Epic Tales of Japan: Resilience, Unity, and the Samurai Legacy

Join us on a captivating journey through the rich tapestry of Japan's history in this episode of "Epic Tales of Japan: Resilience, Unity, and the Samurai Legacy." Dive deep into the stories of legendary leaders and epic battles that shaped the indomitable spirit of Japan. Discover how Hojo Tokimune stood against the formidable Mongol Empire, setting a precedent for Japan's unity and resilience. Unravel the enigmatic world of Queen Himiko and her diplomatic prowess, and explore the profound cultural exchanges that introduced Buddhism to Japan, transforming its spiritual and political landscape.

Witness the dramatic events of the Battle of Bengma River, a turning point that led Japan to introspection and altered its regional dynamics. Experience the cultural renaissance of the Heian period and the rise of the samurai, who redefined Japan's social fabric. From strategic capital relocations to fierce conflicts with the Emishi, explore the complex process of nation-building amidst internal reforms and external threats.

The episode culminates with the miraculous divine intervention during the Mongol invasions, a pivotal moment that solidified Japan's identity and unity against common adversaries. Through vivid storytelling and historical insights, this episode offers a riveting exploration of Japan's legendary past and its enduring legacy of resilience and unity.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
5 Mongol envoys knelt on the beach at Kamakura and stretched
out their necks. Their time had come, and a clear
target for the execution of sword would at least ensure it
was painless. They gazed out over the deep
blue of the Pacific Ocean, waveslapping slowly.
How they wished their final sight could have been an ocean

(00:26):
of grass swaying softly in a steppe breeze.
Their hearts were calm as the blades descended upon their
naked necks. They would be revenged.
This execution of ambassadors was how Hojo Tokimune, the
Shiken head of the Shogun's government and ruler of Japan,

(00:49):
gave his definitive answer to Kublai Khan, Emperor of China,
Son of Heaven, Great Khan of theMongols.
He would not submit, not now, not ever.
Mount Fuji's shining peak loomedover the headless Mongol
warriors. Soon after, Kublai sent another

(01:10):
five men. This time there would be no
negotiation. They came to announce one thing
invasion. It would be the biggest seaborne
attack the world had ever seen. These new envoys met the same
end, but they were not granted the honour of dying in Mount
Fuji's blessed shadow. Their blood stained the western

(01:32):
beaches where the compatriots had tried to land in Kyushu a
year before, For the first invasion had come in November
1274. Great Korean ships, replete with
Mongol battle regalia and tippedwith grotesque figureheads,
still living Japanese Islanders from the outlying domains of
Sushima and Ikki, were nailed, screaming hideously to the

(01:55):
prows. The Armada, stretching to the
horizon obscured the waters and made land in Hakata Bay,
northern Kyushu. Tight ranks of soldiers
descended from the ships into the water and marched in
formation, Shields held high, uponto the beach.
This phalanx warfare was unfamiliar to the defending
samurai. They were confused.

(02:17):
When were they supposed to shouttheir challenge?
To whom? How would they know if opponents
were of appropriate rank? One of the defenders made-up his
mind, lifted his great bow, tookaim at a mounted officer and let
fly. Hojo Tokimune, insecure in his

(02:39):
recent tenure presiding over a crumbling realm beset with woes,
lay in his concubine's lap. His realm was an ancient one,
even if the House of Dokimune were merely backwater warriors
turned recent usurpers of the strings of national power.
The Mongol threat had focused his mind.
This the first full scale invasion his country had ever

(03:02):
known. And so, for the first time in
his young life, he wondered, howhad Japan got here?
Doki Monet became drowsy and slipped into a light sleep.
He dreamed slowly, vividly and fitfully of a Japan, not now as
it was, but as it had been back into the mists.

(03:27):
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(05:07):
in the old words, and wishing tocorrect the misstatements in the
former chronicles, Her Highness Empress Regnant Ken May, on the
18th day of the ninth moon of the fourth year of Wardo,
commanded me, Yasumaro, to select and record the old words,
and dutifully to lift them up toher.
I, Yasumaro, with true tremblingand true fear, Bow my head, bow

(05:31):
my head. Court Noble Futo no Yasumaro,
Upper Division, First Class, 5thRank 5th Order of Merit paused
in his writing, shifted his knees ever so slightly to render
his kneeling position a little more comfortable, dipped his
fine brush into the pitch black ink, and started his great
endeavour. A work to last for all time,

(05:55):
Yasumaro went on to render the fables legends and vaguely
understood myths of ancient times as fact, creating a divine
fable to legitimize and deify the rule of his very human
imperial masters and the right of his people, the Yamato, to
dominate all the other tribes and peoples of the land we now

(06:16):
know as Japan. He described how Izanagi and
Izanami first created the islands, mountains, rivers,
herbs and trees with drops of water from a coral spear.
Then they begat the Lord of the Universe, the sun goddess

(06:37):
Amatorasu, the greatest of theirdivine children.
She sent her grandson, Ninigi noMikado, to Earth as the first
ruler of the land. But it was not only Ninigi who
descended to Earth. His father Susano, God of
storms, uncouth and brash, was banished from heaven for his
foul and evil behavior. While Susano's people conquered

(06:58):
and flourished in Izumo in the West of the island of Honshu,
Ninigi's people also prospered and multiplied in the South.
Within 3 generations, they had grown powerful enough to thrust
N to central Honshu, battling foes to establish a new power
base. Its names were myriad, but most
know it as Yamatai. Yamatai was ruled over by an

(07:20):
Emperor Jimu, the first of a line that was to last forever.
Of course, it was probably not quite as Yasumaro told it.
For Yasumaru to serve a deity, the imperial line required
divine blood. And so Yasumaru wove the myriad

(07:41):
myths of the Yamato people into a solid story, and in doing so
discovered a royal lineage that stretched back to the sun
herself. The amateur rasu of his story
was probably based upon the legendary great 3rd century
shaman Queen Himiko Susano. Her brother and his fight with
her may have represented a royaldisagreement as much as a

(08:04):
heavenly battle. His was a work of propaganda
akin to the Roman Aeneid, which wove together vaguely remembered
myth, heroic legend, and outright fabrications to
legitimize the rule of Augustus Caesar in Rome, or the Secret
History of the Mongols, which did the same for Genghis Khan.

