A Divine Wind Preserved Japanese Culture for More than a Century

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In 1274, Kublai Kahn, emperor of the Mongolian dynasty after his conquest of China, set his sights on concuring Japan. In August of 1274 Kahn set sail for Japan with a combined Korean-Mongolian army of 40,000 men. Out of nowhere, a violent typhoon appeared and wrecked more than two hundred of the Mongolian and Korean fleet, which forced the surviving crew to abort the invasion and return home with many of their soldiers dead or swept away in the powerful storm. In a second invasion with a much larger force of 140,000 men, once again a violent typhoon welled up and destroyed practically all of the Mongolian invading fleet. Again, the Mongolians were forced to return home or be captured by the victorious Japanese. Kahn never again set out to invade Japan and the country was isolated from China for more than a century. The Japanese believed that they were “divinely protected” due to the two mysterious typhoons that defeated the invading Mongolian armada.