Podcasts about bakufu

In the closing days of the Boshin War, the remnant of the Bakufu's forces attempted to establish a semi-independent state on the northern island of Hokkaido. The fledgling Meiji government, however, had no intention of allowing this.Support the show My latest novel, "Califia's Crusade," is now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, Bookshop.org, and many other online platforms!

 After the Boshin War, the Shogunate as a form of government would cease to exist. In this episode we examine the three different warrior governments that ruled over Japan over nearly seven centuries and see what they did well, where they struggled, and why such a form of government ultimately failed. Support the Show.

In this bonus episode, we trace the origins of the samurai and their subsequent evolution to the heights of political power.Support the Show.

This week on #FridayNightHistory is my favorite from the archive of members' episodes, and my second favorite FNH so far: the actual for real no-joke zombie daimyo story "Weekend at Bakufu's." Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Riversidewings on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or buy ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠some merch at Fourthwall⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Theme is "Ohayashi" by PeriTune, CC4.0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠)

Tensions between the Bakufu and the freshly-energized Loyalists came to a head when a shogunate army was refused entry to Kyoto - then promptly fired upon. The ensuing Boshin War was largely one-sided, with Loyalists gaining repeated victories due to superior arms, tactics, and numbers.Support the Show.

Things appeared grim for Choshu Domain after their defeat to western forces at the Battle of Shimonoseki. In a few short years, however, their fortunes would be completely reversed and the Bakufu would find itself politically besieged.Support the Show.

This is Part 2 of our special Gishiwajinden Tour from Gaya to Tsushima, Iki, Matsuro, Ito, and Na--aka Gimhae and Busan to Tsushima, Iki, Karatsu, Itoshima, and Fukuoka.  This time we talk about the island of Tsushima, the border island between Japan and Korea.  While itself a difficult place to make a living, it has long been the border--a place for foreign ambassadors, invadors, and pirates alike. For photos and more, check out our blogpost:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/tsushima Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is Gishiwajinden Tour Stop 2: Tsushima. As I mentioned last episode, we are taking a break right now from the workings of the Chronicles while I prep a bit more research on the Taika reform.  As we do so, I'm taking you through a recent trip we took trying to follow the ancient sea routes from Gaya, on the Korean peninsula, across the islands to Na, in modern Fukuoka.  This may have been first described in the Wei Chronicles, the Weizhi, but it was the pathway that many visitors to the archipelago took up through the famous Mongol invasion, and even later missions from the Joseon kingdom on the Korean peninsula. Last episode, we talked about our start at Gimhae and Pusan.  Gimhae is the old Geumgwan Gaya, as far as we can tell, and had close connections with the archipelago as evidenced by the common items of material culture found on both sides of the strait.  From the coast of the Korean peninsula, ships would then sail for the island of Tsushima, the nearest of the islands between the mainland and the Japanese archipelago.  Today, ships still sail from Korea to Japan, but most leave out of the port of Pusan.  This includes regular cruise ships as well as specialty cruises and ferries.  For those who want, there are some popular trips between Pusan and Fukuoka or Pusan all the way to Osaka, through the Seto Inland Sea.  For us, however, we were looking at the shortest ferries, those to Tsushima.  Tsushima is a large island situated in the strait between Korea and Japan.  Technically it is actually three islands, as channels were dug in the 20th century to allow ships stationed around the island to quickly pass through rather than going all the way around. Tsushima is the closest Japanese island to Korea, actually closer to Korea than to the rest of Japan, which makes it a fun day trip from Pusan, so they get a lot of Korean tourists.  There are two ports that the ferries run to, generally speaking.  In the north is Hitakatsu, which is mainly a port for people coming from Korea.  Further south is Izuhara, which is the old castle town, where the So family once administered the island and relations with the continent, and where you can get a ferry to Iki from. Unfortunately for us, as I mentioned last episode, it turned out that the kami of the waves thwarted us in our plans to sail from Busan to Tsushima.  And so we ended up flying into Tsushima Airport, instead, which actually required us to take an international flight over to Fukuoka and then a short domestic flight back to Tsushima.  On the one hand, this was a lot of time out of our way, but on the other they were nice short flights with a break in the Fukuoka airport, which has great restaurants in the domestic terminal.  Furthermore, since we came into the centrally-located Tsushima airport, this route also gave us relatively easy access to local rental car agencies, which was helpful because although there is a bus service that runs up and down the islands, if you really want to explore Tsushima it is best to have a car.  Note that also means having an International Driver's Permit, at least in most cases, unless you have a valid Japanese drivers' license. As for why you need a car:  There is a bus route from north to south, but for many of the places you will likely want to go will take a bit more to get to.  If you speak Japanese and have a phone there are several taxi companies you can call, and you can try a taxi app, though make sure it works on the island.  In the end, having a car is extremely convenient. Tsushima is also quite mountainous, without a lot of flat land, and there are numerous bays and inlets in which ships can hide and shelter from bad weather—or worse.  Tsushima is renowned for its natural beauty.  Flora and fauna are shared with continent and the archipelago.  There are local subspecies of otter and deer found on the islands, but also the Yamaneko, or Mountain Cat, a subspecies of the Eurasian leopard cat that   is only found in Japan on Tsushima and on Iriomote, in the southern Okinawan island chain.  They also have their own breed of horse, as well, related to the ancient horses bred there since at least the 8th century. Tsushima is clearly an important part of Japan, and the early stories of the creation of the archipelago often include Tsushima as one of the original eight islands mentioned in the creation story.  That suggests it has been considered an ancient part of the archipelago since at least the 8th century, and likely much earlier. Humans likely first came to Tsushima on their crossing from what is now the Korean peninsula over to the archipelago at the end of the Pleistocene era, when sea levels were much lower.  However, we don't have clear evidence of humans until later, and this is likely because the terrain made it difficult to cultivate the land, and most of the activity was  focused on making a livelihood out of the ocean. Currently we have clear evidence of humans on the island from at least the Jomon period, including remnants such as shellmounds, though we don't have any clear sign of habitation.  It is possible that fishermen and others came to the islands during certain seasons, setting up fish camps and the like, and then departed, but it could be that there were more permanent settlements and we just haven't found them yet.  Most of the Jomon sites appear to be on the northern part of Tsushima, what is now the “upper island”, though, again, lack of evidence should not be taken as evidence of lack, and there could be more we just haven't found yet.  After all, sites like Izuhara, which was quite populated in later periods, may have disturbed any underlying layers that we could otherwise hope to find there, and perhaps we will one day stumble on something more that will change our understanding.  Things change a bit in the Yayoi period, and we see clear evidence of settlements, pit buildings, graves, and grave goods at various sites up through the Kofun period.   Unsurprisingly, the assembly of goods found include both archipelagic and continental material, which fits with its position in between the various cultures. Understandably, most of these archeological sites were investigated and then either covered back up for preservation or replaced by construction – so in many cases there isn't anything to see now, besides the artifacts in the museum.  But some of the earliest clear evidence that you can still go see today are the several kofun, ancient tumuli, scattered around the island at different points.  Most of the kofun on the island appear to be similar, and overall fairly small.  These are not the most impressive kofun—not the giant mounds found in places like Nara, Osaka, Kibi, or even up in Izumo.  However, to students of the era they are still very cool to see as monuments of that ancient time.  One example of this that we visited was the Niso-kofungun, or the Niso Kofun group.  The Niso Kofungun is not like what you might expect in the Nara basin or the Osaka area.  First, you drive out to the end of the road in a small fishing community, and from there go on a small hike to see the kofun themselves.  Today the mounds are mostly hidden from view by trees, though there are signs put up to mark each one.  Some of them have a more well defined shape than others, too, with at least one demonstrating what appears to be a long, thin keyhole shape, taking advantage of the local terrain.  Most of these were pit style burials, where slabs of local sedimentary rock were used to form rectangular coffins in the ground, in which the individuals were presumably buried.  On one of the keyhole shaped mounds there was also what appears to be a secondary burial at the neck of the keyhole, where the round and trapezoidal sections meet.  However, we don't know who or even what was buried there in some instances, as most of the bones are no longer extant. Besides the distinctively keyhole shaped tomb, two more kofun in the Niso group caught my attention.  One, which is thought to have been a round tomb, had what appeared to be a small stone chamber, perhaps the last of the kofun in this group to be built, as that is generally a feature of later period kofun.  There was also one that was higher up on the hill, which may also have been a keyhole shaped tomb.  That one struck me, as it would likely have been particularly visible from sea before the current overgrown forest  appeared.  There are also plenty of other kofun to go searching for, though some might be a little more impressive than others.  In the next episode, when we talk about the island of Iki, we'll explore that ancient kingdom's much larger collection of kofun. After the mention of Tsushima in the Weizhi in the third century, there is a later story, from about the 6th century, involving Tsushima in the transmission of Buddhism.  This story isn't in the Nihon Shoki and was actually written down much later, so take that as you will.  According to this account, the Baekje envoys who transmitted the first Buddha image to Japan stopped for a while on Tsushima before proceeding on to the Yamato court.  While they were there, the monks who were looking after the image built a small building in which to conduct their daily rituals, effectively building the first Buddhist place of worship in the archipelago.  A temple was later said to have been built on that spot, and in the mid-15th century it was named Bairinji. While the narrative is highly suspect, there is some evidence that the area around Bairinji was indeed an important point on the island.  Prior to the digging of the two channels to connect the east and west coasts, the area near Bairinji, known as Kofunakoshi, or the small boat portage, was the narrowest part of Tsushima, right near the middle, where Aso Bay and Mitsuura Bay almost meet.  We know that at least in the 9th century this is where envoys would disembark  from one ship which had brought them from the archipelago, and embark onto another which would take them to the continent, and vice versa. Likewise, their goods would be carried across the narrow strip of land. This was like a natural barrier and an ideal location for an official checkpoint, and in later years Bairinji temple served as this administrative point, providing the necessary paperwork for crews coming to and from Japan, including the various Joseon dynasty missions in the Edo period. Why this system of portage and changing ships, instead of just sailing around?  Such a system was practical for several reasons.  For one, it was relatively easy to find Tsushima from the mainland.  Experienced ships could sail there, transfer cargo to ships experienced with the archipelago and the Seto Inland Sea, and then return swiftly to Korea.  Furthermore, this system gave Yamato and Japan forewarning, particularly of incoming diplomatic missions.  No chance mistaking ships for an invasion or pirates of some kind, as word could be sent ahead and everything could be arranged in preparation for the incoming mission.  These are details that are often frustratingly left out of many of the early accounts, but there must have been some logistics to take care of things like this. Whether or not Bairinji's history actually goes back to 538, it does have claim to some rather ancient artifacts, including a 9th century Buddha image from the Unified, or Later, Silla period as well as 579 chapters of the Dai Hannya Haramitta Kyo, or the Greater Perfection of Wisdom Sutra, from a 14th century copy.  These were actually stolen from the temple in 2014, but later recovered.  Other statues were stolen two years previously from other temples on Tsushima, which speaks to some of the tensions that still exist between Korea and Japan.  Claims were made that the statues had originally been stolen by Japanese pirates, or wakou, from Korea and brought to Japan, so the modern-day thieves were simply righting an old wrong.  However, Korean courts eventually found that the items should be returned to Japan, though there were those who disagreed with the ruling.  This is an example of the ongoing tensions that can sometimes make study of inter-strait history a bit complex. More concrete than the possible location of a theoretical early worship structure are the earthworks of Kaneda fortress.  This is a mid-7th century fort, created by Yamato to defend itself from a presumed continental invasion.  We even have mention of it in the Nihon Shoki.  It appears to have been repaired in the late 7th century, and then continued to be used until some time in the 8th century, when it was abandoned, seeing as how the invasion had never materialized, and no doubt maintaining the defenses on top of a mountain all the way out on Tsushima would have been a costly endeavor. Over time the name “Kaneda” was forgotten, though the stone and earthworks on the mountain gave the site the name “Shiroyama”, or Castle Mountain, at least by the 15th century.  In the Edo period, scholars set out trying to find the Kaneda fortress mentioned in the Nihon Shoki, and at one point identified this with an area known as Kanedahara, or Kaneda Fields, in the modern Sasu district, on the southwest coast of Tsushima.  However, a scholar named Suyama Don'ou identified the current mountaintop site, which has generally been accepted as accurate.  The earthworks do appear to show the kind of Baekje-style fortifications that Yamato built at this time, which took advantage of the natural features of the terrain.  These fortresses, or castles, were more like fortified positions—long walls that could give troops a secure place to entrench themselves.  They would not have had the impressive donjon, or tenshukaku, that is the most notable feature of of later Japanese and even European castles. Most of the Baekje style castles in Japan are primarily earthworks—for example the Demon's castle in modern Okayama.  Kaneda is unique, though, with about 2.8 kilometers of stone walls, most of which are reportedly in quite good condition.  There were three main gates and remains of various buildings have been determined from post-holes uncovered on the site.  There is a name for the top of the mountain, Houtateguma, suggesting that there may have once been some kind of beacon tower placed there with a light that could presumably be used to signal to others, but no remains have been found. The defensive nature of the position is also attested to in modern times.  During the early 20th century, the Japanese military placed batteries on the fortress, and an auxiliary fort nearby.  These constructions damaged some of the ancient walls, but this still demonstrates Tsushima's place at the edge of Japan and the continent, even into modern times. For all that it is impressive, I have to say that we regrettably did not make it to the fortress, as it is a hike to see everything, and our time was limited.  If you do go, be prepared for some trekking, as this really is a fortress on a mountain, and you need to park and take the Kaneda fortress trail up.   Moving on from the 8th century, we have evidence of Tsushima in written records throughout the next several centuries, but there isn't a lot clearly remaining on the island from that period—at least not extant buildings.  In the records we can see that there were clearly things going on, and quite often it wasn't great for the island.  For instance, there was the Toi Invasion in the 11th century, when pirates—possibly Tungusic speaking Jurchen from the area of Manchuria—invaded without warning, killing and taking people away as slaves.  It was horrific, but relatively short-lived, as it seems that the invaders weren't intent on staying. Perhaps a more lasting impression was made by the invasions of the Mongols in the 13th century.  This is an event that has been hugely impactful on Japan and Japanese history.  The first invasion in 1274, the Mongols used their vassal state of Goryeo to build a fleet of ships and attempted to cross the strait to invade Japan.  The typical narrative talks about how they came ashore at Hakata Bay, in modern Fukuoka, and the Kamakura government called up soldiers from across the country to their defense.  Not only that, but monks and priests prayed for divine intervention to protect Japan.  According to the most common narrative, a kamikaze, or divine wind, arose in the form of a typhoon that blew into Hakata Bay and sank much of the Mongol fleet. That event would have ripple effects throughout Japanese society.  On the one hand, the Mongols brought new weapons in the form of explosives, and we see changes in the arms of the samurai as their swords got noticeably beefier, presumably to do better against similarly armored foes.  The government also fortified Hakata Bay, which saw another attack in 1281, which similarly failed. Though neither attempted invasion succeeded, both were extremely costly.  Samurai who fought for their country expected to get rewarded afterwards, and not just with high praise.  Typically when samurai fought they would be richly rewarded by their lord with gifts taken from the losing side, to include land and property.  In the case of the Mongols, however, there was no land or property to give out.  This left the Kamakura government in a bit of a pickle, and the discontent fomented by lack of payment is often cited as one of the key contributors to bringing down the Kamakura government and leading to the start of the Muromachi period in the 14th century. The invasions didn't just appear at Hakata though.  In 1274,  after the Mongol fleet first left Goryeo on the Korean Peninsula, they landed first at Tsushima and then Iki, following the traditional trade routes and killing and pillaging as they went.  In Tsushima, the Mongol armies arrived in the south, landing at Komoda beach near Sasuura.  Lookouts saw them coming and the So clan hastily gathered up a defense, but it was no use.  The Mongol army established a beachhead and proceeded to spend the next week securing the island. From there they moved on to Iki, the next island in the chain, and on our journey.  