![Genko Borui Nishijin Fukuoka 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Genko_Borui_Nishijin_Fukuoka_02.jpg)
The was a defensive stone wall, 20 kilometres (12 mi) long, constructed along
Hakata Bay
is a bay in the northwestern part of Fukuoka city, on the Japanese island of Kyūshū. It faces the Tsushima Strait, and features beaches and a port, though parts of the bay have been reclaimed in the expansion of the city of Fukuoka. The bay ...
in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
in preparation for an attack by Mongol forces of the
Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fifth ...
after
the first attack of 1274.
The second attack of 1281 was thwarted by a typhoon, or
kamikaze
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
, and the Mongols were forced to withdraw. In the
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
, some of the stones were reused for the construction of Fukuoka Castle, though Genkō Bōrui has remained intact at several points along the Hakata Bay. It was originally called . It was designated a national historic site on March 30, 1931.
History
The Mongol invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281 were major military efforts undertaken by
Kublai Khan
Kublai ; Mongolian script: ; (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder of the Yuan dynasty of China and the fifth khagan-emperor of th ...
to conquer Japan. After the failure of the first invasion, the
Kamakura shogunate
The was the feudal military government of Japan during the Kamakura period from 1185 to 1333. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Kamakura-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 459.
The Kamakura shogunate was established by Minamoto no Y ...
initiated a series of projects in 1275 to prepare for the next invasion, which they felt was imminent.
In addition to improving the organization of the
samurai
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
of Kyushu, they ordered the construction of a large stone wall and other defensive structures at many potential landing points, including Hakata Bay. A defensive wall was planned and a tax was levied on the samurai, temples, and shrines, of of construction stone per rice field equivalent to one ''
koku
The is a Chinese-based Japanese unit of volume. 1 koku is equivalent to 10 or approximately , or about . It converts, in turn, to 100 shō and 1000 gō. One ''gō'' is the volume of the "rice cup", the plastic measuring cup that is supplied ...
'' of rice.
[Shoji Kawazoe, ''Review: What does Genkō Bōrui Tell? '' History of Fukuoka City; Fukuoka (Journal, first issue) 2006, p.5–39] Construction began in March 1276. The planned date of completion for most of the wall was August of the same year, but the deadline differed depending on the strategic importance of given locations. Construction of the defense wall was made by various Kyushu provinces. These provinces continued maintenance on the wall until the early part of the
Muromachi period
The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...
, and by the latter half of the 14th century it had fallen into disrepair.
A part of Genkō Bōrui was completed before the second invasion and prevented the enemy from landing immediately. The invaders were forced to anchor their ships at
Shikanoshima Island
is an island in Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. The island is known as the spot where the Gold Seal of the King of Na, a national treasure, was discovered. The island is about 11 kilometres around and connected to the Umi no Nakamichi (road) on the ...
. The battles occurred over several months between several thousand evenly-matched combatants.
Takezaki Suenaga
was a retainer of the Higo Province, Japan who fought in both the Battle of Bun'ei and the Battle of Kōan during the Mongol invasions of Japan. Suenaga commissioned the ''Mōko Shūrai Ekotoba'', an illustrated handscroll, in order to provide ...
of
Higo Province joined the battles and had artists draw scrolls concerning the
Battle of Kōan
The , also known as the Second Battle of Hakata Bay, was the second attempt by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China to invade Japan after their failed attempt seven years earlier at the Battle of Bun'ei. In the summer of 1281, the Yuan invaded ...
. This second attack of 1281 was finally thwarted by a typhoon, or
kamikaze
, officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...
, and the Mongols were forced to withdraw.
Even later, the defense system was continued, and remained intact until 1332. In the
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
, most of the stones were used for the construction of
Fukuoka Castle
is a Japanese castle located in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. It is also known as Maizuru Castle (舞鶴城 Maizuru-jō) or Seki Castle (石城 Seki-jō). Completed in the early Edo period for ''tozama daimyō'' Kuroda Nagamasa, it has been decreed ...
. It was designated a national historic site on March 30, 1931.
[Kawazoe 979:527/ref>
]
Taxation and transformation
At first, battle-ready soldiers were excluded from taxation, but this policy was soon discontinued and each province in Kyushu was taxed. The tax was usually one ''sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...
'' (3.3 cm) of the wall's length per 1 ''tan
Tan or TAN may refer to:
Businesses and organisations
* Black and Tans, a nickname for British special constables during the Irish War of Independence. By extension "Tans" can now also colloquially refer to English or British people in general, es ...
'' of rice field; the weapons were one shield, one flag and 20 arrows per 1 ''jo'' (3.314 yards) of stone wall. The tax was in the form of men who constructed the wall and in the form of the items (weapons), but later the tax was paid in money; 114 mon
Mon, MON or Mon. may refer to:
Places
* Mon State, a subdivision of Myanmar
* Mon, India, a town in Nagaland
* Mon district, Nagaland
* Mon, Raebareli, a village in Uttar Pradesh, India
* Mon, Switzerland, a village in the Canton of Grisons
* An ...
per one ''cho'' of rice field was typical. The taxation continued to the early part of the Muromachi Bakufu.
Structure
The Genkō Bōrui was typically high and wide. The western end was in Imazu, Nishiku, Fukuoka
is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...
and the eastern end in Kashii, Higashiku, Fukuoka, and about long. It was packed with small stones inside, the seaside steep and the landside less steep. Shields and flags were placed on the Genko Borui and stakes were planted in the sea at irregular intervals.
Etymology
In articles of the ''Fukuoka Nichi Nichi Shimbun'' ("Fukuoka Daily Newspaper") between June 12 and June 29, 1913, Heijiro Nakayama
was a Japanese pathologist and archaeologist living in Fukuoka.
Life
Heijiro Nakayama was born in 1871 in Kyoto City to a family of physicians. In 1874, he moved to Tokyo. During secondary school days, he was interested in archaeology and foun ...
first used the words ''Genkō Bōrui'' to mean "Mongolian Invasion defense structure" and he contrasted the Genkō Bōrui from conventional stone defense by its high elevation and its design as a sand dike covered with stones; a structure which would effectively block an invasion attempt.
Archaeological excavations
The Genkō Bōrui was excavated at the locations listed below. All locations were along Hakata Bay
is a bay in the northwestern part of Fukuoka city, on the Japanese island of Kyūshū. It faces the Tsushima Strait, and features beaches and a port, though parts of the bay have been reclaimed in the expansion of the city of Fukuoka. The bay ...
, within the city of Fukuoka
is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...
.
In 1958, human bones corresponding to 200 bodies were found in Imazu near the defensive structure, with ceramics considered to have been used by those convened for the construction of the wall.[Kawazoe 006:17/ref>
]
Notes
External links
*
*
*
*
*
Comprehensive Database of Archaeological Site Reports in Japan
Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties
{{clarify, 1 -not sure that this is correct classification or not. 2 - if it is, lead needs correction. Not listed as such above, nor is it in one of the lists of "national Treasures., date=March 2012
Fukuoka Prefecture
History of Fukuoka Prefecture
National Treasures of Japan