The Origin of Weird: Kamikaze

Cold Open And Quick Introductions

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Oh hey there.

SPEAKER_03 0:17

Oh hey there.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

We've been talking for like a good solid couple of minutes before this.

SPEAKER_03 0:26

I can leave it in, but I probably won't. We're just talking about the doors.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Yeah, that's right. I am. You are. We are.

SPEAKER_03 0:35

I'm Bradley.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

I'm Kate.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

Are you?

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Yeah. This is the origin of weird.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

This is the origin of weird.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

And we belong here.

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Apparently, this episode's about us today. No, we uh origin of weird where we try to discover the origin of weird, which we never will because this world is so fucking weird.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

It is weird.

SPEAKER_03 1:01

And then there's a random yawn. That was weird. Wow, that was unheard of. No, you've met have you met yourself? Let's get in to the

The Kamikaze Cocktail Detour

SPEAKER_03 1:12

origin of weird.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

When you hear the word kamikaze, what do you think of?

SPEAKER_03 1:19

The cocktail.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

Is it a cocktail?

SPEAKER_03 1:22

Yeah, and clearly it's not what I think of, but I just want that route because it would confuse you.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Right. What's what do you know what it is?

SPEAKER_03 1:29

I I honestly don't know what's all in a kamikaze.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Shit, now I gotta look at it.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

That random noise was Cade's power adapter falling f onto the floor. You've never heard of a kamikaze drink?

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Recall. Look at that. It's a cocktail. Looks like vodka, triple sec, and lime juice. I would probably like that. You probably would, actually, yeah. And then there's also a blue kamikaze. Is it sad? Made with blue carousel for the triple sec.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Oh, that's how you say that word.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Kerousoo?

SPEAKER_03 2:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

Yeah. You're welcome. So what do you actually think of when you hear the word kamikaze?

What Kamikaze Really Brings To Mind

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Japanese fighter pilots. Right. Um, exactly. So most of us will picture um World War II. Japanese pilots.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

I'm just picturing their silver plane with the dots.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Yeah. Yeah. What do they call those? Zeros. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

Yeah, I think it was zeros. That was the American name for them because they had the dot. It looked like a zero.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Yes, but really it was their flag.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

I really I don't know the whole story behind this, so I'm probably wrong, but I feel like they stopped using it after World War II, which I guess I can understand why.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:44

But Japan's old flag was so much cooler than just the dot. But anyways.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

So these were suicide missions. Correct. And um Japanese uh pilots. Yes. Um, and it's one of those historical terms um that feels like it belongs to this moment in time, World War II. But it doesn't. But it has a history before that.

SPEAKER_03 3:07

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 3:08

Did you know that?

SPEAKER_03 3:09

I didn't, I don't know the history. I know it's been around before World War II, though.

SPEAKER_00 3:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:14

So we're talking 700 years earlier than World War II.

SPEAKER_03 3:19

So just

Mongol Power And Kublai Khan’s Goal

SPEAKER_03 3:20

a couple years, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Shit. That's that's a long time ago. So we're talking the 1200s.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

1200s. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:29

Look at me, math.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

No, you're good at it.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

So 1241.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

Earlier than that.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

Um 1203.

SPEAKER_00 3:36

So the islands of Japan found themselves staring across the sea, because you know they're an island, and an empire that had spent decades conquering kingdoms and expanding across Asia. China. By the second half of the 13th century, yeah, the Mongol Empire. Oh, the good old Mongols had become the largest contiguous land empire the world has ever seen. And I had to highlight contiguous, so I didn't actually say continuous.

SPEAKER_03 4:09

You know, you're still gonna fuck it up at some point if you have to say it again.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

I don't have to say it again.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

Oh, thank goodness.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

So it stretched from the shores of the Pacific Ocean deep into Eastern Europe. Okay, and it swallowed kingdoms and cities and entire civilizations as it expanded. Sure did. Entire cities had been destroyed against resisting Mongol rule, while others had surrendered without a fight simply because they already knew what was gonna happen to their people before.

SPEAKER_03 4:38

Because what were weren't their armies just like fucking huge? Yes. So I mean, you think about them come marching up on this town is like you're you can have us. Right. We'll we'll join you.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Yeah, exactly. We're only a thousand, you know.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

Yeah, we don't want to get completely obliterated. Yeah, we're and obviously some were just like fuck that, this is our land, we'll fight. Even if we die, we died fighting for our own exact land or whatever, blah blah blah. But I could only imagine, like, I was just I don't remember the goddamn shoot, I forgot his name. Basically, the guy that started Albania back in whatever fucking year that was, saw a video on this, and he he faced off against an army of a hundred thousand people and one, which is wild, but anyways, I wouldn't want to stare down that big of a force. Yeah, umpire.

