I'm reading the rather excellent 'A brief history of the Samurai' by Jonathon Clements (which you can pick up on Ebay for very little as I've seen 2-3 copies recently).
It does what it says on the tin - giving a brief history of the rise of the samurai and how Japanese history was shaped by its attitude to the samurai (which means 'servant' which says something about the original view as to a samurai's status).
The book also deals with the invasion by the Mongols of Kublai Khan - which interestingly allows comparison between Japanese historians and Marco Polo (who was there at the time, trying to steal the recipe for pasta).
The myth is that twice the invasion was thwarted by the 'divine wind' (kamikaze) - a typhoon which drove the invaders away.
However, the truth (if any history can be read as truth) is much more esoteric. The initial invasion - and this is backed by Polo's own account - was simply a reconnaisance in force. There were plenty of ships and the Mongol's (using their Korean and Chinese 'allies') had some initial success. This was as much attributed to the samurai's approach to warfare - standing in clear view, announcing their heritage and calling on the Mongol champions to step out and fight. This resulted in many samurai getting peppered with arrows - followed by Mongol chuckling.
But the initial invasion was essentially thwarted by samurai using small boats and fire ships in a night attack (during which a storm did blow up). As the samurai attacks and threat of fire increased, many Mongol ships cut their moorings and ran for it (a parallel with the Spanish Armada). The consequence was that in the morning the Japanese found an empty bay (except for some wrecked and smoking hulls and bewildered Mongols on the shore who were soon cut down).
As many of the nobility had called on Buddhist priests to pray for deliverance (and to hide the fact that they had stayed well out of the danger zone) the accepted result was that these prayers had been answered and so it was the priests / nobility who had saved Japan (rather than the brave actions of the attacking samurai and the use of fireships). After all, had no attack been launched, it is likely that the Mongols would have simply ridden out the storm at anchor.
The Mongols themselves (again according to Mr Polo) were discouraged more by the ferocity of Japanese defence (after all, the Mongols were used to their enemies jacking it in on the first sign of shaggy horsemen on the horizon) than the weather.
So the Khan tried again - but tellingly much of the invasion force assembled at the mouth of the Yangste (suggesting that much of the fleet consisted of river boats - unsuited for crossing 100 miles of rough seas). Much of the remaining fleet were old and unseaworthy vessels (as was subsequently proved). So sailing this hotch-potch fleet across the Sea of Japan and into a storm was asking for trouble (and so it proved). So the failure was as much down to unsuitable craft and bad planning as it was down to the intervention of spirits. But again, the nobility and priesthood took the plaudits - and the myth of the kamikaze remains to this day.
It does what it says on the tin - giving a brief history of the rise of the samurai and how Japanese history was shaped by its attitude to the samurai (which means 'servant' which says something about the original view as to a samurai's status).
The book also deals with the invasion by the Mongols of Kublai Khan - which interestingly allows comparison between Japanese historians and Marco Polo (who was there at the time, trying to steal the recipe for pasta).
The myth is that twice the invasion was thwarted by the 'divine wind' (kamikaze) - a typhoon which drove the invaders away.
However, the truth (if any history can be read as truth) is much more esoteric. The initial invasion - and this is backed by Polo's own account - was simply a reconnaisance in force. There were plenty of ships and the Mongol's (using their Korean and Chinese 'allies') had some initial success. This was as much attributed to the samurai's approach to warfare - standing in clear view, announcing their heritage and calling on the Mongol champions to step out and fight. This resulted in many samurai getting peppered with arrows - followed by Mongol chuckling.
But the initial invasion was essentially thwarted by samurai using small boats and fire ships in a night attack (during which a storm did blow up). As the samurai attacks and threat of fire increased, many Mongol ships cut their moorings and ran for it (a parallel with the Spanish Armada). The consequence was that in the morning the Japanese found an empty bay (except for some wrecked and smoking hulls and bewildered Mongols on the shore who were soon cut down).
As many of the nobility had called on Buddhist priests to pray for deliverance (and to hide the fact that they had stayed well out of the danger zone) the accepted result was that these prayers had been answered and so it was the priests / nobility who had saved Japan (rather than the brave actions of the attacking samurai and the use of fireships). After all, had no attack been launched, it is likely that the Mongols would have simply ridden out the storm at anchor.
The Mongols themselves (again according to Mr Polo) were discouraged more by the ferocity of Japanese defence (after all, the Mongols were used to their enemies jacking it in on the first sign of shaggy horsemen on the horizon) than the weather.
So the Khan tried again - but tellingly much of the invasion force assembled at the mouth of the Yangste (suggesting that much of the fleet consisted of river boats - unsuited for crossing 100 miles of rough seas). Much of the remaining fleet were old and unseaworthy vessels (as was subsequently proved). So sailing this hotch-potch fleet across the Sea of Japan and into a storm was asking for trouble (and so it proved). So the failure was as much down to unsuitable craft and bad planning as it was down to the intervention of spirits. But again, the nobility and priesthood took the plaudits - and the myth of the kamikaze remains to this day.