On this day in Japan’s history, two events centuries apart left an indelible mark on the nation’s identity.
The more recent is, of course, August 15, 1945 — when the Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito, spoke directly to the Japanese people over the radio, announcing Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II. Known as the Gyokuon-hōsō (“Jewel Voice Broadcast”), it was the first time most Japanese had ever heard their emperor speak. For many, the day still carries a solemn weight.
But step back nearly 700 years, and we find another dramatic August 15, one that shaped Japan’s medieval history and gave rise to one of its most enduring legends: the kamikaze, or “divine wind.”
The Second Mongol Invasion (1281)
In the summer of 1281, Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, launched the second — and the largest — attempt to conquer Japan. His forces were massive: historians estimate a combined armada of around 4,400 ships and more than 140,000 men from China, Korea, and the Mongol Empire.
The Japanese, forewarned by the failed invasion of 1274, had built defensive walls along Hakata Bay in northern Kyūshū. For weeks, fierce fighting raged as the Mongols tried to breach these defenses. The Japanese employed night raids in small boats to harass the enemy, buying time against the overwhelming force.
Then, on August 15, a typhoon struck. Over the course of two days, the winds and waves tore through the anchored Mongol fleet. Ships smashed into each other or were driven onto the rocky coast. Tens of thousands drowned; survivors were hunted down by Japanese forces. The once-invincible Mongol army was shattered.
The storm was seen not as mere weather, but as heaven’s intervention: kamikaze, the divine wind protecting Japan from foreign conquest. This belief would echo through the centuries, resurfacing in the desperate defense of the homeland during World War II.
Here is a poem that may prove fitting on this day.
遺棄死体 数百といひ 数千といふ いのちをふたつ もちしものなし
“Abandoned corpses numbered
in the hundreds,” they say,
“in the thousands“
Not one of us
can live twice
— Zenmaro
(trans Janine Beichman)
A bold anti-war statement from one of the leading tanka poets of his time, written upon hearing of news from Japan’s invasion of China. In wartime Japan, openly opposing the war risked imprisonment, so this work stands as an act of quiet defiance.
From 1281’s tempest to 1945’s broadcast, August 15 remains a day of endings and turning points in Japanese history, moments when the course of the nation shifted in ways still remembered today.
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David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Bluesky. |