Countless men and women were killed or taken prisoner, and when the Mongols retreated after the storm, they brought numerous prisoners back with them.  Although the Mongols had been defeated, they were not finished with their plans to annex Japan into their growing empire.  They launched another invasion in 1281, this time with reinforcements drawn from the area of the Yangtze river, where they had defeated the ethnic Han Song dynasty two years prior.  Again, they landed at Tsushima, but met fierce resistance—the government had been preparing for this fight ever since the last one.  Unfortunately, Tsushima again fell under Mongol control, but not without putting up a fight.  When the Mongols were again defeated, they left the island once again, this time never to return. If you want to read up more on the events of the Mongol Invasion, I would recommend Dr. Thomas Conlan's book, “No Need for Divine Intervention”.  It goes into much more detail than I can here. These traumatic events have been seared into the memories of Tsushima and the nearby island of Iki. Even though both islands have long since rebuilt, memories of the invasion are embedded in the landscape of both islands, and it is easy to find associated historical sites or even take a dedicated tour.   In 2020, the events of the invasion of Tsushima were fictionalized into a game that you may have heard of called Ghost of Tsushima.  I won't get into a review of the game—I haven't played it myself—but many of the locations in the game were drawn on actual locations in Tsushima.  Most, like Kaneda Castle, are fictionalized to a large extent, but it did bring awareness to the island, and attracted a large fan base.  Indeed, when we picked up our rental car, the helpful staff offered us a map with Ghost of Tsushima game locations in case we wanted to see them for ourselves. As I noted, many of the places mentioned in the game are highly fictionalized, as are many of the individuals and groups—after all, the goal is to play through and actually defeat the enemies, and just getting slaughtered by Mongols and waiting for them to leave wouldn't exactly make for great gameplay.  Shrines offer “charms” to the user and so finding and visiting all of the shrines in the in-game world becomes a player goal. And so when fans of the game learned that the torii gate of Watatsumi Shrine, one of the real-life iconic shrines in Tsushima, was destroyed by a typhoon in September of 2020, about a month after the game was released, they came to its aid and raised over 27 million yen to help restore the torii gates.  A tremendous outpouring from the community. And while you cannot visit all of the locations in the game, you can visit Watazumi Shrine, with its restored torii gates that extend into the water. Watatsumi Shrine itself has some interesting, if somewhat confusing, history.  It is one of two shrines on Tsushima that claim to be the shrine listed in the 10th-century Engi Shiki as “Watatsumi Shrine”.  This is believed to have been the shrine to the God of the Sea, whose palace Hiko Hoho-demi traveled down to in order to find his brother's fishhook—a story noted in the Nihon Shoki and which we covered in episode 23.  Notwithstanding that most of that story claims it was happening on the eastern side of Kyushu, there is a local belief that Tsushima is actually the place where that story originated. The popular shrine that had its torii repaired is popularly known as Watatsumi Shrine, today.  The other one is known as Kaijin  Shrine, literally translating to the Shrine of the Sea God, and it is also known as Tsushima no kuni no Ichinomiya; That is to say the first, or primary, shrine of Tsushima.  Some of the confusion may come as it appears that Kaijin shrine was, indeed, the more important of the two for some time.  It was known as the main Hachiman shrine in Tsushima, and may have been connected with a local temple as well.  It carries important historical records that help to chart some of the powerful families of Tsushima, and also claims ownership of an ancient Buddhist image from Silla that was later stolen.  In the 19th century it was identified as the Watatsumi Shrine mentioned in the Engi Shiki, and made Toyotama Hime and Hikohohodemi the primary deities worshipped at the shrine, replacing the previous worship of Hachiman. Shrines and temples can be fascinating to study, but can also be somewhat tricky to understand, historically.  Given their religious nature, the founding stories of such institutions can sometimes be rather fantastical, and since they typically aren't written down until much later, it is hard to tell what part of the story is original and what part has been influenced by later stories, like those in the Nihon Shoki or the Kojiki. Another interesting example of a somewhat unclear history is that of the Buddhist temple, Kokubun-ji.  Kokubunji are provincial temples, originally set up inthe decree of 741 that had them erected across the archipelago, one in each province at the time, in an attempt to protect the country from harm,  Knowing the location of a Kokubunji can therefore often tell you something about where the Nara era provincial administration sat, as it would likely have been nearby.  In many cases, these were probably connected to the local elite, as well. This is not quite as simple with Tsushima Kokubun-ji.  While it was originally designated in the decree of 741,  a later decree in 745 stated that the expenses for these temples would come directly out of tax revenues in the provinces, and at that time Tsushima was excluded.  Moreover, the Kokubunji on nearby Iki island was funded by taxes from Hizen province.  So it isn't until 855 that we have clear evidence of an early provincial temple for Tsushima, in this case known as a Tobunji, or Island Temple, rather than a Kokubunji. The location of that early temple is unknown, and it burned down only two years later when Tsushima was attacked by forces from Kyushu.   It is unclear what happened to it in the following centures, but by the 14th or 15th century it was apparently situated in Izuhara town, near the site of what would become Kaneishi Castle.  It was later rebuilt in its current location, on the other side of Izuhara town.  It burned down in the Edo period—all except the gate, which was built in 1807.  This gate is at least locally famous for its age and history.  It was also the site of the guesthouses for the 1811 diplomatic mission from Joseon—the dynasty that followed Koryeo. Those missions are another rather famous part of the history of Tsushima, which, as we've seen, has long been a gateway between the archipelago and the peninsula.  In the Edo period, there were numerous diplomatic missions from the Joseon dynasty to the Tokugawa shogunate, and these grand affairs are often touted in the history of Tsushima, with many locations specifically calling out the island's deep involvement in cross-strait relations.  Relations which, to really understand, we need to probably start with a look at the famous (or perhaps even infamous) Sou clan. The Sou clan became particularly influential in Tsushima in the 13th century.  The local officials, the Abiru clan, who had long been in charge of the island, were declared to be in rebellion against the Dazaifu, and so Koremune Shigehisa was sent to quell them.  In return, he was made Jito, or land steward, under the Shoni clan, who were the Shugo of Chikuzen and Hizen, including the island of Tsushima.  The Sou clan, descendents of the Koremune, ruled Tsushima ever since, first as vassals of the Shoni , but eventually they ran things outright. Thus, Sou Sukekuni was in charge when the Mongols invaded in 1274.  Despite having only 80 or so mounted warriors under his charge, he attempted to defend the island, dying in battle.  Nonetheless, when the Mongols retreated, the Sou family retained their position.  Later, they supported the Ashikaga in their bid to become shogun, and were eventually named the Shugo of Tsushima, a title they kept until the Meiji period. As we've mentioned, despite its size, Tsushima is not the most hospitable of locations.  It is mountainous, with many bays and inlets, making both cross-land travel and agriculture relatively difficult.  And thus the Sou clan came to rely on trade with the continent for their wealth and support.  Although, “trade” might be a bit negotiable. Remember how the early Japanese regularly raided the coast of the peninsula?  It was frequent enough that a term arose—the Wakou, the Japanese invaders, or Japanese pirates.  In fact, the term “wakou” became so synonymous with piracy that almost any pirate group could be labeled as “wakou”, whether Japanese or not.  Some of them that we know about were downright cosmopolitan, with very diverse crews from a variety of different cultures. Given its position, the rough terrain, and myriad bays that could easily hide ships and other such things, Tsushima made a great base for fishermen-slash-pirates to launch from.  Particularly in harsh times, desperate individuals from Tsushima and other islands might take their chances to go and raid the mainland.  In the early 15th century, the new Joseon dynasty had had enough.  They sent an expeditionary force to Tsushima to put an end to the wakou. The expedition came in 1419.  The year before, the head of the Sou clan, Sou Sadashige, had died.  His son, Sou Sadamori, took his place, but had not yet come of age, leaving actual power in the hands of Souda Saemontarou, leader of the Wakou pirates. Eventually the Joseon forces were defeated by the forces of Tsushima, including the wakou.  The Joseon court considered sending another punitive expedition, but it never materialized.  What did eventually happen, though, was, oddly, closer ties between the peninsula and Tsushima.  Sou Sadamori, who grew up in that tumultuous time, worked to repair relationships with the Joseon court, concluding a treaty that that allowed the Sou clan to basically monopolize trade with the Korean peninsula.  Treaty ports on the peninsula began to attract permanent settlements of Japanese merchants, and these “wakan”, or Japanese districts, came nominally under the jurisdiction of the Sou of Tsushima. The Sou clan maintained their place as the intermediaries with the Joseon state through the 16th century.  Messages sent from the Japanese court to Joseon would be sent to the Sou, who would deliver them to the Joseon court, and in turn handle all replies from the peninsula back to the Japanese mainland.  And this over time led them to develop some, shall we say, special techniques to make sure these exchanges were as fruitful as possible.  You see, the treaties with the Joseon court only allowed fifty ships a year from Tsushima to trade with the peninsula.  But since all of the documents flowed through the Sou, they had plenty of time to study the seals of both courts—those of the Joseon kingdom and those of Japan – and have fake seals created for their own ends.  In part through the use of these fake seals, the Sou clan were able to pretend their ships were coming from other people—real or fake—and thus get around the 50 ship per year limit.  They also used them in other ways to try and maintain their position between the two countries. All of this came to a head when the Taikou, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, began to dream of continental conquest.  Hideyoshi, at this point the undeniable ruler of all of Japan, had a bit of an ego—not exactly undeserved, mind you.  His letter to the Joseon king Seongjo, demanding submission, was quite inflammatory, and the Sou clan realized immediately that it would be taken as an insult.  Not only could it jeopardize relations with the continent, it could also jeopardize their own unique status.  Which is why they decided to modify it using what in modern computer hacker terms might be called a man-in-the-middle attack – which, with their fake seal game, they had plenty of experience with. The Sou were able to modify the language in each missive to make the language more acceptable to either side.  They also dragged their feet in the whole matter, delaying things for at least two years   But Hideyoshi's mind was set on conquest.  Specifically, he had ambitions of displacing the Ming dynasty itself, and he demanded that the Joseon court submit and allow the Japanese forces through to face the Ming dynasty.  The Joseon refused to grant his request, and eventually Hideyoshi had enough.  He threatened an invasion of Korea if the Joseon dynasty didn't capitulate to his requests. Throughout this process, the Sou attempted to smooth things over as best they could.  However, even they couldn't forge the words presented by a face-to-face envoy, nor could they put off Hideyoshi's anger forever.  And thus Tsushima became one of the launching off points for the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592 and again in 1597.  Tsushima, along with nearby Iki, would have various castles built to help supply the invading forces.  One such castle was the Shimizuyama-jo, overlooking the town of Izuhara.  Some of the walls and earthworks can still be seen up on the mountain overlooking the town, and  there are trails up from the site of Kaneishi castle, down below.  Both of these invasions ultimately failed, though not without a huge loss of life and destruction on the peninsula—a loss that is still felt, even today. The second and final invasion ended in 1598.  Both sides were exhausted and the Japanese were losing ground, but the true catalyst, unbeknownst to those on the continent, was the death of Hideyoshi.  The Council of Regents, a group of five daimyo appointed to rule until Hideyoshi's son, Hideyori, came of age kept Hideyoshi's death a secret to maintain morale until they could withdraw from the continent. With the war over, the Sou clan took the lead in peace negotiations with the Joseon court, partly in an attempt to reestablish their position and their trade.  In 1607, after Tokugawa had established himself and his family as the new shogunal line, the Sou continued to fake documents to the Joseon court, and then to fake documents right back to the newly established bakufu so that their previous forgeries wouldn't be uncovered.  This got them in a tight spot.  In the early 1600s, one Yanagawa Shigeoki had a grudge to settle with Sou Yoshinari, and so he went and told the Bakufu about the diplomatic forgeries that the Sou had committed, going back years.  Yoshinari was summoned to Edo, where he was made to answer the allegations by Shigeoki.  Sure enough, it was proven that the Sou had, indeed, been forging seals and letters, but after examination, Tokugawa Iemitsu, the third Tokugawa Shogun, decided that they had not caused any great harm—in fact, some of their meddling had actually helped, since they knew the diplomatic situation with the Joseon court better than just about anyone else, and they clearly were incentivized to see positive relations between Japan and Korea.  As such, despite the fact that he was right, Yanagawa Shigeoki was exiled, while the Sou clan was given a slap on the wrist and allowed to continue operating as the intermediaries with the Joseon court. There was one caveat, however:  The Sou clan would no longer be unsupervised.  Educated monks from the most prestigious Zen temples in Kyoto, accredited as experts in diplomacy, would be dispatched to Tsushima to oversee the creation of diplomatic documents and other such matters, bringing the Sou clan's forgeries to a halt. Despite that, the Sou clan continued to facilitate relations with the peninsula, including some twelve diplomatic missions from Korea: the Joseon Tsuushinshi.  The first was in 1607, to Tokugawa Hidetada, and these were lavish affairs, even more elaborate than the annual daimyo pilgrimages for the sankin-kotai, or alternate attendance at Edo.  The embassies brought almost 500 people, including acrobats and other forms of entertainment.  Combined with their foreign dress and styles, it was a real event for people whenever they went. Today, these Tsuushinshi are a big draw for Korean tourists, and just about anywhere you go—though especially around Izuhara town—you will find signs in Japanese, Korean, and English about locations specifically associated with these missions. And in years past, they've even reenacted some of the processions and ceremonies. Speaking of Izuhara, this was the castle town from which the Sou administered Tsushima.  Banshoin temple was the Sou family temple, and contains the graves of many members of the Sou family.  In 1528, the Sou built a fortified residence in front of Banshoin, and eventually that grew into the castle from which they ruled Tsushima.  Today, only the garden and some of the stone walls remain.  The yagura atop the main gate has been rebuilt, but mostly it is in ruins.  The Tsushima Museum sits on the site as well.  Nearby there is also a special museum specifically dedicated to the Tsuushinshi missions. Izuhara town itself is an interesting place.  Much of what you see harkens back to the Edo period.  Much like Edo itself, the densely packed wood and paper houses were a constant fire hazard, and there were several times where the entire town burned to the ground.  As such they began to institute firebreaks in the form of stone walls which were placed around the town to help prevent fire from too quickly spreading from one house to the next.  This is something that was instituted elsewhere, including Edo, but I've never seen so many extant firewalls before, and pretty soon after you start looking for them, you will see them everywhere. The area closest to the harbor was an area mostly for merchants and similar working class people, and even today this can be seen in some of the older buildings and property layouts.  There are also a fair number of izakaya and various other establishments in the area.  Further inland you can find the old samurai district, across from the Hachiman shrine.  The houses and the gates in that area are just a little bit nicer.  While many modern buildings have gone up in the town, you can still find traces of the older buildings back from the days of the Sou clan and the Korean envoys. Today, Izuhara is perhaps the largest town on Tsushima, but that isn't saying much—the population of the entire island is around 31,000 people, only slightly larger than that of nearby Iki, which is only about one fifth the size of Tsushuma in land area.  From Izuhara, you can catch a ferry to Iki or all the way to Hakata, in Fukuoka.  You can also always take a plane as well. Before leaving Tsushima, I'd like to mention one more thing—the leopard cat of Tsushima, the Yamaneko.  This has become something of a symbol in Tsushima, but unfortunately it is critically endangered, at least on the island itself.  It is all but gone from the southern part of Tsushima—human encroachment on its habitat has been part of the issue, but so has the introduction of domesticated cats.  The yamaneko itself is about the size of a typical housecat, and might be mistaken for one, though it has a very distinctive spotted appearance.  Domesticated cats have been shown to outcompete their wild cousins, while also passing on harmful diseases, which also affect the population.  Just about everywhere you go you'll see signs and evidence of this special cat. There is also a breeding program in the north if you want to see them for yourself. Even the small Tsushima Airport is named Yamaneko Airport, and the single baggage claim features a whole diorama of little plush leopard cats wearing traditional clothing and waving hello to new arrivals. If you like rugged coastlines, fascinating scenery, and the odd bit of history thrown in, might I suggest taking a look at Tsushima, the border island between Japan and Korea. We only had a few days, but it was a truly wonderful experience.  Next up we caught the ferry to Iki island, the site of the ancient Iki-koku, possibly represented by the Yayoi era Harunotsuji site.  Of all the places I've been so far, this is second only to Yoshinogari in the work and reconstruction they've done.  They've even discovered what they believe to be an ancient dock or boat launch.  But we'll cover that next week, as we continue on our self-guided Gishiwajinden tour. Until then, thank you for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website, SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to us at our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