(08:26):
The original settlers of Japan, however, came in a far more
human guise. They first crossed land bridges
from the Asian mainland 10s of thousands of years before, and
continued to arrive in small groups from all directions for
eons afterwards. The population was small,
perhaps 160,000 at its height, and so these people, called

(08:49):
Jomon after the rope patterns they left on their pottery, are
thought to have lived a life of hunting and gathering the
plentiful resources they found around them.
They did not know of war until the new people began to make
landfall. These were the people whose
myths Yasumaru wrote as fact. The many fenced palace of the

(09:09):
God of Storms was copied across the islands by a new and
dequisitive ambitious people whocoveted the land and protected A
newly engineered resource, the rice field.
These are known as the Yayoi people, and Japan would never be
the same again. The ancient Chinese Kingdom of

(09:29):
Wu, where Shanghai now stands, was believed by the ancient
Japanese to be where their ancestors came from.
Refugees from that Kingdom, which was destroyed around the
time that the Yayoi, are believed to have migrated to
Japan. Descriptions of the Wu and the
Wah as the Japanese were originally known in Chinese.
Their tattoos and warlike naturecertainly seemed to bear more

(09:50):
than a passing resemblance. The archaeological and DNA
record shows that a large body of the Yayoi period Japanese
came from the north Siberia, through Mongolia and Manchuria,
down the Korean Peninsula and across the seas.
Some modern research also suggests that material and
cultural similarities with civilizations on Java and other

(10:12):
parts of Southeast Asia may exist.
What is certain is that the Yayoi people were not the final
pre Japanese history humans to migrate to the Japanese Isles.
Sometime in the first few centuries of the Common Era, a
time of turmoil and war on the continent, a massive wave of
people came from northern China,bringing with the material

(10:32):
wealth and knowledge to improve just about every facet of human
life on the islands. Some became nobles, had their
names recorded, and entered the chronicles.
Place and family names connecting modern Japan with
these ancient settlers can be found to this day.
But the exact details of early Japan can still be said to be

(10:53):
lost in the linguistic and cultural mists of time.
Which leaves us with the mysteryof just who are the Japanese?
The country formerly had a man as a ruler for some 70 or 80

(11:15):
years. After that there were
disturbances and warfare. Thereupon the people agreed upon
a woman for their ruler. Her name was Himiko.
She occupied herself with magic and sorcery, bewitching the
people. Though mature in age, she
remained unmarried. She had a younger brother who
assisted her in running the country.
After she became the ruler, there were few who saw her.

(11:36):
She had 1000 women as attendants, but only one man.
She resided in a palace surrounded by towers and
stockades with armed guards in aconstant state of vigilance.
When Himiko passed away, a greatmound was raised more than 100
paces in diameter. Over 100 male and female
attendants followed her to the grave.

(12:00):
Kofun 162,000 of these burial mounds have been identified
across Japan. They vary in shape and size, but
the classic kofun is shaped likea keyhole or bell.
The longest is over 400 meters. The burial chambers are of
stone. Unlooted ones have been found to
be adorned with paintings of court life and filled with

(12:22):
useful accessories for the afterlife.
The prehistoric semi legendary age recorded in the Chinese
classic Sanguo Qi Record of the Three Kingdoms not only told of
the enthronement of Queen Himiko, a spinning of spells to
pacify the realm and an influx of people from lands over the
seas, it also saw the dawn of these massive megalithic

(12:44):
engineering projects. Despite her pure white robe of
Mulberry fibre, the warm eveningand the flaming torches, a
shiver of pure ice rent the girl's heart as she saw the
mound which would be her restingplace.
But she steeled herself, the magatama charms which adorned

(13:04):
her body rattling while she danced, her destiny as a
Heavenly lady in waiting to her deceased mistress, Ruler of
Yamatai, Queen of Wah, friend ofWei Dynasty, China Himiko.
Despite her fear and misgivings,the young girl's heart brimmed
with pride. To fulfill this duty, there
never would be another such as her dead Queen Himiko had woven

(13:27):
a spell over Yamatai with Kido magic.
The sorcery had wrought peace where once there had been war,
prosperity where once there had been none.
The people loved her, yet none could set their eyes upon her.
Even the 1000 maidens who servedher were ignorant of her face.
The Queen would admit only one person to her presence, her

(13:48):
brother. This man served her food and
wine and communicated laws and judgments to her flock.
Himiko's most astonishing achievement had been sending 4
diplomatic missions to far off China with gifts of slaves and
the highly prized fine strong cloth for which the Queen's land
was justly famous. In return, treasures the likes

(14:09):
of which had never been seen before, Beads, bronze, mirrors
and most prized of all swords, military banners and an official
seal pronouncing her friend and ally of the Way dynasty.
Himiko and her chief envoys weresymbolically appointed to the
highest ranks in the way Chinesemilitary.

(14:31):
Her magic had extended across the oceans and bewitched the
Chinese ruler into giving her his greatest honour.
With China's recognition, all bowed before her and Yamatai
came to dominate the Japanese islands.

(14:51):
But as is the way of things, thegreat Queen breathed her last
and the people of Yamatai raiseda great mound, a cofun, over her
burial chamber. 100 youths and maidens were selected to serve
her until the end of time, and the young girl shivering in the
summer evening heat was 1. She danced on past the crackling

(15:13):
flames into the Kofun mound and on to the eternal afterlife.
Himiko and her serving maidens are believed to be at eternal
peace at the Hashihaka Kofun in Nara Prefecture.
Assassination and murder followed.

(15:34):
More than 1000 were thus slain. A relative of Himiko named EO.
A girl of 13 was then made queenand order was restored.
Jung, an ambassador from Wei, issued a proclamation to the
effect that EO was the ruler. This set a pattern in Japan.

(15:55):
Throughout ancient times, women's status was high and
female monarchs repeatedly enterthe chronicles.
Some, like Empress Jingu, beat the drums of war.
Others seem to have followed Himiko and EO in fostering a
land at peace with itself. This doctrine is, amongst all

(16:19):
the doctrines, the most excellent, but it is hard to
explain and hard to comprehend. Even the Duke of Joe and
Confucius could not attain a knowledge of it.
This doctrine can create religious merit and retribution
without measure and without bounds, and so lead on to a full
appreciation of the highest wisdom.

(16:39):
Every prayer is fulfilled, and naughty is wanting.
The people who made the Japaneseislands their home did not
forget about the lands their ancestors had come from, nor
about the gods of those lands which they brought with them to
become the gods of the religion we now know as Shinto.

(17:01):
Long before the myths of Amatarasu and her descendants
were written, Shinto was a living, breathing religion of
nature spirits, mountains, rivers, trees, stones, fire, and
water. But the small kingdoms of the
Japanese Isles had remained intimately connected to those on
the Korean Peninsula, trading, exchanging, learning, marrying

(17:22):
and warring. Embassies were exchanged, noble
and royal marriage alliances forged, technology transferred
and missionaries sent. There was a relationship of deep
respect. And so in the middle of the 6th
century, when King Son of Bekje,a Kingdom in the western part of

(17:44):
the peninsula, sent his letter sharing the peace of the Buddha
with Emperor Kinmei, His Imperial Highnesses Chief
Advisor Sogano Ename stroked hisbeard and smiled behind a
ceremonial fan. His time had come at last.
The long years of scheming with his Korean kin and continental

(18:04):
minded allies in the Yamato court had resulted at last in
this mission's arrival. It seemed sudden, Heaven sent,
but it was nothing of the sort. Saga and his family had spent
years, perhaps even decades, arranging it all.
This was not the first time Buddha's teachings had reached
Japan. A number of the common people
had been preached to by monks ingenerations past, some of the

(18:27):
holy men even claiming to have come from as far away as the
land of the Buddha's birth. But such common barefoot migrant
priests received no patronage and even less aristocratic
interest. Soga no Ename's family had been
aware, perhaps even secret followers of the teachings, for
generations. He knew both that Buddhism was

(18:48):
salvation for his sovereign and a way of concentrating power in
his own hands. He would be the first noble of
consequence to take up Buddha's banner.
He and his clan would hold it aloft in battle, claiming the
divine power to smite and confound their foes.

