The Samurai and the Sacred

From ‘The Gods Go to War’

Divine Intervention
The Mongol invaders returned to Japan in 1281, determined to conquer and occupy the country, as evidenced by the inclusion of farm implements on board the invasion fleet. Their vanguard attacked Tsushima and Iki, then attempted to land in Hakata Bay. As before, the ferocity of the Japanese defence forced them back, but the Mongols established themselves on two islands in the bay. From there, they launched attacks against the Japanese for about a week, then withdrew offshore until reinforcements arrived. While the full fleet lay at anchor, a typhoon blew up and was devastating in its effects. Forced by the Japanese raids to stay in their ships and unable to drop anchor in protected harbour waters, the Mongol fleet was obliterated. Tens of thousands of men were left behind with the wreckage as the remains of the fleet headed home, and most of these were killed in Japanese attacks over the following few days. The typhoon became known as the kami kaze (divine wind), sent by the Sun-Goddess to aid her people. It was this term, kami kaze, that the suicide pilots of World War II adopted as their title, thus identifying themselves with the successful destruction of an invader.