SPEAKER_00 5:28

Yeah, and that empire was ruled by Genghis Khan.

SPEAKER_03 5:33

So I've heard his name be pronounced Genghis. Oh, I don't know which one's right.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

I've heard I guess I've heard that as well.

SPEAKER_03 5:41

I've always, and I've probably even just pronounced that wrong, but um, I've always known him as Genghis Khan. Yeah, that's what I'm gonna call him.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Yeah, we're American. So he had the ability to unite rival tribes and transform them into a disciplined fighting force that permanently changed the course of history. Yep. After his death in 1227, yeah, the empire didn't break apart, instead, it continued growing under his descendants. Yeah, he had a lot, didn't he?

SPEAKER_03 6:12

If I'm not mistaken.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

So each adding new territory until the Mongols controlled lands that stretch farther than anyone thought possible. Sure. One of the descendants was Genghis Khan's grandson, Kublai Khan. Kublai Khan. Kublai Khan. Yeah, Kublai Khan, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

I've heard of that. I don't remember what I've heard that from, though.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

I know it's in the song too, but so by the time he became the great Khan, he also had conquered China and established the Yuan dynasty, giving him access to immense wealth and experienced administrators, um, engineers, and some of the finest shipbuilders in the world. Okay, he ruled an empire capable of building cities, maintaining massive supply networks, and constructing fleets large enough to carry entire armies across the sea. From Kublai Khan's perspective, there was one obvious piece of unfinished business, which is Japan.

SPEAKER_03 7:13

Was it I heard something once too, and I don't even know if like we call it Japan, but I hear like in Japan they don't call it Japan. Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Yeah, it's just like Germany versus Deutschland. Yeah, yeah, because Germany calls it Deutschland, we call it Germany.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

Right. Yeah, wild that we wild that. Let me finish my sentence.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

That was the end.

SPEAKER_03 7:37

Now it is. Continue. It's wild that we name them and that's what everyone goes off of, or at least that's what we think because we're here.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

I don't know. I mean, I I know of Germany is called Deutschland, yeah, but it's like it's just strange that we gave them their their fucking country's name, more or less.

SPEAKER_00 7:58

Yeah, like why don't we call it Deutschland because they call it Deutschland, you know?

SPEAKER_03 8:02

Because that's what it is. So it's uh that's just strange, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

So for centuries, Japan's greatest defense had been its geography where they were at, right?

SPEAKER_03 8:11

Right. Well, they're they're they're an island.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Yeah, so invading an island nation was an entirely different challenge than conquering territory connected by land, and the stretch of water separating Japan from the Asian mainland had discouraged more than one would-be conqueror.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

So with Korea under Mongol control and China now part of Kublai Khan's empire, he had both the shipyards and the manpower needed to make an invasion seem possible. Wow. So launching a

Ultimatums To Japan And Rising Tension

SPEAKER_00 8:40

massive military campaign would be expensive, and Kublai Khan preferred giving Japan an opportunity to surrender before committing the resources necessary for the invasion.

SPEAKER_03 8:51

So did he like send emissaries to be like, hey, yes, we're gonna attack you, but hey, just want to give up.

SPEAKER_00 8:58

Yeah, why don't you just give up? Yeah, that's exactly what it did.

SPEAKER_03 9:01

All right.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Um, beginning in 1266, he sent a series of diplomatic envoys carrying letters to the Japanese court. The messages were fairly respectful enough. They spoke of peaceful relations and mutual prosperity, but beneath the polite language is a little something else.

SPEAKER_03 9:18

Well, I mean, he wants to take you over.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Japan was was to recognize Kublakan's authority and begin paying tribute to the Mongol Empire. Surrender, so he was saying surrender peacefully now or deal with the consequences later. Right. The Japanese co uh court never gave him an answer.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

Well, of course not. Did they kill the emissaries? No.

SPEAKER_00 9:41

I don't think additional envoys arrived over the following years, each carrying essentially the same message. Um, each time they returned home without an answer, without an agreement. Um, historians still debate why Japan refused to respond. Some believe that the core deliberately ignored the Mongols to avoid legitimizing their demands.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Others argue that there was uncertain uncertainty about how best to handle a foreign power, unlike anything Japan had encountered before.

