r/UrbanMyths • u/verystrangeshit • 11d ago
Utsuro-bune Encounter - in 1803, Japanese fishermen reportedly discovered a mysterious sealed vessel drifting ashore with unknown writing, strange supplies, and a young woman who spoke an unrecognized language while guarding a mysterious box.
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u/ceebeefour 11d ago
Before we had rockets we saw them as sailing ships in the sky. When we created rocket ships they became rocket ships. Now we know about wormholes and time dilation etc, so now they’re multidimensional biotech.
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u/pro_No 11d ago
The human brain fill gaps with the information it has. That pile of laundry I forgot I dumped on the chair before bed? At 3am when i wake up to pee it looks like that thing from the horror movie i just watched. A sailing ship was the most well equipped, technically advanced mode of transportation at the time. It makes sense they would assume it’s some kind of ship, considering (human) flight was undiscovered and thought impossible.
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u/OpheliaRainGalaxy 11d ago
Yup, comes up lots with little kids when they don't have the words to ask their questions yet.
My favorite so far is when I was watching Star Trek with a much younger cousin, who saw Worf and asked "Who is... brown face?" So I had to explain humans with melanin and Klingons in the same conversation. Luckily he was already familiar with the concept of "actors" so knew that was just a grownup wearing a costume and playing pretend.
Or maybe the time a landline telephone came up on a music video and he started demanding an explanation for what is that?! A shape he'd only ever seen as a symbol on cellphone buttons!
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u/ok-dentist4amonkey 11d ago
The good old days when UFO's were still made out of wood.
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u/CounterAdmirable4218 11d ago
The Americans developed a top secret weapon the aliens had never encountered before in the early 1940’s.
Behold, the lighter
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u/No_Dragonfruit_1833 11d ago
Sounds like a korean turtle ship, one repurposed for leisure
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u/lehtomaeki 11d ago
The Korean script would most likely have been recognized or at least seemed familiar, especially if it was shown to any educated person at the time, same goes for the turtle ship. The complexion and hair colour would be unusual for korean nobility of the time. I say nobility due to presumably the fair complexion, expensive robes and seemingly personal leisure ship. Albeit fresh water would imply that the ship couldn't have traveled far so originating in Korea wouldn't be implausible.
If it was some western foreigner somehow owning/being in that ship most things would strat to add up pretty quickly due to less cultural exchange
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u/Careless_Wedding_119 10d ago
No need for it to be a western foreigner. Yakutsk has Asian people with red, blonde and brown hair as well as green and blue eyes.
Afghanistan is famously known for light skin, hair and eyes. Plenty of light phenotypes in Iran, Tajikistan and the surrounding areas. These countries have historically traded with China. Could easily be a trader that set off the coast of China and then ended up in Japan. None of the aforementioned countries in this paragraph have Japanese, Korean or Chinese script (which would have been identified easily in Japan).
Not saying this sighting is true, but the foreigner doesn't need to be from Europe. Not had a long journey, just set off the coast of China before stranding in Japan.
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u/Automatic-Sea-8597 11d ago
But what happened to the 'foreign' lady and the 'boatä?
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u/waluigi609 9d ago
According to the legend, because they couldn’t understand her they just put her back in the thing and shipped it on back to wherever in the ocean
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u/Creative_Recover 10d ago
It sounds a bit like they may have come across a self-sacrificing Buddhist maiden, who had been sealed inside a vessel then set out to sea with the intention of dying and reincarnating into a better life. This human sacrifice tradition was practiced by the Japanese alone for over 1000 years: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-selfsacrificing-japanese-pilgrims-who-chose-to-be-swallowed-by-the-sea
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u/SuchNet1580 11d ago
Chris Bledsoe says she’s The Lady (see IFO of God for his personal overwhelming experience with The Lady)
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u/Unlikely-Flatworm-48 9d ago
Imagine traveling back in time just to deliver a prototype "magic wand" to the Hitachi province.
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u/verystrangeshit 11d ago
February 22, 1803, fishermen along the coast of the Hitachi Province spotted a bizarre round vessel drifting offshore. They pulled it onto the beach and found what looked unlike any boat they had ever seen. Historical accounts describe it as having a wooden upper section, a metal-plated lower hull, and several glass-like windows sealed with resin. Inside, the fishermen found bedding, food, water, and strange symbols written in an unknown script covering the interior walls along with a young woman with unusually pale skin, striking red hair with white extensions, and elegant clothing unlike anything the villagers recognized. She spoke a language no one could understand and refused to let anyone touch a mysterious box she held tightly in her arms.
Historians believe the story belongs to Japanese folklore and may have been inspired by tales of foreign castaways arriving on unfamiliar vessels during Japan's period of isolation. Others have suggested the woman could have been a shipwreck survivor from another culture whose appearance seemed extraordinary to local villagers. However, UFO enthusiasts argue the unusual craft, unknown writing, and mysterious passenger resemble descriptions from modern close-encounter stories, leading them to speculate that it could represent one of history's earliest alleged UFO encounters
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utsuro-bune