The establishment of the Kamakura shogunate is mentioned above.
The Kamakura shogunate established local rule, but, by no means like in China, where Sun Wukong famously said that emperors take turns doing it, and that next year when they come to my house, in Japan, there is absolutely no such idea. Shoguns still respected the Emperor, and the Emperor still issued edicts, but the real power was in the hands of the Shogun.
The emperor is at the top of the pyramid, under the emperor is the general, there are many countries under the general, such as the Spring and Autumn Warring States in China, there is the Zhou royal family, the nations do their own thing, but the Japanese countries must listen to the general, and if they do not listen, they will be crusaded.
This dualistic system was the political pattern of Japan from the 12th century to the mid-19th century.
The Japanese beheaded Kublai Khan's envoys
During the Kamakura shogunate, Kublai Khan launched two wars against Japan before and after the unification of China.
Kublai Khan sent envoys eight times to demand that Japan accept Mongol rule, and the Japanese ruler at the time was Hojo Toshimune, who believed that the Mongols had bad intentions and resolutely refused.
Kublai Khan
On October 3, 1274, Kublai Khan, enraged, ordered Xin Du to lead 30,000 troops and 900 warships from Hepu, Korea, on an expedition to Japan. On the 5th, Tsushima Island was occupied. On the 14th, it landed on Iki Island. On the 16th, attacked the coastal islands of Hizen. On the 20th, they captured Akasaka and landed at Kanzaki, using a new weapon that could fire dozens of iron pills at a time, which the Japanese had never seen before. However, the Japanese never compromised and resisted vigorously. That night, when a violent storm broke out, the Mongol warships were overturned by a hurricane, sinking into the sea, killing more than 13,500 people, and Kublai Khan had to order a retreat.
In April 1275, Kublai Khan sent Du Shizhong to Japan to persuade him to surrender, but was killed by the Kamakura shogunate. In 1279, the sent envoys were killed again.
In February 1280, Kublai Khan set up the "Conquest of Zhongshu Province in Japan", and the following year, Kublai Khan's army was divided into two routes, the East Road Army was led by Xin Du and HongChaqiu with an army of 40,000, and the Southern Road Army was led by Fan Wenhu with an army of 100,000, starting from Qingyuan, that is, Ningbo. On 21 May, the Eastern Route Army reached Tsushima and approached Hakata Bay on 6 June. Japanese samurai built stone walls and fought desperately. The Mongol army was unable to break through, and turned to Shiga and Noko Island, and the Japanese samurai organized a hundred-man death squad to fight the Mongols hand-to-hand. The Mongol army suffered a severe plague that killed more than three thousand people. At the end of June, the Southern Route Army and the Eastern Route Army converged. Tens of thousands of warriors were organized by powerful warriors from all over Japan, and ordinary people also participated in the battle against the Mongol army. On July 27, the Mongol army turned to attack Jiying Island, and on the 1st of the following month, the typhoon blew over, and the corpses of the Mongol army floated all over the sea. Only the Zhenguo general Zhang Xi, anticipating the typhoon, ordered the warships to be tied together with ropes to avoid the disaster. Emperor Fan wenhu fled back, and the Mongol army remaining in Japan was captured by a few and most killed.
Kublai Khan's two attacks on Japan failed.
The direction of the Mongol army's attack
After the Kamakura shogunate, there was the Muromachi shogunate and the Edo shogunate.