After conquering the Japanese settlements on Tsushima and Iki islands, Kublai Khan's fleet moved on to Japan proper and landed at Hakata Bay, a short distance from Kyūshū's administrative capital of Dazaifu.

The Japanese defenders were aided by major storms which sunk a sizable portion of the Yuan fleets.

[4] After landing in the bay, the Yuan force quickly overran the town of Hakata (now a ward of Fukuoka), but were engaged by a number of samurai soon afterwards.

At first, the samurai were hopelessly outmatched; accustomed to smaller scale clan rivalries, they could not match the organization and massed firepower of the invaders.

Yuan forces fought with precision, loosing heavy volleys of arrows into the ranks of the Japanese.

The Yuan also employed an early form of rocket artillery, and their infantry used phalanx-like tactics, holding off the samurai with their shields and spears.

Though unable to conclusively defeat the Yuan forces, the Japanese fought hard and inflicted heavy casualties.

In the midst of the withdrawal, the invasion fleet met a typhoon at sea; most of the invaders' ships sank in the storm, and many soldiers drowned.