(19:10):
Nature, or maybe the old Shinto gods, it seemed, did not agree
with Saga's new religion. Plague broke out, and Saga's
enemy at court seized upon this as proof that the true gods of
the land were insulted, and Emperor Kinmei, in a fearful
rage and immortal fear for his life and Kingdom, ordered
Buddhist temples destroyed. It would be left to Saga no

(19:33):
Ename's descendants to reclaim the Buddhist mandate.
The army of the imperial Princess and the troops of the
ministers were timid and afraid,and fell back three times.
At this, the Imperial Prince Shotoku, his hair being tied on
his temples, followed in the rear of the army.
He pondered in his own mind, saying to himself, Without

(19:54):
prayer, we cannot succeed. So he cut down a tree and
swiftly fashioned images of the four heavenly kings.
Placing them on his top knot, heuttered a vow.
If we are now made to gain the victory over the enemy, I
promise faithfully to honor the four Heavenly Kings, Guardians
of the world, by erecting to them a temple with a pagoda.

(20:19):
And so Prince Shotoku swept to victory when he was appointed
head of government under his aunt, Japan's first and longest
reigning female Empress Regnant Suiko, he made Buddhism the
state religion. Together they established
temples, sent embassies to sway China, established a calendar to
understand the heavens, and the Constitution to enshrine both

(20:41):
Buddhism and Chinese Confucian order as the guiding principles
of life, at least for aristocrats in the new nation,
which within a century would become generally known by a
term. He is said to have invented the
land of the rising Sun, Nihon orJapan.

(21:03):
From the chaos and tribal infighting of the 5th century,
Shotoko and Suiko established the roots of a stable state
which would in time come to dominate the three main islands,
Honshu, Kyushu and Chicago, and impose semi vassal status on the
wild tribes of the North and thetattooed Amami Island peoples of
the far South. Future religious and secular

(21:25):
leaders would claim that he cameto them in visions and dreams,
inspiring them to great deeds and profound spiritual
understanding. In his vision, his
accomplishments and the recognition granted him down the
ages, Prince Shotoku can justly claim to be the father of the
nation we now know as Japan. The farm boy stood in a simple

(21:54):
tunic, rusty knife in his belt, a tall spear at his side.
He was feeling strong. The gathering cold of late
autumn didn't bother him one bit.
Instead, the blue sky gave him hope and strength.
The conscript reflected on the fact that he was a peasant no
more. He was now a great warrior for

(22:15):
his Lord and king. He watched excitedly as the
eagerly anticipated great flotilla of ships entered the
mouth of the Bangma River on theEast Coast of Korea. 10s of
thousands of men bent to the oars, chanting in unison as the
small vessels which had successfully made the
treacherous crossing from Kyushumade their way up the river

(22:36):
stride. Each ship stood proud warriors,
clan banners held high, swords punching the air amid deafening
cheers. Drums rang out.
They were late in the season andhad been lucky not to get caught
in the autumn storms, but it mattered not.
They were now here. Bekje, the Kingdom from which

(22:58):
Buddha's peace had entered Japan, was an ancient Japanese
ally on the Korean Peninsula, but had fallen to an alliance of
Tang, China and another Korean Kingdom, Silla, in 660.
Following that defeat, those whocould fled to Japan to plan
their comeback with the help of the Japanese.
This vast army and Armada of boats was the result.

(23:20):
It was a moment of pure joy for the young conscript as he stood
on the riverbank, ready to welcome the Japanese
reinforcements and the returningBekje refugees, and above all,
his rightful Lord, the new King Pungjang.
This king would stamp the seal of peace on their lives and coat
it with the blood of the wretched oppressors.

(23:41):
The river was filling up. It had become almost impossible
to see the water flowing beneaththe sleek vessels that were so
numerous. 800 His commander toldhim.
All the conscript knew that was with such a host they were sure
of victory. Everyone was in good spirits.
The moment for revenge had arrived.

(24:02):
It was October the 4th, 6th, 63.The Motherland was on the cusp
of being restored to its former glory.
The flotilla got larger and larger as more and more ships
entered the estuary and started to head upstream.
But there came a point when theywere so jammed together that
movement all but ceased. This was the moment the hidden

(24:25):
tongue Chinese ships had been waiting for. 170 of them sprung
the trap, speeding downriver from inland harbours, raining
flaming arrows down on the unprepared Japanese and Bekje
Korean vessels. The young conscript watched in
horror as his Kingdom salvation floundered and died before his
eyes. Then from the hills behind him

(24:48):
came the sound of shouts. A conch shell rang high, then
low. The order for cavalry to form
up. Hoorang Scylla's renowned
cavalry, trained by warrior monks from childhood to Revere
the law, obey all orders, to love and fight for the death of
their comrades and to exterminate their foes.

(25:08):
There was said to sooner die than retreat.
The young Beckjay conscript now saw himself for what he was, no
great warrior, a mere mountain peasant dressed in hemp
clothing, armed only with a simple spear.
It was now he knew fear in his heart.

(25:29):
Behind Beckjay's dwindling forces the Tongue ship had
closed in and hand to hand fighting covered the floating
battlefield. Surviving Japanese warriors from
sunken ships climbed the muddy riverbanks and joined the rear
of the Conscripts formation. There was nowhere to run from
the circling Huarang. The only hope was the ever
smaller mass of men around theirking.

(25:50):
Then they broke. The few remaining men headed for
the safety of the hills as the Huarang swarmed around them,
impaling the fleeing runners on razor sharp lances.
They held out fighting a low keyguerrilla war for years in the
mountains. But after a decade, the
dwindling band of freedom fighters knew that all was truly

(26:11):
lost. There was to be no Bekje
resurrection. Japanese ships again made the
dangerous voyage to the continental peninsula to perform
the evacuation of their Korean allies and kin.
The minister Yeo Jasin, the minister Grisel Jepsa and
others, men and women to the number of over 700 persons, were

(26:36):
removed and settled in the district of Kamafu in the
province of Omi. As Bekje fell, all those who
could, perhaps many thousands inall, escaped to the Japanese
islands with the retreating Japanese troops, and in the
decades following they were welcomed and integrated into
society and national political systems.
Their traces survived to this day in place names, culture and

(27:00):
family surnames. This was a pivotal moment for
Japan. No longer would it be intimately
entwined with the continent. From now on it would turn
inwards, concentrating on its own affairs, staying well away
from continental politics and conflicts.
Scylla, who soon conquered the whole peninsula, never forgot

(27:22):
that the Japanese had supported their Bekje enemies.
The relationship between the Japanese Isles and the Koreas
had soured, never to regain its former warmth.
In ancient times, the kings of the Yin Dynasty restored their

(27:45):
country after transferring the capital five times.
The sovereigns of the Zhou dynasty ensured peace in their
country after establishing the capital three times today.
As for the site of Hejo Kyo, thelayout of the four animals is in
accord with the model. Mountains guard the site in
three directions and the divinations suggest good

(28:05):
fortune. We should build a new capital at
this site. Materials for construction as
the need arises should be listedand reported.
Plans should be carefully workedout so that they would not be
changed subsequently. Odessena had travelled the world
over ice bound mountains, through parched desert, across

(28:26):
the lush farmland and upon the deepest seas in his quest to
find Manjusri, a long dead enlightened 1A bodhisattva of
wisdom who appeared to him in a dream as a youth in India.
It had taken him years, but now he was reaching his journey's
end. Gioki, the Japanese monk who

(28:47):
walked beside him, was Manjusri reincarnated, he was sure of it.
They had met before, in another time and place, another life in
the presence of the Buddha himself.
Gyoki solemnly LED Bolisena ontohis their destiny, the great
city of Hejokyo, Japan's new capital.

