was the Deputy Governor of Tsushima Province during the

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

of Japan. During the first

Mongol invasion of Japan Major military efforts were taken by Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty in 1274 and 1281 to conquer the Japanese archipelago after the submission of the Korean kingdom of Goryeo to vassaldom. Ultimately a failure, the invasion attempts are of macr ...

1274 Year 1274 ( MCCLXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * May 7 – Second Council of Lyon: Pope Gregory X convenes a council at Lyon, after ...

, Sukekuni led the defence of the island despite only having 80 men. He was killed during the battle on November 4, 1274. He was the head of the

Sō clan were a Japanese clan claiming descent from Taira no Tomomori. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Toki," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 56 retrieved 2013-5-10. The clan go ...

, who were the historical rulers of the

Tsushima Island is an island of the Japanese archipelago situated in-between the Tsushima Strait and Korea Strait, approximately halfway between Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula. The main island of Tsushima, once a single island, was divided into two in 1671 by ...

Life

Sukekuni was born as a member of the

, and later became the head of the clan. During the Invasion of Tsushima by Mongols in 1274, as the deputy governor ( ''jitodai'') of Tsushima Province, Sukekuni had to organize a hasty defence after the fleet was spotted offshore. On that day, the shrine to Hachiman caught on fire, which would have been an omen of bad luck, but Sukekuni interpreted it as an omen of warning. With 80 mounted

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 ...

and their retinue, Sukekuni confronted an invasion force of what the ''Sō Shi Kafu'' describes as 8,000 warriors embarked on 900 ships. The Mongols landed at 02:00 in the morning on November 4th, and ignored the Japanese negotiation attempts, opening fire with their archers and forcing them to retreat. Sukekuni died in battle defending his home island.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:So, Sukekuni 1274 deaths Kamakura period Mongol Empire