allegiance with the Hojo was in their best interest began to wane among the warlords.  One combatant, Takezaki Suenaga, whom you’ll read about in Yamada’s text, commissioned an artist in 1293, some twelve years after the last battle, to detail his exploits in a painting so that he could present them to the Shogunate because he had yet to receive any titles or compensation.


    Widespread dissatisfaction with the Hojo’s inability to feed the network of warrior clans with redistributed largesse opened the Shogunate to the ambitions of rival power brokers.  Heeding a rallying cry from the retired emperor Go-Daigo, Ashikaga Takauji, a top Hojo general, would rebel against the Shogunate and, with the assistance of the warlord Nitta Yoshisada, annihilated the Hojo Clan at Kamakura in 1333.


    Editing the prose and reassembling the text has been a labor of love for me as well as an informative journey through this chapter of samurai lore.  I hope you enjoy this retooled version of Genk­ō Kassenki: Battle Record of the Mongol Invasions.


    Sincerely,


    Ken Yamarashi

    www.EverydaySamurai.Life

    Introduction

    I have been asked by my friend, Mr. Yamada, to write a few lines of introduction to his entrancing story of the defeat of the Mongol Invasion of Japan in the thirteenth century, now for the first time presented to English readers in a concise and attractive form, and it is with great pleasure that I comply with his honorable request.


    Mr. Yamada has modestly attributed the conception of his task to the stirring story of Westward Ho! but throughout his work one can see that in reality he is fired by the inbred chivalry of the knightly family of which he is the present representative, and he unconsciously pays a loving tribute to the brave deeds of his ancestors.  He tells us of his first intention to write an historical romance; but he fortunately decided to confine himself to history, as the scenes he so picturesquely unfolds are worthy of comparison with those of Prescott's romantic histories of the conquests of Mexico and Peru, with this advantage, that in the battles of the Genkō all was fairly done by the victors, and no stigma of dishonorable or treacherous conduct besmirched their laurels.


    Throughout his book, while laying before his readers, in a spirited and dramatic manner, the condition of the Far East in the thirteenth century and the events that led up to the war of the Genkō , he brings out in high relief the similarity of the chivalrous patriotism that marked the rise to greatness of the island Powers of the East and of the West, and clearly shows that, notwithstanding the centuries that have since intervened, the same spirit and the same methods still mark the course of Powers seeking aggrandizement and of free people striving to maintain their honor and freedom.  Change the names and the seat of war, and much of Mr. Yamada's story might well apply to the great struggle now taking place in Europe.  I cannot help feeling that his presentment of the wisdom of the leaders of Japan and of the spirit of unity and national valor that animated her whole people at this momentous crisis is at the present time especially worthy of the careful study of people in this country.


    Mr. Yamada has opened to us a sealed book, and has shown that, in their chivalrous devotion to their native land, his countrymen possessed the germ of national greatness long before even the name of Japan was known to the vast majority of Western people.  Further, he has clearly shown that, had it not been for this spirit of national patriotism, Japan would comparatively early in history have fallen a victim to Mongolian greed, while somewhat later England would have become the victim of the haughty ambition of Spain.


    We may gather from the perusal of this book that, by like minds and noble conceptions, the English and Japanese nations have risen above the greed for material possessions and the vulgarity of aggressive ambition, and that the alliance between the Bulls and the Dwarfs is highly honorable and beneficial to both.


    The reader will be struck by the similarity of mind that actuated the Mikado and Shikken Tokimune on the one hand and Queen Elizabeth and Lord Howard of Effingham on the other, in the hour of national crisis, and he will be tempted to bring down the comparison to nearer our own times and contrast Lord Nelson with the great Admiral Togo.


    The book points many a moral suitable for us to lay to heart at the present time, and I trust that many may find the same pleasure and profit in reading the book that I have done.


    In conclusion I feel that Mr. Yamada is to be congratulated on the way in which in some three short years he has mastered the difficulties of the English language and on the picturesqueness and attractiveness of his literary style, and I venture to think that, had many of us been placed in a similar position in Japan and been called upon to write a history of the Spanish Armada in Japanese, we should have fallen very far short of what Mr. Yamada has accomplished.