After the assassination of Ii Naosuke, political violence became a new norm. The Shogunate was deeply troubled when a rebellion began in its own backyard of northern Kanto, in Mito Domain.Support the Show.

After the national humiliation and subsequent economic turmoil caused by opening Japan to more foreign trade, the Bakufu desperately tried to regain a position of national authority. This culminated in the Ansei Purge initiated by the chief elder Ii Naosuke. However, the shogunate's tough actions would bring significant unexpected consequences.Support the Show.

In 1853, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry from the United States of America forced Japan to become open to foreign trade. How did he succeed where so many others had failed?Support the Show.

Throughout the 1840s, various groups sought to find solutions to repeated violations of sakoku and questioned the ability of the shogunate to practically defend the country if there was an actual invasion. Many came to very different conclusions.Support the Show.

The Sakoku isolation policies were meant to keep the Japanese government insulated from dangerous foreign influence. However, its tendency toward restriction and xenophobia could not be easily balanced with the Bakufu's desire to continue governing the nation.Support the Show.

The forced isolation of the Edo Period was part of a larger strategy by the Bakufu to ensure the removal of any possible rivals. However, Japan greatly benefited from foreign import and foreign learning, in spite of the shogunate's insistence that the nation needed no such outside interference.Support the Show.

The reigns of shoguns Tokugawa Ieshige and Tokugawa Ieharu caused further weakness in the Bakufu at a critical time. Rampant corruption was encouraged by one chief of the Roju named Tanuma Okitsugu. The Great Tenmei Famine, however, would bring all of his schemes crashing down.Support the show

After the brief reigns of Tokugawa Ienobu and his young son Ietsugu, the Bakufu selected a new shogun from the Kii Branch of the Tokugawa Clan. Tokugawa Yoshimune inherited a national government in the midst of multiple crises and introduced the Kyoho Reforms to try and set the ship of state back on its proper course.Support the show

The Early Edo Period was a time of newfound stability for the formerly chaotic Japanese archipelago. Although the samurai were the official ruling class of the nation, however, in many ways they were not the principle beneficiaries of the new national status quo.Support the show

The tenure of Tokugawa Tsunayoshi was marked by a fervent support of Neo-Confucian reforms, some of which were extremely radical and some of which were downright wacky. It was during his reign that the events surrounding the tale of the forty-seven ronin occurred.Support the show

The reign of Tokugawa Iemitsu proved to be a stabilizing force in Japanese politics, as he defined the duties of the various office-holders throughout the Bakufu which helped make the Edo Shogunate the longest-lasting samurai government in Japanese history.Support the show

The reign of Tokugawa Iemitsu was marked by a general trend toward increasing the shogunate's power through self-perpetuating bureaucracy. His son Ietsuna's reign would prove to be a test of the Bakufu's machinery.Support the show

As the Bakufu continued to persecute Christianity, and certain daimyo continued taxing their subjects at punitive rates, a rebellion broke out in Kyushu in 1637 which would prove to be the end of any remaining tolerance the Shogunate had for foreign elements in Japan.Support the show

Shortly after the foundation of the new shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu gradually makes his fortified city Edo into the new unofficial political capital of Japan. He needed to proceed carefully, however, to avoid offending the powerful daimyo who still supported young Toyotomi Hideyori.Support the show

The continuing adventures of the ambitious Miyoshi Clan leaders led to a series of destructive conflicts throughout Kansai that eventually left the remnant of the Bakufu wholly dependent upon powerful daimyo to prop up their withering government.Support the show

Choshu rebels attack foreign ships and suffer the consequences. Choshu and Satsuma reach a secret alliance. The Bakufu plans a punitive expedition against Choshu but is out-maneuvered. The sudden death of the Emperor and a coup in the Imperial Court leads to Choshu receiving an amnesty. Choshu and Satsuma use the Imperial Pennants to defeat the Bakufu. The Tokugawa era ends in Japan with the final shoguns of Japan. The Meiji Restoration ends 265 years of Tokugawa rule in Japan.Image: "DSC21873, Honmaru Palace, Nijo Castle, Kyoto, Japan" by jimg944 is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Tokugawa shogunate in Japan prohibited ocean going vessels or travel between Japan and most countries. Japan rejected offers to commence trade with the West. Commodore Perry forced a first treaty on a reluctant Japan. The Samurai and country wanted to resist, but instead Japan began to open up and build a navy and build up a more western military. American desires for a new trade treaty uncover fractures among the Bakufu and with the Imperial Court.Image: "Samurai" by Tekniska museet is licensed under CC BY 2.0. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The capital had been utterly destroyed by the Onin War and when the conflict ended, it was time to rebuild. The Bakufu needed to rebuild its image and Shogun Ashikaga Yoshihisa saw an opportunity in neighboring Omi Province, where a Daimyo of the Rokkaku had been seizing lands without permission.Support the show

In this episode of our series on the Meiji Restoration, imperial loyalists embark on their plan to restore the political authority of the Emperor, resulting in the outbreak of armed conflict between Shogunate and Imperial forces at the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. Email me Follow me on Twitter Like the show on Facebook Watch the show on YouTube Visit the eBay store Support the show on Patreon Works Cited: Beasley, W. G. The Meiji Restoration. Stanford University Press, 2019. Keene, Donald. Emperor of Japan: Meiji and His World 1852-1912. Columbia University Press, 2002. Hillsborough, Romulus. Samurai Revolution: the Dawn of Modern Japan through the Eyes of the Shogun's Last Samurai. Tuttle Publishing, 2018. Jansen, Marius B. The Making of Modern Japan. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000. Ravina, Mark. The Last Samurai: The Life and Battles of Saigo Takamori. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011.  Sansom, George. A History of Japan 1615-1867 Stanford University Press, 1998

Ashikaga Yoshimitsu retires... or does he? The Ouchi clan seizes its moment but faces off against the Shogun's private army - the Hokoshu. We also explore the differences and similarities between the Muromachi Bakufu and the Kamakura Shogunate.Support the show

The reign of Ashikaga Yoshimitsu was remarkable for many reasons, including the conclusion of the Nanboku-cho period. As the Southern Court finally capitulates, however, they soon learn that the Bakufu has no intention of enforcing their end of the peace treaty.Support the show

Within a decade, Heian-kyo would undergo multiple possessions by both the Northern and Southern Court. As Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is installed as the third Shogun, his regent Hosokawa Yoriyuki solidifies the Bakufu's status as a legitimate funcitoning government.Support the show

The Southern Court attempts to mount a nationwide uprising against the Ashikaga Shogunate, sending their agents to Tohoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu as the Bakufu struggles with internal dissention and rivalries.Support the show

El día de hoy tenemos otra clase de historia. En este episodio la Dra. Lisander y Edo Sensei nos hablarán sobre la llegada del Comodoro Perry a Japón y cómo afectó al país asiático. Poco a poco entenderemos la ideología que llevó a Estados Unidos a abrirse paso en Japón y analizaremos si este hecho llevó a la caída del Bakufu. Tomen asiento que la clase va a empezar #japón #estadosunidos #perry

The Taiheiki tells the story of the fall of the Kamakura Bakufu in an exciting, dramatized fashion. Enjoy these selections!Support the show

In spite of Emperor Go-Daigo's exile, his partisans continued fighting in Yamato and Kawachi Provinces. Through a series of surprising reversals, the Kamakura Bakufu would soon find itself on the defensive side of this war.Support the show

Although Emperor Go-Daigo's loyalists suffered a terrible setback when he was exiled, they continued fighting against the Bakufu, whose ability to prosecute this war was hindered by corruption and incompetence.Support the show

As the squabble over imperial succession heated up, the Kamakura Shogunate failed to contain the rebellious elements in Kansai and Chugoku who now plotted freely against them.Support the show

Fearing a third invasion from the Yuan Dynasty, the Bakufu continued to pour resources into fortifications and standing guards while the veterans from the first two invasions became increasingly dissatisfied with their rewards.Support the show

The Kamakura Period saw the founding of many new Buddhist schools throughout Japan, including exclusively Pure Land sects as well as Zen. The traditional schools, however, often collaborated with the court or the Bakufu to suppress these teachings and their leaders.Support the show

After Hojo Yasutoki's death, his sons Tsunetoki and Toriyoki would build upon his legacy and even outdo their father if they hoped to preserve the Hojo Regency.Support the show

A month after Emperor Chukyo was enthroned, Retired Emperor Go-Toba decided that the time was right for a reckoning against Kamakura. The Shogunate would have to fight for its survival in the Jōkyū War.Support the show

The Bakufu enjoyed a relatively stable period in the early 1200s thanks largely to the  joint leadership of Hojo Masako and her brother Yoshitoki. Masako earned such a reputation for power brokering that she was given the nickname "Ama Shogun," which means "The Nun Shogun."Support the show

In the wake of Minamoto Yoritomo's death, the Bakufu appointed his son Yoriie as the new Shogun under the watchful eye of the regent Hojo Tokimasa. However, the oldest son of Yoritomo had ideas of his own about how the nation ought to be governed and whom should do the governing.Support the show

After the Gempei War, Minamoto Yoritomo moved toward creating a permanent parallel government in Kamakura. Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, however, continued to interfere until eventually brother was pitted against brother.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/AHistoryOfJapan)

こんにちは。 ジェニのピカピカ日本語へようこそ。 The Winter Olympics have started. What events are you paying attention to? I hope that all the athletes who have been working hard for this day will be able to show the results of their daily efforts to the fullest. Today, I would like to introduce you to Japan's National Foundation Day. Many countries around the world have their own national day to celebrate, but in the case of Japan, the date of its founding is not clear. Therefore, the Meiji government 明治政府 decided to make February 11, the accession day of Emperor Jinmu 神武天皇, the first emperor according to the Kojiki古事記 and Nihonshoki日本書紀, a national holiday as the equivalent day of Emperor Jinmu's accession to the throne, and designated it as Kigen-setsu紀元節. However, it was removed by the U.S. military after World War II. In 1966, it was added to the list of national holidays, and from February 11, 1967, it was designated as "National Foundation Day 建国記念の日” as a day to commemorate the founding of the nation. Thank you for listening to Jeny No Pika Pika Nihongo today. Please follow me. And look forward to our Japanese learning package. Have a great day! 冬のオリンピックが始まりましたね。 あなたはどんな競技に注目していますか？ この日を目指して頑張ってきたアスリートの皆さんは、日頃の成果を存分に発揮して欲しいですね。 さて、今日は日本の建国記念の日についてご紹介いたします。 世界の多くの国で建国記念の日を定めお祝いいたしますが、日本の場合建国の日が明確ではありません。 そこで明治政府は古事記や日本書紀で初代天皇とされる神武天皇の即位日2月11日を神武天皇即位の相当日として祝日にし、紀元節と定められましたが、第二次世界大戦後に米軍により削除されました。 それが1966年に国民の祝日に加えられ、1967年2月11日から建国をしのぶ日として「建国記念の日」が定められました。 神武天皇 Jinmu Tennnou 紀元節 Kigensetsu 天皇 Tennozu 将軍 Shogun 幕府 Bakufu 今日もジェニのピカピカ日本語を聞いていただきありがとうございました。 ぜひ、フォローしてくださいね。 そして、日本語学習パッケージをお楽しみに。 では良い一日をお過ごしください。

Up to this point for The Unfinished Print, the primary goal has been to share the lives and works of mokuhanga creatives, for those who want to understand how contemporary Japanese woodblock prints are made. While understanding contemporary mokuhanga is important I believe that one must also search the past histories of mokuhanga. History, how prints were made, sourced and produced in Japan will, I believe, help the contemporary mokuhanga artist understand their craft all the more.  In this episode of The Unfinished Print I speak to Maureen de Vries, co-curator of the Nihon no Hanga gallery in Amsterdam. A small boutique gallery which is the vision of Elise Wessels, a collector who's passion for the Japanese print led her to create a place for people to see and be educated on mokuhanga.  Maureen and I speak on multiple ideas and concepts about modern Japanese prints, post Meiji Period (1868-1912), such as how these prints were viewed in Japanese and Western society. We do this via Nihon no Hanga's exhibitions. We try to understand the ideas and concepts behind the production of woodblock prints in that era. We also speak esoterically about what it means to produce prints from history, what is considered an “original” print, as well as how people from the past and today view post-Meiji mokuhanga. I certainly hope when you listen to this episode you will be inspired to friendly debate, and realize that there can be a lot more involved when trying to understand mokuhanga.  Please follow The Unfinished Print and my own print work on Instagram @popular_wheatprints, Twitter @unfinishedprint, or email me at theunfinishedprint@gmail.com Notes: notes may contain a hyperlink. Simply click on the highlighted word or phrase. Nihon no Hanga - website  Itō Shinsui (1898-1972) - Nihon-ga, and woodblock print artist and designer who worked for print publisher Watanabe Shōzaburō (1885-1962). Shinsui designed some of our most famous shin hanga, or “new” prints of the early 20th century. One of my favorites is “Fragrance of a Bath” 1930. Hashiguchi Goyō (1880-1921) - a woodblock print designer who also worked, albeit shortly, with Shōzaburō. In his short life Goyō designed some of the most iconic woodblock prints ever made. “Kamisuki” 1920, and “Woman Applying Powder” 1918.  shin hanga/sōsaku hanga - on the surface shin hanga, the new print movement that began with Watanabe Shōzaburō and sōsaku hanga started by Kanae Yamamoto (1882-1946) couldn't be more different. Whereas the shin hanga movement harked back to an idillic time  of ukiyo-e, sōsaku hanga looked to folk traditions and a more rustic aesthetic. Both can be considered “new” prints in my estimation as both began to present their products to a general population at a time when mokuhanga was on the decline. Kondō Kōichiro (1884-1962) - a painter who produced a small amount of woodblock prints. Produced a series of printed called Senryu Manga dedicated to the poetry of Kenkabo Inoue (1870-1934). For more info and to see his work check out the Artelino page. Koizumi Kishio (1893-1945) - from Shizuoka, Kishio was a sōsaku print artist. Although his work, such as “Girl Before a Mirror,” 1933, shows the aesthetic of shin hanga in my opinion, so talented was he. For more information, Scholten Japanese Art has a great write up on him with an image of the above print. Nihon no Hanga has a wonderful array of catalogues for sale on their website, here.  They are incredibly well done and very accessible scholastically. Every exhibit spoken about by Maureen in this episode can be found on their website. Junichirō Seki (1914-1988) - an accomplished sōsaku hanga printmaker , Seki travelled the world and his work was published in Oliver Statler's groundbreaking work “Modern Japanese Prints,” 1956. For more info on Seki and a visual of his works Artelino does a great job, here. Onchi Kōshirō (1891-1955) - arguably one of the most important sōsaku hanga printmakers. Coming from an aristocratic family he had an oil painter background. He designed books for money as he was making his prints. His “First Thursday Society” began in 1939, is what helped printmakers make their prints away from censorship by the military fascist government in Japan at the time. For more info regarding Onchi click here, here, and here Rijks Museum - the national museum of the Netherlands. Opened originally im 1800 the museum has moved several times, finally resting at its current location in 1885. The museum holds masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and others. The New Wave: Twentieth Century Prints of the Robert O Mueller Collection  -  was a book published by Bamboo Publishing in 1993. It is long out of print and very expensive. Emil Orlick (1870-1932) - was a Prague born artist who also worked in the medium of woodblock. He travelled expensively throughout the world, especially to Japan. His woodblock prints are of portraits landscapes and of people. For more information orlickprints.com is a good start.  Doi Hanga and Mokuhankan - the collaboration between the Doi Hanga print company and David Bull's Mokuhankan began in 2016. Videos can be found here regarding how the collaboration began and where it's at. You can purchase the Doi Hanga collaborations here. Wada Sanzō (1883-1967) - an oil painter who at a young age would cover the Japanese colonial experiment through his paintings in the 1930's. Sanzō began to be interested in woodblock prints when supervising his artist friend's , Ōno Bakufu (1888-1976), project. Sanzō's designs would become popular throughout the 1930's and 1940's as they showed the everyday of life, focusing on professions and occupations of the Japanese people of the time. His works straddles wartime propaganda and post war Japanese cultural idealism which makes Nihon no Hanga's 2021 show about Sanzō “Memories of Shōwa,” so interesting. oban - Japanese woodblock print's come in various sizes. "Oban" is considered 10x15 inches. Artelino has a great guide on print sizes here. opening and closing credit background music:  “Changes” by Charles Bradley, 2016. It's a cover of Black Sabbath's “Changes,” from their Vol.4 album, 1972.  © Popular Wheat Productions Disclaimer: Please do not reproduce or use anything from this podcast without shooting me an email and getting my express written or verbal consent. I'm friendly :) The opinions expressed in The Unfinished Print podcast are not necessarily those of Andre Zadorozny and of Popular Wheat Productions.                  

Today we continue our journey through the story of the Japanese islandsThere are several specific topics that I would like to take a deeper dive into but I want to make sure that we have some basic ground covered before we get too deep into it.Throughout these 13 episodes, We will cover the entire span of Japanese history, from the early hunter-gatherers of the Jomon to the Newest Era, Reiwa. This will introduce the general outline of Japanese  history for those who are not familiar and will begin to contextualize famous events and people Music Credits: Opening: The Wind by Komiku Closing: Escaping_like_Indiana_Jones by Komiku

