It was Tokimune, as leader of the Hojo shikken, who had to rally Japan against the might of Khubilai Khan's Mongol invasions.

At the age of just 17 Tokimune became leader of the Hojo shikken (the shogun regency) and it was a baptism of fire as he had to lead Japan against Khubilai Khan's Mongols. In 1268 and 1271 he received the Mongol embassies and, though some wished to seek a compromise, on both occasions refused submission to the Mongol Empire. In this face of defiance Khubilai Khan launched an attack in 1274 with a combined force of Mongols, Koreans and Chinese troops. After making landfall on Kyushu island and ravaging the Japanese villages and burning a holy shrine the Mongols went back to their ships but during the night a great storm whipped up and battered the fleet. Some 13,000 of the invaders lost their lives and with that the battered ships limped home. In 1276 another Mongol embassy visited the shikken but Tokimune's defiance was undiminished and ordered the ambassador's beheading. The second and much larger Mongol invasion came in 1281 and by this time the Japanese had built a wall along Hakata Bay where the Mongols had attacked before. The ferocity of the defenders forced the numerous Mongol army to stay anchored in the bay but eventually they weren't denied and it looked like the 200,000 strong force would prevail. Yet as before the Mongols returned to their ships and another more horrific typhoon came and smashed the fleet to pieces: the famous kamikaze or divine wind. Two-thirds of the invasion force lost their lives and the thousands who remained were slaughtered over the coming days by the Japanese.

Tokimune was one of the most competent and ablest of the Hojo shikken and through him Zen Buddhism was firmly established in Kamakura, followed by Kyoto and then Japan in its entirety. His adherence to this religion aided him through the Mongol invasions and probably gave him the courage to dismiss Khubiliai's ambassadors and organise the country's defence. Yet just when Japan needed such a leader to pull her through the famine and anarchy after the Mongol invasions he died in 1284 at just 33. His passing also marked the ultimate decline of the Hojo clan, something that his hedonistic incompetent son, Sadatoki, could not halt.

Further Reading

Early Samurai (Osprey Publishing) - Anthony J Bryant.

Samurai Commanders 1 (Osprey Publishing) - Stephen Turnbull.