    ARMSTRONG.

     Cragside,

    Rothbury,  

    March 15th, 1916.

    Preface

    One evening in the summer before last, I was sitting in the reading-room of my College in Cambridge, when a small book entitled Westward Ho! caught my eye.  I was greatly attracted by its contents.  In the mellowing light of the sun, I perused the book page after page, until my attention was diverted by the dining-bell from the hall.  Ending my perusal, however, I stood a while with the pleasant memory of what I had read.  One of my friends told me at table that that book was one of the great works of Charles Kingsley, and well worth reading.  Having obtained a new copy, I finished the reading before long.


    It was from this reading that I acquired the idea of writing this book. My first intention was to describe the historical event of The Mongol Invasion of Japan in such a novel as Westward Ho!  But I have found it better to write an authentic, straightforward history rather than to use the medium of fiction.  For the facts, which would be used as the basis of an historical novel, are not known to our Western friends as a whole, as the Chino-Japanese war or the Russo-Japanese war has been; this is probably owing both to the remoteness of the events and the difficulties of research work, in a field so far removed in time and place.


    Genkō, as the Japanese call the Mongol Invasion— a momentous national event which occurred in the last two decades of the thirteenth century — is, in my opinion, one of the most important facts which should be known by our friends who take an interest in the evolution of the Japanese power.  For Japan is not a nation which became a world power simply because of the victories won in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, but because of the superior spirit that has existed in the heart of the nation from earliest times.


    Every historian knows what a powerful empire the Mongols founded in the thirteenth century, and with what pomp they ruled the world they conquered. Almost all the kings of Asia, and even the sovereigns of Europe, trembled on their thrones when the blood-red flag of the Mongols appeared, and were compelled to do homage to the great khans of the Mongol empire, whose dominion extended over the vast territory from the Yellow Sea to the banks of the Danube.


    Although assailed by the victorious armies of the world-conquerors, Japan, singularly, was the only country which even the might of Kublai failed to subdue.  A small nation which was twice attacked by an ambitious neighbor, a thousand times stronger in every way, repulsed its formidable foe forever.  Is it not natural that a Japanese who reads the story of the Spanish Armada recalls that of the Mongol armada against which his ancestors fought, saving his fatherland from a tyrant's hand?  Is it not a curious fact that, while the Spanish and Mongol empires have fallen for ever, England and Japan are still treading the path of national prosperity, both as the sovereigns of the sea and as the closest allies in the world?


    However, in these two glorious victories which similarly became the source of the rise of the two nations, we see the difference that the one occurred in the sixteenth century and the other in the thirteenth.  There may be some others of minor importance.  But the similarities will, as the reader goes on from chapter to chapter, probably very greatly overweigh the differences, and he will realize when he comes to the last stage how similar were the fates that England and Japan, one in the West and the other in the East, might have shared with each other.


    One of the most striking similarities is that as the might of Spain had been scattered by the winds God blew for the English, who were given the chance of rising as the greatest maritime power, so, when the Divine tempest had shattered the Mongol power, the Japanese were afforded the opportunity of expanding as the sovereigns of the sea.  But Japan could not actually avail herself of this great opportunity, and remained, for a long time, as an insignificant nation; for owing to the civil wars the government prevented the rising spirit of the nation from expanding to the four seas. But the vitality of a rising race could not absolutely be stopped by the government policy.  Like a stream against the rocks, it ran to seek its way.  Therefore, in carrying our thought back to that age, we are stirred to see how many of the brave Japanese took part in enterprises abroad with all the daring of Drake and Hawkins.


    Divine tempest!  It was indeed an awful power of the Unseen, which came just in time to cooperate with the armies of justice and valor, among which England ranked in the West and Japan in the East.  Queen Elizabeth struck a medal bearing the inscription Afflavit Deus et dissipati sunt.  Clear it is that England was thankful for the Heavenly Grace.  The Japanese have the idea that their land is the country of the Gods because they have been led to believe that Japan is

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1