Most popular discussions of the Mongol invasions of Japan simply end with the typhoon of 1281 wiping out the Yuan fleet off the coast of Kyushu. This was not the end of Kublai Khan’s dreams to conquer Japan though, nor do such retellings present the long term consequences of the invasion. Today, we will do just that, describing what happened in the years after the events of the new video game, Ghost of Tsushima. Our previous two episodes have discussed the first invasion in 1274, the story of Takezaki Suenaga, a samurai who fought in both invasions, and went over in brief the invasion of 1281. If you’re following Kings and Generals on Youtube, then you’ve also seen one of our newest videos, focusing on the battles on Tsushima and Iki islands. Now, we’re going to tie together everything we’ve talked about, and how this huge expenditure of men and resources affected both Japan, and Kublai Khan’s Yuan Empire. I’m your host David, but just before we get to today's content, we here at Ages of Conquest would like to say thank you to you, our listeners who download the podcast every week. Your support is greatly appreciated and the reason we do this. You could help us even more by donating through our patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals or by leaving a five star review in your podcast app of choice! And now, this is,Ages of Conquest.   We’ll start off with the impact on Japan and then go into the consequences for Kublai later on in the episode. In Japan, the impact was significant but not immediate. In the days after the typhoon in August 1281, the Japanese killed the Mongol and Korean survivors they found. The Chinese were spared the sword, instead enslaved with few returning. Though a victory, the Japanese government, the shogunate ruling from Kamakura city, was wary. It was impossible for them to judge the full might of the Yuan, and Mongol envoys continued to arrive over the next few years demanding Japanese submission. In preparation for a third invasion, defences continued to be manned, the long sea wall built around Hakata Bay maintained, and garrisons stationed for the next 50 years. The Bakufu -the Japanese term for the shogunate- again considered launching an attack against Korea, the departing point for Mongol fleets in both invasions. Korean naval experience and ships were an important part of Mongol naval capabilities. It’s difficult to gauge how far these talks actually went, but they never materialized into anything concrete. The shikken, Japan’s de facto ruler, Hojo Tokimune, kept Japan on a war footing, a process which consolidated the power of the Bakufu, especially on Kyushu island where the fighting had happened.    This was valuable, due to the rather… wonky nature of Japanese government. The shikken was officially regent for the shogun, who was ruling in the name of the emperor, who still had his own court, but the actual power in the court was the peculiar Japanese position of the retired emperor, or emperor emeritus. Sometimes called ‘cloistered rule,’ an emperor would retire after a short reign, and then allow a son to become emperor, who dealt with court protocol and ceremony while the retired emperor made the actual decisions. During this period, the shogun was also the grandson of the late emperor Go-Daigo. Of course, this isn’t mentioning the layers of regional and local lords and vassals the government worked through. Officially the shikken could only boss around vassals of the shogun, and was in theory only in charge of military matters. The crisis brought on by the Mongol threat was a great opportunity to expand the power of the bakufu, placing allies and members of the Hojo clan into prominent military governor positions, bringing these into the direct hold of the bakufu. The only troops the bakufu could raise were the gokenin, or‘housemen,’ the vassals of the shogun. But in the danger of the oncoming second invasion, non-gokenin forces in western Japan were mobilized, making the precedent for increased military reach of the bakufu.    In 1281 Hojo Tokimune was still young with foresight and great energy, and intended to further strengthen his family’s hold on Japan. What more would he get away with using the justification of another Mongol attack! The position of the shogun and the emperor were totally compliant to Tokimune, and factions within his own clan were kept tightly in check. What might have been, had Tokimune not suddenly died in April 1284, only 34 years old. He was succeeded by his son, Hojo Sadatoki, too young to rule in earnest. The young Sadatoki was dominated by two advisors, Adachi Yasumori and Taira Yoristuna. The two had been at odds for years, but Tokimune had kept the peace. Without his presence, their cooperation could only be temporary. In late 1285, Taira Yoristuna and his faction suddenly attacked and killed Adachi Yasumori, leaving Yoristuna to control the young Sadatoki. From 1285 until 1293, Japan was ruled by the regent of the regent acting for the shogun acting for the emperor, who was also sidelined by the retired emperor.    The murder of Adachi Yasumori sent shockwaves across the bakufu. A popular man who had been energetic in promoting judicial reforms, his death prompted murders and suicides of Adachi loyalists and family, as well as armed revolts in Kyushu. The loss of many prominent officers was a first blow to the bakufu’s governing ability. Taira Yoritsuna also had to deal with the growing discontent of the samurai clamouring for rewards after the 1281 invasion. As we discussed in our previous episode, it was the custom for samurai to be rewarded for bravery in battle, generally with land confiscated from the defeated enemy. After the Genpei War, which saw the rise of the Shogunate in the 1190s, a whole class of land owning samurai was created, the gokenin, rewarding loyal samurai who fought for the Minamoto clan with inhabited lands. They’d collect the revenues, send part to the shogun and use the remainder to support themselves; the lands could then be inherited by their children. By the 1280s, these lands had been parcelled up and divided, and then divided again, leaving many of the gokenin facing destitution. Enough gokenin were forced to sell or pawn their lands that by the late 1260s the bakufu was issuing laws forbidding this and ordering lands to be returned. For many, the rewards they expected to receive from fighting the Mongols was the difference between maintaining the status quo and impoverishment. The Kamakura Bakufu proved slow to doll out the rewards: under Taira Yoristuna, the rewards largely went to important Hojo and Bakufu supporters, leaving out the poorer gokenin who actually needed it. A large group of well armed men with little stake in the status quo was gradually being formed.   In 1293, the shikken Hojo Sadatoki had Taira Yoristuna and his supporters assassinated, ushering in an era of attempted centralization. Sadatoki was only 24 years old in 1293 and wanted to consolidate the power of the bakufu like his father, largely through force and largely unsuccessfully. He struggled to reduce factionalism within the bakufu, and tried to employ the gokenin in suppressing bandity and piracy. Too late was it realized that in many cases the bandits were the gokenin, and such suppression efforts proved futile. All while dealing with the expenditure of continuing to prepare for a Mongol return. When Sadatoki died in 1311, he was remembered as a tired politician who had decreed innumerable death sentences. Sadatoki was succeeded by a nine year old son, Takatoki, dominated by his advisers. Largely ignoring political matters, even when he came of age he was unable, and unwilling, to exert a redirection on the ailing Bakufu.   Takatoki was a poor figure to match another growing threat facing the bakufu.  Back in 1221 the retired emperor Go-Toba attempted to throw off the rule of the Hojo, only to be quickly defeated and Hojo rule secured. In the aftermath, the Hojo asserted greater power over the emperors, including the mandate to decide the imperial succession as needed, though generally left this to the retired emperor. Since the 11th century, the retired emperors held authority and influence over the sitting emperors, just to add that extra layer of confusion to medieval Japanese politics. The Bakufu had a particularly good relationship with the emperor Go-Saga, who reigned as Japan’s 88th emperor, ruling from 1242 to 1246 but acting as retired emperor until his death in 1272. Go-Saga’s son Prince Munetaka became Shogun in 1251, his next son was the 89th Emperor, Gofukakusa and a third son was the 90th emperor, Kameyama, reigning until his retirement in 1274. Go-Saga had never declared whether Gofukakusa or Kameyama would control the succession, anticipating that the Bakufu would simply decide. In theory Gofukakusa, as the senior retired-emperor on Go-Saga’s death in 1272, had control over the succession. The Bakufu sought the opinion of Go-Saga’s widow, who told them to instead choose Kameyama. For the first time in 200 years the sitting emperor, Kameyama, was dominant over the retired emperor, Gofukakusa. It was a step towards the empowerment of the emperors which led to the downfall of the Bakufu.    A consequence of this was both Gofukakusa and Kameyama each thought his own children should sit on the Chrysanthemum Throne. When Kameyama retired in 1274 he declared his son to succeed him as the 91st Emperor, Go-Uda. When it was apparent that Gofukakusa was angry at this, the Bakufu made an unusual decision: they declared that the throne would alternate between the two lines, with Go-Uda to make his heir Gofukakusa’s son, the future 92nd Emperor, Fushimi.  The motive isn’t exactly clear: historian Ishii Susuma has suggested this was a means of control. Facing the threat of the Mongol invasion, the first in 1274 and a second sure to follow, the Bakufu may have believed tightly controlling the imperial succession was another way to secure their power in the crisis of the Mongol threat. Whatever the case, the Bakufu now interfered with the succession at will, demanding the resignation of an emperor whenever rumour reached them of anti-Bakufu sentiment. By the early 1300s the alternating succession was formalized, and the antagonism between the lines of Gofukakusa and Kameyama institutionalized. By the time the two brothers died in 1304 and 1305, the competition between their families had gone on for some 30 years. By 1318 the Bakufu enforced further guidelines, limiting each emperor to a maximum ten year reign and forbidding the offspring of the new monarch, the 96th emperor Go-Daigo, a grandson of Kameyama, from ever taking the throne. For Go-Daigo, who dreamed of overthrowing the shogunate, this was infuriating.    Luckily for Go-Daigo the time was ripe to topple the Kamakura Bakufu. The current shogun was Go-Daigo’s cousin, a grandson of Gofukakusa and an absolute non-entity. The shikken until 1326 was the distracted Takatoki, who retired that year and brought further crisis to the leadership of the bakufu. His successor resigned after only a month, due to an assassination attempt by Takatoki’s mother, who then installed Takatoki’s brother as the final shikken of the Kamakura Bakufu, Hojo Moritoki. The political leadership of the shogunate was hamstrung.  The unrest among the gokenin and earlier banditry turned into rebellion, small armies emerging across Japan challenging the shogunate’s rule. Go-Daigo shopped for allies and didn’t have far to look. In 1333 Go-Daigo’s star general, the masterful tactician Kusunoki Misahige, defeated a Bakufu army. With their military might broken, or at least the longstanding belief in it, the key underpinning of Bakufu rule was removed. Bakufu commanders such as Ashikaga Takauji and Nitta Yoshisada joined the imperial cause.Yoshisada attacked the Bakufu’s capital of Kamakura. The leadership of the Hojo committed suicide and the Shogunate was dismantled. The Emperor was now back in real power for the first time in generations… for about three years.   The aforementioned Ashikaga Takauji hadn’t fought for the restoration of imperial power, but rather, to make himself shogun: essentially, replace the Kamakura Bakufu with one led by his own family. Emperor Go-Daigo’s failure to reward his new military supporters with confiscated Kamakura lands alienated his fragile base of support.  In 1335 some Hojo survivors briefly recaptured Kamakura, and this was the spark for Ashikaga Takauji’s own putsch. Retaking the city, Takauji acted as shogun, ordering lands of his political foes confiscated and redistributed. In 1336 Takauji marched on the imperial capital of Kyoto. Go-Daigo fled before him and when Takauji set up a puppet emperor in Kyoto from the line of Gofukakusa, Go-Daigo set up a rival court in the mountains south the city. So began the 60 year period in Japanese history known as the Northern and Southern Courts, with the Northern Court, based in Kyoto, puppets to legitimize the Ashikaga Shogunate, and a southern court officially challenging them. Not until 1392 was this settled and the long running conflict between the lines of Gofukakusa and Kameyama brought to an end. The Ashikaga Shogunate nominally ruled Japan until 1588, but never matched the strength of the Kamakura Bakufu. Though the Ashikaga Shoguns held high pretensions- the third Shogun called himself the King of Japan in official correspondence- over the 15th century their hold weakened precipitously, and by the 1490s Japan’s famous Sengoku Jidai period began, the warring states period which eventually yielded to the control of the Tokugawa Shoguns.   The Mongol invasion on Japan undermined the Kamakura Bakufu, both causing and compounding fractures within the shogunate. Other than this, the impact of the invasion was much more limited, and not until recently was it seen as a ‘national’ event for the Japanese. On Kyushu, where the fighting had been and home of most of the actual defenders, the Mongol invasion held a high place in memory, shaping the identity of many warrior families. The island’s administration and judicial system were greatly affected, both by increasing Bakufu control and decades of preparing for Mongol returns. For the majority of Japanese though, other than the government shifts and conflicts, they saw little influence of the invasion on their lives. Claims that it prompted a shift in Japanese perceptions of the “foreign” have little basis in the 13th or 14th centuries. Samurai like Takezaki Suenaga saw it as just another battle for which to claim reward, rather than a national emergency: his own account simply calls the Mongols ‘pirates,’ or ‘rebels.’ The invasion did not prompt a national consciousness for Japan. Outside of Kyushu, after the 13th century wider Japanese interest in the invasions did not pick up until Takezaki Suenaga’s scrolls depicting the invasion began to be copied and distributed at the end of 1700s. Since the Samurai no longer had an actual military role by then, they were eager to celebrate the heroic combat of their ancestors -not because of victory over foreigners or civil wars, but that they had done brave deeds.   If the slow distribution of the scrolls promoted knowledge of the invasions, it was the forced opening of Japan and interaction with western imperial pressure in the mid-1800s in which, retroactively, the Mongol invasions became the “first round” of ‘Japan vs the world.’ The Mongol invasion was a popular medium to depict the Americans and Europeans as invaders coming to Japan.  The last of the Tokugawa Shoguns was ousted in 1868, and the 122nd emperor, Meiji, was the first to hold real power since the defeat of Go-Daigo some 500 years prior. Under Meiji, a national historiography was promoted to catch on to this new-fangled European idea of ‘nation-states.’ The Mongol Invasions were especially prominent in the new history textbooks, appearing on the currency and in popular art. With the boom in Japanese nationalism at the turn of the century and military victories over China and the Russian Empire, the Japanese government made the Mongol invasion a useful propaganda tool, presenting Japan as a divinely protected, and superior, nation to its foes. It’s roughly this time that the term kamikaze specifically came to be associated with the storms which marked the end of both invasion attempts. As we mentioned in previous episodes, the 13th and 14th century Japanese sources make little mention of the storms; divine support was seen in the fact that the Japanese won, rather than a specific manifestation via the storms. In the late 19th century, as both knowledge and popularity of the invasions grew, the storms became the sign of Japan’s divine favour, an idea which is now irrevocably tied to the invasions. The connotations of divine rescue in Japan’s hour of need reached their ultimate evolution with the kamikaze pilots of 1944, a last ditch effort to slow the American approach on the Japanese home islands.   The consequences of the invasion on the Mongol Empire were not as significant. Kublai Khan’s immediate reaction to the defeat in August 1281 was to demand a third invasion. Envoys were again sent to Japan demanding its submission, and orders were sent across his realm for ships and rice for another attack. Only by 1286 were Kublai’s advisers able to dissuade him against another attack.  Thought for invading Japan did not totally go away though: in 1280, the “Mobile Bureau for the Subjugation of Japan,” was established in Korea which was officially to prepare for further incursions. Dissolved and reformed several times, it became the highest arm of Mongol authority in Korea until the end of Yuan rule in the late 14th century.    We will explore Kublai’s career in greater detail in future episodes, but by the mid-1280s his most trusted advisers, his chief and most beloved wife and his favourite son and heir were dead. Losing the only voices that could rein Kublai in, he became depressed, seeking solace in food and alcohol, suffering from gout and obesity. Japan was not his only failed foreign venture; he also ordered inconclusive invasions against Vietnam, Burma, Java and fought rebellions in Central Asia, Mongolia, Manchuria and Tibet. Having lost direct rule over the rest of the empire, the destruction of the fleets against Japan must have felt to Kublai like a failure to complete the Mongol conquest of the world. The defeats only deepened the morose of Kublai’s final years, but the invasion of Japan did not singularly cause this.    More immediate effects were economic. The expenditure of men, ships and resources against Japan, and other overseas ventures, were enormous for no gain. To try to make up the difference, Kublai demanded his finance ministers bring in ever greater tribute and taxation. In Chinese sources, these men are called the “three Villainous Ministers,” or some variation thereof- Ahmad Fanakati, Lu Shirong and Sangha, who, in their attempts to meet the demands  of the aging Khan, with some personal enrichment along the way, were accused of heinous crimes and greed, from stealing women to looting tombs of the Song Emperors. While some accusations are likely exaggerations, the impression gained by the Chinese was one of mistreatment, and undid much of the goodwill Kublai earned from his other reconstruction efforts. The 1280s up until Kublai’s death at the start of 1294 saw mismanagement and corruption set in which Kublai’s less able successors never shook off. The attacks did not end Japanese trade with China; it continued after Kublai’s death, but with increasing restriction and regulation ordered by the Yuan government. To protect themselves, Japanese ships coming to China came with armed men, which gave way easily to piracy. Hence, wako pirates once again threatened the Korean and Chinese coastlines from the 14th century on.   To the Chinese and Mongols, they were left with an impression of the Japanese as tough warriors, but at that time little else was learned of them. Marco Polo, who arrived in China after the first invasion, provides the first European mention of Japan -Zipangu, he calls it- and a garbled version of the invasion. Describing the Japanese as incredibly wealthy, he describes the storm sinking the fleet, but with the addition that shipwrecked survivors were able to sneak into the Japanese capital city and take it, a paltry attempt to preserve the image of Mongol invincibility. It is from Polo’s account that Japan would first appear on European maps, some 200 years before Europeans first physically set foot on Japan in the 1540s.    Our final note is a brief one;  The sword used by the samurai at the time of the Mongol invasion was the tachi, a long, single-edged blade with a pronounced curvature.  It seems to some extent the Japanese found the swords ill suited to the task, that the sword was deemed too fragile against either the Mongol armours, particularly full iron lamellar, or Mongol and Chinese swords which were shorter, thicker and sturdier made than the Japanese equivalents. As the Japanese did not use shields, attempts to block sword blows with the tachi may have resulted in significant chipping of the blade. According to the theory this spawned a need to redesign the tachi, making it stronger, shorter and somewhat straighter. The centralization of the Kamakura Bakufu and large mobilization of warriors resulted in hundreds, if not thousands, of men making the trips across Japan and to the capital and beyond. This provided a means to pass on technical knowledge of changing sword designs, and by the late 14th century spawned the emergence of a new weapon for the samurai: the katana. In that respect at least, the expansion of the Mongol Empire was an irregular road to providing a classic weapon for thousands of anime characters. Such is the nature of history!   This ends our series on Mongol Invasions of Japan; hopefully you’ve listened to this, the previous episodes and our newest video while you’ve been playing Ghost of Tsushima, and perhaps learned something along the way. Our next episode will go back to our regular series, picking up with the western expansion of Hulegu against the ‘Abbasid Caliph in the 1250s. If you’d like to help us continue bringing you great content, consider supporting us on patreon at www.patreon/kingsandgenerals. I’m your host David, and we’ll catch you on the next one.

