But this condition of affairs could not last always. The very same influences which put the real power into the hands of the regents were at work to render them unfit to continue to wield it. Abdication and effeminacy were gradually dragging down the Hōjō family to the same level as that of the shōguns and emperors. In A.D. 1256 Tokiyori, then only thirty years old, resigned the regency in favor of his son Tokimune, who was only six years. He himself retired to a monastery, from which he travelled as a visiting monk throughout the country. In the meantime his son was under the care of a tutor, Nagatoki, who, of course, was one of the Hōjō family. Thus it had come about that a tutor now controlled the regent; who was supposed to control the shōgun; who was supposed to be the vassal of the emperor; who in turn was generally a child under the control of a corrupt and venal court. Truly government in Japan had sunk to its lowest point, and it was time for heroic remedies! Occasionally, in the midst of this corruption and inefficiency, an event occurs which stirs up the national enthusiasm and makes us feel that there is still left an element of heroism which will ultimately redeem the nation from impending ruin. Such was the Mongolian invasion of Japan in A.D. 1281. According to accounts given by Marco Polo, who evidently narrates the exaggerated gossip of the Chinese court,(127) Kublai Khan had at this time conquered the Sung dynasty in China and reigned with unexampled magnificence. He had heard of the wealth of Japan and deemed it an easy matter to add this island empire to his immense dominions. His first step was to despatch an embassy to the Japanese court to demand the subjection of the country to his authority. This embassy was referred to Kamakura, whence it was indignantly dismissed. Finally he sent an invading force in a large number of Chinese and Korean vessels who took possession of Tsushima, an island belonging to Japan and lying midway between Korea and Japan. Trusting to the effects of this success a new embassy was sent, which was brought before the Hōjō regent at Kamakura. The spot on the seashore is still pointed out where these imperious ambassadors were put to death, and thus a denial which could not be misunderstood was given to the demands of the Grand Khan. A great invading force, which the Japanese put at a hundred thousand men, was immediately sent in more than three hundred vessels, who landed upon the island of Kyūshū. This army was met and defeated(128) by Tokimune, and, a timely typhoon coming to their aid, the fleet of vessels was completely destroyed. Thus the only serious attempt at the invasion of Japan which has ever been made was completely frustrated.