The Utsuro-bune story The story of a strange vessel that drifted ashore in Hitachi Province, today's Ibaraki, in 1803. Utsuro-bune means hollow boat, and the four texts describe it as round and closed.
2 Sources 7 Connections Toen Shōsetsu Compiled by Kyokutei Bakin in 1825, it has the most detailed version. The boat was about 3.3 m high and 5.45 m wide, red-lacquered wood above and metal plates below, with windows of glass or crystal and writing in an unknown script inside. The picture comes from this book.
1 Sources 2 Connections The woman with the box According to the texts, a woman of eighteen to twenty sat inside. No one could understand her, and she let no one touch a box about 60 cm long. The fishermen are said to have put her back in the boat and pushed it out to sea.
1 Sources 2 Connections Ume-no-chiri Written by Nagahashi Matajirō in 1844. It dates the event to 24 March at a beach called Haratono-hama and draws the boat like a rice pot. The picture is from this text.
1 Sources 1 Connections Hyōryū Kishū An 1835 collection of castaway accounts by an unknown author, now in the Tenri University library. The picture is its drawing of the boat.
1 Sources 1 Connections Oushuku Zakki Written by Komai Norimura around 1815, the earliest of the four texts.
1 Sources 1 Connections Kyokutei Bakin The Edo-period writer who compiled Toen Shōsetsu. He was also the first to look into the story, comparing the woman's red hair and dress with a book on Russian customs.
1 Sources 1 Connections Yanagita Kunio The ethnologist who wrote on the story in 1925 and 1962. He noted that round boats were not unusual in Japan and that the oldest versions describe an open log boat; he took the glass windows and metal plates for later additions.
1 Sources 2 Connections Kazuo Tanaka An engineer who studied the original texts from 1997. Since the boat never flies or moves on its own, he found comparisons with UFOs far-fetched. In 2014 the Ibaraki Shimbun reported that he had found an old document placing the event at Hitachihara Sharihama.
1 Sources 3 Connections Sharihama, Kamisu A beach at Hasaki in Kamisu, Ibaraki. It appears in an 1801 coastal survey and on Inō Tadataka's maps of the Japanese coast.
1 Sources 1 Connections The UFO reading Some ufologists present the story as an encounter with extraterrestrials, pointing to the likeness between the drawings and twentieth-century flying saucers. Tanaka considered the comparison far-fetched.
1 Sources 2 Connections The fear of a closed country Tanaka and Yanagita saw in the European features given to the woman and the boat the fears of Edo-period people, sealed off from the outside world, about Western influence. In 1803 the only Europeans allowed in were the Dutch on Dejima.
1 Sources 3 Connections records records records is the earliest record of is said to have been inside compiled studied traced the story to rejected reinterprets explains concluded with Tanaka argued Control map, One finger scrolls the page. Two fingers move or zoom the map.
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Item The Utsuro-bune story The story of a strange vessel that drifted ashore in Hitachi Province, today's Ibaraki, in 1803. Utsuro-bune means hollow boat, and the four texts describe it as round and closed. User contribution ↑ records The most detailed version. Sources 1 Work Toen Shōsetsu Compiled by Kyokutei Bakin in 1825, it has the most detailed version. The boat was about 3.3 m high and 5.45 m wide, red-lacquered wood above and metal plates below, with windows of glass or crystal and writing in an unknown script inside. The picture comes from this book. User contribution ↑ records With a different date and beach. Sources 1 Work Ume-no-chiri Written by Nagahashi Matajirō in 1844. It dates the event to 24 March at a beach called Haratono-hama and draws the boat like a rice pot. The picture is from this text. User contribution Work Toen Shōsetsu Compiled by Kyokutei Bakin in 1825, it has the most detailed version. The boat was about 3.3 m high and 5.45 m wide, red-lacquered wood above and metal plates below, with windows of glass or crystal and writing in an unknown script inside. The picture comes from this book. User contribution ↓ records The most detailed version. Sources 1 Item The Utsuro-bune story The story of a strange vessel that drifted ashore in Hitachi Province, today's Ibaraki, in 1803. Utsuro-bune means hollow boat, and the four texts describe it as round and closed. User contribution ↑ compiled In 1825. Sources 1 Person Kyokutei Bakin The Edo-period writer who compiled Toen Shōsetsu. He was also the first to look into the story, comparing the woman's red hair and dress with a book on Russian customs. User contribution Concept The woman with the box According to the texts, a woman of eighteen to twenty sat inside. No one could understand her, and she let no one touch a box about 60 cm long. The fishermen are said to have put her back in the boat and pushed it out to sea. User contribution ↓ is said to have been inside Speaking no known language. Sources 1 Item The Utsuro-bune story The story of a strange vessel that drifted ashore in Hitachi Province, today's Ibaraki, in 1803. Utsuro-bune means hollow boat, and the four texts describe it as round and closed. User contribution ↑ explains Why she was given European features. Sources 1 Concept The fear of a closed country Tanaka and Yanagita saw in the European features given to the woman and the boat the fears of Edo-period people, sealed off from the outside world, about Western influence. In 1803 the only Europeans allowed in were the Dutch on Dejima. User contribution Person Yanagita Kunio The ethnologist who wrote on the story in 1925 and 1962. He noted that round boats were not unusual in Japan and that the oldest versions describe an open log boat; he took the glass windows and metal plates for later additions. User contribution ↓ studied The oldest versions describe an open log boat. Sources 1 Item The Utsuro-bune story The story of a strange vessel that drifted ashore in Hitachi Province, today's Ibaraki, in 1803. Utsuro-bune means hollow boat, and the four texts describe it as round and closed. User contribution ↓ concluded with Tanaka Shared with Tanaka. Sources 1 Concept The fear of a closed country Tanaka and Yanagita saw in the European features given to the woman and the boat the fears of Edo-period people, sealed off from the outside world, about Western influence. In 1803 the only Europeans allowed in were the Dutch on Dejima. User contribution More shared clues (8) AI research is a draft. Read the sources and check the context.