(29:09):
Nothing like this had been seen before.
The land had been unified. No longer was it merely the
statelet of Yamato. It was now the land of the
Rising Sun, Japan. It was no longer appropriate or
dignified for the court to up sticks and be loaded onto the
back of Volkswagens every few years.

(29:31):
China had long ago built an established capital.
It was high time that Japan should join the civilized world
in this matter, just as it had so many other ways over the
centuries. Foreign states needed to
understand the full dignity and civilization of the city's
inhabitants and its rulers, needed to know where to send
diplomatic missions and tribute.And what is more, heaven needed

(29:55):
to know where human power lay onearth.
Moving had surely confused the gods, caused them to look less
favorably on the realm. The time had come on the day of
Jiaji in the 11th month, the cabinet offered a proposal to
the emperor as follows. We hear that in ancient times
the lives were so simple that people lived in caves in winter

(30:18):
and nests in summer. In recent years, the noble
people live in palaces instead. We also have the capital for the
residents of the Emperor, since the capital is visited by people
from remote provinces and foreign countries.
How can we express the virtue ofthe emperor if the capital lacks
magnificence? We offer a proposal to decree

(30:39):
that the authorities should instruct A nobleman and wealthy
commoners to equip their houses with tiled roofs, Vermilion
pillars and white walls. Hey Jo Kyo was the answer to all
these problems, desires and prayers.
A city of 100,000 nobles, commoners and slaves alike

(31:00):
walked within its numerous precincts.
Peasants delivered food and other supplies from the
hinterland. Pretty girls arrived to make
their fortune in the pleasure districts.
Criminals slunk by in the shadows, hoping to grab a tiny
slither of the glorious riches for themselves.
Imperial counselors and civil servants also came from much
further afield, from as far awayas Persia, a land lost in the

(31:24):
haze of the vast sand and grass desert which was known to exist
beyond China. Chinese scholars, merchants,
engineers and architects from great tongue roamed the streets
and haunted the halls of learning in their flowing robes,
sporting their long status marking nails.
Work with one's hands and fingers was left to the mere

(31:44):
illiterate peasants and the servile classes.
A grand imperial repository called Shosoin was established
to exemplify the permanence of the new city, the royal
treasures, tribute and gifts from neighboring states, some
emanating from further even thanthe most exotic of inhabitants.
The extreme Wilds of lands in the far West whose names were

(32:08):
unknown would no longer be subject to rude upheaval.
They would rest in peace as symbols of imperial legitimacy,
international recognition, and power in the sacrosanct
precincts of the brand new Todaiji Temple.
Prince Shotoku's reforms had woven their logical path to this

(32:29):
point. The loss of allies and bases on
the continent, no longer a buffer zone, had led to this
point. Japan's establishment as a state
had LED to this point. Of all the people who roamed the
white boulevards of the new capital, Bodhisena truly stood
out. He was by far the darkest

(32:50):
skinned and perhaps close to oneof the most learned men to have
ever walked the winding mountainroads of Japan.
A Tamil man from the Deep South of what is now southern India,
he had travelled the world seeking Buddhist truth and his
search had eventually ended here.
He was only in his 20s. The imperial court was thrilled

(33:11):
to have a guest from lands so close to those of Buddha's birth
and granted Bodhisena land for atemple, encouraging him to share
his deep knowledge and saintly aura.
However, Bodhisena did not simply settle for a quiet temple
life. He was granted the honour of
putting the final touch to the greatest devotional work of

(33:32):
construction that Japan and mostof the world had ever seen.
In 741, Emperor Shomo, desiring to show the magnificence of his
state, demonstrate the protection of the Buddha's
universal order, and having heard the tongue, China had
already completed such a project, ordered the erecting of

(33:52):
a great Buddha statue in Hejo Kyo.
It was to be the centerpiece of a great institution of religion
and learning. 16 meters high, 500 tons cast entirely of bronze
and housed in a great wooden temple hall, 50 by 86 meters
with 84 massive Cypress pillars.To Daiji, the world had never

(34:16):
seen the like in wood before, nor would ever again.
Half of the population, around 2.6 million people, donated
food, money or labour to the cause and specialist Craftsman
hired from throughout the known world toiled for over a decade
to realize this imperial dream. In 752, it was time for the

(34:38):
final act, the eye opening ceremony to dedicate the statue
to awaken the living Buddha within before dignitaries from
Tang China, all the Korean Kingdom's 10,000 guests and 4000
dancers moving to the dignified and majestic sounds of
Hitchariki oboes, fue flutes, Koto biwa lutes and myriad drums

(35:03):
which formed the new imperial music brought by Bodhisena.
The Tamil priest himself paintedthe Buddha's eyes.
It must have been a profound moment of holiness and
spirituality. With the painting of his eye.
The Buddha lived in Nara in Japan.

(35:26):
The great Buddha's love and protection now emanated from the
Japanese capital city to warm and protect the world with its
light and sanctity. The brush Bodhisena used he's
still preserved in the treasury today.
He took several decades for the luster to wear off, for while
the munificence of the great statue undoubtedly protected the

(35:48):
realms spiritual health, the financial and social cost took a
long term toil. Furthermore, the great centres
of learning became great centresof Buddhist power and influence
over the state. This was not how the new Emperor
Camus saw his reign's future when he ascended the throne in
781 and became determined to break from this monster of

(36:10):
religious control created by hispredecessors.
There was only one thing for it.The eternal capital of Hejo Kyo
would have to be moved. The Buddhists could be left to
twiddle their thumbs and chart their sutras away from secular
power. Nagaoka was the site chosen in
784, but it was not a success and a decade later, in 794,

(36:33):
Heian Kyo was eventually foundedand over the next decades
blossomed into a glorious and fitting capital city to truly
rule the land in harmony. This new city grew in size with
the building of the vast sprawling mansions of the 1182
noble families of the land, a third who traced their lineage

(36:54):
to Chinese and Korean families, a testament to the global draw
of the polity which had been built over the last two
centuries in central Japan. The economy thrived and the
libraries became the world's envy, with over 1500 Chinese
classics available for the reference of ministers,
scholars, engineers, craftspeople and soothsayers.

(37:17):
Over the next few 100 years, Chinese book collectors even
visited to copy volumes of ancient literature that had been
lost in China itself. Kyoto, as it later became, was
to remain the imperial capital until 1869, but it was on
Japan's borders where the real battles were being held.

(37:47):
Emeshi from the two provinces ofMatsu and Ichigo, their wild
hearts as yet untamed, have repeatedly harmed our imperial
subjects. Accordingly, we have dispatched
an officer and have ordered the provinces to mobilize their
regiments. They are to go forth and punish
the Emeshi. The villages of sturdy wooden

(38:08):
huts were small but warm and secure.
Nestled in the cozy confines of tree bound valleys, they were
virtually hidden until you stumbled upon them.
The villagers, called Emishi by their would be invaders from the
South, lead hard but Hardy lives, hunting, trapping,
gathering and reaping the grainsof their half wild Paddy fields.