SPEAKER_01 10:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

But whatever reasoning, if Japan wasn't willing to join his empire voluntarily, it would be become a part of it by force. Sure. So across Japan, the news of the growing tension spread quickly. The country's military government, known as the Kamakura Shogunate, all right. Um, understood exactly what they were dealing with. And I have to cough real quick.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Excuse me. You're excused.

SPEAKER_00 10:40

They had watched the kingdom, watched kingdom after kingdom fall to the Mongols, and they knew this wasn't an enemy that usually gave people a second chance. And they sound like they had several years of chances.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

Well, I mean, it wasn't like a well, we didn't hear anything for the this last week. Let's attack. Right. Yeah, this is literally years in the making, yeah. But also things moved a lot slower back then because of travel and absolutely right. And plus they gave them time to build ships and shit. Yes, they did.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

So if the invasion came, Japan would be fighting the most successful military empire on earth. So warriors began preparing for a conflict unlike anything Japan had experienced before. Coastal defenses were strengthened where they could be. Local leaders gathered fighting men, and watch was kept on the water separat from Korea, because that was the country right across the that's the closest straight.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Yep, Korea, South Korea. Well, well, what is now? What is now, yeah. So no one knew exactly what the Mongols when the Mongols would arrive, but almost everyone believed that they

1274 Invasion And A Sudden Withdrawal

SPEAKER_00 11:45

would eventually. Sure. Then of autumn of 1274, the waiting came to an end, and the horizon was filled with ships. Oh my word. That would be so petrifying to see.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

That would just be fucking crazy just to see all these ships.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

Look at that like line across the horizon of clouds. Those are not clouds. Fuck those masts.

SPEAKER_03 12:06

Why is it that would be so crazy? Why are they getting bigger? Lucier. That would just be crazy to see, especially in that time.

SPEAKER_00 12:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:15

Because obviously we're we're thinking on it with a today's brain.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

For sure.

SPEAKER_03 12:20

But like, good lord, that would just be cra that would just be weird.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 12:25

Because even back then, you're not used to seeing all these all these ships come to your island. Yeah. Fucking wild.

SPEAKER_00 12:32

So the fleet that crossed the Korea Strait in 127 1274 included Mongol clergymen. Nope. Cavalrymen. Clergy. Wow.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

What the fuck was that?

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Cavalrymen. Chinese infantry, Korean sailors, and countless other support personnel responsible for keeping the expedition moving. Sure. Historians disagree on the exact numbers, but most estimates place the force somewhere between 20, that 20,000 and 30,000 soldiers aboard several hundred ships.

SPEAKER_03 13:10

Well, yeah, it's gonna take a lot of ships for that many people.

SPEAKER_00 13:15

So the Japanese didn't have long to wonder what kind of enemy they were facing because the Mongols didn't sail directly to the mainland.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Instead, they stopped first on two islands in between Japan and Korea. One is called Tsushima, and the other one is Iki. Both of which lay between Korea and then the Japanese island called Kyushu.

SPEAKER_03 13:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

So these islands were strategically important because they served as stepping stones towards the pan Japan.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

But their defenders were helplessly outnumbered. Well, yeah, of course. I mean hopelessly too.

SPEAKER_03 13:54

I mean, one or the other.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Local samurai fought as fiercely as they could, fully aware that retreat wasn't really an option.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

You're on an island.

SPEAKER_00 14:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

Can't really retreat. Nope. Unless it's like, well, let's go for a swim, boys.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Despite their determination, both islands eventually fell. Sure. Leaving the path to mainland Japan wide open.

SPEAKER_03 14:16

Wouldn't you be curious to know that if these samurais did fight, like they said, how many do you think they took out? We came here with 20,000. Now we got 19,934. Right. Fuck. Right. Exactly. It would just be interesting to know what the two islands maybe did. Yeah. But you'll never know that number. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

So by the time news reached reached Kyushu, any lingering hope that diplomacy might prevent war had vanished. The Mongols weren't coming to negotiate, they were coming to conquer. Yeah. So the invasion fleet soon anchored off of Hakata Bay, a broad stretch of coastline that offered one of the best places to land an army. As Japanese warriors assembled along the shore, many of them expected the kind of combat that they had trained their entire lives for. Sure. Japanese warriors often identified themselves before battle. And they just did that because it they took pride in their family name and their individual skill. So that's how they would like start a fight is saying declaring who they were. Reputation matter to them and honor matter matter to them. Sure. A warrior's accomplishment accomplishments on the battlefield could bring prestige not only to himself but his entire family.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

Well, right. And it's funny because a lot of those people, especially in ancient times like this, they if they were gonna die, they wanted to die fighting. Yeah. They felt that was a great honor.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:48

Now you get people who just uh won't even go into it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

And of course, the Mongols had absolutely no interest in any of that. They fought as disciplined units instead of individuals, right? Advancing together behind shields while archers uh launched wave after wave of arrows towards the Japanese lines. Yep. Rather than seeking honorable duels, they focused on breaking enemy for ne formations as quickly and efficiently as possible. Right. Some contemporary accounts also describe the invaders using early gunpowder weapons.

