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Typhoons Saved Japan from Kublai Khan

Though the word "kamikaze" was later applied to Japanese suicide pilots during WWII, it literally means "divine wind" and is also used as a historical term to refer to two typhoons that swept through the island nation in 1274 and 1281. Both times, hordes of Mongols lead by Kublai Khan sailed from China in an attempt to conquer Japan, and both times, a massive storm swept them back. Japanese Buddhists of the time believed that the storms had been the gods' way of preserving their empire, so they referred to the typhoons as "divine wind."