Divine Winds

The Mongolians were very fierce warriors.  Kublai Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan and ruler of Korea.

All of Japan was afraid.  They believed Kublai Khan wanted to take their country.  They were right.
Between 1267 – 1274, the Mongolian ruler sent many messages that told Japan to surrender to him.
But, the Japanese Emperor never sent a message back.

Kublai Khan was very angry.  He decided to go to war with Japan.  In the autumn of 1274,
the Mongolian army built 900 ships and took 40,000 warriors.  They sailed towards Japan.
Then, disaster struck.  At night, a typhoon (hurricane) blew through the Sea of Japan,
and sank most of the Mongolian ships. 

Seven years later, in 1281, the Mongolians went to Japan again.  This time, they took 4.400 ships and 140,000 warriors.
On August 15th, the Mongolians were ready to attack.  A typhoon came roaring through the sea a second time.
It sank 4000 ships and killed 110,000 soldiers. The Japanese believed the gods sent a ‘divine wind’ to save them. 
They called these winds ‘kamikaze’.  Mongolia never attacked Japan again.