By: AJ Witte
This past week our readings and discussions have been dominated by the Mongol empire and their conquest of most of the known world. What really felt like the most interesting topic to me was the importance of religion in ancient warfare and the psychology surrounding it. In one of our readings, we read how there was even a special room where priests and monks would recite prayers, praying for not only their victory but for help from their gods. A divine intervention which would eventually take the form of a kamikaze, a divine wind which would come and according to legend, sweep away the invading Mongolians. I think that there is this idea that praying to the gods for assistance is a futile effort, or that it is a waste of energy, but this is where I believe those people to be misguided. It is not simply people praying in a circle, but a collective psychological effort which fuels the army. If one is to believe god is on their side, how could they lose? It makes no difference whether the downfall of the Mongols in Japan was due to poor sailing weather or by a god protecting their homeland. It all ends the same way, giving the Japanese people a much-deserved moral boost. I would argue in this way, religious fervor is just as important as any sword or any piece of metal armor. As if one’s mental fortitude and spirit is lacking, it matters little how skilled a warrior is.
Sources:
Conlan, Thomas. In Little Need of Divine Intervention: Takezaki Suenaga’s Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of Japan. Cornell East Asia Series, 113. Ithaca, N.Y.: East Asia Program, Cornell University, 2001.
