TY - JOUR

T1 - Отражение монгольских имперских идей в средневековых японских источниках. Часть 1

AU - Drobyshev, Y.I.

N1 - Export Date: 05 February 2026; Cited By: 0; Correspondence Address: Y.I. Drobyshev; Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation; email: altanus@mail.ru

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - Like many other Eurasian countries, Japan also became an object of Mongol aggression in the 13th century. The founder of the Mongol Yuan dynasty Qubilai (1260–1294) tried to subjugate Japan both by diplomatic and military means, but neither he nor his descendants were able to do so. Apparently, at first Qubilai merely sought recognition of his seniority, which he needed to raise his prestige in the eyes of both the Mongols and the already conquered peoples, but later he intended to include Japan in his empire. The article discusses ideological aspects of confrontation, during which the Mongol ruler’s claims of hegemony in East Asia were manifested, modeled on the Chinese foreign policy doctrine and preserving certain elements of the steppe imperial tradition. Despite that, Qubilai’s letters based on “world-building” rhetoric, where he positioned himself as the “Son of Heaven”, have been preserved in Japanese sources, even though for the Japanese, the Mongols and their allies were not carriers of high political ideas but pirates and robbers. Therefore, Japanese literature is devoid of any hints that the country needed to submit to the Mongols’ vision of the world order. On the contrary, the Japanese military government managed to repel both attacks, and the widely known typhoons were actually of secondary importance. However, the kamikaze myth was beneficial to both sides: it justified the defeat of Yuan warlords and strengthened fighting spirit of the Japanese, whose belief in the divine protection of their country was reinforced even more. The Japanese view of the conflict combines Buddhist and Shinto ideas. © 2025, Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

AB - Like many other Eurasian countries, Japan also became an object of Mongol aggression in the 13th century. The founder of the Mongol Yuan dynasty Qubilai (1260–1294) tried to subjugate Japan both by diplomatic and military means, but neither he nor his descendants were able to do so. Apparently, at first Qubilai merely sought recognition of his seniority, which he needed to raise his prestige in the eyes of both the Mongols and the already conquered peoples, but later he intended to include Japan in his empire. The article discusses ideological aspects of confrontation, during which the Mongol ruler’s claims of hegemony in East Asia were manifested, modeled on the Chinese foreign policy doctrine and preserving certain elements of the steppe imperial tradition. Despite that, Qubilai’s letters based on “world-building” rhetoric, where he positioned himself as the “Son of Heaven”, have been preserved in Japanese sources, even though for the Japanese, the Mongols and their allies were not carriers of high political ideas but pirates and robbers. Therefore, Japanese literature is devoid of any hints that the country needed to submit to the Mongols’ vision of the world order. On the contrary, the Japanese military government managed to repel both attacks, and the widely known typhoons were actually of secondary importance. However, the kamikaze myth was beneficial to both sides: it justified the defeat of Yuan warlords and strengthened fighting spirit of the Japanese, whose belief in the divine protection of their country was reinforced even more. The Japanese view of the conflict combines Buddhist and Shinto ideas. © 2025, Russian Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

KW - imperial ideology

KW - Japan

KW - Japanese sources

KW - Mongol conquests

KW - Mongol Empire

KW - Qubilai

U2 - 10.31696/S086919080033989-4

DO - 10.31696/S086919080033989-4

M3 - статья

VL - 2025

SP - 47

EP - 57

JO - ВОСТОК. АФРО-АЗИАТСКИЕ ОБЩЕСТВА: ИСТОРИЯ И СОВРЕМЕННОСТЬ

JF - ВОСТОК. АФРО-АЗИАТСКИЕ ОБЩЕСТВА: ИСТОРИЯ И СОВРЕМЕННОСТЬ

SN - 0869-1908

IS - 2

ER -