SPEAKER_03 16:20

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 16:21

Something the Japanese were unlikely to have ever seen before.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Can you imagine like spending your entire career training for boxing only to discover that your your opposing team is a hockey team?

SPEAKER_03 16:34

That is a weird analogy.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

I'm just saying they they both have sticks and stuff, you know. So nope, boxing doesn't.

SPEAKER_03 16:43

Do you know what boxing is for me?

unknown 16:46

Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

I don't know where my head went. They both have I was thinking of samurai, but I said boxing. Oh my god. What the hell?

SPEAKER_03 16:56

But can you imagine like training for something and then the what what you you train for this one way, but the game is completely different now. Completely different now. Yeah. It's like you're I'm gonna train for playing baseball and then they put me on a football field.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah, no, I got it. You don't know the rules.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

Or or what utensils you use to play the game. I knew what you meant, but when you said stick, I had to laugh because boxers don't use this. Don't use stick. Anywho.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

So even so, the samurai tried to adapt as best they could. Once they managed to close the distance, many proved more than capable of holding their own on hand-to-hand combat. Sure. Japanese swords, spears, and bows were every bit as deadly as they had always been.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

The fighting lasted throughout the day, with neither side managing to gain a decisive advantage that they obviously both desperately wanted. Sure. Then something happens that historians still discuss. As evening approached, the Mongol commanders ordered many of their troops back onto the ships instead of keeping them on land overnight. Um, there were theories about why they made that decision. Something

Japan Fortifies Hakata Bay For Round Two

SPEAKER_00 18:10

that they were concerned about fighting in unfamiliar territory in the dark, while others think that they w wanted to regroup and be fresh for the next morning's fight. So they I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 18:21

Kind of weird. I mean, it's it's very weird because why wouldn't you hold your ground where you landed? Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

And obviously it looked like you're retreating, kind of, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:32

But then you know, when you're on land, set up fucking um guards and shit to protect the rest of your troops and whatever. And I don't know. That's a if that's what they did. That's really weird that they would do that, anyways.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

So a storm swept across Hakata Bay, turning the water and damaging enough ships to complicate the invasion. Oh, it reminded the Mongol commanders that fighting on an island nation brought challenges that they couldn't control. Sure. And combined with stubborn Japanese resistance, of course, the worsening conditions convinced them to withdraw and return to the mainland. Oh, Japan had survived.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

That's wild.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

So that invasion convinced both sides that another conf confrontation was inevitable. Right. The Japanese had learned just how dangerous the Mongol army really was, while Kublai Khan had learned that conquering conquering Japan would require far more men and ships and better preparation.

SPEAKER_03 19:34

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 19:35

So this first invasion was the dress rehearsal.

SPEAKER_03 19:38

Dress rehearsal. Now let's get to the main show.

SPEAKER_00 19:42

The years after the first invasion, um, Japan hadn't feet defeated the Mongol Empire, but it survived, right? So everyone understood that Kublikan um still possessed the largest empire in the world, and no one seriously believed that he would simply forget about Japan. Of course not. So, how much longer till the next invasion? The Ka Kamakura shogunate, which is the Japanese court, decided that if another fleet appeared on the horizon, it wouldn't find the same coastline as they had in 1274.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Workers were ordered to build a defensive stone wall along much of Hakata Bay and very the very place where the Mongols had tried to invade the first time.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Stretching for miles, the wall wasn't intended to keep out an army, but it was um it would force the invading soldiers to have to climb over an obstacle while under attack. So, and that would buy precious time for the samurai while waiting on the other side.

SPEAKER_03 20:41

Sure, and obviously it's gonna slow the army down.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

So it's meant to slow them down.

