10 V W: KAMAKURA JAPAN
The Mongol Empire
a) 1260: Battle of Ain Jalut; Mongol army defeated by Mamluks of Egypt
b) 1260-1264CE: Mongol Civil War; 5th (and last) khagan Kubilai Khan (r. 1264-1294); 4 separate khanates
c) Decline of the Mongol Empire; resistance and rebellions; decline highlighted by failed attacks on Japan
Japan
1) Origins
a) 3 main islands: Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu; 120 miles from the coast of Asia
b) close=trade/learn; far=never conquered; chosen by the gods; develop unique/independent civilization
c) Izanagi married Izanami; created Japanese islands; daughter=Amaterasu the Sun Goddess
d) 660BCE: Amaterasu’s great-great-great grandson Jimmu becomes Japan’s 1st emperor (of 126)
e) Japanese emperor=figurehead, no real political or military authority; power in the hands of court officials
f) 794-1869CE: Kyoto=imperial capital in Yamato Plain; center of Japanese civilization
2) Samurai
a) frontier regions in the east/west=“wild country”; pirates, rebels, Ainu
b) imperial army unwilling to help farmers/others on frontiers=rise of new feudal (feudalism)/military system
c) 950: samurai=wealthier farmers, military equipment: armor, bow, 2 swords, horse; 2 names; new nobility
d) Bushido Code (“The Way of the Warrior”)
e) poorer farmers seek protection from samurai; become vassals, in return for protection pay taxes/labor
f) samurai=professional soldiers; protect vassals from barbarians, pirates, other samurai, central government
g) imperial government in Kyoto begins hiring samurai: fight wars, fight civil wars, bodyguards
h) service=rewards: land, taxation, titles, hereditary, own courts/laws; all=samurai=government
i) powerful samurai houses/clans accept vassal houses (=less powerful samurai clans) who swear loyalty
j) 1156: rise of two greatest samurai houses: Taira (Heike)/West/Inland Sea; Minamoto (Genji)/East/Kanto
Rise of the Bakufu (“Tent Government”)
1) Gempei War, 1180-1185
a) 1160: Taira Kiyomori (1118-1181) defeats Minamoto clan; takes Kyoto, controls emperor, rules Japan
b) first time warrior clan from the frontier provinces stepped in to play leading role in Kyoto
c) daughter Taira Tokuko marries Takakura (80th emperor, r. 1168-1180)
d) grandson Antoku born (1178), becomes 81st emperor (r. 1180-1185); Taira Kiyomori=regent
e) =rebellion against Taira’s rule led by Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199)
f) raises large army: hatred of Taira, family connections in the East, war=$, glory (Tale of the Heike)
g) 1180: Battle of Fujigawa; established new capital and military government at Kamakura on Kanto Plain
h) 1181: death of Taira Kiyomori
i) 1183: Minamoto capture Kyoto, the Taira flee to the West
j) 1185: Battle of Dannoura; Minamoto fleet of 700 ships defeats Taira fleet of 500; the Taira killed/suicide
2) The Bakufu, 1185-1868
a) Minamoto Yoritomo (r. 1185-1199), new military government, power transferred Kyoto to Kamakura
b) 1192: took title of shogun; Kamakura Shogunate (1192-1333); rules country on behalf of emperor at Kyoto
c) chief judge, lawgiver, taxation, commander in chief, national defense, foreign policy, imperial succession
d) confiscate/confer land=patronage, Gempei War=punish/reward, vassals>west; shugo (daimyo)
e) 1221: Jokyu War=rebellion of Go-Toba (82nd emperor), quickly crushed by 190000 bakufu soldiers
The Mongol Invasions, 1274 & 1281
a) 1274: Kubilai Khan (r. 1264-1294) sends 22000 Mongol soldiers that land at Hakata Bay on Kyushu, battle
b) Japanese hold Mongols on beach until storm forces Mongols to reembark and flee, most destroyed
c) Japanese refuse to negotiate, execute Mongol envoys; Kubilai Khan wants revenge
d) 1281: 1) Southern Route, China (100000 soldiers/600 ships); 2) Eastern Route, Korea (40000/900)
e) Japanese ready: built wall across Hakata Beach, soldiers moved to south
f) Eastern Route Army lands, battle, Mongols retreat to ships in bay; Japanese “little ship raids”
g) Southern Route Army arrives; Japanese attacks=Mongols stuck on ships, unable to win a beachhead
h) Mongol fleet in Imari Bay; kamikaze (“divine wind”=typhoon); most of fleet destroyed, rest retreat
Epilogue
a) last invasion of Japan until World War II=remained free to develop unique/independent civilization
b) bakufu/military government saved country, will continue (with a brief hiatus) through World War II
c) defeats end Mongol aura of invincibility in East Asia=resistance/rebellions
d) no more Mongol conquests, beginning of the end of the Mongol Empire, Kubilai Khan=5th/last khagan
