Kamakura Japan · 1274-1281

Kamikaze: the Mongol invasions of Japan

Twice Kublai Khan sent fleets across the sea to conquer Japan, and twice they failed. Students look at the strait, the defences of Hakata Bay and the storms the Japanese called kamikaze, the divine wind.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1274 to AD 1279
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

Twice Kublai Khan sent fleets across the sea to conquer Japan, and twice they failed. Students look at the strait, the defences of Hakata Bay and the storms the Japanese called kamikaze, the divine wind.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Describe the Mongol invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281.
  • Explain how geography, defences and storms helped Japan resist.
  • Explain how the invasions weakened the Kamakura shogunate.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1274

Across the strait

Open the map in 1274 and find the strait between Korea and Japan, with the islands of Tsushima and Iki. Why did the invasion fleets set out from Korea?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1281

Hakata Bay

Zoom in on Hakata Bay, where Fukuoka lies today. After 1274 the Japanese built a stone wall about 20 km long along this shore. Why here?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1279

Two unequal powers

Zoom out and compare the size of the Great Khanate with Kamakura Japan in 1279. What advantages did each side have?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Kublai Khan demanded that Japan submit before he attacked. Why did the shogunate refuse?
  2. Why would an army that won on the steppe have trouble at sea?
  3. The Japanese called the storms kamikaze, the divine wind. Why would people explain the storms as help from the gods?
  4. Samurai expected land as a reward for fighting. Why was that a problem after a defensive war?
  5. Divers have found Mongol wrecks off Takashima island. What can shipwrecks tell historians that written sources cannot?
4

Game round

9 min

Play Rule History as Genghis Khan, Kublai's grandfather. Let students take turns ruling. Then discuss: would Genghis Khan's way of war have worked against an island like Japan? Compare with what Kublai and the Hojo regents really decided.

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.