(38:30):
Food was plentiful, the gods andspirits of their northern
mountains and forests provided abundant resources of every
kind. And so why then should they bow
to foreigners, pay the fruits oftheir labor to men and women who
lived in far off palaces? What would the foreigners give
them in exchange for this? What more could they need?

(38:52):
These people controlled their own destiny, paid tribute to no
one, acknowledged no overlord but their own chiefs.
Amongst the eastern savages, theEmeshe are the most powerful.
Their men and women live together promiscuously.
There is no distinction of father and child.
In winter they dwell in holes, in summer they live in nests.

(39:14):
Their clothing consists of furs and they drink blood.
In ascending mountains they are like flying birds and going
through the grass they are like fleet wolves.
What we now think of as Japan was not always Japan.
In fact, the remote borders in the north, the West and South
are still unfixed and disputed to this day.

(39:36):
In the 8th and 9th century, the wild border was far closer to
the capital, So close in fact, that even the marches to the
north of what is now Tokyo were hazy.
No Man's Land, a vague realm of independent and warlike peoples
known as Emishi. The ancient Japanese court did
not engage in anthropological study to determine exactly who

(39:59):
these people were, simply classing these on subjugated
free peoples as Barbarians. But modern research has LED us
to believe that they were farmers and hunters of mixed
ethnicity, composed of people similar to those who had settled
in the South, but perhaps with astronger dose of blood from the
people we now know as the I knowof modern day Japan's extreme

(40:21):
north. Periodically, tribes of these
Emeshi people bowed to their powerful southern neighbors,
begged admittance to the tax roll, and were resettled within
the burgeoning Japanese Imperium.
Whether this resettlement resembled the relatively
peaceful settlement of Goths andother non subject tribes as
farmers in Roman territory or represented something more

(40:42):
sinister is unclear, but it is thought that at least some of
the settlers were captive women and children.
Who's still resisting. Husbands and fathers were then
enticed to surrender and join them in exile.
However, in the main, the north remained beyond the pale, and
the court at Hedgehog Kyo decided that something must be
done about it. In the early 8th century,

(41:08):
several punitive expeditions, consisting mainly of infantry
conscripts, set out. But the skill of the enemy
horsemen, cumbersome supply lines and deep winter snows
meant little was achieved. And so in 774 the Emperor
decided to do something more definitive.
He declared the commencement of the great pacification era

(41:34):
because military action brings hardship to the people.
We have long value to the broad virtue that embraces the myriad
things and have a skewed war. But a report from our generals
makes it clear that the Barbarians have not amended
their wild hearts. They invade our frontiers and
ignore the instructions of the sovereign.

(41:55):
What must be done cannot be avoided.
The Hedro Kiel Court were conscripts mainly from provinces
adjoining the barbarian territories, non professional
peasants serving as part of their tax duty, providing their
own weapons and armor, and not expecting to be in the field for
long. Those who commanded them were
chosen for their noble titles asmuch as their leadership

(42:17):
prowess. The Emeshi, despite their own
recorded testimony being lost totime, seem to have been warriors
born, and despite their numerical and equipmental
inferiority, could, as with the Viet Minh in Vietnam, attack
swiftly from nowhere before melting back into the dense dark
forests of their homeland. While the huge Yamato armies did

(42:42):
score some wins in the main, they stumbled around in
territory they didn't know, losing men to ambush, getting
hungrier and hungrier as their supply lines grew ever longer.
An age-old story. The embassy Chieftain at the Rui
sat atop his fleet horse, his bow as yet unstrung.

(43:04):
It was the 5th month of 789. He gazed at the vast enemy force
arrayed before him in the valleybehind the marching Yamato
troops sent by Emperor Camus smoked 800 of his people's
homes, raised as the slow movinginfantry progressed towards
their doom. Because the flaming homes had

(43:26):
been sacrificed to a grand plan,an elaborate trap, this advance
guard had been lured over the Coromo River by easy pickings
and the promise of a seemingly small and easily defeatable
Emishi skirmish force of a mere few 100.
The Emishi had stood their ground at first, let the
attackers think it was the main force earnestly defending their

(43:47):
homes. They then feigned retreat,
withdrawing while keeping up a running battle with the 4000
Yamato troops. The invader's plan was for the
remainder of the massive invasion force, nearly 50,000
men to cross the river now with no emesee defenders to threaten
and thwart their passage. But now was at the Ruiz moment.

(44:10):
He and his thousand warriors sounded their battle cry.
Blood curdling roars echoed throughout the hills and thickly
treed valleys, magnifying their volume to a storm.
The trampling army below them onthe valley floor hesitated.
The sharp intake of breath sounded and a proud Chinese
style war banner drooped slightly as its bearer looked

(44:31):
around, spooked and afraid. Then Aturui sounded his
contraun. It rang through the valleys and
hills of his homeland. The cavalry started slowly down
the forested mountain. As yet the enemy could not see
them. They could simply hear the cries
and shouts of a large host approaching fast.
The men on the valley floors. Imaginations ran wild.

(44:54):
It seemed as if a great horde ofriders was bearing down upon
them. It was too much.
They broke and ran, trampling their once proud war banners
beneath their freezing sandaled feet.
Those that managed to reach the river began to wade outwards
towards the safety of the far bank and the troops yet to
cross. But these were treacherous

(45:16):
waters. They float fast.
Over 1000 men succumbed to the depths. 1250 more survived only
by discarding their weapons. A sacrifice to the goddess of
this forsaken northern waterway.The army did not attempt another
crossing. The commander Kino Kosami issued

(45:36):
this report to the emperor. My staff and I have discussed
this and concluded that our bestcourse is to disband the army,
return the provisions and prepare for emergencies.
Thus we have sent orders to the various armies to disband and
withdraw. More campaigns followed, but in

(45:57):
the face of mounting opposition among the population, it was
clear that something had to change.
And so, after the death of Emperor Camus, who had invested
so much time and energy in this great pacification, the court
came up with a cunning plan. In 811, victory was declared.

