Komodahama Beach

　　Tsushima island is located on the border of Japan and has its distinctive history. We dropped in at Komodahama Beach next, which was one of the ancient battlefields in the Mongol invasions into Japan in the 13th century. The 80 some samurais mounted on horseback lead by Sou Sukekuni bravely fought several thousand enemies on this beach taking full advantage of the terrain, but all of them were killed cruelly. However, the admiral of the Mongolian soldiers recorded that he had never been confronted with such awful enemies as Japanese samurais. He added that when the samurais assaulted them, they were smiling and his blood ran cold to see them smiling. I knew that there had been Japanese who went to certain death with smiles also on Tsushima island. Though the scene of Komodahama Beach is different from that of 8 centuries ago, I stood on the beach and recalled the samurais who had devoted their lives for Japan. The Mongolian soldiers would become scared to realize that lots of samurais would be ready in
Kyushu.

対馬は日本の国境の島であり、数々の史実に彩られている。我々が次に向かったのが元寇の古戦場のひとつ、小茂田（こもだ）浜。宗助国（そうすけくに）率いる８０余騎が数千の敵とこの小茂田浜で戦った。地形を利用して勇敢に戦うも斬殺された。しかし、笑いながら突撃してきた日本のサムライの姿に元軍の将が「これほど怖い敵はこれまでなかった」と背筋が凍り付くほどの恐怖を覚えたことを記録に残しているという。笑いながら死地に向かう日本人がここにもいたと知った。当時とは地形が変わっているとはいえ同じ場所に立ち、日本を護ってくれた当時のサムライたちを想った。九州に行けば更に多くのサムライが待っていることを奴らはどう思ったろうか。