Japan faced danger from abroad, when in 1274 and 1281 the Mongols attacked,
and the Japanese faced the hitherto unfamiliar crossbow, catapults and poison arrows.
The Mongols’ tactics were based on mass troop deployments, and they did not adhere to the
chivalrous rituals of Japanese warfare. On both occasions, the overpowered Japanese
were saved by hurricanes that wrecked the Mongolian naval forces,
and became known as kamikaze, the divine wind.
General Toyotomi Hideyosi, who united Japan, sought to rule a great empire.
His idea was to begin by invading Korea, and then China, and the Samurai had plenty
to do when Hideyoshi landed in Korea in 1591 with an army of 160,000 men.
The Japanese were successful at first but, frustrated and impoverished,
withdrew after seven years of war.
