(61) What a Samurai vs. Mongol Battle Really Looked Like - YouTube

The islanders of Tsushima notice them first. The dark figures cutting across the Pacific horizon, one evening in 1274. Local governor Tso Tsukakuni knows what's coming. He rallies 80 mounted samurai and leads them through the mountains, toward the beach. The invasion fleet lurches forward. The samurai look outnumbered. Six years ago, the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, sent a letter to Japan's Kamakura government. Innumerable people in far off lands have learned to fear our power and have longed for our virtuous rule. Moreover, the sages consider the entire universe one family. Therefore, if we should not establish friendly relations with each other, how could it be in accordance with the doctrine of one family? Who would care to appeal to arms? It's seemingly an offer to peacefully submit to Kublai Khan and become subjects of the Mongols. Yet to reject his proposal is to flirt with apocalypse, holocaust. The sublime cities of the Islamic world, opulent kingdoms of Russia, mighty domain of imperial China, have been defiled, burned, gutted. Millions of men, women, and children butchered by the Mongols. For unknown reasons, Kublai Khan has decided that Japan should now bend the knee to his empire. Japan's government responds by ignoring his letter. So, Sukakuni is first to suffer the consequences. At dawn, a thousand Mongols charge the beach. Samurai are masters of the blade, but they are first and foremost horse archers. The Japanese fight in small disparate bands of samurai warriors and their followers. They prefer to pick off individual targets at range. This initially works against the Mongols, and Tsushima's defenders cut down many of the oncoming invaders. But Mongol tactics are foreign and overwhelming. Mongol domination has come on the backs of battle-worn nomads trained in horse archery since childhood. They launch synchronized charges in units, raining mass volleys of arrows down on clumps of enemies. When the exhausted enemy herds begin to thin, they charge the gaps and look to finish the battle with axes and swords. Here, the samurai's mastery of both grappling on horseback and unmounted sword warfare becomes crucial. In the melee, one samurai shatters his sword, and a shower of Mongol arrows kill him. The defenders of Tsushima are outnumbered. The bodies of Sukakuni and his followers are left on the beach. And by midday, the Mongol invasion of Tsushima is unstoppable. Local buildings are burned, inhabitants slaughtered. The Mongols do the same to the island of Iki before advancing toward the mainland. The fleet comes into view and drops anchor, revealing the Mongol flair for psychological warfare. Their bows are adorned with female islanders dangling from a rope strung through their palms. An onslaught of Mongol horse archers charge the beach to the tune of signals from gongs and drums. They launch ear-splitting gunpowder bombs, sending Japanese horses staggering backward. Then they swing hooks and other weapons to rip the Japanese from their mounts. The Mongols generally navigate the battlefield wearing versatile light armor and carrying personal shields, while the more heavily armored samurai only use shields as stationary protective walls for their archers. The samurai are relentless sharpshooters. Their counterattacks force some of the Mongols to retreat and regroup. One samurai, Takasaki Suenaga, is eager to make a name for himself. Japanese warriors are compensated by the Shogunate government only when they can offer proof of their own exceptional deeds. Proof which often takes the form of eyewitness accounts or enemy heads. Suenaga has tracked the retreating Mongols to an encampment. One of his followers warns him not to charge, to wait for reinforcements, but Suenaga answers, The way of the bow and arrow is to do what is worthy of reward. Charge! The Mongols let fly a volley of arrows, wounding Suenaga and his three retainers. Suenaga presses on until an arrow drills into his horse and he's thrown to the ground helpless. Suddenly a charge of reinforcements storms forward, saving his life. The Mongol counterattack is brutal. The Japanese scatter and retreat inland, while the invaders lay waste to many of the homes and shrines along the coast. And then, they leave. There appears to have been a storm prior to their departure. Some accounts claimed it wrecked much of the Mongol fleet, while others state it was simply a fortuitous wind that gave the demoralized Mongol fleet the opportunity to sail back to Korea. The Mongols may have realized they lacked the manpower to occupy southern Japan. Whatever the case, the Mongols are gone. For Japan, it's now time to grieve and rebuild. It's the following year that Mongol emissaries arrive in Japan, reiterating Kublai Khan's request to submit to Mongol rule. Hojo Tokimune, the de facto ruler of Japan, has been beheaded. Later emissaries suffer the same fate. Tokimune knows the Mongols won't forget this. He constructs 12 miles of high stone walls on the coast of Japan. Another vital part of Japanese defense is prayer. The emperor, still an important religious figure in Japan, orders shrines to pray for peace and curse the Mongols. Yet the Mongol empire only grows in power. They've crushed the last of China's southern Song dynasty, absorbed its mighty navy, and constructed a massive new fleet. In the years since the invasion, Kublai Khan has had time to orchestrate the downfall of Japan. In 1281, a Mongol fleet arrives on Tsushima. Defending samurai are crushed. Villagers run to the mountains, but the Mongols follow the cries of fleeing children and hunt them down. They again occupy Iki and attack the mainland. But this time, the guarded coastal walls prevent the Mongols from establishing a position on land. The Mongol fleet is forced to float ominously in the bay, planning island raids. The samurai sense vulnerability. They take sandbars and small boats out to the Mongol ships, clamber aboard, and fight. One, called Kawano Michiari, takes five followers and bounds over choppy seas in two small boats. As they near a Mongol vessel, an enemy archer kills his uncle. Two more arrows carve into Michiari's shoulder and left arm as he climbs aboard. He ignores the wounds, unsheathes his sword, kills a large Mongol, and captures an officer. Takasaki Suenaga is also eager to join the fray. He squeezes onto an outgoing Japanese boat, storms a Mongol ship, and attacks the crew. The Mongols are bleeding supplies, but in midsummer, the momentum seems to shift. Their massive southern fleet from the newly-conquered southern China reaches Japan. The invading army is now three times as large as it was in the previous invasion. A tight battle at Takashima Island forces a Japanese retreat. Then, the skies blacken. The sails flutter, waves swell. A typhoon overtakes the bay, devouring hundreds of Mongol ships. Soldiers are thrown overboard, vessels dashed against the rocks. The surviving Mongol ships cut anchor and abandon the invasion. The next day, thousands of Mongols, dead and alive, wash up on Japanese beaches and float by on driftwood. One straggler, Chang, has been stranded on an island for three days without food. He and other survivors plan to cut down trees, build ships, and sail home. But they're captured by Japanese who are surveying the area. Uninterested in forgiveness, the Japanese execute every Mongol, Korean, and northern Chinese they find. They view the southern Chinese as old allies of Japan, only recently forced under Mongol control. They spared the lives of the newly-submitted, saying that they were people of the Tang Dynasty, and made them slaves instead. I, Chang, was one of them. The invasion is over. Takasaki Suenaga, now in his mid-thirties, will have his exploits documented in scrolls, and will present testimonies and Mongol heads to receive rewards from the government. Samurai like Kawano Michiari will be honored as heroes. Kublai Khan and the Mongol Empire had famously laid claim to the entire universe, yet for the final time they've tried, and failed, to claim Japan. So if you haven't already, make sure to subscribe and hit that notification bell. And maybe even consider making a donation to our Patreon account. Thanks.