#utsuro-bune

"Kantonian Beheeyem, the Drifting Pokemon. A grass and steel type. These mysterious pokemon migrate along sea currents. They seem to be able to communicate with each other, but other pokemon seem completely puzzled by their speech. Some believe these pokemon originate from space."

5 Mysterious Travelers from Other Dimensions 5 cases of strangers from other dimensions or unknown lands who came out of nowhere only to become lost in our strange world: The Green Children of Woolpit, The Taured Man, Utsuro-bune, Jophar Vorin of Laxaria, and Jerome of Sandy Cove.

Unidentified Floating Object: Edo Images of Utsuro-bune

“Utsuro-bune”: A UFO Legend from Nineteenth-Century Japan. A mysterious event in Japan at the beginning of the nineteenth century shows surprising similarities with stories of UFOs.

In 1803, a round vessel drifted ashore on the Japanese coast and a beautiful woman emerged, wearing strange clothing and carrying a box. She was unable to communicate with the locals, and her craft was marked with mysterious writing. This story of an utsuro-bune, or “hollow ship,” in the province of Hitachi (now Ibaraki Prefecture) is found in many records of the Edo period (1603–1868), and Tanaka Kazuo, professor emeritus at Gifu University, has studied the topic for many years.

The first image is from the early 19th century; the second image is ftom Ōshuku zakki (Ōshuku Notes; around 1815) by Komai Norimura, a vassal of the powerful daimyō Matsudaira Sadanobu. (Courtesy National Diet Library); while the last image is from Hirokata zuihitsu (Essays by Hirokata; 1825) by shogunate retainer and calligrapher Yashiro Hirokata, who was also a member of the Toenkai circle. (Courtesy National Archives of Japan). [all text directly from article in nippon.con]

Illustration of the utsuro-bune from Bakin Kyokutei's Toen shōsetsu (1825).

1825 ink drawing of the utsuro-bune credited to Bakin Takizawa (Kyokutei) — Source. Another version can be found in Nihon zuihitsu taisei dai-ni-ki (1928).

Illustration of the “The Strange Boat Drifted Ashore on the Fief of Lord Ogasawara” from Hyoryu Kishu (Archive of Castaways), ca. 1868 or before — Source. You can also view a wider crop here, which features alien symbols on its lefthand side.

Illustration of the utsuro-bune from Komai Norimura's Ōshuku zakki (Ōshuku notes), thought to be a draft of the Toen shōsetsu image featured above (1825).

Illustration of the utsuro-bune from Matajiro Nagahashi's 1825 Umeno chiri (1845).