(46:18):
Nothing had changed. The Emishi simply continued
their wild and freeways in the way they saw fit.
It would be another 400 years before the North was fully
integrated into Japan, and it would be cultural assimilation
rather than conquest. However, for now, a conch shell

(46:39):
of freedom rang through the mountains and valleys of the
Emishi's northern homeland. A western Hoori beckons with her
white hand, inviting the stranger to intoxicate himself
with her white hand. That Western Hoori with features

(47:01):
like a flower. She stands by the wine warmer
and laughs with the breath of spring, Laughs with the breath
of spring, dances with the dressof gores.
Will you be going somewhere, theLord now before you are drunk?
The young embassy member, Abe noNakamaro, had caught a glimpse

(47:23):
of the girl with the golden hairin the crowd as the Japanese
embassy paraded into the Tang Chinese capital of Chang'an
through the great eastern gate of the city and proceeded to the
diplomatic quarters where they would be accommodated during
their stay in the Chinese capital.
It had been a gruelling odyssey from Hejo Kyo in that year of

(47:44):
717. The thought of setting sail from
the port of Naniwa with his mother's farewell poem ringing
in his ears brought tears even now, thousands of miles away.
A journey's end. Of the four ships that set sail,
only two had made it across the raging seas South of Kyushu.
He knew that former missions hadsailed the safer route via

(48:07):
Korea, but Bekje's fall and Silla's belligerence had put a
stop to that. Once in China, though, a thing
of true wonder had revealed itself, the road and relay
station network, which stretchedunhindered to the farthest
borders of the realm with standardized systems and in
great order. In China, all roads led to the

(48:29):
capital, Chang'an. The embassy had ridden in
official carriages as guests of state, crossing great rivers on
stone bridges or regular river worthy ferries, staying each
night in comfortable relay stations and contemplating the
vastness of the countryside as the oxen plodded their weary way

(48:50):
on the hard road. And now the young embassy member
was here, in the centre of the world, a city of more than
1,000,000 from all corners of the earth, inside the awe
inspiring fortifications. And yet all he could think of
was the revealing dress of gores, the curve of the body
revealed beneath, and the outlandish yet also enticing

(49:13):
hair, like fine golden strands woven through silken cloth.
He wondered what type of barbarian she was, whether she
had come from the end of the world as he had.
He knew that he would be spending months, perhaps years,
as a guest of the government in special facilities afforded
little movement, a gilded confinement.

(49:35):
But he would somehow evade the guard to stroke those long
golden locks and discover what lay beneath the Gore's dress.
This truly was a city of wonders.
He would discover the world in Shang An and return to Hejo Kyo
to recount stories of his epic adventures.

(49:58):
Of that he was certain. Between six O 7 and 839 AD, 21
missions were dispatched to China.
The first mission infuriated theChinese emperor, and nearly
there to war by insinuating thatthe two nations were equal.

(50:19):
The Heavenly Sovereign of the East respectfully addresses the
Emperor of the West. However, his forces were
indisposed at the time engaged in trying to dominate the
northern Korean Kingdom of Gogorio, and he settled for a
polite but haughty letter to be delivered to place the mere
sovereign of this barbarian nation below himself, the Sun of

(50:41):
Heaven. The Emperor greets the sovereign
of Yamato. Your chief envoy has come and
stated in detail your good intentions.
We have been graced with reception of the heavenly
mandate to rule the universe andwill extend the influence of our
virtue to all beings. In our concern to nurture and
edify the people, we do not distinguish between near and

(51:05):
far. I've heard that the sovereign
resides beyond the sea and treats his people with
benevolence. The peace reigns within his
country. The people's customs are
harmonious and that they are of an honest nature.
You have come from afar to bringtribute.
We are delighted with this splendid demonstration of your

(51:26):
sincerity. The chief envoy, Ono Naomi
Immoko reported that Sui China was an admirable country whose
laws are complete and fixed and set the scene for the next two
centuries of exchange, during which Japan acquired knowledge
of religion, laws, technology, cuisine, agriculture, industry,
culture, fine Chinese manufacturers and perhaps most

(51:49):
importantly, respect on the world stage and senior rank in
the hierarchy of nations. It, however, had to grit its
teeth and accept the barbarian status which the Chinese
bestowed. In the end, Abe no Nakamaro
never did return home, dying in Chang'an aged 72 and 770.

(52:13):
To this day, he remains deeply respected, a symbol of peace and
mutual friendship in both China and Japan.
When I look up into the vast skytonight, is it the same moon
that I saw rising from behind Mount Mikasa at Kasuga Shrine
all those years ago? In the breeze scatter soft snow

(52:47):
flurries so brief that it's intermittent.
Fall is sad indeed. It was the end of the 10th
century, a time of weak central rule and chaos in the
countryside. Indeed, for the past century or
more, the entire world had been in turmoil.
The Vikings were ravaging Europe, the mine kingdoms and

(53:08):
Central America were in swift decline.
China was divided by conflict, and epidemics raged throughout
the globe. In Japan, conflict with Silla on
the Korean Peninsula and the danger of travel in war-torn
China had meant that the once glorious diplomatic missions had
ceased. Immigration similarly dried up,

(53:29):
trade faltered, and the all important intellectual exchange
on which earlier development hadbeen based faded into distant
memory. The court lost control of the
provinces and retreated within itself.
Despite this calamity, however, a great flowering of culture was

(53:50):
occurring in the now almost ancient 200 year old capital,
Kyoto. Great volumes of poetry would
acclaimed for posterity, gorgeous clothing recorded in
immortal artworks, music and dance of great sophistication
composed to be handed down the generations for 1000 years.
And perhaps most wonderful of all, a great literary tradition

(54:12):
came into being. The world's first ever novel,
Murasaki Shikibu's Tale of Genji, was written in serial
form in the early 11th century, and other women, especially
those of the court, brushed their witticisms and ironic
reflections into Diaries, which is still enjoyed to this day.
Prime among these female authors, somewhat akin to trend

(54:33):
setting celebrity influences of our modern world will say
Shonagon. Fine then, how to be hard
hearted from me you have learned, but to promise then not
come. Who taught you that, I wonder?
As far as say was concerned, thecommon people were little better

(54:53):
than worms. One occasionally caught a
glimpse of them as one travelledthrough a village, their clothes
threadbare, unperfumed and untrammeled by colour of rank,
their children naked and gaping.Once she'd seen a small boy, no
doubt abandoned by his commoner mother, much as animals leave
their young to fend for themselves.

(55:14):
Standing and gaping at her from the side of the road, he did not
move, simply stared at her carriage the whole time.
Gorping. Could anything have been more
rude, say Shonagon Lady In waiting?
Court chronicler, diarist and social commentator had reflected
on this and other events as far as the court here was concerned.

(55:37):
It all went to show just why thecourt should be kept apart as
far as possible from what lay without.
She'd even heard that the commonpeople mated without even
attempting poetic courting first.
The noble lady simply imagined it to be a free for all.
In their hovels, the males did exhibit a modicum of decency by
living with their lover's parents and their begotten

(55:59):
offspring, at least until they had enough and wandered
elsewhere. Also come to one of the diseases
which were of course rampant among the servile masses.
Perhaps most astonishingly, however, the females fed
offspring with milk from their own breasts, not even having the
wherewithal to hire a team of wet nurses to suckle their
young. Say herself, who had left a good

(56:21):
for nothing husband behind when she entered court, had a more
refined approach to woo or reject her many lovers and
courteous exchanges of poetry, perfumed letters, half famed
modesty, well planned coquettishness, and the disposal
and scorning of favors calculated at just the right
moment. But even Say the master of the

(56:41):
game of love did not always get it right.
To be abandoned is my fate I know so well.
Uncomprehending, Do my tears fall?

(57:05):
The razor sharp sword slashed downwards towards the unmounted
warrior's neck to finish the job.
The rider grabbed the unhelmetedhead by its hair and twisted,
pulling the head from its body. The victorious killer threw away
the prize as if it was nothing and galloped proudly away.
As she rode off the field of warinto the distant mountains,

(57:28):
Tomoe Gozen removed her helmet and shook her long jet black
hair free. It billowed in the wind behind
her like a battle standard, announcing to all that one of
history's greatest women warriors had fought her last
battle and fought it well. While, say, Shonagon and her

(57:49):
noble kin lived their closeted existence in Kyoto, over in the
east, events that would have repercussions reaching to the
modern age were evolving. A class of clans connected by
hereditary service to a militarycommander were emerging.
As they served only one Lord, they became known by a word
which means to serve samurai within 100 years.

