Edo-period UFO
The Iwase Bunko Library has in its possession a document entitled Hyouryuukishuu (“Tales of Castaways”), which was printed during the late Edo period (1603-1868).
The document recounts the stories of Japanese sailors who find themselves in foreign lands after becoming lost at sea, as well as castaway foreigners washed ashore on the beaches of Japan. To the Japanese people, who at the time had been living in a prolonged period of national isolation, these exotic tales must have seemed very fantastic.
Among these stories is the account of a wrecked ship with a very mysterious appearance.
According to the document, this vessel washed ashore at Harashagahama in Hitachi-no-kuni (present-day Ibaraki prefecture). The body of the ship, described as 3.3 meters tall and 5.4 meters wide, had been built from red sandalwood and iron and was fitted with windows of glass or crystal. The mysterious characters of an unknown alphabet were found inscribed inside the vessel.
Aboard the drifting vessel was a finely dressed young woman with a pale face and red eyebrows and hair. She was estimated to be between 18 and 20 years old. Because she spoke an unfamiliar tongue, those that encountered her were unable to determine from whence she came. In her arms she clutched a plain wooden box that appeared to be of great value to her, as she would allow nobody to approach it.
The document shows a portion of the text found inside the ship (see left).
Other Edo-period documents describe variations of this mysterious encounter. Toen Shousetsu (1825), a book by Kyokutei Bakin (who is most famous for his 106-volume samurai epic Nansou Satomi Hakkenden) tells the story of the same encounter, referring to the strange vessel as the utsuro-fune (“hollow ship”). Another variation of this tale appears in Ume no Chiri (1844), penned by a relatively unknown author named Nagahashi Matajirou. A thorough analysis of these two variations of the story can be found in a translated article by Kazuo Tanaka titled “Did a Close Encounter of the Third Kind Occur on a Japanese Beach in 1803?”
Contemporary fans of the paranormal know this ship as the Edo-period UFO.
[Link: Hyouryuukishuu in the Iwase Bunko Collection]
Hi, a very interesting post indeed.I will read the translated article by Kazuo Tanaka shortly.By the way the link to it is broken.thanks
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http://item.rakuten.co.jp/monchhichi/843050/
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If if was made of wood & metal i doubt it came from space. plus if you look at the mysterious unknown alphabet, you’ll see that the second character is the chinese character for king (wong).
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Ship looks like Japanese Fan, however story is so interesting.
For me most important thing is that “aliens” have women ;)
Just kidding ;)
I just love this blog and various fantastic topics on it.
thanks!
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Ciekawy post, dodalem twoj blog do ulubionych, bede tu teraz wpadal czesciej, pozdrawiam
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What happened to the box or the boat?
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It does seem somewhat a leap of faith to think this is anything other than a lantern or something along those lines. The fact that is was made of wood and iron lends itself not so much to an out of this world craft but more a craft almost certainly from this world.
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It is worth considering that at the the time of this discovery the people would not have had any knowledge of modern materials we take for granted today. Thus the references to wood and iron may well have been used for comparison reasons given they did not know of any other materials to compare. I guess therefore the materials could have been something else altogether it was just the fact that could not articulate it in modern language…
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how can it be a uFo when it didn’t fly? it clearly says it was a boat. no serious historian would interpret a document in this anachronistic, overly literal way.
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Does ANYONE actually have the translation of the story!? i’ve looked online for hours and there are thousands of people going on about how crazy it is there are aliens in an 300 year old japanese story- but NOT ONE of them has a translation! i’m not satisfied with 3rd hand account! @everyone: if you have an accurate translation or know where one is, do you mind sending me a link? much appreciated
TurbozillaNo1killa@yahool.com
thanks!
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