Chapter III

WHAT FURTHER CAME OF THE GREAT KAAN’S EXPEDITION AGAINST
CHIPANGU.

You see those who were left upon the Island, some 30,000 souls, as I have said, did hold themselves for dead men, for they saw no possible means of escape. And when the King of the Great Island got news how the one part of the expedition had saved themselves upon that Isle, and the other part was scattered and fled, he was right glad thereat, and he gathered together all the ships of his territory and proceeded with them, the sea now being calm, to the little Isle, and landed his troops all round it. And when the Tartars saw them thus arrive, and the whole force landed, without any guard having been left on board the ships (the act of men very little acquainted with such work), they had the sagacity to feign flight. [Now the Island was very high in the middle, and whilst the enemy were hastening after them by one road they fetched a compass by another and] in this way managed to reach the enemy’s ships and to get aboard of them. This they did easily enough, for they encountered no opposition.

Once they were on board they got under weigh immediately for the great Island, and landed there, carrying with them the standards and banners of the King of the Island; and in this wise they advanced to the capital. The garrison of the city, suspecting nothing wrong, when they saw their own banners advancing supposed that it was their own host returning, and so gave them admittance. The Tartars as soon as they had got in seized all the bulwarks and drove out all who were in the place except the pretty women, and these they kept for themselves. In this way the Great Kaan’s people got possession of the city.

When the King of the great Island and his army perceived that both fleet and city were lost, they were greatly cast down; howbeit, they got away to the great Island on board some of the ships which had not been carried off. And the King then gathered all his host to the siege of the city, and invested it so straitly that no one could go in or come out. Those who were within held the place for seven months, and strove by all means to send word to the Great Kaan; but it was all in vain, they never could get the intelligence carried to him. So when they saw they could hold out no longer they gave themselves up, on condition that their lives should be spared, but still that they should never quit the Island. And this befel in the year of our Lord 1279.{1} The Great Kaan ordered the Baron who had fled so disgracefully to lose his head. And afterwards he caused the other also, who had been left on the Island, to be put to death, for he had never behaved as a good soldier ought to do.{2}

But I must tell you a wonderful thing that I had forgotten, which happened on this expedition.

You see, at the beginning of the affair, when the Kaan’s people had landed on the great Island and occupied the open country as I told you, they stormed a tower belonging to some of the islanders who refused to surrender, and they cut off the heads of all the garrison except eight; on these eight they found it impossible to inflict any wound! Now this was by virtue of certain stones which they had in their arms inserted between the skin and the flesh, with such skill as not to show at all externally. And the charm and virtue of these stones was such that those who wore them could never perish by steel. So when the Barons learned this they ordered the men to be beaten to death with clubs. And after their death the stones were extracted from the bodies of all, and were greatly prized.{3}

Now the story of the discomfiture of the Great Kaan’s folk came to pass as I have told you. But let us have done with that matter, and return to our subject.

NOTE 1.—Kúblái had long hankered after the conquest of Japan,
or had at least, after his fashion, desired to obtain an
acknowledgment of supremacy from the Japanese sovereign. He had
taken steps in this view as early as 1266, but entirely without
success. The fullest accessible particulars respecting his efforts
are contained in the Japanese Annals translated by Titsing; and
these are in complete accordance with the Chinese histories as
given by Gaubil, De Mailla, and in Pauthier’s extracts, so far as
these three latter enter into particulars. But it seems clear from
the comparison that the Japanese chronicler had the Chinese Annals
in his hands.

In 1268, 1269, 1270, and 1271, Kúblái’s efforts were repeated to
little purpose, and, provoked at this, in 1274, he sent a fleet of
300 vessels with 15,000 men against Japan. This was defeated near
the Island of Tsushima with heavy loss.

Nevertheless Kúblái seems in the following years to have renewed
his attempts at negotiation. The Japanese patience was exhausted,
and, in 1280, they put one of his ambassadors to death.

