THE MONGOL INVASION OF JAPAN BY NAKABA YAMADA, B.A. (Cantab.) WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY LORD ARMSTRONG WITH ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 681 FIFTH AVENUE 1916 ON PREFACE NE evening in the summer before last, I was sitting in the reading-room of my College in Cambridge, when a small book entitled "Westward Ho!" caught my eye. I was greatly attracted by its contents. In the mellowing light of the sun, I perused the book page after page, until my attention was diverted by the dining-bell from the hall. Ending my perusal, however, I stood a while with the pleasant memory of what I had read. One of my friends told me at table that that book was one of the great works of Charles Kingsley, and well worth reading. Having obtained a new copy, I finished the reading before long. It was from this reading that I acquired the idea of writing this book. My first intention was to describe the historical event of "the Mongol Invasion of Japan " in such a novel as " Westward Ho!" But I have found it better to write an authentic, straightforward history rather than to use the medium of fiction. For the facts, which would be used as the basis of an historical novel, are not known to our Western friends as a whole, as the Chino-Japanese war or the RussoJapanese war has been; this is probably owing both to the remoteness of the events and the difficulties of research work, in a field so far removed in time and place. "Ghenko," as the Japanese call " the Mongol Invasion "-a momentous national event which occurred in the last two decades of the thirteenth century-is, in my opinion, one of the most important facts which should be known by our friends who take an interest in the evolution of the Japanese power. For Japan is not a nation which became a world power simply because of the victories won in the Chino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars, but because of the superior spirit that has existed in the heart of the nation from earliest times. Every historian knows what a powerful empire the Mongols founded in the thirteenth century, and with what pomp they ruled the world they conquered. Almost all the kings of Asia, and even the sovereigns of Europe, trembled on their thrones when the blood-red flag of the Mongols appeared, and were compelled to do homage to |