In 1281, the Mongol Great Khan and Emperor of China, Kublai Khan, decided to send an armada against the recalcitrant Japanese, who refused to offer him tribute. The invasion did not go quite as the Great Khan planned, however.
This picture is a section of the scroll created for the samurai Takezaki Suenaga, who fought against the Mongol invaders in 1274 and 1281. Several samurai board a Chinese ship and slaughter the Chinese, Korean, or Mongolian crew-members. These sorts of raids took place mainly at night in the month after Kublai Khan's second armada showed up in Hakata Bay, off Japan's west coast.
Read more about the invasion of Japan by Yuan China, led by Mongol Emperor Kublai Khan.
