CLASH OF CULTURES: Q&A WITH JONATHAN CLEMENTS

With the Mongol way of war already a proven conquering force, the invasion of Japan was a clash of two unique warrior societies

Jonathan Clements is the author of A Brief History of Khubilai Khan and A Brief History of Japan. His upcoming book, Japan at War in the Pacific: The Rise and Fall of the Japanese Empire in Asia: 18681945, will cover the rise and fall of the Japanese empire as told through propaganda songs.

How well did the Mongols understand the samurai? And what did the samurai think of the Mongols?

Something that the Mongols never seemed to appreciate was the degree of medieval ‘phone tennis’ that some states were willing to try. The Japanese gave them the runaround for years because it was never all that clear to them who was in charge – the emperor, or the shogun, or the shogun’s regent. The Annamese, in what is now Vietnam, did the same thing, with the ruler agreeing to treaty demands and then abdicating, and his successor asking for clarifications, and so on.

The samurai did indeed think of the invaders as ‘Mongols’. Many of them did not appreciate that many of the ‘Mongol’ troops facing them were actually Korean and Chinese conscripts.

How well matched were the two armies?