Case file · Folklore / legend
Utsuro-bune, the 'hollow boat'
Edo-period texts tell of a round 'hollow boat' that washed ashore in Hitachi province carrying a young woman who spoke no Japanese.
1803 CE · 36.20, 140.63 · status: legend
The account
According to four texts written between 1815 and 1844, fishermen found the vessel on 22 February 1803; drawings show a pot-like craft with windows and strange writing. The woman held a box she would not let go of, and the fishermen pushed her back out to sea. Some ufologists see the tale as a close encounter.
The sceptical view
Historians and folklorists such as Yanagita Kunio place the story in a long Japanese tradition of 'hollow boat' legends; the 'alien' writing and craft fit Edo-period ideas of foreigners. There is no local record of an actual event.