For most who experienced the Mongol invasions first hand, it was a sight of untold horror, an unstoppable enemy bringing fire and ruin. For Takezaki Suenaga, a samurai who fought against the Mongols in both of their failed invasions of Japan, it was a chance for the highest glory, and none could restrain him from taking the field against them. For the second episode in our Ghost of Tsushima -themed week, we present the story of a historical samurai who fought the Mongols, one who provided us with a set of illustrated scrolls which described his exploits. Today, we’re going to go through the account of Takezaki Suenaga, a rare opportunity to see how one man experienced the Mongol invasions first hand. Perhaps you’ll be able to compare his experiences with those of the player character, Jin, in Ghost of Tsushima. I’m your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.       Very little is known of Takezaki Suenaga prior to the invasions. He was a gokenin, a ‘houseman,’ a minor samurai from Higo province of Kyushu island, the southernmost of the main five of the Japanese home islands. He was part of the Takezaki clan, owned lands, could provide himself a horse, armour and bring 5 retainers to battle- about average for warriors from Kyushu, but slightly more than what the common samurai of Honshu, the largest Japanese island, could muster. 29 years old on the eve of the first Mongol invasion in 1274, Suenaga was known to have been involved in a land dispute which had put his personal finances in great jeopardy. Beyond such broad strokes, his early life is lost to us.   Higo Province, located in western Kyushu, was comparatively close to the strategic  Hakata Bay, the large, natural harbour which any invasion fleet departing southern Korea would certainly strike for. Suenaga, living in Higo Province, was probably put on warning from 1268 onwards, when the Japanese government, the Kamakura Bakufu, began to prepare for a possible Mongol invasion. The details of this buildup of tension between Japan and Kublai Khan was explained in our previous episode, and we won’t reiterate that here. The Mongol invasion fleet departed Korea early in November 1274, swiftly taking the islands of Tsushima and Iki. As the fleet neared Hakata Bay, the warriors of Kyushu were mobilized, Suenaga among them.  In theory, the warrior would fight together with families of shared lineage, but were under no obligation to do so. Suenaga was part of the Takezaki clan, but operated nearly totally independently of them. By the time he and his men, all on horseback, arrived near the area of Hakata Bay, the Mongols had already broken through the defensive line. Suenaga had trained since childhood in archery, swordsmanship and riding; he had his own colourful set of yoroi armour, rows of iron lamellar and lacquered leather laced together. His principal weapon was the long, asymmetrical yumi, the Japanese warbow, a heavier bow than that utilized by the Mongols. In his small party was a bannerman to mark Suenaga’s location on the battlefield. The sword- not yet the famous katana,which developed in the 14th century- was the dignified sidearm, though the longer, spear-like naginata was more commonly used once the enemy was too close for bow-work.   When Suenaga arrived, the Mongols had already established a temporary camp at Akasaka, some kilometres inland. The commander in charge of the gathering samurai was Shoni Kagesuke.  He ordered those samurai who were already approaching Akasaka, Suenaga among them, to fall back and await reinforcements. As it was poor terrain, they hoped to encourage the Mongols to come to them, lose their formation and then allow Japanese archery to tear at them. Suenaga followed the order, and once the various warriors were recalled and far from the enemy, Suenaga spurred his horse onwards, saying, “Waiting for the general will cause us to be late to battle. Of all the warriors of the clan, I Suenaga will be the first to fight from Higo!”   In Japanese warfare of the period, men were rewarded for valour in combat, being the first to enter battle, taking enemy heads or losing men of their own. Rewards included fine garments, horses, even lands. For a relatively poor samurai like Suenaga who could quite possibly lose his expensive armour, weapons and horse in the battle, not to mention faced dispossession of his lands, such rewards made all the difference. The prestige itself from heroic acts in combat could not be dismissed, either. The problem was that these were powerful incentives against patiently waiting for orders.  As Suenaga rode on, one of commander Kagesuke’s retainers called on Suenaga to dismount and wait, to which he replied, “We five are going to fight before you. We won’t limit ourselves to merely shooting down the enemy! I have no purpose in life but to advance and be known!” Kagesuke recognized that he’d be unable to hold Suenaga back, and told him that he would be witness to him. This was an important aspect to this reward system: unless someone could bring severed heads of the enemy, he needed witnesses, preferably multiple, who could vouch for the samurai’s actions. If the multiple witnesses provided contrasting details, then the Bakufu could dismiss the account.   On his ride to Akasaka, Suenaga encountered some Samurai returning, carrying severed heads of the enemy. Learning that the Mongols had abandoned Akasaka and were retreating to the beach in two main bodies, Suenaga drove his horse onwards ever faster. Pursuing the smaller of the two retreating Mongol forces, Suenaga was frustrated when he rode his horse right into mud flats. By the time he freed his horse, the Mongols had stopped at Sohara. Here he was finally about to close with his enemy, when one of his own retainers stopped him, urging him to wait for the oncoming Japanese reinforcements: better chances of victory, and witnesses, for his actions. In typical fashion, Suenaga dismissed his concerns, shouting: “The way of the bow and arrow is to do what is worthy of reward. Charge!” By then the Mongols had pressed on, reaching the beach and open ground. To Suenaga’s credit, he mentions  his bannerman was the first one out. The small party of samurai were met with a hail of Mongol arrows. The bannerman’s horse was shot out from under him and he was thrown; Suenaga and three other retainers were injured by arrows, and finally his own horse was struck, throwing him into the sand. This is the most famous scene in the illustrated scrolls, which shows Suenaga being thrown forward off his horse while blood spills copiously from the wound.  In the illustration, a bomb is being set off nearby. The presence of this bomb is generally taken to be a later addition to the art, drawn in a different style. Had the Mongols thrown explosives at Suenaga, doubtless he would have mentioned surviving such a terrifying weapon. The likely archaeological remains of such bombs have been found; this specific party of Mongols is just unlikely to have lobbed them at Suenaga.   Thrown from his horse, Mongol arrows raking his small party, Suenaga admits in his narrative that he would have died there, had it not been for a timely charge of a formidable unit of samurai cavalry from Hizen province. It’s commander, Shiroishi Rokuro Michiyasu (shi-roy-shi Ro-ko-ru Mich-i-yasu), rode right through the Mongol line, rider and horse miraculously emerging unscathed. Suenaga was evidently impressed by this, and acted as witness for him. Another gokenin was not so lucky: Suenaga watched the man bestruck in the neck by an arrow. After brief fighting, the Mongol party they had been chasing fled, evidently reached their ships, and thus ended Suenaga’s part in the first Mongol invasion of Japan.  The fleet soon departed, pushed back to Korea by strong winds, as we covered previously. Suenaga, by the way, never mentions anything regarding divine winds or storms, presenting a victory entirely through Japanese force of arms.    The next event in the narrative presented in Suenaga’s scrolls is the most detailed, wherein he travels to Kamakura city to try and get his rewards in 1275. To pay for the journey, Suenaga had to sell horse and saddle, and took the trip from Kyushu to Kamakura. There he met with little luck. The officials of the court ignored his requests, deeming him a minor, insignificant warrior. Here, Suenaga gives the most attribution to divinely inspired favour. Visiting a nearby shrine of Hachiman, the war god, and praying fervently, he returned and was in time to speak with the Office of Appeals. There he met with its administer, Adachi Yasumori, military governor of Suenaga’s home Higo province, one of the most powerful men in Japan and father-in-law to the shikken and Japan’s de facto ruler, Hojo Tokimune.  Suenaga told his story to Yasumori, and learned that Kagesuke’s brother, Tsunesuke, the military governor of Chikuzen province, had not mentioned Suenaga’s exploits in his report on the battle. Lacking this evidence, with neither dead retainers or enemy heads to show for it, Suenaga emphatically declared that if Kagesuke said under oath that Suenaga was lying, then they could take his head. Finally, Yasumori decided to take Suenaga’s deeds straight to the highest authority, the shikken Hojo Tokimune. Suenaga was recognized, rewarded with a fine horse and saddle, and had his land dispute settled in his favour. Of the 120 samurai rewarded for the 1274 invasion, Suenaga was also the only one who received commendation from the shogun. Yasumori’s actions evidently touched Suenaga, who commemorates him in the scrolls and in his will, urged his descendants to serve loyally the house of Adachi.    The Bakufu was generally reluctant to pay out these rewards. Normally as fighting was between the Japanese, confiscated lands and goods from the losing side were made the rewards for valourous samurai. But, fighting against a foreign enemy who retreated back over the sea, meant such rewards essentially had to be paid out of pocket by the Bakufu. A temporary measure to this was to forbid samurai like Suenaga from leaving Kyushu to make the trip to Kamakura to demand rewards, citing reasons of military defence. For the Kamakura Bakufu, this was to become a rather dangerous matter for them in coming years, and our next episode.   Hojo Tokimune and the Bakufu readily realized the victory in 1274 was not an end to the war. The Mongols would return, and in greater force. For this, an even greater effort was thrown into the defences. For over 20 kilometres around Hakata Bay a sea wall was built at likely beachheads, in places 3 metres high and 3 metres wide. Warriors from the provinces of Kyushu were to serve 3 months guard duty along the coast. The shugo positions, the military governors, came under more direct rule of the Hojo clan to strengthen its coordination abilities. Temples were ordered to pray for the nation, and in the final months of 1275 there was even discussion of a retaliatory attack against Korea, though it is difficult to judge if these preparations ever went past discussion.   With the conquest of the Song Dynasty in 1279, Kublai Khan now had ample men and resources for side projects, such as punishing the insolent Japanese archipelago. It was by all accounts a massive undertaking: 40,000 Northern Chinese, Mongolian and Korea troops departing from Korea aboard 900 ships, and as many as 100,000 men from the territories of the former Song Dynasty departing southern China aboard 3,500 ships.  It was immense, likely the largest seaborne invasion before D-Day in 1944, and only barely lurched from the gate. Many of the vessels were repurposed ships designed for rivers in southern China, not open ocean. Others were hastily constructed, built to hurriedly meet the deadline of an impatient Great Khan. The northern fleet, manned by experienced Korean sailors aboard sturdier ships, was ready to go, with a timetable to link up with the southern fleet at Iki island. The southern fleet was held up by the death of a commander, while its provisions spoiled in the warmth of south China. Frustrated, the northern fleet set out on its own;  by the 10th June 1281, Iki island was occupied, and again the fleet set out for Kyushu’s Hakata Bay. The Japanese sea-wall did its work. The Yuan Dynasty armada could not force a landing, well-protected Japanese archers repulsing efforts to land. For two months the fleet was essentially held in standstill, occupying Shiga island and unable to take advantage of the southern fleet’s arrival and disembarking on Kyushu.    With the enemy at sea, when the 35 year old Takezaki Suenaga arrived at Hakata Bay, he had a problem. He didn’t have a boat. Since the Mongols were not coming to them, and hungry for glory, the samurai were taking their small vessels out to sea, boarding the Yuan ships and fighting there. Suenaga and his retainers ran along the beach, looking for ships to take them but none had room. When hope seemed lost, the flag of Adachi Yasumori was spotted on a ship. Boarding a messenger skiff unsuited to the deeper waters where the Mongol fleet was, Suenaga and his retainers reached Yasomuri’s vessel. To the great displeasure of Yasumori’s retainers, Suenaga jumped aboard their ship. He told them he was ordered there by the military governor, and had to be on the ship- which Yasumori’s men saw right through, and ordered him to be thrown off. Suenaga cried that if they just gave him a small boat of his own, he’d leave on his own accord, but somehow that didn’t convince them.    Suenaga tried this same trick on the boat of another lord, Tsumori, where he annoyed them enough that they let him on board. There was no space for Suenaga’s retainers, who complained but could only watch him sail away. Such is the way of the bow and arrow, Suenaga simply wrote on that. In the process Suenaga forgot to grab his helmet, and fashioned an impromptu defence out of two shinguards he tied to his head.  Finally they neared an enemy ship, and in the process of trying to board Suenaga was injured. Frustrated, Suenaga threw his bow away, grabbed a naginata and roared at the rowers to bring them closer to the enemy ship-  only by then the rowers were trying to push them away, fearing for their life. Switching ships again, Suenaga finally got his boarding action later that afternoon, in which he suffered another wound. To his pleasure, his name was the first from the province to be entered into the report for the battle.    His final engagement with the Mongols was taking part in driving them from Shiga island. One of Suenaga’s retainers and a relative were injured in that battle, and two of their horses killed. The Yuan fleet had it worse. Bickering between the Mongolian, Chinese and Korean commanders hampered them, while the soldiers from South China fought poorly, seeing little incentive to die for foreign masters in a foreign land. The lack of progress raised tensions, provisions ran low, and the fleet was on the verge of retreat when on the 15th of August, 1281, the sea began to churn. With a storm oncoming, the men loaded onto the ships and tried to set out for deeper waters. A typhoon, rising unseasonably early, punished the fleet design. The riverine Chinese ships of the southern fleet were annihilated, brought to the depths or tossed onto the rocks. The archaeological remnants found on the sea floor by Takashima island mark their deep graves. The larger Korean vessels designed for open waters fared better; whereas half of the southern fleet was estimated to have been destroyed, only a third of the northern shared the same fate. Survivors who made it to shore, on Kyushu and the neighbouring islands, were hunted down and killed, though some mercy was shown to Southern Chinese- their fate was to be slaves to the Japanese. So ended the second Mongol attempt to invade Japan. Kublai Khaan was furious and demanded a third attack, but we will discuss this in our next episode.   Suenaga, in typical fashion, mentions none of this once his part in the fighting was done. Suenaga’s scrolls were compiled between 1293-1324, and were concerned with his personal exploits and commemorating Adachi Yasumori, murdered in 1285, rather than an overall view of the campaign. The existence of the scrolls themselves is quite unusual for someone living well outside the capital, and were an expensive undertaking. Extensive battle scenes are portrayed, highly detailed armours, horses and dozens of warriors. While his position in 1274 had been humble, he earned himself a pretty penny after the second invasion, primarily through donations people made to a shrine he controlled, and lending seeds at usurious rates. When the farmers failed to pay back the loan, Suenaga seized their lands. For Suenaga, the scrolls were an expensive endeavour, requiring foresight generally uncommon to the samurai of the period. The fact the scrolls survived for us is remarkable: the Takezaki clan lost them in the late fourteenth century when fighting spread through their lands and the scrolls, among other possessions, were seized. They traded between families; at one point, their owners died during the Japanese invasion of Korea in the 1500s. Not until the 1700s did they begin to be copied, and in 1890 they were handed over to Emperor Meiji: today, they sit in Japan’s Museum of the Imperial Collections. If you have seen medieval artwork of the Mongol invasion of Japan, you are looking at one of the illustrations from the scrolls. A full translation by Thomas Conlan can be found in his work, In Little Need of Divine Intervention: Takezaki Suenaga’s Scrolls of the Mongol Invasion of Japan, and provide a fascinating look at a man who perhaps best embodied the ideals of 13th century samurai culture.    If you’re eager for more from us on the Mongol invasions of Japan, please check out the previous episode in our series, and the latest video on our Youtube Channel, Kings and Generals. Our next podcast episode, will wrap up our short series on Japan, detailing the consequences of the invasion on both the Japanese and the Mongol Empire, and its longer historical legacy. Once that is complete, we will return to our original narrative timeline! To help us keep bringing you great content, please consider supporting us on Patreon at www.patreon/kingsandgenerals. I’m your host David, and we’ll catch you on the next one   