SPEAKER_03 20:47

Yeah, that's gonna obviously fucking be a big deterrent.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Samurai remained on alert. Local leaders strengthened coastal defenses and watchmen scanned the seas for any signs of the ships. I'm sure the waiting itself was exhausting, not knowing when it was gonna come. That would suck. Across the sea, Kublicon was making sure that eventually the answer would be yes. Shipyards in Korea and China worked tireless tirelessly to construct new vessels while soldiers were gathered from every corner of the empire. Historians still debate the exact size of this new invasion force, but apparently it dwarfed the first fleet. Oh, really? Yeah. Like by a lot. By a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Thousands of ships instead of hundreds.

SPEAKER_03 21:34

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

And well, over a hundred thousand men that's crazy. We're going to take part in this campaign, making it one of the largest invasions ever attempted before the modern era.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 21:46

So one fleet would sail from Korea, while another much larger force departed from southern China.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

The two armadas would meet near Japan before launching a coordinated invasion powerful enough to um over. Overwhelm the island's defenses. Sure. However, their southern fleet wasn't ready when expected, forcing the Korean fleet to move ahead without the reinforcements.

SPEAKER_01 22:11

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

Instead of arriving as one unstoppable wave, the invasion unfolded in stages, giving the Japanese time to concentrate

1281 Stalemate And Samurai Night Raids

SPEAKER_00 22:20

their defenses. Okay. Even so, when the first ships began appearing off of Kyushu in the summer of 1281, the sight, I'm sure, was terrifying. Contemporary accounts describe the sea filling with masts until the fleet seemed to stretch all the way across the horizon.

SPEAKER_03 22:37

That would be such a sight.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Yeah. Um, this time, however, the Mongols discovered that Japan had learned from its previous mistakes. Instead of finding open beaches, they found the stone walls.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Every attempted landing became more difficult because soldiers now had to scramble over fortifications while arrows and spears came at them from above. The Japanese also refused to let the invaders settle comfortably offshore.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Under the cover of darkness, groups of samurai paddled smaller boats toward the anchored fleet, climbed aboard empty ships and excuse me, climbed aboard enemy ships, fought the crew at close quarters, and slipped away before larger groups could respond. That's wild. So like they could take out a few ships overnight, just basically one-on-one combat.

SPEAKER_03 23:27

Well, and that's more their style. Could you imagine the balls you have to have to go and hey guys, let's go uh grab your sword. We're gonna go on that one ship over there and we're gonna fuck some shit up.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

I like okay. Okay. I'm good.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

So these raids weren't large enough to destroy the invasion, but they forced the Mongols to remain constantly alert, right? And reminding them that nowhere near the Japanese coastline was safe. Yep. Days turned into weeks, and neither side managed to gain the upper hand. The Mongols couldn't establish the secure foothold they needed to push inland while the Japanese lacked the resources to destroy such a massive fleet outright. Yes. So it ended in a stalemate. It was exactly the kind of situation military commanders hate because every additional day meant consuming more supplies, repairing more equipment, and keeping thousands of exhausted soldiers ready for battle.

SPEAKER_03 24:25

Which would be a very hard feat to do for sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

Then sometime in the middle of August, the weather changed again. Summer storms weren't unusual,

The Typhoon That Shatters The Fleet

SPEAKER_00 24:35

so there was no reason for anyone to panic at first. Sailors had weathered rough seas before, and experienced captains knew how to ride out bad weather.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Unfortunately for the invasion fleet, this wasn't going to be an ordinary storm.

SPEAKER_01 24:49

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

A powerful typhoon swept into the waters around northern Kyushu, bringing violent winds and enormous waves. The tightly packed fleet suddenly found themselves in an impossible situation. Anchors that had held ships in place on the seabed were being dragged across. Vessels slammed into one another with enough force to splinter their holes.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 25:16

And others were driven onto rocks where relentless waves smashed them apart. Sure. Men who survived the collisions often found themselves thrown into the water while wearing heavy armor, and many never reached the shore. For hours, the storm tore through the invasion fleet, undoing in a single night what had taken years to build.

SPEAKER_03 25:38

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 25:39

When the winds finally died down, the sea was covered with wreckage.

SPEAKER_03 25:42

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

Broken ships drifted among floating timber, supplies, and bodies. Thousands of soldiers had drowned, while many of those who reached land were quickly captured or killed by the Japanese. Makes sense. Modern historians were cautious about saying exact casualty figures because medieval chroniclers often exaggerated numbers after major victories, like to make them look better.