“As soon as the Moko (Mongols) heard of this, they assembled
a considerable army to conquer Japan. When informed of their
preparations, the Dairi sent ambassadors to Ize and other temples
to invoke the gods. Fosiono Toki Mune, who resided at Kama Kura,
ordered troops to assemble at Tsukuzi (_Tsikouzen_ of Alcock’s
Map), and sent ... numerous detachments to Miyako to guard the
Dairi and the Togou (Heir Apparent) against all danger.... In the
first moon (of 1281) the Mongols named Asikan (Ngo Tsa-han[1]),
Fan-bunko (Fan Wen-hu), Kinto (Hintu), and Kosakio (Hung
Cha-khieu), Generals of their army, which consisted of 100,000 men,
and was embarked on numerous ships of war. Asikan fell ill on the
passage, and this made the second General (Fan Wen-hu) undecided as
to his course.

“_7th Month_. The entire fleet arrived at the Island of Firando
(P’hing-hu), and passed thence to Goriosan (Ulungshan). The troops
of Tsukuzi were under arms. _1st_ of _3rd Month_. A frightful storm
arose; the Mongol ships foundered or were sorely shattered. The
General (Fan Wen-hu) fled with the other Generals on the vessels
that had least suffered; nobody has ever heard what became of them.
The army of 100,000 men, which had landed below Goriosan, wandered
about for three days without provisions; and the soldiers began to
plan the building of vessels in which they might escape to China.

“_7th day_. The Japanese army invested and attacked them with
great vigour. The Mongols were totally defeated. 30,000 of them
were made prisoners and conducted to Fakata (the _Fokouoka_ of
Alcock’s Map, but _Fakatta_ in Kaempfer’s), and there put to death.
Grace was extended to only (three men), who were sent to China
with the intelligence of the fate of the army. The destruction of
so numerous a fleet was considered the most evident proof of the
protection of the gods.” (_Titsingh_, pp. 264–265.) At p. 259 of
the same work Klaproth gives another account from the Japanese
Encyclopædia; the difference is not material.

The Chinese Annals, in De Mailla, state that the Japanese spared
10,000 or 12,000 of the Southern Chinese, whom they retained as
slaves. Gaubil says that 30,000 Mongols were put to death, whilst
70,000 Coreans and Chinese were made slaves.

Kúblái was loth to put up with this huge discomfiture, and in
1283 he made preparations for another expedition; but the project
excited strong discontent; so strong that some Buddhist monks whom
he sent before to collect information, were thrown overboard by the
Chinese sailors; and he gave it up. (_De Mailla_, IX. 409; 418,
428; _Gaubil_, 195; _Deguignes_, III. 177.)

“=Or ensint avint ceste estoire de la desconfiture de les gens dou
Grant Kaan.=”]

The Abacan of Polo is probably the Asikan of the Japanese, whom
Gaubil calls _Argan_. Vonsainchin is _perhaps_ Fan Wen-hu with the
Chinese title of _Tsiang-Kiun_ or General (elsewhere represented in
Polo by _Sangon_),—FAN TSIANG-KIUN.

We see that, as usual, whilst Marco’s account in some of the main
features concurs with that of the histories, he gives a good many
additional particulars, some of which, such as the ill-will
between the Generals, are no doubt genuine. But of the story of the
capture of the Japanese capital by the shipwrecked army we know not
what to make: we can’t accept it certainly.

[The _Korea Review_ publishes a _History of Korea_ based upon
Korean and Chinese sources, from which we gather some interesting
facts regarding the relations of China, Korea, and Japan at the
time of Kúblái: “In 1265, the seed was sown that led to the
attempted invasion of Japan by the Mongols. A Koryŭ citizen, Cho
I., found his way to Peking, and there, having gained the ear of
the emperor, told him that the Mongol powers ought to secure the
vassalage of Japan. The emperor listened favourably and determined
to make advances in that direction. He therefore appointed Heuk
Chŭk and Eun Hong as envoys to Japan, and ordered them to go
by way of Koryŭ and take with them to Japan a Koryŭ envoy as
well. Arriving in Koryŭ they delivered this message to the king,
and two officials, Son Kun-bi and Kim Ch’an, were appointed to
accompany them to Japan. They proceeded by the way of Kŏje Harbor
in Kyŭng-sang Province, but were driven back by a fierce storm,
and the king sent the Mongol envoys back to Peking. The Emperor
was ill satisfied with the outcome of the adventure, and sent Heuk
Chŭk with a letter to the king, ordering him to forward the Mongol
envoy to Japan. The message which he was to deliver to the ruler of
Japan said, ‘The Mongol power is kindly disposed towards you and
desires to open friendly intercourse with you. She does not desire
your submission, but if you accept her patronage, the great Mongol
empire will cover the earth.’ The king forwarded the message with
the envoys to Japan, and informed the emperor of the fact.... The
Mongol and Koryŭ envoys, upon reaching the Japanese capital, were
treated with marked disrespect.... They remained five months, ...
and at last they were dismissed without receiving any answer either
to the emperor or to the king.” (II. pp. 37, 38.)

