Mongol invasion ( 元 寇 Genko:) - Japanese patriotic song ( gunka ) of 1892 about the second Mongol invasion of Japan. The author of words and music is .
In the 1890s, the Japanese government was in full swing preparing to attack China, and an important measure of preparation was to raise the patriotic spirit of the population. To this end, it reminded the people of the most significant war at that time in the history of the country - the invasions of the Mongol Khan Khubilai on Kyushu. Two years before the first Sino-Japanese war, the Japanese government erected a monument to the emperor Kameyama in the city of Fukuoka, lying on the shores of Hakata Bay, in memory of the victories of the 13th century. To make this event more visible, musician Kensi Nagai wrote the song “Mongol Invasion”. The song gained fame: there is evidence that one of the Japanese troops sang it during the battle with the Chinese for Pyongyang on September 15, 1894; the battle ended in victory for the Japanese. Nakaba Yamada, author of the English-language book "Ghenko, the Mongol Invasion of Japan" (1916), noted the significance of the song for the Japanese and compared it in patriotic spirit with the French " Marseillaise " and the English " Rule, Britain, the seas! " [1] . Over time, “Invasion of the Mongols” has not lost popularity: in the 2000s, the population of Japan still sings this song [2] .
Content
Historical background
| External Images | |
|---|---|
| Pictures of the Mongol attack | |
| A series of paintings by Issho Yada (矢 田 一 嘯 1859-1913) | |
In the spring of 1281, the Mongols sent two independent fleets to conquer Japan. One is an impressive 900 ships, with 40,000 Korean, Chinese and Mongolian soldiers on board, leaving Masan, and the second, an even more impressive fleet of 3,500 ships with 100,000 soldiers, has left southern China. The second fleet and, accordingly, the entire armada of invasion were the largest in the history of mankind and retained this status until 1944.
The capture plan consisted of a coordinated attack by the combined fleet. However , a blunder came out of this, it turned out to be embarrassing : when the Mongols gathered to attack the Japanese coast, the strongest typhoon began, which sank most of the invaders' fleet. It is worth noting that the first Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274 ended similarly.
Both typhoons, scattering Mongolian ships, were perceived by the Japanese as an undoubted intercession and help against the foreign invaders from the higher forces. This impression was reinforced by the fact that the second typhoon began just in the evening of that day when the envoys of the emperor Kameyama offered prayers for deliverance from the Mongols in the temple of the Supreme Goddess Amaterasu in the city of Ise. The typhoons, who were given the name "divine wind" (神 風kamikaze ), strongly strengthened in the minds of the Japanese the cheers-patriotic idea that their country is an invincible "land of the gods"; the idea lasted until the defeat of Japan in World War II [3] .
Text
| Original text | Normalization | Line-by-line translation |
|---|---|---|
四 百余 州 を 挙 る 十万 余 騎 見 る 国難 こ こ に に 見 る 弘 安 四年 夏 の 頃 な ん ぞ 怖 れ ん わ れ に 鎌倉 男子 あ り 正義 武断 の 名 一 喝 し て 世 に 示 示 示 一 一 | Shihyakyushu: About Kodzoru | Gathered from all over China |
- Comments on the text
- ↑ 4th year of the Koan era - 1281 according to the standard calendar.
- ↑ The Shogunate Kamakura (1185–1333) is the first Japanese shogunate whose power extended to all of Japan. It is named after the then capital of the country, the city of Kamakura .
- ↑ Tatar coast - the area on the shores of Hakata Bay.
- ↑ Tsukushi is the old name for the northwestern part of Kyushu . The Tsukushi Sea is a marine area near this part. The line contains a play on words: “Kokoro Tsukushi” is similar to the expression “Kokoro about Tsukushu” - “try my best”, “strain all your strength”.
- ↑ Hakozaki Temple is a Shinto shrine located on the shores of Hakata Bay. Dedicated to the god of war Hachiman . It was burned during the first Mongol invasion, but was subsequently rebuilt. After the restoration was completed, the emperor Kameyama presented the temple with a sign that says “Let the enemy state surrender” ( 敵国 降伏 э Tekikoku ko: fuku), which was fixed above the gate.
- ↑ Genkai is the local name for the southwestern part of the Sea of Japan .
Notes
- ↑ Nakaba Yamada Ghenko, the Mongol Invasion of Japan . Smith, Elder & Co., 1916, p. 194—198
- ↑ James Delgado Adventures of a Sea Hunter: In Search of Famous Shipwrecks . Douglas & McIntyre, 2004, ISBN 978-1-926685-60-1 , p. 102-103
- ↑ 宮本 昌 子歌 っ て 健 や か 歌 の 玉手 箱 , 文 芸 社, 2007. ISBN 978-4-286-02961-0 。p. 194