Theyear1274sawMongolrulerKublaiKhan'sfirstinvasionofJapan.Japan'ssamuraiwerenomatchforthefierceinvaders,butatyphoonsuddenlycameupontheinvasionfleet,andforcedtheMongolstoretreat.
In1281,KublaiKhan,whohadalreadycompletedtheconquestofChina,mountedanotherinvasionofJapan.Facedwithaforcemorethanthreetimesaslargeastheirown,thesamuraiwererepeatedlydefeated.Justwhenitappearedthattheywouldbeextermined,anotherpowerfultyphoonsuddenlyslammedintotheJapanesecoast.Shipsweredashedupontherocks,andnearlyalltheinvadersdrowned.
TheJapanesebelievedthattheirgodshadsentthetyphoonstopreserveJapanfromtheMongols.Theycalledthetwotyphoonskamikaze,or"divinewinds".
一二七四年，蒙古統治者忽必烈汗第一次進侵日本。蒙古軍勇猛非常，日本的武士無法抵敵，可是颱風突然來襲，直撲蒙古艦隊，蒙古軍被迫撤退。
一二八一年，忽必烈汗已征服全中國，再度出兵犯日本，兵力等於日本武士三倍有餘。日本武士屢戰屢敗，眼看要遭殲滅，又一個強烈颱風突然吹向日本海岸。船隻隨風撞到岩石上，蒙古將士幾乎全部淹死。
日本人認為這兩個颱風是神喚來的，為的是保護日本，以免日本落在蒙古人手中。他們因此稱這兩個颱風為「神風」。