2010年08月13日
Yesterday a typhoon ran into Japan for the fist time this year and swept the whole mainland.
Though relatively weak and small it was, it brought a heavy rain all over the mainland Japan. In Kyoto, where I live now, it rained with a record-breaking volume and the sewerage system in the city partially broke down, though total damages were not severe.
Over 700 years ago in August a typhoon that also came into Japan are said to have repelled a foreign enemy’s invasion and saved Japan, which was still under-developed in the light of global standard at that time and didn’t have advanced war technologies that more developed neighbor China acquired. Mongolian global empire decided to invade Japan too, and it sent great expedition fleets two times, in 1274 and 1281. Both expedition failed, main cause of whom is still under discussion, but in contemporary records written by Japan, Korea, and China there seems to have been strong sea storms in campaigns and many Mongolian fleets are said to have sunk, and particularly in the second expedition (Ko-an no eki, 弘安の役) its damage decisively defeated the invader.
Japanese attributed this storms to thanks to Gods’ help, and called them “Kamikaze”. This word, that means “divine wind” in literary translation, is well known worldwide now, though for a infamous reason.
The second “Kamikaze”, struck Mongolian fleets on the sea off Kyushu island severely, came Just in August. And August is just the peak month that typhoons strike Kyushu and its offshore area. So it is said to be highly probable that at least the second “Kamikaze” was a typhoon. It couldn’t be necessary for a typhoon to be particularly huge in order to have contemporary fleets sunk. A common typhoon should be enough to destroy fleets at that time, because Mongolian generals must have had no knowledge for maritime battle and the danger of sea storm, so they must have had little care of what occurs when fleets stay on the sea near Kyushu in midsummer. In Ko-an no eki campaign, Japanese warriors fought well and prevented invaders from landing several weeks, so keeping their enemy staying on the sea for a long time in summer was probably one of the inadvertent cause of their victory.
In Japan typhoon season had just begun. Until nearly October Japan can be struck by typhoons, small or powerful. They might be “divine winds”, but they don’t necessarily bring good fortunes to us.
(Oda Mitsuo, the president of Asian-curd)
コメントはまだありません »
コメントはまだありません。
コメントをどうぞ
You must be logged in to post a comment.