Worksheet

The Fleets That Sailed for Hakata Bay

Grade 7 history: trace the 1281 Mongol fleets on a described map and learn about Tang and Song inventions, the Mongol Empire and Japan's shoguns and samurai.

Grade 7Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

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1 C3 Framework standard
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11 questions
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Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 7
Subject: Social Studies
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Matching, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students follow a described map to trace the Mongol invasions of Japan.
Students explain what Tang and Song inventions did and how the Mongols used them.
Students describe who held power in Kamakura Japan and how samurai served.

How to use

Have students sketch the described map before they answer the route questions, then read the passage together and discuss the final claim.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

HIS.7.4

Describe medieval China and Japan, including Tang and Song inventions, the Mongol Empire and Japan's samurai and shoguns.

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The Fleets That Sailed for Hakata Bay

Follow Kublai Khan's ships on a described map and connect Song inventions, the Mongols and Japan's samurai.

The map and the journey

Read the map description and the journey. Then answer the questions.

The map, described in words (about 1281 CE)
• Dadu (today Beijing): Kublai Khan's capital, in northern China.
• Hangzhou: the old capital of the Song dynasty, far south of Dadu near the coast. The Grand Canal runs north from Hangzhou toward Dadu.
• Happo: a port on the southern coast of Korea, east of China across the Yellow Sea.
• Tsushima: an island in the strait between Korea and Japan, about halfway across, southeast of Happo.
• Hakata Bay: on the northern shore of Kyushu, Japan's large southwestern island, southeast of Tsushima.
• Kamakura: the shogun's capital, far to the east of Hakata Bay on Honshu, Japan's largest island.

The journey of 1281
In 1274 a Mongol and Korean fleet had landed at Hakata Bay, fought the samurai for a day and sailed away; a storm wrecked many ships on the way back. Afterward, Japan's warriors built a stone wall along the shore of the bay. In 1281 Kublai Khan tried again with two fleets. The Eastern Army sailed from Happo with Mongol, Korean and Chinese troops, stopped at Tsushima, and reached Hakata Bay in early summer. Samurai rowed out in small boats to attack the anchored ships at night. A much larger Southern Army, built from the ships of the conquered Song, sailed from ports near Hangzhou straight across the East China Sea and joined the Eastern Army weeks later. Old records claim it carried about 100,000 men, though historians think the numbers were exaggerated. In late summer a typhoon struck and sank much of the combined fleet. Japanese writers later called such storms kamikaze, or "divine winds." Divers near Kyushu have since found exploding ceramic bombs on a sunken Mongol ship.

In which direction did the Eastern Army sail on its way from Happo to Tsushima?

A. Northeast
B. Southwest
C. Southeast
D. Northwest

Why was Tsushima a likely stop for the Eastern Army?

A. It lay halfway across the strait, breaking up the crossing.
B. It was where the Southern Army had built its ships.
C. It sat at the south end of the Grand Canal.
D. It was the shogun's capital, so taking it would end the war.

A rider at Hakata Bay must carry news of the landing to the shogun. Which way does he travel?

A. North, toward Tsushima
B. South, toward the East China Sea
C. East, toward Kamakura
D. West, toward Korea

Why did the samurai most likely build their stone wall at Hakata Bay rather than somewhere else?

A. The emperor lived on that shore.
B. The fleet of 1274 had landed there.
C. Typhoons seldom reached that coast.
D. The Grand Canal ended in that bay.

China, the Mongols and Japan

Read the passage. Use it and the map to answer.

Inventors, Khans and Samurai

1China's Tang dynasty (618–907) and Song dynasty (960–1279) produced inventions that later spread across the world. Under the Tang, printers carved whole pages into wooden blocks; the oldest printed book with a date, a Buddhist text called the Diamond Sutra, was made in 868. Tang alchemists searching for a potion of long life found that certain mixtures burned and exploded, and by Song times gunpowder was used in weapons. In the 1040s a Song craftsman named Bi Sheng made movable type from small pieces of baked clay, one for each character. By the 1100s Song sailors steered with magnetic compasses, and the Song government printed paper money.

2In 1206 Genghis Khan united the Mongol peoples of the northern grasslands. Mongol armies of skilled horse archers built the largest land empire the world had yet seen, stretching from Korea to eastern Europe. Relay stations let messengers change horses and carry news hundreds of miles in a few days, and travel on the Silk Road became safer under one empire. Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai Khan founded the Yuan dynasty in 1271, ruled from Dadu and finished conquering the Song in 1279. The Mongols relied on Chinese engineers, shipbuilders and weapons makers.

3Japan had an emperor in Kyoto, but by the late 1100s real power had passed to warrior families. In 1192 Minamoto Yoritomo received the title of shogun, the top military commander, and set up a warrior government at Kamakura. The emperor kept his title and his role in ceremonies. Samurai, trained warriors, served lords in return for land or pay and were expected to be loyal, brave and skilled with bow and sword, ideals later called bushido.

4When Kublai Khan sent letters demanding that Japan submit to him, the shogun's government refused to give in. After the defeats of 1274 and 1281, Kublai planned a third invasion, but it never sailed.

Draw a line from each invention to the problem it helped solve.

Magnetic compass
Movable type
Paper money
Gunpowder

A. Breaking walls and frightening enemy soldiers
B. Finding direction at sea when clouds hide the sun and stars
C. Carrying large sums without heavy strings of coins
D. Printing a new text without carving a whole new block

Sort each detail by the society it describes.

The Diamond Sutra is printed.Messengers change horses at relay stations.A shogun rules while an emperor keeps his title.Bi Sheng shapes clay type.Horse archers win a vast land empire.Warriors serve lords for land or pay.

Tang and Song China	The Mongol Empire	Kamakura Japan

Divers found exploding ceramic bombs on a sunken Mongol ship. Using paragraphs 1 and 2, what does this find best show?

A. The samurai had sunk the ship with their own bombs.
B. The Mongols invented gunpowder on the grasslands.
C. Gunpowder was first used by Japanese sailors.
D. The Mongols used a Chinese invention in their attack.

Kublai Khan's letters reached Japan. Based on paragraphs 3 and 4, which group made the decision to refuse him?

A. The shogun's warrior government at Kamakura
B. The emperor's officials in Kyoto
C. The Song government in Hangzhou
D. The samurai of Tsushima acting on their own

The Southern Army sailed in ships of the conquered Song. Which earlier event made this fleet possible?

A. Genghis Khan united the Mongol peoples in 1206.
B. Kublai Khan finished conquering the Song in 1279.
C. Minamoto Yoritomo became shogun in 1192.
D. The Diamond Sutra was printed in 868.

10.

Kublai Khan founded the Yuan dynasty years after Genghis Khan united the Mongols.

11.

Claim: Geography did more than the samurai to protect Japan from the Mongols in 1281. Do you agree? Use at least one detail from the map or journey and one from the passage, and explain your reasoning.