(58:14):
In the 11th century, at around the same time as the age of
chivalry was dawning in Europe, powerful samurai warrior clans
were exerting great control overthe imperial court.
One in particular, the Tyra, seemed to be in the ascendancy,
and the leader of the clan, Kiyomori, managed to have his
three-year old grandson installed on the Chrysanthemum

(58:35):
throne as Emperor and Toku. All seemed to be going very well
in the East. Tyra's ancient foe who had been
thought vanquished, the Minamotoclan, led by Yorotomo, raised a
host and marched W. When the Tyra generals perceived
their resurrected foe's strength, they retreated swiftly

(58:56):
back to Kyoto without engaging. The next few years saw the East
and N fall to Minamoto forces, while the Tyra lands suffered
natural disaster, famine and pestilence.
However, they remained undefeated and safe in their
Kyoto base, bidding their time to strike and in 1184 the Tyra

(59:16):
felt their time had come. A huge force of 100,000 was
levied and the men of the Capital Region made a leisurely
progress N to combat the Minamoto in their mountain
lairs. On June the 2nd 1184 battle was
joined at Kurikara. It took place in the old
honourable samurai fashion. Melees were fought between

(59:39):
picked champions, warriors called out their lineage before
engaging, and all the proper protocols were observed until
night fell. The heavily outnumbered Minamoto
sent flaming bulls, enraged and in mortal panic, running through
the Tyra troops. In the chaos the camp was
abandoned and it is said thus did 70,000 horsemen of the Tyra

(01:00:04):
perish. Buried in this one deep valley,
the mountain streams ran with their blood and the mound of
their corpses was like a small hill.
The Tyra fled Kyoto, taking the young Emperor and Toku, his
treasury, the imperial regalia, and anything else they could
grab. They fled still further W until
they could flee no more. Final battle was enjoined at a

(01:00:28):
place called Dano Ora. The fighting took place with
ships decks forming a treacherous swaying battlefield.
1 wrong step and heavily armoredwarriors unused to fighting on
the sea would fall to watery deaths.
Emperor Antoku, still just six years old, was placed on an
insignificant looking boat so that while the Minamoto

(01:00:50):
concentrated their arrow fire onthe flagship, he remains safe
but a traitor. Taguchi Shigayoshi defected and
revealed the ruse. Arrows rained down on the rough
hewn boat which formed the last few feet of Emperor and Toku's
once glorious realm. As the Tyra realized there was

(01:01:10):
no further to flee, the Emperor's grandmother held him
in her arms. Finally, she jumped in the
depths of the ocean. We have a capital.
The Tyra were destroyed for all time.

(01:01:35):
Minamoto Yoritomo was granted the title of Shogun and his
warrior ruled. Samurai administration swiftly
removed political power from Kyoto's hands.
Henceforth, true power would be wielded from Kamakura in the
east. Samurai power, largely based in
the east at Kamakura and later Edo, would last 700 years until

(01:01:58):
1868, when the last Shogun resigned and the emperor also
moved east from Kyoto to his newcapital of Tokyo.
Monks and priests today are fawning and devious, and they

(01:02:19):
confuse the people and lead themastray.
Not a single person in the entire population will possess a
heart of goodness. There will be nothing but
binding and enslaving, killing and injuring, anger and
contention. Pestilence will become rampant.
Comets will appear again and again.
Two Suns will come forth side byside, and eclipses will occur

(01:02:42):
with unaccustomed frequency. Black arcs and white arcs will
span the sky as harbingers of ill fortune.
Stars will fall, the earth will shake, and noise will issue from
the wells. Torrential rains and violent
winds will come out of season. Famine will constantly occur,
and grains and fruits will not ripen.
Marauders from many other regions will invade and plunder

(01:03:05):
the nation. The people will suffer all
manner of pain and affliction, and no place will exist where
one may live in safety. The priest Nichiren placed down
his pen, knelt on the hard earthen floor of his heart and
gazed through the open door downhis green pine coloured valley.

(01:03:28):
He had said his peace. Rulers do not generally like to
be told they are evil and mistaken, especially young, rash
ones who live in fear of invasions predicted by raving
holier than thou. Priests, rival priests with the
ruler's ear do not like to be described as fawning and

(01:03:49):
devious, and no one likes to think that marauders from beyond
the sea will appear over the horizon to slaughter the men,
take the women, and enslave the children.
And Sony Chiran was condemned todeath and dragged out of town to
the execution grounds at Katase.In the dark of night, he
frantically threw his holy vestments on the branch of a

(01:04:10):
tree to avoid them being soiled by his blood.
The calm sea shimmered in the light of the moon, and soft
waves bathed the beach with their gentle ebb and flow.
As the execution of sword hovered above his neck, awaiting
the order to strike, Nichiren raised his face and despite
himself, he swiftly composed a prayer to the God of the moon.

(01:04:34):
Suddenly the sky was renting 2 by a brilliant light the Chiron
heard the dull yet sonorous sound as the sword fell from his
would be killer's grasp and the patter of running feet on the
sandy beach. The execution corps fled.
Soon the holy man was alone withthe sea, the stars and the moon.

(01:04:57):
His saviour, the priest, let 2 handfuls of sand seep slowly
through his fingers, got slowly to his feet, walked up to where
the grass met the sand, retrieved his vestments from the
beach where they still hung, andthen sank to the ground once
more. The divine being had vouched for

(01:05:18):
his virtuosity, saved him from death to continue his mission on
Earth. Anthony Chiron was right.
After the relative stability of the Shogunate's early years,
environmental catastrophe, natural disasters, and weakening

(01:05:39):
government were leading to social breakdown.
Starvation had appeared to be ushering in the end of days.
But all of that was nothing. As Nichiren had predicted, the
Horsemen of the Apocalypse were about to descend on the Japanese
Isles. Mongols, We, by the grace and

(01:06:01):
decree of Heaven, Emperor of Great Mongolia, present a letter
to the King of Japan. We have pondered that from
ancient times even the Princess of small states have striven to
cultivate friendly intercourse with those of adjoining
territories. We beg that hereafter, you, O
King, will establish friendly relations with us, so that the

(01:06:22):
sages may make the four seas their home.
Is it reasonable to refuse intercourse with each other?
It will lead to war. And who is there who likes such
a state of things? Think on this, O King.
The first letter had arrived in 1266.

(01:06:44):
Ignoring these communications and general ignorance in Japan
of just how powerful and large the Mongol Empire was, which
stretched from Manchuria to Poland, led to Mongol troops
storming through the surf at Hakata Bay in 1274.

(01:07:05):
The defenders arrow flew shore, the Mongol toppled from his
horse, and waves closed around him.
Then the enemy paused. As one, the men in the rear
ranks raised strange looking short bows.
A great wave of arrows darkened the sky, and, shieldless as was
their way, the defending samuraifell in droves.

