In Japan, the Kamakura Shogunate (1185-1333)
ruled through the Minamoto line briefly,
then through the Hōjō regents who controlled
the child shoguns, a parallel to Fujiwara, chiefly.
Hōjō Yasutoki issued the Goseibai Shikimoku
in 1232, the first warrior legal code,
establishing samurai law distinct from
the court's traditional Chinese-derived mode.
Buddhism in Kamakura Japan exploded
into new schools. Hōnen (1133-1212) founded
Jōdo-shū (Pure Land) — salvation by faith
in Amida's name, simple, democratic, abounded.
Shinran (1173-1263), Hōnen's disciple,
founded Jōdo Shinshū (True Pure Land),
radicalized — one sincere calling of Amida's name
suffices, the rest is the divine's hand.
Eisai (1141-1215) brought Rinzai Zen
from China, with koans and warriors' discipline.
Dōgen (1200-1253) founded Sōtō Zen,
emphasizing just-sitting meditation.
Nichiren (1222-1282) founded his own school,
demanding exclusive devotion to the Lotus Sutra,
denouncing all other schools as heretical,
predicting doom for Japan, prophetic prodra.
He predicted foreign invasion, and he was right.
Kublai Khan sent demands for Japanese submission.
When the Hōjō regent refused, the Mongol
fleet sailed in 1274, armed for decision.
The Mongols landed at Hakata Bay on Kyushu.
The samurai fought one-on-one duels by tradition.
The Mongols fought in formations with poisoned arrows
and gunpowder bombs (tetsuhau) — modern ammunition.
The samurai took heavy casualties the first day.
That night a typhoon struck. The Mongol fleet
was damaged. They retreated. The samurai
claimed victory, but knew they had been beaten in the heat.
They spent seven years preparing. They built
a stone wall along Hakata Bay, twenty kilometers long,
two meters high. They trained samurai in group tactics.
They prayed at shrines and temples, Shinto and Buddhist alike, strong.
In 1281, Kublai sent two fleets: 900 ships
from Korea, 3,500 from South China, carrying
140,000 men in total, the largest amphibious
operation until D-Day, seven centuries tarrying.
The samurai held them off the beach for weeks.
Then another typhoon struck. The fleet was caught
in the harbors and destroyed. Four thousand ships sunk.
Perhaps 100,000 men drowned, or couldn't be brought.
The survivors who made shore were slaughtered.
The Japanese called the typhoon kamikaze,
"divine wind," sent by the gods to defend Japan.
Shinto belief in divine protection bore hazy.
(In World War II, "kamikaze" would be revived
for the suicide pilots, invoking the same myth,
that Japan was divinely protected, and if
the gods failed to send wind, men would be the shift.)
The Mongol invasions exhausted the Kamakura Shogunate.
Samurai who had fought expected rewards,
but there were no conquered lands to distribute.
Discontent grew. The shogunate lost support, toward
its eventual collapse in 1333, when
Emperor Go-Daigo tried to restore direct
imperial rule in the Kenmu Restoration.
That attempt would fail — the next chapter's rect.
Stand.