Historical landmark
元寇防塁
1-chōme-35-3 Odo, Nishi Ward, Fukuoka, 819-0001
Restored stretch of a stone coastal wall raised province by province to block a medieval cavalry landing.
The guide to this stretch of Genko Borui in Fukuoka opens with a strange math problem: how the Kamakura shogunate financed twenty kilometers of coastal wall in a single construction season in 1276, paid for in rice paddies and coin rather than taxes. It follows the crews from Higo province who quarried and raised the section in front of you, and traces the wall forward five years to 1281, when a returning Mongol fleet found no beach left to land on and was forced to anchor offshore instead.
Audio guides are written and narrated by AI.