For the release of the new Sucker Punch video game, Ghost of Tsushima, which depicts a lone samurai defending a Japanese island from Mongol invaders, we’re going to change up our presentation for a few episodes.  This will be the first in a three part series looking at the Mongol invasions of Japan, a slight jump ahead in the timeline of our episodes so far, going from the reign of Great Khan Mongke to that of his younger brother, Kublai Khan. This first episode will provide greater context to the game, discussing the cause of the first Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274, the actual battle for Tsushima island and the fighting in Hakata Bay.  Our following episode will detail the story of Takezaki Suenaga, a samurai who fought against both invasions and later produced a brilliant set of scrolls depicting his exploits. The final episode will cover the oft-overlooked consequences of the invasion on both Japan and Kublai Khan’s empire, as well as its historical legacy: altogether, we hope to provide an accurate and well rounded view of the historical events surrounding the game utilizing both primary sources and scholarly literature. I’m your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.       Japan first came to Mongol attention through Japanese raids against the Korean peninsula. Called wakō, piracy against the Korean coastline had existed for centuries, but picked up again in the 1220s during Korean weakness caused by the Khitan and Mongol invasions, covered in our previous episodes. The island of Tsushima, situated between Korea and Japan, was a prominent base for these pirates making the short trip over the straits to strike undefended settlements. These attacks were not court sanctioned, a crime of individual opportunity rather an organized effort. By the time the Korean leadership finally submitted in 1259 the raids had largely ceased, but it meant the existence of Japan was known to the Mongols. The new King of Korea in 1260, King Wonjong, had a good relationship with the new Mongol Emperor, Kublai. We will return to Mongke’s reign after these episodes, but for those of you who do not know, Mongke Khan died on campaign in China in August 1259. Two of his younger brothers, Kublai and Ariq Boke, both declared themselves Khaan in the months following. Known as the Toluid Civil War, Kublai based in China was able to overcome his brother based in Mongolia by 1264. Consequences were immense: Mongol imperial unity was shattered as the Mongol ruled Khanates across western Asia began their own conflicts, the Hulegu-Berke war between the Ilkhanate and Golden Horde. Kublai had defeated Ariq, but lost the empire. His authority beyond the western borders of China was only nominal, and the Khanates were effectively independent states from that point on, though contact remained between them. Kublai, by necessity, was forced to focus his continued conquests on China and the surrounding territories.      Kublai’s main target was the Song Dynasty, which ruled southern China. A huge economic power with a massive population, the Song war was a difficult task. The Mongols needed to resort to indirect strategies to help bypass the frontier: in the 1250s, Kublai had conquered the Kingdom of Dali, in China’s modern Yunnan province, to open a front on the southwest of the Song. The Japanese, who had trade ties with the Song, were another direction Kublai could exert his influence. Forcing the Japanese to cut trade with the Song would help weaken the Song economy, and so aid Kublai’s overall war with them. Further, like his brother Mongke, Kublai firmly believed in the eventuality that all of the world was to come under Mongol rule. Bringing in the submission of the Japanese was merely Kublai enacting heaven’s will. He had one other concern that his predecessors did not. Despite controlling Mongolia, the core of Kublai’s realm was China, and tied himself to Chinese imperial tradition for legitimacy there. In classic Chinese tradition he declared his own dynasty in 1271, the Yuan Dynasty, marking himself as heir to the Chinese empires of Han, Tang and successor to the dying Song Dynasty. In the days of the mighty Tang Dynasty, ruling from 618-907 CE, Japan had diplomatic, economic and religious ties with China, and the Tang Emperors considered the Japanese their vassals. These ties petered out before the end of the Tang, and only during the years of the southern Song was there even trade between them. For Kublai, to vassalize Japan would help to legitimize him to the Chinese, bringing Japan ‘back into the fold,’ so to speak. With these various interests in mind, in 1266 he ordered a first set of envoys to travel to Japan via Korea.       Kublai addressed the letter to the King of Japan, and it's here we can discuss a rather unique feature of Japanese government of the time. Firstly, Japan’s official ruler was not the ‘King,’ but the Emperor, at that time Emperor Kameyama, the 90th emperor of Japan. However, since the end of the Genpei War in 1185, the emperor was a figurehead, with real power held by the Shogun. Known as the Kamakura Bakufu, based in the city of Kamakura, the Shogunate was founded by the fearsome Minamoto no Yoritomo, military rulers exercising real authority with the imperial court relegated to ceremonial and religious roles. However, on Yoritomo’s death in 1199, he was succeeded by his young son as shogun. The boy too young to rule, real power was held by the family of Yoritomo's widow, the Hojo clan. Sidelining and replacing shoguns as necessary, for well over a century, Japan was ruled by the regent of the regent, called the shikken. In 1268, the 17 year old Hojo Tokimune became shikken, the de facto ruler, of Japan.       Though Kublai’s envoys in 1266 turned back before they reached Japan, he was not discouraged. Envoys were sent again in 1268, taken aboard Korean vessels specifically instructed not to return without handing off Kublai’s letter. The letter was not as demanding as earlier Mongol missives of the century, but still referred to Kublai as master of the universe, and informed the Japanese that they should open contact with him, for, as Kublai’s wrote at the end of the letter, “Nobody would wish to resort to arms.” It was a tough position for the Japanese, as they knew next to nothing of the Mongols. What they did know, they had learned from merchants or Buddhist Monks from the Song Dynasty, at war with the Mongols since 1234. Having not engaged in actual overseas diplomacy since the 9th century, there was no experience within the court or the Bakufu on how to react. So, the chosen Japanese response was to simply dismiss the envoys with no official response, per the order of the shikken. Ghosting the most powerful monarch on the planet is not a terribly easy thing to do, however.       Later that same year, Kublai ordered the Koreans to build 1,000 warships and conscript 10,000 men, for use against the Song Dynasty or Japan. Later in 1268, he sent a third embassy, which in the first months of 1269, stopped on the island of Tsushima and turned back, but not without first capturing two local fishermen. Brought all the way back to Kublai’s imperial capital of Dadu, modern day Beijing, they were wined and dined by the mightiest man under heaven. Showing off his splendour and unimaginable power, the Khan of Khans told the fishermen he only wanted to have his envoys reach Japan, and to have his name remembered for all time. Was that so much to ask? The fishermen were escorted back to Japan late in 1269 to bring word of Kublai’s desires and his great power, and were promptly ignored by the Bakufu. The ongoing insolence of the Japanese was not something Kublai could ignore.        A diplomatic solution was still preferable, as the war with the Song Dynasty was still ongoing and in 1269 revolt broke out in Korea due to the onerous demands for materials and men. As we discussed in the previous episode, Korea had suffered under near continuous Mongol attacks from 1231 until 1259, and the population struggled to meet the latest demands. It took until the middle of 1271 for the rebellion to be crushed, but by then some Koreans had brought word to Japan of Mongol preparations. Since 1268, some coastal defenses had started to be rallied, but news of the proximity of the danger caused quite the start in the Bakufu. No aid was sent to Korea despite the requests of the defectors, but more warriors began to be mobilized to the island of Kyushu, the westernmost of the five main islands of Japan and most likely site of attack. Mongol envoys returned in 1271 after Korea was pacified, now with a direct threat of invasion if the Japanese failed to reply.  The envoy returned to Korea empty handed by the end of the year, and after trips back to Japan in 1272 and 1273, he finally came to Kublai with news of his failure. The envoy had spent some time in Japan while trying to get the court’s response, so at least he brought the Khan intelligence on the people, land and defences. This was enough for Kublai. Sending more envoys would only make him look toothless. His armies had just taken the major Song Dynasty stronghold of Xiangyang in 1273, the key to southern China. With the Song poised to fall, Kublai could spare forces to punish Japan.        The final preparation for the invasions were carried out over 1274, and departed from southern Korea that November. It was not a massive army, some 15,000 Mongol, Northern Chinese, Khitan and Jurchen troops, 6-8,000 Korean troops, another 7,000 Korean sailors aboard some 8-900 ships. Prince Khindu served as overall commander, with Mongol, Chinese and Korean generals and admirals. The Mongols had little naval experience beyond fighting on rivers in South China, so were reliant on the knowhow of the Koreans for this aspect. Once they made landfall, the Mongols would take care of the rest. The Mongols had overcome every foe they had faced in the 13th century: Kublai imagined a swift victory against the insignificant island of Japan, for Eternal Blue Heaven mandated nothing less. Late on the 4th of November, 1274, the fleet was spotted off the coast of Tsushima.        The island of Tsushima was controlled by the Sō clan, whose head, Sō Sukekuni, was the deputy shugo, military governor. Per the tradition held in the Japanese chronicle, the Hachiman Gudokun, on Tsushima there was a major shrine to Hachiman, the Japanese god of war. The day of the Mongol approach, a fire broke out at the shrine, a bad omen. Once the fire was extinguished, white doves gathered on the shrine’s roof. As doves were the messengers of Hachiman, Sukekuni saw it must have been a warning from Hachiman: surely, he would not have set his own shrine on fire? Indeed, later that day Sukekuni was alerted that a fleet was seen approaching the island. His garrison was mobilized, some 80 Samurai and their retainers who he led to the beach of Komoda; there, they awaited the dawn and the Mongols.        Sukekuni sent a small vessel out as the Mongols neared the beach to inquire as to their intentions. His envoys were rebuffed and the landing ships neared the beaches, forcing Sukekuni to draw his small force up for battle. While famous for their swordsmanship, the 13th century Samurai was primarily a horse archer like the Mongols. With their long, asymmetrical yumi, the iconic bow of the Samurai, their skill and accuracy with the arrow made them deadly. However, the desire for individual glory and distinction in combat preempted them from utilizing the complex unit tactics, repeated hit and runs, skirmishing and feigned retreats which made Mongol horse archery so tactically powerful. When the ships landed under the command of the general Ho-tun, the first troops sent up the beach were likely those considered expendable- i.e, anyone not Mongolian. Poorly armoured Chinese were rushed off the ships and met with Japanese arrows. They suffered under this withering fire, but the Chinese and Koreans did their job, holding up large wicker shields to soak up arrows while the Mongols had time to disembark and prepare their own horses. Sukekuni’s position was overrun, despite withdrawing to the treeline to face the Mongols in close combat where the Samurai were deadly. One of Sukekuni’s comrades took down several advancing soldiers and a Mongol officer, and standing on the body he shouted threats at the Mongols, daring them to face him in battle. The Mongols responded with arrows, piercing the man’s chest armour and ending his boasts. Sukekuni led one final charge against the Mongols before the last of his men were cut down. The Mongols overran Tsushima from November 5th until the 13th, destroying towns, farmland and annihilating the last strands of resistance. The women of the Sō family committed suicide so as to not fall into Mongol hands. The next island to face the fleet, Iki, was greeted by a gruesome sight. Attested in both Japanese and Yuan Dynasty sources, prisoners, mainly women, had wire threaded through their palms and were strung across the prows of the ships in a horrific necklace.       The island of Iki too fell within a day. Several small islands and the Matsuura peninsula were taken after only token resistance as the fleet neared  the northwestern corner of Kyushu and Hakata Bay, the island’s largest natural harbour. It made an ideal landing point for any large army. Hojo Tokimune knew this, and here had collected his warriors. The defensive force was mainly drawn of men from Kyushu, though the mobilization had been extended to parts of western Honshu, the largest Japanese island, in 1274. Exact figures for the Japanese force are uncertain, but were outnumbered. 4-6,000 is a common estimate, against over 20,000 of the Yuan fleet- though the main source for the Mongol side, the Yuan shi, states 102,000 Japanese were arrayed against them.        Landing on the soft sand beaches of Hakata Bay on November 19th, the Chinese and Korean infantry protected by their large shields and long spears disembarked; following were Mongols, Turks, Khitans and Jurchen leading their horses out and mounting them. Traditionally, the Japanese began battle by sending arrows with holes dug through the head, creating a whistling sound as they went through the air. The Mongols, who used such things often for communication in battle, laughed. The beating of drums and gongs signalled Mongol orders; unused to such noise, the Japanese horses panicked. Samurai riding forward to challenge worthy opponents to single combat were met with arrows, and those who tried to ride individually through the thickly pressed enemy line were cut down.. The Japanese sources accused the Mongols of using poisoned arrows, which sickened the men struck by them. Bombs, made of paper or iron and filled with Chinese gunpowder, were lobbed into the Japanese who had never experienced such things- the flash, the noise and smoke injured, disoriented and frightened them.       The Mongols, advancing or retreating as ordered and in unison, were an unnerving sight to Samurai used to smaller, individually led combat. Over the course of the day the Japanese were pushed from the beach and their defensive line was broken through. Fires were set on the nearby town of Hakata, which spread quickly. Another force broke out and tried to make camp at Akasaka, but were repulsed. Once past the initial surprise of the assault, the Japanese archers made a good show of themselves. Every samurai trained since a young age with a bow, and the accuracy and power of their bows took even the Mongols by surprise. Small Mongol parties isolated from the main force were picked off, and one of the top Yuan commanders, Liu Fuxiang, was struck in the face by a Japanese arrow and had his horse stolen. The gravely injured commander was rushed back to the ships. Japanese resistance had proven stiffer than anticipated, and the overconfident Yuan forces had suffered losses for this. Divisions and language barriers in the leadership hamstrung them, and uncertain of moving further inland in unknown territory without reinforcement, by nightfall it was decided to call a retreat.        The Yuan forces returned to their ships and set out for Korea, at which point we get to the most well known aspect of the invasions. Very few contemporary Japanese sources mention divine favour or wind in regards to the withdrawal, at most, stating strong winds pushed the armada back to Korea. One of the main Japanese sources, the Hachiman Gudokun, states the defenders were surprised to find the fleet gone in the morning, only a single ship having run aground. In sources from the Mongol point of view though, we have the most dramatic presentation. The Yuan shi, compiled in the 1370s from Mongol documents, describes the Mongols having crushed the Japanese and needing to withdraw for they had ran out of arrows. On the way back, they were struck by an almighty storm, losing many ships in the ocean. This emphasis by the Mongols is obvious: by blaming a freak weather accident, the retreat was easier explained, rather than give credit to the Japanese fighting harder than the Mongols had expected. Whatever the fact of the storm was, the first of the so-called kamikazes, the Yuan fleet had begun to withdraw before it struck. In the words of historian Thomas Conlan, the Japanese were “in little need of divine intervention.”       Neither side saw this as inconclusive though. The Japanese anticipated a Mongol return, and further preparations were made, such as building a wall for dozens of kilometres along Hakata Bay and preparing to quickly mobilize samurai if needed. For Kublai, this had been but a small force, a taste of what he could throw against Japan. He sent envoys again in 1275 to the bakufu, who were killed by the Japanese, ensuring the Khaan would need to send an armed force once more. Once Kublai completed the conquest of the Song Dynasty in 1279, he turned his attention to a massive invasion to subdue Japan once and for all.    But the second invasion is a topic for another day. Our next episode will come out this Friday, looking at the story of Takezaki Suenaga, a historical samurai who fought in both invasions and later compiled an excellent set of scrolls presenting his exploits. Through him, we’ll get a chance to talk in-depth on the Japanese defence, tactics and more. If that isn’t enough, we’ll have another episode coming out after that discussing the impact of the invasions on Japan and the Mongol Empire. But that’s not all: check out Kings and Generals on Youtube for a video this Thursday on the battles for Tsushima and Iki islands, the direct inspiration for the game. As well, the narrator for Kings and Generals will actually be playing Ghost of Tsushima on a livestream this weekend. Our writer for this series will be there as well, so prepare any questions you have for him and he’ll do his best to answer. If you’d like to help us continue bringing you content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon at www.patreon/kingsandgenerals.com. I’m your host David, and we will catch you on the next one. 

The conclusion to the Tokugawa Rule goes into the introduction of the West to Japan, and the struggle the government undergoes to trade with outside countries without sacrificing their culture. But this balance does not go well for the Bakufu or the Shogun as the samurai attempt to make an example of the “treachery” made by the government. Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at whyweareherepodcast@gmail.com and follow on social media: instagram.com/whyweareherepodcast & twitter.com/whywereherepod. And be sure to RATE and REVIEW on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Soundcloud. Thanks for listening!

This episode we continue our look at the relations between Ryukyu (Okinawa), the Shimazu clan, and the Bakufu, and Okinawa's eventual invasion in 1609. Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/samuraiarchives Shopping on Amazon.com?  Use our link: http://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=samurai-20 Support this podcast: Samurai Archives Bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20 Samurai Archives Shop (T-Shirts, etc) http://www.cafepress.com/samuraiarchives Contact Us: Twitter @SamuraiArchives https://twitter.com/#!/samuraiarchives Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samurai-Archives/104533213984 Samurai Archives Podcast on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/samuraipodcast/ Samurai Archives podcast blog: http://www.samuraipodcast.com Samurai Archives Forum: http://www.japanhistoryforum.com Patreon Special Thanks: Luis, Cody Makua Burks, Marty Brennan

This episode we look at the relations between Ryukyu (Okinawa), the Shimazu clan of Satsuma province, and the Bakufu, and Okinawa's eventual invasion in 1609. Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/samuraiarchives Shopping on Amazon.com?  Use our link: http://www.amazon.com/?_encoding=UTF8&tag=samurai-20 Support this podcast: Samurai Archives Bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20 Samurai Archives Shop (T-Shirts, etc) http://www.cafepress.com/samuraiarchives Contact Us: Twitter @SamuraiArchives https://twitter.com/#!/samuraiarchives Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samurai-Archives/104533213984 Samurai Archives Podcast on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/samuraipodcast/ Samurai Archives podcast blog: http://www.samuraipodcast.com Samurai Archives Forum: http://www.japanhistoryforum.com Patreon Special Thanks: Luis, Cody Makua Burks, Marty Brennan

Welcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students. Byzantine Empire: 600 - 1450 Regional and interregional interactions   European Middle Ages: feudalism and serfdom: Audrey - The Middle Ages lasted from the fall of the Western Roman Empire, which was a little before 500 AD, to 1500 AD. There are three major sections of the Middle Ages, the Early Middle Ages, lasting from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to 1000 ad, was the first, the High Middle Ages, from 1000 ad to 13 ad, which was a high point for the Middle Ages, and last, the late Middle Ages, this lasted from 1300 to 1500 ad and it wasn't a very pleasant time to live in Europe. Gabe - feudalism is where if your poor you live on some land that you don't own a really rich guy called a baron or duke owns it and you still don't have money so you share a plow with your neighbor and you combine your ox together just to plow the ground so you can make a little money and you cant even leave with permission from your landlord you're a serf in a serfdom which is a state of being a feudal laborer so your like a slave who gets paid enough to survive   Ella - A Roman Emperor by the name of Charlemagne  conquered Northern Italy, around modern day France, and many other places including Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Charlemagne was able to unify most of Western Europe and was considered a defining figure of the early middle ages. Emma - The word feudal comes from the medieval latin word feudum which means “landed estate”. It is a really broad term that refers to many types of landowner-tenant living situations that took place during the middle ages in Europe. In the seventeenth century, historians and lawyers studying the middle ages wanted to give a name to these types of lifestyles in this era, thus naming it feudalism. Modern day historians don’t necessarily agree that they should all be lumped under one name. Ben - And at that time around 1100 AD Rome was losing land to the Muslims that conquered some of the Byzantine area, So they sent some crusaders in 1096 to take the land back, (especially the holy land) and when they did, they decided instead of adding the land back into the byzantine empire they would just make some crusader kingdoms, so they made separate kingdoms that only advanced the divide between the east and west empires. Skylar - Peasant revolting was also called popular uprisings. The peasants revolted in England in 1831. The revolted because they felt that they were not getting treated equally as everyone else, ex. they were working harder than everyone else and barely surviving. Other reasons for popular uprisings/peasant revolting is the government taxing certain people more, cultural issues, and religious issues. 7.Ethan- The Byzantine Iconoclasm was the destroying of religious stuff. This brought up much controversy that lasted about a century. This also further differed the East and the West. The Western Church used religious images often and the Iconoclasm didn’t affect them as much.   Origins of Islam: Audrey - The closest translation of the word Islam to English is surrender, and in the context of the Islamic faith it would be the surrender to the will of God. A Muslim is someone who practices Islam, and submits to the will of God. The central text of Islam is the Quran, which is believed by Muslims that it is the word of God revealed by the messenger Muhammad. Especially in older texts Islam might be referred to as Muhammadism, like Christianity, but this is incorrect because the Muslims didn’t view Muhammad as a divine figure but as someone God spoke through. Ella - Muslims and Christians biggest difference is that muslims do not believe in the crucifixion or the resurrection. They also don’t believe that Jesus is the son of god. They belief he was only and early prophet. Muslims also believe in a system of 5 pillars. These pillars are made up of faith, prayer, charity, fasting and pilgrimage. Emma - Islam is similar to Christianity in many ways. For example, they believe that Moses, Abraham, and Jesus were all doing God’s work. They also believe that parts of the Bible are indeed God’s word though they also believe that Muhammad is another of God’s messengers and that they word he conveyed is also divinely inspired. Ben - The biggest figure in Islam is Muhammad, Muhammad was born in 570 BC, sadly his mother died in 576 BC and his grandfather died in 578 BC. He got married in 595 BC. After he saw revelations and visions from god he went down to the big cube and told everyone “hey your gods are fake” but as expected, everyone got mad at him so he had to move to a place with a Christian king. He went to where is now Ethiopia and preached his teachings. Gabe - he started preaching in mecca and the Quraysh tribe did not like that so he moved to Medina or Yathrib and here he kind of became a spiritual ruler over the city And they actually fight the quraysh tribe 3 to 1 because there's only about 300 of them and there's 900 quraysh and they win this battle and quraysh fight them again in the battle of uhud and now there’s 750 so they are building in numbers but there’s 3300 And the quraysh win  and then they have another war which is the  battle of the trench and they actually dug a trench around the city and they fought 3000 to 10000 so three to one again and the muslims won and this is all by account of the muslims though because they are the only record we have of that time 6.Ethan- Muslims consider Muhammad as the last person in the line of disciples. These disciples include, Moses, Abraham, and Jesus. Also, as soon as Muhammad was born most of the Middle East abandoned polytheism. Skylar - the early part of Islamic faiths are center around revelations of the prophet, Muhammad. A lot of the revelations with Muhammad are about surrendering to god. Muslims believe that the Quran is the final testament. Sunni and Shia Islam:  Ella - After the death of Muhammed, these two divisions known as Sunni and Shia came into play. 90% of the world's 1.6 billion muslims are Sunni and 10% are Shia. The word Sunni comes from the word Sunnah which is referring to Muhammad. The word Shia comes from Shi'atu ‘Ali which means followers of Ali. Audrey - The general division, between the Sunnis and the Shias, is who should succeed Muhammad, after his death, as leader of the Muslim community. The Shias believe that members of Muhammad’s family, especially his descendants, should become leader. The Sunnis disagree, and believe that it doesn’t really matter who succeeds Muhammad. Ben - As the divide gets more and more intense it causes the “Battle of the Camel” named after Aisha’s camel in 656 BC, then after that the “Battle of Siffin” happens merely a year after in 657 BC.  Gabe - the shias believe even more so that ali should be his successor after a speech saying he is mawla and ali is also mawla and when muhammad died his very close friend abu bakr takes his place and then umar and then uthman who is assassinated and ali finally takes his place      Emma - Ali became caliph in the year 656 AD, after the assassination of Uthman. At this time, Muawiya was the governor of Damascus and he felt that Ali was not putting in a full effort to punish the people who commited the crime. Because of this, he refuses to pledge his allegience to Ali. This started the Fist Fitna, or first Muslim civil war. Skylar - Muhammad was born in the year 570. He starts having revelations to god in the year 610, the Muslim calendar doesn’t start until 622 though. Muhammad married Khadijah and had several kids with her, one being named, Fatimah. Fatimah then married Ali, the son of Abu Talib. That’s where the word shi’atu ali comes from. 7.Ethan- The Shia are mainly based in places like Iraq and Iran, but are spread throughout the world itself. As you can probably guess, the Sunni are in many different places, since 9/10 Muslim are Sunni. Much blood was spilled through these 2 denominations throughout time..   Age of Islam: Ella - The Islamic Empire Grew as it obtained information from other civilizations such as the Byzantine and Persian empires. The collected knowledge and cultural ideas from surrounding empires and people they would meet around their area such as the Indians and the Chinese.          Audrey - They collected and obtained this information all throughout the Umayyad dynasty but most of it happened during the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasid Caliphate built Baghdad and moved the of the empire there. Ben - In 786 Al-Ma’mun was born, but later in his life (813 BC) he created the Baghdad house of wisdom. The baghdad house of wisdom contained almost all advanced human knowledge from at the time, from mathematics to astronomy, the house of wisdom contained all great wisdoms, even those that were fictional such as poetry. Gabe - they built baghdad right on the route between europe and asia making it the place a prime spot to trade in allowing the abbasids very wealthy because they imported all sorts of good like silk glass tile paper ivory soap honey diamonds Emma - During this time, something called the translation movement took place. Some of the caliphs like al-Rashid and al-Ma’mun wanted to make popular Greek texts accessible to the Arab world, so they encouraged scholars to translate Greek works into Arabic. They were trying to preserve the thoughts of great scholars such as Aristotle. 6.Ethan- The Abbasid Dynasty built Baghdad which is the capital of Iraq. While this was not always so, Damascus was the original capital city. At the time, this was the perfect place for the capital, for it was by the Tigris and Euphrates river. Thus made is ideal for crop production which allowed larger population. Skylar - Al-Kwarizmi was a persian mathematician who studied at the house of wisdom. Al-Kwarizmi is the inventor of algebra. The word algebra comes from the Arabic word al-jabr. He also created the Hindu numerals. The Great Schism: Audrey - Emperor Nero had these purges of Christians like the Roman fire or fire of rome in 64 ad. Nero blamed the Christians for the fire and was lighting them alive for punishment. Many historians believe that the apostles Peter and Paul were killed in these purges. Ben - Around the early 4th century a new emperor comes along and we’ve talked about him previously, Constantine. But today I’m going to go more in depth into Constantine’s life. He was born in 280 AD. His father was the previous western emperor before him, being made emperor in 305 AD. At Constantine’s thirties he was fighting for power within the western region, becoming victorious and being crowned emperor in 312 AD, and later became emperor of not just western rome but all of it in 324. He instilled multiple laws protecting christian people and converted to christianity/was baptised on his deathbed. He died in 337 AD. Gabe - after constantine there was theodosius who made christianity the main religion of rome and persecuted other religions he was also the last to rule both sides of rome when he died the germanic tribes took the west side of rome leaving justinian to the east side who conquered modern day italy back from the germanic tribes leaving the germanic tribes with modern day france and modern day germany and modern day france is owned by the franks the tribe of france which is why you have french and german but they were actually just german to begin with      Ella -  The Christians of the time were missionaries, going around and spreading their beliefs to other Roman Civilizations. In some cases families were split apart when half of the family decided to abandon Roman practices. Emma - Under the rule of Justinian, there was a power struggle in the Roman Empire. There were many people who possessed large amounts of power with different titles. There was obviously the Emperor, but then there was also the Bishop of Rome, now known as the Pope, who considers himself to somewhat the head of Christianity. There were also several other patriarchs across the Empire who held power and influence over the people. Skylar - Christianity started from the Roman Empire, it started from a jewish sect in Judea and Galilee, from early ministries. Going into the third century christianity was becoming pretty big. There were more purges. In 312 Constantine wins the battle at Milvian Bridge, and shortly after christianity becomes legal, and the christians are no longer persecuted for doing something they believe in. Ethan- The Holy Roman Empire was called this by Voltaire, “It is neither holy, nor an empire”. This Voltaire was a french Enlightenment writer/speaker. Otto der Grosse or Otto the Great was a Roman emperor who originated in Germany. He unified the Empire around the 10th century. It started to split around the 11th century. The Crusades:  Gabe - it was called the crusades because it was a war but from the pope so the pope wanted some land and he convinced a mighty Lord to go fight for him and his land so he goes and dies of starvation there and nevers sees his land again Audrey - Crusades were wars but they were considered just warfare. A war could be considered just if it had a just cause legitimate authority and the right intention. Ella - Eventually after losing a lot of territory, the Byzantine Empire was able to take back some of the Anatolian Peninsula from a muslim group called the Seljuk Turks. Supposedly, the crusades were made for the Byzantine Empire to get back the territory they lost, but the crusades usually took the land for themselves. Skylar -The Byzantine empire was losing the holy land, as the Arabians started to overrun it. Crusades were wars declared by the pope. Pope Urban II told all the christians they need to fight against the muslims to get the holy land back, and whoever fights will be forgiven of their sins. Emma - The crusades made a big impact on the expansion of European kingdoms and territories. In the north and est, crusading helped to expand parts of the Kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark. It also influenced the establishment of new political systems like Prussia. Ben - The one they hired to lead the charge against the Muslims that were taking over Jerusalem was Pope Urban II. This took place in 1095. His famous speech hat launched the crusades was, “Under Jesus Christ, our Leader, may you struggle for your Jerusalem, in Christian battle line, [that] most invincible line, even more successfully than did the sons of Jacob of old—struggle, that you may assail and drive out the Turks, more execrable than the Jebusites, who are in this land, and may you deem it a beautiful thing to die for Christ in that city in which he died for us. But if it befall you to die this side of it, be sure that to have died on the way is of equal value, if Christ shall find you in his army” 7.Ethan- The First Crusade was Jerusalem’s first military order. These military orders were more of taking on things like communal poverty, chastity, and obedience. But also violence… lots of violence… for the Christian faith of course. Examples consist of the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Teutonic Knights. 8.   Medieval Japan:   Gabe - medieval japan becomes a militaristic japan and it gets kind of fragmented and doesn't get reunited till around the modern period every wonder why japanese and chinese is a lot alike because the japanese borrowed many ideas from the chinese because there so close together china was like your older sibling influencing you     Skylar - The Heian period was a golden age for Japan. The Heians were very powerful. The Heian period was known for architecture, culture, arts, and philosophy. They had amazing cultural advancement for their time, around the year 1000. The women had a say in thing, like emperial arts. Lady Murasaki is known as the first novelist. A Shogun is a military dictator, the first Shogun was Minamoto Yuritomo. Audrey - China had a huge influence on Japan even though China never conquered Japan because of how close they are Japan borrowed many ideas from China in the Classical period. Japanese rulers sent delegations to China in the 7th century to better understand what the Chinese do to run their government. Ella - In the time he ruled, Oda Nobunaga took advantage of guns. He was able to use them to put most of the other lords into submission. He also worked towards unifying Japan. The next two rulers Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi continued working towards unify Japan. Ben - (Y’all better be ready for me to correct your pronunciation since I’m learning Japanese. Nah Jk) The capital of Japan during the heian period was Heian-kyo (today’s Kyoto). Also another little fact about the golden age of Japan was that woman that were in the family of very important political figures had a significant amount of power themselves, unlike other civilizations like Rome. Japan in its early state was famous for taking things and ideas from other people and making their own version. This is how they became one of the first truly industrialized countries.   Emma - The structure of Medieval Japan under the Bakufu system, or shogunate, was actually very similar to a lot of the European systems, and was even called a feudal system by some. In this time, the position of Emperor still existed, but all the power belonged to the Shogun who was a sort of military leader. Under the shogun there were several daimyo, which could be compared to lords. Beneath them was the warrior class of samurai, which are very similar to the knights of europe.   Ethan- The Edo period is named for the castle Edo. This castle was ruled by the Tokuwaga shogunate which is still going. The shogun is at the top of the chain which how the bakufu system normally works. This system is considered the reason Japan began to be unified. Maya, Aztec, and Inca   Skylar - The Aztec Empire starts to form when Azcapotzalca gets in a civil war, Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan for a triple alliance and conquer Azcapotzalca. The Aztec empire was very small at the time with only three city-states. The Inca empire called themselves the Tawantinsuyu, they called their ruler Inca.   Gabe - after a while in the Aztec empire Tenochtitlan which was once the weaker city state before in entered the aztec empire actually became the capital of the Aztec empire and the Aztec empire is actually around for another hundred years   When hernando cortes comes and conquered it in 1521        Audrey - The Aztec civilization and the Aztec empire are different from each other because the Aztec civilization was made up of broad groups of people over hundreds of years where the Aztec empire was a very specific entity that was formed in the hundred years before the Spanish colonization. Ella - Hernando Cortes was able to convince several hundreds of conquistadors to conquer empires for him. He collected people from neighboring city states who were having problems with the Mexico or Aztec Empires. He eventually took over the city of Tenochtitlan and it became a very advanced civilization. Ben - One of the biggest ways the English were able to conquer ancient Mexico was with the bringing of smallpox which the native Americans never really had before. Even before they started calling themselves the Inca, they already had a sort of advanced civilization. They taxed their citizens, but not in a traditional way, since they didn’t use a coin or currency system, citizens had to dedicate some of their working time to the government. Emma - The advancements of Inca Empire are on their own monumental, but to put it into perspective, from the historical evidence we currently have, there is no proof that the Incas had a written language. They did have a system of knots that they used, but that was the extent of and record keeping. Ethan- The Mayans were well known for their astronomics, mathematics, and their calendar. Their civilization was based in southeastern Mexico and Guatemala. There was also El Salvador, Belize, and Honduras.   That’s all the time we have for today. THank for joining us outside of the box that is learning.

Welcome back to The Emancipation Podcast Station - the place to hear about history researched and retold through the eyes of Middle school and HS students. Byzantine Empire: 600 - 1450 Regional and interregional interactions   European Middle Ages: feudalism and serfdom: Audrey - The Middle Ages lasted from the fall of the Western Roman Empire, which was a little before 500 AD, to 1500 AD. There are three major sections of the Middle Ages, the Early Middle Ages, lasting from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to 1000 ad, was the first, the High Middle Ages, from 1000 ad to 13 ad, which was a high point for the Middle Ages, and last, the late Middle Ages, this lasted from 1300 to 1500 ad and it wasn't a very pleasant time to live in Europe. Gabe - feudalism is where if your poor you live on some land that you don't own a really rich guy called a baron or duke owns it and you still don't have money so you share a plow with your neighbor and you combine your ox together just to plow the ground so you can make a little money and you cant even leave with permission from your landlord you're a serf in a serfdom which is a state of being a feudal laborer so your like a slave who gets paid enough to survive   Ella - A Roman Emperor by the name of Charlemagne  conquered Northern Italy, around modern day France, and many other places including Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. Charlemagne was able to unify most of Western Europe and was considered a defining figure of the early middle ages. Emma - The word feudal comes from the medieval latin word feudum which means “landed estate”. It is a really broad term that refers to many types of landowner-tenant living situations that took place during the middle ages in Europe. In the seventeenth century, historians and lawyers studying the middle ages wanted to give a name to these types of lifestyles in this era, thus naming it feudalism. Modern day historians don’t necessarily agree that they should all be lumped under one name. Ben - And at that time around 1100 AD Rome was losing land to the Muslims that conquered some of the Byzantine area, So they sent some crusaders in 1096 to take the land back, (especially the holy land) and when they did, they decided instead of adding the land back into the byzantine empire they would just make some crusader kingdoms, so they made separate kingdoms that only advanced the divide between the east and west empires. Skylar - Peasant revolting was also called popular uprisings. The peasants revolted in England in 1831. The revolted because they felt that they were not getting treated equally as everyone else, ex. they were working harder than everyone else and barely surviving. Other reasons for popular uprisings/peasant revolting is the government taxing certain people more, cultural issues, and religious issues. 7.Ethan- The Byzantine Iconoclasm was the destroying of religious stuff. This brought up much controversy that lasted about a century. This also further differed the East and the West. The Western Church used religious images often and the Iconoclasm didn’t affect them as much.   Origins of Islam: Audrey - The closest translation of the word Islam to English is surrender, and in the context of the Islamic faith it would be the surrender to the will of God. A Muslim is someone who practices Islam, and submits to the will of God. The central text of Islam is the Quran, which is believed by Muslims that it is the word of God revealed by the messenger Muhammad. Especially in older texts Islam might be referred to as Muhammadism, like Christianity, but this is incorrect because the Muslims didn’t view Muhammad as a divine figure but as someone God spoke through. Ella - Muslims and Christians biggest difference is that muslims do not believe in the crucifixion or the resurrection. They also don’t believe that Jesus is the son of god. They belief he was only and early prophet. Muslims also believe in a system of 5 pillars. These pillars are made up of faith, prayer, charity, fasting and pilgrimage. Emma - Islam is similar to Christianity in many ways. For example, they believe that Moses, Abraham, and Jesus were all doing God’s work. They also believe that parts of the Bible are indeed God’s word though they also believe that Muhammad is another of God’s messengers and that they word he conveyed is also divinely inspired. Ben - The biggest figure in Islam is Muhammad, Muhammad was born in 570 BC, sadly his mother died in 576 BC and his grandfather died in 578 BC. He got married in 595 BC. After he saw revelations and visions from god he went down to the big cube and told everyone “hey your gods are fake” but as expected, everyone got mad at him so he had to move to a place with a Christian king. He went to where is now Ethiopia and preached his teachings. Gabe - he started preaching in mecca and the Quraysh tribe did not like that so he moved to Medina or Yathrib and here he kind of became a spiritual ruler over the city And they actually fight the quraysh tribe 3 to 1 because there's only about 300 of them and there's 900 quraysh and they win this battle and quraysh fight them again in the battle of uhud and now there’s 750 so they are building in numbers but there’s 3300 And the quraysh win  and then they have another war which is the  battle of the trench and they actually dug a trench around the city and they fought 3000 to 10000 so three to one again and the muslims won and this is all by account of the muslims though because they are the only record we have of that time 6.Ethan- Muslims consider Muhammad as the last person in the line of disciples. These disciples include, Moses, Abraham, and Jesus. Also, as soon as Muhammad was born most of the Middle East abandoned polytheism. Skylar - the early part of Islamic faiths are center around revelations of the prophet, Muhammad. A lot of the revelations with Muhammad are about surrendering to god. Muslims believe that the Quran is the final testament. Sunni and Shia Islam:  Ella - After the death of Muhammed, these two divisions known as Sunni and Shia came into play. 90% of the world's 1.6 billion muslims are Sunni and 10% are Shia. The word Sunni comes from the word Sunnah which is referring to Muhammad. The word Shia comes from Shi'atu ‘Ali which means followers of Ali. Audrey - The general division, between the Sunnis and the Shias, is who should succeed Muhammad, after his death, as leader of the Muslim community. The Shias believe that members of Muhammad’s family, especially his descendants, should become leader. The Sunnis disagree, and believe that it doesn’t really matter who succeeds Muhammad. Ben - As the divide gets more and more intense it causes the “Battle of the Camel” named after Aisha’s camel in 656 BC, then after that the “Battle of Siffin” happens merely a year after in 657 BC.  Gabe - the shias believe even more so that ali should be his successor after a speech saying he is mawla and ali is also mawla and when muhammad died his very close friend abu bakr takes his place and then umar and then uthman who is assassinated and ali finally takes his place      Emma - Ali became caliph in the year 656 AD, after the assassination of Uthman. At this time, Muawiya was the governor of Damascus and he felt that Ali was not putting in a full effort to punish the people who commited the crime. Because of this, he refuses to pledge his allegience to Ali. This started the Fist Fitna, or first Muslim civil war. Skylar - Muhammad was born in the year 570. He starts having revelations to god in the year 610, the Muslim calendar doesn’t start until 622 though. Muhammad married Khadijah and had several kids with her, one being named, Fatimah. Fatimah then married Ali, the son of Abu Talib. That’s where the word shi’atu ali comes from. 7.Ethan- The Shia are mainly based in places like Iraq and Iran, but are spread throughout the world itself. As you can probably guess, the Sunni are in many different places, since 9/10 Muslim are Sunni. Much blood was spilled through these 2 denominations throughout time..   Age of Islam: Ella - The Islamic Empire Grew as it obtained information from other civilizations such as the Byzantine and Persian empires. The collected knowledge and cultural ideas from surrounding empires and people they would meet around their area such as the Indians and the Chinese.          Audrey - They collected and obtained this information all throughout the Umayyad dynasty but most of it happened during the Abbasid Caliphate. The Abbasid Caliphate built Baghdad and moved the of the empire there. Ben - In 786 Al-Ma’mun was born, but later in his life (813 BC) he created the Baghdad house of wisdom. The baghdad house of wisdom contained almost all advanced human knowledge from at the time, from mathematics to astronomy, the house of wisdom contained all great wisdoms, even those that were fictional such as poetry. Gabe - they built baghdad right on the route between europe and asia making it the place a prime spot to trade in allowing the abbasids very wealthy because they imported all sorts of good like silk glass tile paper ivory soap honey diamonds Emma - During this time, something called the translation movement took place. Some of the caliphs like al-Rashid and al-Ma’mun wanted to make popular Greek texts accessible to the Arab world, so they encouraged scholars to translate Greek works into Arabic. They were trying to preserve the thoughts of great scholars such as Aristotle. 6.Ethan- The Abbasid Dynasty built Baghdad which is the capital of Iraq. While this was not always so, Damascus was the original capital city. At the time, this was the perfect place for the capital, for it was by the Tigris and Euphrates river. Thus made is ideal for crop production which allowed larger population. Skylar - Al-Kwarizmi was a persian mathematician who studied at the house of wisdom. Al-Kwarizmi is the inventor of algebra. The word algebra comes from the Arabic word al-jabr. He also created the Hindu numerals. The Great Schism: Audrey - Emperor Nero had these purges of Christians like the Roman fire or fire of rome in 64 ad. Nero blamed the Christians for the fire and was lighting them alive for punishment. Many historians believe that the apostles Peter and Paul were killed in these purges. Ben - Around the early 4th century a new emperor comes along and we’ve talked about him previously, Constantine. But today I’m going to go more in depth into Constantine’s life. He was born in 280 AD. His father was the previous western emperor before him, being made emperor in 305 AD. At Constantine’s thirties he was fighting for power within the western region, becoming victorious and being crowned emperor in 312 AD, and later became emperor of not just western rome but all of it in 324. He instilled multiple laws protecting christian people and converted to christianity/was baptised on his deathbed. He died in 337 AD. Gabe - after constantine there was theodosius who made christianity the main religion of rome and persecuted other religions he was also the last to rule both sides of rome when he died the germanic tribes took the west side of rome leaving justinian to the east side who conquered modern day italy back from the germanic tribes leaving the germanic tribes with modern day france and modern day germany and modern day france is owned by the franks the tribe of france which is why you have french and german but they were actually just german to begin with      Ella -  The Christians of the time were missionaries, going around and spreading their beliefs to other Roman Civilizations. In some cases families were split apart when half of the family decided to abandon Roman practices. Emma - Under the rule of Justinian, there was a power struggle in the Roman Empire. There were many people who possessed large amounts of power with different titles. There was obviously the Emperor, but then there was also the Bishop of Rome, now known as the Pope, who considers himself to somewhat the head of Christianity. There were also several other patriarchs across the Empire who held power and influence over the people. Skylar - Christianity started from the Roman Empire, it started from a jewish sect in Judea and Galilee, from early ministries. Going into the third century christianity was becoming pretty big. There were more purges. In 312 Constantine wins the battle at Milvian Bridge, and shortly after christianity becomes legal, and the christians are no longer persecuted for doing something they believe in. Ethan- The Holy Roman Empire was called this by Voltaire, “It is neither holy, nor an empire”. This Voltaire was a french Enlightenment writer/speaker. Otto der Grosse or Otto the Great was a Roman emperor who originated in Germany. He unified the Empire around the 10th century. It started to split around the 11th century. The Crusades:  Gabe - it was called the crusades because it was a war but from the pope so the pope wanted some land and he convinced a mighty Lord to go fight for him and his land so he goes and dies of starvation there and nevers sees his land again Audrey - Crusades were wars but they were considered just warfare. A war could be considered just if it had a just cause legitimate authority and the right intention. Ella - Eventually after losing a lot of territory, the Byzantine Empire was able to take back some of the Anatolian Peninsula from a muslim group called the Seljuk Turks. Supposedly, the crusades were made for the Byzantine Empire to get back the territory they lost, but the crusades usually took the land for themselves. Skylar -The Byzantine empire was losing the holy land, as the Arabians started to overrun it. Crusades were wars declared by the pope. Pope Urban II told all the christians they need to fight against the muslims to get the holy land back, and whoever fights will be forgiven of their sins. Emma - The crusades made a big impact on the expansion of European kingdoms and territories. In the north and est, crusading helped to expand parts of the Kingdoms of Sweden and Denmark. It also influenced the establishment of new political systems like Prussia. Ben - The one they hired to lead the charge against the Muslims that were taking over Jerusalem was Pope Urban II. This took place in 1095. His famous speech hat launched the crusades was, “Under Jesus Christ, our Leader, may you struggle for your Jerusalem, in Christian battle line, [that] most invincible line, even more successfully than did the sons of Jacob of old—struggle, that you may assail and drive out the Turks, more execrable than the Jebusites, who are in this land, and may you deem it a beautiful thing to die for Christ in that city in which he died for us. But if it befall you to die this side of it, be sure that to have died on the way is of equal value, if Christ shall find you in his army” 7.Ethan- The First Crusade was Jerusalem’s first military order. These military orders were more of taking on things like communal poverty, chastity, and obedience. But also violence… lots of violence… for the Christian faith of course. Examples consist of the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Teutonic Knights. 8.   Medieval Japan:   Gabe - medieval japan becomes a militaristic japan and it gets kind of fragmented and doesn't get reunited till around the modern period every wonder why japanese and chinese is a lot alike because the japanese borrowed many ideas from the chinese because there so close together china was like your older sibling influencing you     Skylar - The Heian period was a golden age for Japan. The Heians were very powerful. The Heian period was known for architecture, culture, arts, and philosophy. They had amazing cultural advancement for their time, around the year 1000. The women had a say in thing, like emperial arts. Lady Murasaki is known as the first novelist. A Shogun is a military dictator, the first Shogun was Minamoto Yuritomo. Audrey - China had a huge influence on Japan even though China never conquered Japan because of how close they are Japan borrowed many ideas from China in the Classical period. Japanese rulers sent delegations to China in the 7th century to better understand what the Chinese do to run their government. Ella - In the time he ruled, Oda Nobunaga took advantage of guns. He was able to use them to put most of the other lords into submission. He also worked towards unifying Japan. The next two rulers Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi continued working towards unify Japan. Ben - (Y’all better be ready for me to correct your pronunciation since I’m learning Japanese. Nah Jk) The capital of Japan during the heian period was Heian-kyo (today’s Kyoto). Also another little fact about the golden age of Japan was that woman that were in the family of very important political figures had a significant amount of power themselves, unlike other civilizations like Rome. Japan in its early state was famous for taking things and ideas from other people and making their own version. This is how they became one of the first truly industrialized countries.   Emma - The structure of Medieval Japan under the Bakufu system, or shogunate, was actually very similar to a lot of the European systems, and was even called a feudal system by some. In this time, the position of Emperor still existed, but all the power belonged to the Shogun who was a sort of military leader. Under the shogun there were several daimyo, which could be compared to lords. Beneath them was the warrior class of samurai, which are very similar to the knights of europe.   Ethan- The Edo period is named for the castle Edo. This castle was ruled by the Tokuwaga shogunate which is still going. The shogun is at the top of the chain which how the bakufu system normally works. This system is considered the reason Japan began to be unified. Maya, Aztec, and Inca   Skylar - The Aztec Empire starts to form when Azcapotzalca gets in a civil war, Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan for a triple alliance and conquer Azcapotzalca. The Aztec empire was very small at the time with only three city-states. The Inca empire called themselves the Tawantinsuyu, they called their ruler Inca.   Gabe - after a while in the Aztec empire Tenochtitlan which was once the weaker city state before in entered the aztec empire actually became the capital of the Aztec empire and the Aztec empire is actually around for another hundred years   When hernando cortes comes and conquered it in 1521        Audrey - The Aztec civilization and the Aztec empire are different from each other because the Aztec civilization was made up of broad groups of people over hundreds of years where the Aztec empire was a very specific entity that was formed in the hundred years before the Spanish colonization. Ella - Hernando Cortes was able to convince several hundreds of conquistadors to conquer empires for him. He collected people from neighboring city states who were having problems with the Mexico or Aztec Empires. He eventually took over the city of Tenochtitlan and it became a very advanced civilization. Ben - One of the biggest ways the English were able to conquer ancient Mexico was with the bringing of smallpox which the native Americans never really had before. Even before they started calling themselves the Inca, they already had a sort of advanced civilization. They taxed their citizens, but not in a traditional way, since they didn’t use a coin or currency system, citizens had to dedicate some of their working time to the government. Emma - The advancements of Inca Empire are on their own monumental, but to put it into perspective, from the historical evidence we currently have, there is no proof that the Incas had a written language. They did have a system of knots that they used, but that was the extent of and record keeping. Ethan- The Mayans were well known for their astronomics, mathematics, and their calendar. Their civilization was based in southeastern Mexico and Guatemala. There was also El Salvador, Belize, and Honduras.   That’s all the time we have for today. THank for joining us outside of the box that is learning.

