Mongol Invasion of Japan (1281)

In the spring of 1281, the Mongols in China (Yuan Empire) sent two separate forces to conquer Japan once more from their failed invasion in 1275. An impressive force of 900 ships containing 17,000 sailors, 10,000 Korean soldiers, and 15,000 Mongols and Chinese set out from Masan, Korea, while an even larger force of 100,000 sailed from southern China in 3,500 ships, for a combined force of 142,000 soldiers and sailors. In the summer, the fleet took Iki-shima and moved on to Kyūshū, landing at several different locations. In a number of individual skirmishes, known collectively as the Kōan Campaign (弘安の役) or the “Second Battle of Hakata Bay“, the Mongol forces were driven back to their ships after fierce resistance froim the Japanese. The Japanese army was heavily outnumbered, but had fortified the coastal line with two-meter high walls (元寇防塁 Genkō Bōrui), and was easily able to repulse the auxiliaries that were launched against August 15, the now-famous kamikaze, a massive typhoon, assaulted the