SPEAKER_03 26:08

They killed five people. We killed 5,000 invaders.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Exactly. Some contemporary accounts claim that more than 100,000 invaders died, while other estimates are considerably lower. Sure. Whatever the number, there is no disagreement about the outcome. The invasion had collapsed, and Kubikan's dream of canker conquering Japan had gone down with it. Yeah. For many people in Japan, the conclusion was really obvious. They had spent years preparing for this invasion, um, fought to keep the Mongols from gaining a foothold, and then watched a powerful typhoon destroy the

Why “Divine Wind” Becomes Kamikaze

SPEAKER_00 26:45

invasion fleet. To them, the storm was evidence that the gods had protected Japan. Oh dear. And they began referring to the dive the typhoon as the divine wind.

SPEAKER_03 26:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

In Japanese, that phrase is kamikaze.

SPEAKER_03 27:00

Oh did not know that.

SPEAKER_00 27:03

Kamikaze means divine wind.

SPEAKER_03 27:06

So when I got my new AirPods, my Apple AirPods, it has a translate thing. And so Xavier wanted to try it out. And so he goes, Konicha. Hearing a seven-year-old say konichiwa is pretty funny.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

That is super cute. Yeah. Now we need to do it the opposite and say divine wind and see what it says.

SPEAKER_03 27:24

Well, I don't have them in right now, but yeah. We'll do that later. I didn't I didn't know that's what that would have meant.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Isn't that cool? So medieval people debated events just as we do today. The Japanese had built defensive walls fought far more effectively than they had during the first invasion and forced the Mongols into a long, frustrating campaign that left thousands of soldiers crowded aboard ships for weeks. Historians generally agree that all of those factors played an important role in the invasion's failure. But if you're living in Japan in 1281, it would have been difficult not to believe it was something bigger, something high more higher, you know, higher up. The most powerful empire on earth had assembled one of the largest invasion fleets the medieval world had ever seen. And to the Japanese, what had happened wasn't luck, it was protection by the god.

SPEAKER_03 28:18

What they believed.

SPEAKER_00 28:19

So as time passed, the Mongol Empire faded into history. Yeah, Kublakan died in 1294, and the empire he ruled eventually fragmented into smaller states. Sure. The stone walls at Hakata Bay weathered under the sun and the rain, while

The Word’s Dark Turn In World War II

SPEAKER_00 28:35

generations of Japanese grew up hearing this of the story of the storm that had saved their homeland. By 1944, Japan once again found itself fighting a war that was slipping out of its control. Allied forces were advancing across the Pacific. Japan's Navy had suffered devastating losses. And military leaders were searching desperately for anything that might change the course of the conflict. It was during that period that they reached back into their own history and revived a word every Japanese school child already knew. They called their new suicide attack units kamikaze. The name was chosen because military leaders hoped that those young men would become a modern version of the divine wind that had protected Japan from a foreign invasion.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

That's kind of a dick move.

SPEAKER_00 29:26

Nearly 700 years later, nature had destroyed an invading fleet. Earlier, not later, earlier, had destroyed an invading fleet. Now their government hoped human beings would accomplish the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

The kamikaze attacks of World War II became one of the most recognizable and tragic tactics of the conflict, permanently changing the way the world understood that word. Today, if someone says kamikaze, most people think of airline airplanes rather than typhoons, and world war two instead of medieval Japan. Of course. Few natural disasters have changed the course of history so dramatically, and even fewer have given the world a word that would be recognized nearly 700 years later.

SPEAKER_03 30:09

Yeah, that's crazy. That is weird. I never knew it. I mean, obviously, I'm not Japanese, so I I don't know the language. I can barely speak English. But um I didn't know it stood for that or why it would have even been that way, but that's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 30:26

I really like that story. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:28

Yeah, that was that was interesting. Poor cons couldn't get their island. We just wanted to build a resort, man. Yeah, right. No, they just wanted to conquer the world.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Yeah, they did.

SPEAKER_03 30:40

Those cons, I tell ya. Well, I suppose. Alright, buffoons,

Final Thoughts And How To Reach Us

SPEAKER_03 30:45

that's it for today's episode.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Buckle up because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you next time. Feeling hungry for more buffoonery? Or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore?

SPEAKER_03 30:58

Hit us up on social media. We're History Buffoons Podcast on YouTube, X, Instagram, and Facebook. You can also email us at History Buffoons Podcast at gmail.com. We are Bradley and Kate, music by Corey Akers.

SPEAKER_00 31:12

Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn those notifications on to stay in the loop.

SPEAKER_03 31:17

Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

Remember, the buffoonery never stops.