Such was the beginning of the difficulties with Japan; this is
the end of them: “The following year, 1283, changed the emperor’s
purpose. He had time to hear the whole story of the sufferings
of his army in the last invasion; the impossibility of squeezing
anything more out of Koryŭ, and the delicate condition of home
affairs, united in causing him to give up the project of conquering
Japan, and he countermanded the order for the building of boats and
the storing of grain.” (II. p. 82.)

Japan was then, for more than a century (A.D. 1205–1333), governed
really in the name of the descendants of Yoritomo, who proved
unworthy of their great ancestor “by the so-called ‘Regents’ of the
Hōjō family, while their liege lords, the Shōguns, though keeping a
nominal court at Kamakura, were for all that period little better
than empty names. So completely were the Hōjōs masters of the whole
country, that they actually had their deputy governors at Kyōtō
and in Kyūshū in the south-west, and thought nothing of banishing
Mikados to distant islands. Their rule was made memorable by the
repulse of the Mongol fleet sent by Kúblái Khan with the purpose of
adding Japan to his gigantic dominions. This was at the end of the
13th century, since which time Japan has never been attacked from
without.” (_B. H. Chamberlain_, _Things Japanese_, 3rd ed., 1898,
pp. 208–209.)

The sovereigns (_Mikado_, _Tennō_) of Japan during this period
were: _Kameyama_-Tennō (1260; abdicated 1274; repulse of the
Mongols); _Go-Uda_-Tennō (1275; abdicated 1287); _Fushimi_-Tennō
(1288; abdicated 1298); and _Go-Fushimi_ Tennō. The _shikken_
(prime ministers) were Hōjō _Tokiyori_ (1246); Hōjō _Tokimune_
(1261); Hōjō _Sadatoki_ (1284). In 1266 Prince _Kore-yasu_ and in
1289 _Hisa-akira_, were appointed _shōgun_.—H. C.]

NOTE 2.—_Ram._ says he was sent to a certain island called Zorza
(_Chorcha?_), where men who have failed in duty are put to death
in this manner: They wrap the arms of the victim in the hide of a
newly flayed buffalo, and sew it tight. As this dries it compresses
him so terribly that he cannot move, and so, finding no help,
his life ends in misery. The same kind of torture is reported of
different countries in the East: _e.g._ see _Makrizi_, Pt. III. p.
108, and Pottinger, as quoted by Marsden _in loco_. It also appears
among the tortures of a Buddhist hell as represented in a temple at
Canton. (_Oliphant’s Narrative_, I. 168.)

NOTE 3.—Like devices to procure invulnerability are common in the
Indo-Chinese countries. The Burmese sometimes insert pellets of
gold under the skin with this view. At a meeting of the Asiatic
Society of Bengal in 1868, gold and silver coins were shown, which
had been extracted from under the skin of a Burmese convict who had
been executed at the Andaman Islands. Friar Odoric speaks of the
practice in one of the Indian Islands (apparently Borneo); and the
stones possessing such virtue were, according to him, found in the
bamboo, presumably the siliceous concretions called _Tabashir_.
Conti also describes the practice in Java of inserting such amulets
under the skin. The Malays of Sumatra, too, have great faith in
the efficacy of certain “stones, which they pretend are extracted
from reptiles, birds, animals, etc., in preventing them from being
wounded.” (See _Mission to Ava_, p. 208; _Cathay_, 94; _Conti_, p.
32; _Proc. As. Soc. Beng._ 1868, p. 116; _Anderson’s Mission to
Sumatra_, p. 323.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] These names in parentheses are the Chinese forms; the others, the Japanese modes of reading them.