Archaeologists Find A Wreck Of The Kamikaze (Kublai Khan)

Canada.com ^ | 9-7-2002

[blam]

Archeologists find a wreck of the kamikaze

Vancouver Sun

Saturday, September 07, 2002

Two ancient invasions on Japan were thwarted by mysterious storms that wiped out Mongol fleets. This 1896 painting depicts samurai battling Mongols during the first invasion, which was in 1274.

In what marine archeologists are calling one of the greatest finds of all time, the remains of a ship that sank in one of history's largest sea battles has been located off the southern coast of Japan.

Since last fall, Japanese archeologists have quietly worked beneath the waters off Takashima Island to retrieve the remains of a warship from Kublai Khan's failed invasion of Japan in 1281.

The fate of the expedition, an enormous undertaking involving 4,000 ships and more than 100,000 men, most of whom perished, was decided by a storm -- named kamikaze by the Japanese -- that sank the invading fleet. Marco Polo first told the Western world of the disaster.

Vancouver Maritime Museum executive director and underwater archeologist James Delgado says that while earlier discoveries in the 1980s found artifacts from the invasion fleet, those discoveries were like finding broken pots and scraps of linen in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

The discovery of the wreck of the Khan's ship, he says, is like finding the tomb of Tutankhamun: "The contents have been tossed and tumbled, but what we're seeing on the bottom is an incredible treasure trove from the Khan's great fleet."

Donny Hamilton president of the Institute of Nautical Archeology in Texas, said the find opens the door on an event that shaped the way the world developed.

"It's going to capture a pivotal time in history. Essentially this is what stopped the expansion of the Kublai Khan empire. You can imagine how things would have turned out differently if they had captured Japan. Instead of there being a separate Japan, Japan would have been a part of China."

Delgado, host of National Geographic and History Television's The Sea Hunters, was permitted to dive with the Japanese archaeologists as they recovered incredible deep-sea treasures, many of them amazingly well preserved after 721 years of burial beneath the seabed.

Today, in a world exclusive for The Vancouver Sun, he tells the story of the greatest seaborne invasion the world would know until the mid-20th century.

[norton]

Whoa!

HIstory that lives into the present.

Makes the Monitor and Hunley seem like pups.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Japanese archeologists working underwater, digging up something old and ancient? Great - I think we all know what comes next.

[MacDorcha]

the word Kamekazi means Divine Wind (kame: divine kazi:wind) they believed the powers that be protected them from the invasions...

[Lokibob]

"The fate of the expedition, an enormous undertaking involving 4,000 ships and more than 100,000 men, most of whom perished, was decided by a storm -- named kamikaze by the Japanese -- that sank the invading fleet. Marco Polo first told the Western world of the disaster. "

Great, more info for my trivia files.  I had always heard that Kamikaze meant devine wind.  Now I know the origions.

 

[Lokibob]

Have you ever listened to the Bob and Tom show on the radio?

They do a news article that mentions godzilla, and a couple of mins later, the phone rings. It is a Japanese tourist group that bats the breeze for a few mins, then either Bob ot Tom mentions the godzilla article and the Japanese tourists start screaming.

Bob and Tom have done this about 100 times on the radio, and each time I LMAO.

[Jonah Hex]

A bump for the Big G!!

[maximus@Nashville]

I wonder how the Japanese archiologists will respond when the Mongols demand their wrecks back?

[blam]

"I wonder how the Japanese archiologists will respond when the Mongols demand their wrecks back?"

I like that!

[Kermit]

That's a more difficult invasion than D-Day for a comparison.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam. Another oldie.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[RightWhale]

Sterling job mining the database.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks. I got the bright idea that perhaps I hadn't gotten everything after all, and clicked an overlooked keyword or two, and did a Google search again. Going to stop in a few minutes, after one more topic I'm checking out (over 700 posts).

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

Whew. Already added that one. More than 800 messages!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/796256/posts?page=851#851

[databoss]

Wong War, Wong Day...

[SunkenCiv]

;')

[VadeRetro]

"It's going to capture a pivotal time in history. Essentially this is what stopped the expansion of the Kublai Khan empire. You can imagine how things would have turned out differently if they had captured Japan. Instead of there being a separate Japan, Japan would have been a part of China."

And Hawaii would have been next to fall, with California a short hop beyond awaiting its fate.

[Professional Engineer]

ping

[SunkenCiv]

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