Marco Polo's story of "Zipangu," the secluded island kingdom, abundant with gold, and Kublai Khan's attempt to take it all, is the subject of this episode. I talk about the two Mongol invasions of Japan and how their story has reached us.   Sources: The Travels of Marco Polo, the Venetian, translated by William Marsden, edited by Thomas Wright. George Bell & Sons, 1907.The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition, translated by Henry Yule and revised by Henri Cordier. Courier Corporation, 1993.Chase, Kenneth W. "Mongol Intentions Towards Japan in 1266: Evidence from a Mongol Letter to the Sung." Sino-Japanese Studies 9, no. 2 (1997).Conlan, Thomas D. In Little Need of Divine Intervention: Takezaki Suenaga's Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of Japan. Cornell University (2010).Delgado, James P. Adventures of a Sea Hunter: In Search of Famous Shipwrecks. Douglas & McIntyre, 2004.Delgado, James P. Khubilai Khan's Lost Fleet: In Search of a Legendary Armaga. Douglas & McIntyre, 2008.Delgado, James P. "Relics of the Kamikaze," Archaeology. 56, no. 1 (January/February, 2003).  Larner, John. Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World. Yale University Press, 1999.Mass, Jeffrey P., ed. Court and Bakufu in Japan: Essays in Kamakura History. Stanford University Press (1995).Olschki, Leonardo. Marco Polo's Asia. University of California Press, 1960.Rossabi, Morris. Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times. University of California Press, 1988.Sasaki, Randall J. The Origins of the Lost Fleet of the Mongol Empire. Texas A & M University Press, 2015.Yamada, Nakaba. Ghenko, the Mongol Invasion of Japan. London, Smith, Elder, 1916. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. Michael Wert (Marquette University) re-enacts the violence of the Meiji Restoration, combatting historiographical narratives of the Restoration as a "non-violent" or "bloodless" revolution.  We discuss what happens to the losers of the Restoration, the post-1868 activities and status of ex-Bakufu officials, and the "Long Meiji Restoration" before reflecting on the politics of historical memory and commemoration today.

Part two of an introduction to Kabuki, Japan's traditional theater. An example of Kabuki from the play Sanmon Gosan no Kiri: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLMy69smJz8 Mentioned in this podcast: Shively, Donald. Bakufu Versus Kabuki Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies Vol. 18, No. 3/4 (Dec., 1955)  http://www.jstor.org/stable/2718437 Support this podcast: Shop Amazon.com, suport the podcast: http://amzn.to/wnDX2j Samurai Archives Bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20 Samurai Archives Shop (T-Shirts, etc) http://www.cafepress.com/samuraiarchives Contact Us: Twitter @SamuraiArchives https://twitter.com/#!/samuraiarchives Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samurai-Archives/104533213984 Samurai Archives podcast blog: http://www.samuraipodcast.com

In this episode, your hosts give you an introduction to Kabuki, Japan's traditional theater.  This is part one of two. An example of Kabuki from the play Sanmon Gosan no Kiri: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLMy69smJz8 Mentioned in this podcast: Shively, Donald. Bakufu Versus Kabuki Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies Vol. 18, No. 3/4 (Dec., 1955)  http://www.jstor.org/stable/2718437 Support this podcast: Shop Amazon.com, suport the podcast: http://amzn.to/wnDX2j Samurai Archives Bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20 Samurai Archives Shop (T-Shirts, etc) http://www.cafepress.com/samuraiarchives Contact Us: Twitter @SamuraiArchives https://twitter.com/#!/samuraiarchives Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samurai-Archives/104533213984 Samurai Archives podcast blog: http://www.samuraipodcast.com Samurai Archives Forum: http://www.japanhistoryforum.com

This week, we'll be talking about the period called the Bakumatsu, or the end of the Bakufu. We'll be tracing a complex, but very interesting narrative describing how the Tokugawa went from masters of all they surveyed to defeat and destruction in a mere 15 years. Man, that sounds really gloomy. I promise there are fun bits too!

With this episode, we continue on to part two of our introduction to the politics and governmental systems of the Edo period of Japanese history. Mentioned in this Podcast: Roberts, Luke. Performing the Great Peace: Political Space and Open Secrets in Tokugawa Japan Univ of Hawaii Pr; First Edition edition (January 31, 2012) http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20/detail/0824835131 Support this podcast: Shop Amazon.com, suport the podcast: http://amzn.to/wnDX2j Samurai Archives Bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20 Samurai Archives Shop (T-Shirts, etc) http://www.cafepress.com/samuraiarchives Contact Us: Twitter @SamuraiArchives https://twitter.com/#!/samuraiarchives Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samurai-Archives/104533213984 Samurai Archives podcast blog: http://www.samuraipodcast.com Samurai Archives Forum: http://www.japanhistoryforum.com

In this episode, resident Edo period expert Travis takes us through an introduction to the politics and governmental systems of the Edo period of Japanese history. This is part 1 of 2. Mentioned in this Podcast:  Seals of Red and Letters of Gold - An Interview With Travis Seifman http://samuraiarchives.podbean.com/2011/04/25/seals-of-red-and-letters-of-gold-an-interview-with-travis-seifman/ EP49 The Sengoku Daimyo Domain as Political State P1 http://samuraiarchives.podbean.com/2012/08/18/ep49-the-sengoku-daimyo-domain-as-political-state-p1/ EP50 The Sengoku Daimyo Domain as Political State P2 http://samuraiarchives.podbean.com/2012/09/03/ep50-the-sengoku-daimyo-domain-as-political-state-p2/ Support this podcast: Shop Amazon.com, suport the podcast: http://amzn.to/wnDX2j Samurai Archives Bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20 Samurai Archives Shop (T-Shirts, etc) http://www.cafepress.com/samuraiarchives Contact Us: Twitter @SamuraiArchives https://twitter.com/#!/samuraiarchives Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samurai-Archives/104533213984 Samurai Archives podcast blog: http://www.samuraipodcast.com Samurai Archives Forum: http://www.japanhistoryforum.com

Sankin Kotai, or “alternate attendance” was the Tokugawa Bakufu’s policy of having regional Daimyo split their time between their home Han and the capital, Edo. In this podcast, your hosts give you a general overview of this process, why it was done, and what the purpose was behind it. Mentioned in this Podcast:  Statler, Oliver. Japanese Inn: A Reconstruction Of The Past Kessinger Publishing, LLC (September 10, 2010) http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20/detail/1166136787 Vaporis, Constantine. Tour of Duty: Samurai, Military Service in Edo, and the Culture of Early Modern Japan Univ of Hawaii Pr (July 31, 2008) http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20/detail/0824832051 Support this podcast: Shop Amazon.com, suport the podcast: http://amzn.to/wnDX2j Samurai Archives Bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20 Samurai Archives Shop (T-Shirts, etc) http://www.cafepress.com/samuraiarchives Contact Us: Twitter @SamuraiArchives https://twitter.com/#!/samuraiarchives Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samurai-Archives/104533213984 Samurai Archives podcast blog: http://www.samuraipodcast.com Samurai Archives Forum: http://www.japanhistoryforum.com

Part nine of our Introduction to Japanese History series gives a brief overview of the two attempted Mongol Invasions of Japan during the 13th century, and the effect it had on the country in general, and the Hojo regents and Bakufu specifically. Mentioned in this podcast: Conlan, Thomas. In Little Need of Divine Intervention: Takezaki Suenaga's Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of Japan Cornell Univ East Asia Program (August 2002) http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20/detail/188544513X Sansom, George. A History of Japan to 1334 Stanford University Press; 1 edition (June 1, 1958) http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20/detail/0804705232 Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of Japan, from Bowdoin College: http://www.bowdoin.edu/mongol-scrolls/ Support this podcast: Shop Amazon.com, suport the podcast: http://amzn.to/wnDX2j Samurai Archives Bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20 Samurai Archives Shop (T-Shirts, etc) http://www.cafepress.com/samuraiarchives Contact Us: Twitter @SamuraiArchives https://twitter.com/#!/samuraiarchives Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samurai-Archives/104533213984 Samurai Archives podcast blog: http://www.samuraipodcast.com Samurai Archives Forum: http://www.japanhistoryforum.com

In part 8 of our Introduction to Japanese History podcast, we examine the early Kamakura period. Once Minamoto Yoritomo became Shogun, he began using the authority given to him by the emperor to solidify his power. Over the course of the next 20 years the Minamoto would usurp much of the power of the imperial court, only to be replaced completely by a line of puppet shoguns controlled by the Hojo Regents. Mentioned in this podcast: Brownlee, John. Crisis as Reinforcement of the Imperial Institution. The Case of the Jokyu Incident, 1221 Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Summer, 1975), pp. 193-201 http://www.jstor.org/pss/2383842 Mass, Jeffrey (Ed). Court and Bakufu in Japan: Essays in Kamakura History Stanford University Press (January 1, 1995) http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20/detail/0804724733 Mass, Jeffrey. Yoritomo and the Founding of the First Bakufu: The Origins of Dual Government in Japan Stanford University Press; 1 edition (January 1, 2000) http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20/detail/0804735913 Mass, Jeffrey. Lordship and Inheritance in Early Medieval Japan: A Study of the Kamakura Soryo System ACLS Humanities E-Book (August 1, 2008) http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20/detail/1597405981 Thomas D. Conlan, Karl F. Friday. Currents in Medieval Japanese History: Essays in Honor of Jeffrey P. Mass Figueroa Press (September 1, 2009) http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20/detail/1932800522 Support this podcast: Shop Amazon.com, suport the podcast: http://amzn.to/wnDX2j Samurai Archives Bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20 Samurai Archives Shop (T-Shirts, etc) http://www.cafepress.com/samuraiarchives Contact Us: Twitter @SamuraiArchives https://twitter.com/#!/samuraiarchives Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samurai-Archives/104533213984 Samurai Archives podcast blog: http://www.samuraipodcast.com Samurai Archives Forum: http://www.japanhistoryforum.com

After Japan closed its borders and kicked the Christian missionaries out of Japan, it was forced to undertake a national maritime defense to protect against any potential foreign threats. In this podcast, we examine the defense of the port of Nagasaki, from the political and military structure to the actual defenses constructed at the port. We also examine the successes and failures that occurred in Nagasaki, starting with the torching of a Portuguese ship and execution of most of its sailors in 1640, to the drastic failure to defend the port against the British Navy ship Phaeton in 1808. Support the podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/samuraiarchives Mentioned in this podcast: Arima, Seiho. The Western Influence on Japanese Military Science, Shipbuilding, and Navigation Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 19 No. 3/4 Sophia University, 1964 http://www.jstor.org/stable/2383177 Wilson, Noell. Tokugawa Defense Redux: Organizational Failure in the Phaeton Incident of 1808 Journal of Japanese Studies, Vol. 36 No. 1, Society for Japanese Studies, 2010 http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_japanese_studies/summary/v036/36.1.wilson.html Support this podcast: Shop Amazon.com, suport the podcast: http://amzn.to/wnDX2j Samurai Archives Bookstore: http://astore.amazon.com/samurai-20 Samurai Archives Shop (T-Shirts, etc) http://www.cafepress.com/samuraiarchives Contact Us: Twitter @SamuraiArchives https://twitter.com/#!/samuraiarchives Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samurai-Archives/104533213984 Samurai Archives podcast blog: http://www.samuraipodcast.com Samurai Archives Forum: http://www.japanhistoryforum.com