(01:07:27):
Suddenly Thunder roared a short way off, not in the clear pale
autumn sky, but on the ground. Blood and flesh of samurai flew
everywhere. Then the Thunder peeled again
and again. These Mongol devils seemed
somehow to have enlisted the very heavens to fight on their
side. The samurai turned and fled.
They would fight men to the death, but duelling with deities

(01:07:51):
was a very different proposition.
The enemy advanced up to the wetbeach slowly, letting loose wave
after wave of arrows and propelling their grenade like
bombs asunder. The samurai continued a fighting
retreat throughout that terribleday, but the enemy came on,
unstoppable, invincible, burning, pillaging, killing.

(01:08:15):
Night fell and in the morning they were gone by the time news
of the landing reached the youngShogun Hojo Dokimune on the
other side of the country. A heaven sent typhoon had
consigned many of the enemy's ships to the bottom of the ocean
and the rest scuttling for the safety of Korean harvest.

(01:08:38):
Japan had been lucky this time. No one knew why, but after that
first day of battle on Kyushu, the enemy had returned to their
great ships and sailed away. Perhaps they were looking for an
easier landing place. Maybe it had only been a
reconnaissance mission. Either way, the typhoon had put
paid to whatever devilry they had kept in store.

(01:08:59):
Everybody knew they would return.
And so Shiken Hojo Docimune ordered a frenzy of defensive
measures all along the eastern coast.
Walls were to be built, lookoutsto be permanently posted, troop
numbers multiplied, even weaponsto be redesigned.
To counter this new threat, Kublai smashed his first into

(01:09:24):
the floor. These snakes, these worms, these
dwarfish Barbarians of the east,they performed relatively well
against one puny reconnaissance mission in the previous year,
and now they thought they could behead his peace and voice with
impunity. No action could be more heinous.
Greater nations have been pulverized, entire cities put to

(01:09:46):
the sword for less. They would pay dearly.
A people should know when they've met their match.
Kublai's generals, flush from having reunited China under his
rule with their recent victory over the southern provinces, now
turned their faces eastwards. Lacking knowledge of the sea and

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remembering the storms that had plagued the first exploratory
expedition in 1274, they turned to two Yangtze River pirates
named Zhu Ching and Zhengshan for their expertise.
Two fleets would sail for Japan,1 of 900 ships from Korea, and
another of 3500 ships from southern China.

(01:10:27):
They would carry 142,000 men, the biggest invasion force in
history, not to be exceeded until the Allied invasions of
Normandy in 1944, nearly 700 years later.
Shiken Hojotokimune was petrol terrified.
He knew what his fate would be should the Mongols reach the

(01:10:48):
capital city of Kamakura. It was well known that the
Mongols refused to spill monarchs blood, but Dokimune,
although a ruler, was in truth merely a Regent, not of royal
blood. His family had usurped both
Emperor and Shogun. His end would not be swift and
after his behavior towards the envoys he knew the Mongols would

(01:11:10):
enjoy a degree of creativity in their disposal of him.
Wild riders chased him down in his dreams.
For once, the young hot headed Shogun or Regent knew fear to
come harm him. Tokimune's spiritual counselor,
a recent refugee from southern China, the Zen master Mugaku

(01:11:31):
Sogen, told him the story of when the stinking, barbaric
nomads had reached his temple inChina.
Mugaku had knelt unmoving on thefloor, the only monk who had not
fled. The flames of Mongol devastation
crackled around him as a lone rider approached, dismounted,
and drew his sword for the mortal blow.

(01:11:52):
Mugaku, ignoring the stench of horse and human sweat, raised
his voice to a little over a whisper and looked the rough
looking rider in the eye. I searched the universe and
found the answer. People are empty, even Buddha's
teachings of void. Your great sword will be as
lightning cutting the spring breeze.

(01:12:16):
The warrior paused, bowed low, and left the monk to live.
Mugaku had made his way eastwards, to the land where the
sun rose and Buddha's law was still revered.
Quietly, the aged Chinese monk advised the young Japanese ruler
to meditate, to find the source of his cowardice and fear

(01:12:38):
within. Having done so, Docimune
allegedly screamed Katsu victory.
Mugaku smiled. It is true that the son of a
lion roars as a lion. Tokimuno sent messengers to the
court to request that all temples and shrines pray for

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victory. Japan was on high alert.
Kikuchi Takifusa, mounted atop afine steed bound in purple
armor, Crimson Cape billowing inthe fresh sea breeze, watched
the water boil with enemy ships.600 years before, his family had

(01:13:23):
been placed on this border afterthe fall of Bekje to guard
against invasion from what once had been their Korean homeland.
That attack had never come, and countless generations had lived
in peace until now. The Mongols had brought their
Korean Church and and Chinese vassals to subjugate and add yet

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another realm to their vast empire.
Would they never be satisfied? The Korea based fleet had
ravaged the outer islands of Tsushima and Ikki again and on
the 21st of June 1281 the enemy had appeared off the Kyushu
horizon. The fighting was fierce in
Hakata Bay, but all attempts at landing had been foiled by the

(01:14:06):
samurai forces. However, the great ships
remained threatening and enormous, darkening the ocean,
awaiting the massive but severely delayed reinforcements
from China, which would undoubtedly deal a mortal blow.
But the defenders did not sit idle.
Small boats put out in the dead of each night.
Mongol ships were boarded, theircrews put to the sword.

(01:14:28):
Vessels were fired and set looseto cause panic.
A pandemic broke out. Thousands of the invaders
perished. The ships started to rot.
Then the China fleet arrived, months late but glorious in its
great multitude. There was little hope for the
defenders. They knew their time had come.

(01:14:49):
The retired Emperor Kamiyama sent an offering to his divine
ancestor Amaterasu in her chief shrine at Isai, imploring her to
intervene to save her children. And that very same evening, a
storm exploded from the blue August skies.
The wind roared and the waves rose higher than the enemy

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ships. Mastheads Susano, God of storms,
was doing his sister's amateur rasu's bidding at last, and the
Susano had had enough. The Great Khan and Son of
Heaven's vast army and Armada were nothing more than throngs
of forlorn bodies and an abundance of driftwood gently

(01:15:31):
lapping against the quiet Kyushushores in amateur rasus, bright,
soft summer radiance. When the wicked invaders again
arrived in 1281, and all persons, believing that the
expulsion of the enemy could be affected only by divine will and
never by human power, reverentlylooked up to heaven, a divine

(01:15:52):
storm rose in mighty force and scattered the enemy ships, and
the enemy perished all at once. In China the Mongols never
totally recovered from the massive material and morale
seeping defeat, and although their Chinese domination would

(01:16:13):
struggle on until 1368, it had been in truth Delta mortal blow.
Against all the odds, Japan's ancient mythical mother
Amaterasu, with a helping hand from her good for nothing storm
God brother, had won the day. A new Japanese unity was formed

(01:16:34):
in Mongol fire, the island country of rival clans,
competing power centers and riven factions that had
disintegrated into banditry and disunity 400 years before and
only in the last century found an uneasy balance.
And firm borders forged in civilwar had, under threat of foreign

(01:16:55):
invasion, established a feeling that it had never fully enjoyed
before, that of 1 nation united against a common enemy.
Japan would remain Japan.