was the Deputy Governor of Tsushima Province during the

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. During the first Mongol invasion of Japan in 1274, 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, who were the historical rulers of the Tsushima Island.

Life

Sukekuni was born as a member of the Sō clan, 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 In Japanese religion, ''Yahata'' (八幡神, ancient Shinto pronunciation) formerly in Shinto and later commonly known as Hachiman (八幡神, Japanese Buddhist pronunciation) is the syncretic divinity of archery and war, incorporating elements f ...

caught on fire, which would have been an

omen An omen (also called ''portent'') is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. It was commonly believed in ancient history, and still believed by some today, that omens bring divine messages ...

of bad luck, but Sukekuni interpreted it as an omen of warning. With 80 mounted

samurai The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...

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 4, 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

Sources

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