Utsuro-bune

Found this story on Wikipedia via the didyouknowblog.com... page. I'll just let the text speak for itself:

Utsuro-bune (うつろ舟 'hollow ship'?), also Utsuro-fune and Urobune, refers to an unknown object which allegedly washed ashore in 1803 in Hitachi province on the eastern coast of Japan. Accounts of the tale appear in three texts: Toen shōsetsu (1825), Hyōryū kishū (1835) and Ume-no-chiri (1844).
According to legend, an attractive young woman arrived on a local beach aboard the "hollow ship". Fishermen brought her inland to investigate further, but the woman was unable to communicate in Japanese. The fishermen then returned her and her vessel to the sea, where it drifted away.
Historians, ethnologists and physicists such as Kazuo Tanaka and Yanagita Kunio have evaluated the "legend of the hollow boat" as part of a long-standing tradition within Japanese folklore. Alternately, certain ufologists have claimed that the story represents evidence for a close encounter of the third kind.

Toen shōsetsu
On February 22 in 1803, local fishers of the 'Harayadōri' (はらやどり?) shore in the Hitachi province[5] saw an ominous "ship" drifting in the waters. Curious, they towed the vessel back to land, discovering that it was 3.30 metres (129.9 inches) high and 5.45 metres (212.6 inches) wide, reminding the witnesses of a Kōhako (Japanese incense burner). Its upper part appeared to be made of red coated rosewood, while the lower part was covered with brazen plates, obviously to protect it against the sharp-edged rocks. The upper part had several windows made of glass or crystal, covered with bars and clogged with some kind of tree resin. The windows were completely transparent and the baffled fishermen looked inside. The inner side of the Utsuro-bune was decorated with texts written in an unknown language. The fishermen found items inside such as two bed sheets, a bottle filled with 3.6 litres of water, some cake and kneaded meat. Then the fishermen saw a beautiful young woman, possibly 18 or 20 years old. Her body size was said to be 1.5 metres (4.93 feet). The woman had red hair and eyebrows, the hair elongated by artificial white extensions. The extensions could have been made of white fur or thin, white-powdered textile streaks. This hair style cannot be found in any literature. The skin of the lady was a very pale pink colour. She wore precious, long and smooth clothes of unknown fabrics. The woman began speaking, but no one understood her. She did not seem to understand the fishermen either, so no one could ask her about her origin. Although the mysterious woman appeared friendly and courteous, she acted oddly, for she always clutched a quadratic box made of pale material and around 0.6 m (23.62 in) in size. The woman did not allow anyone to touch the box, no matter how kindly or pressingly the witnesses asked.

o_O

That is really bizarre. Thanks for sharing.

It almost sounds purely mythological but also at the same time, somewhat possible as well.
Hmmm.

I saw this earlier today on Tumblr, via the same source. It definitely poses some questions as to what these ships may be, or as to the girls that are found within.

When I first saw it, at first I thought "aliens" (yeah I know), but further reading has me thinking about it even more. That's for sure, and it's something that needs more investigation.

reply to post by muzzleflash


reply to post by VoidFire


First thing I thought of was the story about Pandora's Box....

It sounds like a time-traveler to me.

o_O

brazenalderpadrescorpio
It sounds like a time-traveler to me.

o_O

Only if the boat was bigger on the inside.

reply to post by VoidFire


But what was that box that she was clutching? It sounds a lot like the box that John Titor claimed was his time-machine. I was half-joking about time-travel since I see no other explanation. I mean, she had white hair extensions in the 1800s... Come on.

reply to post by VoidFire


The Tardis must have been bored....

brazenalderpadrescorpio
reply to post by VoidFire

 

But what was that box that she was clutching? It sounds a lot like the box that John Titor claimed was his time-machine. I was half-joking about time-travel since I see no other explanation. I mean, she had white hair extensions in the 1800s... Come on.

Perhaps she's the lost friend of that hipster in the photo from the 40's ==>

reply to post by Utnapisjtim


I gave you a S&F yesterday, but just came back to say thanks for sharing such a great tale. I love folklore, it's usually got a grain of truth in it somewhere - it's finding it that's so hard. It's a weird story since there's no obvious moral or outcome.
Since it's been recorded in three separate sources, it must have been fairly well known.
Sorry, I can't figure it out at all!

reply to post by beansidhe


Perhaps it's a bachelor party at MIT that went horribly wrong? Which hasn't happened yet...

reply to post by Utnapisjtim


That made me laugh! Yes, maybe!

reply to post by beansidhe


And what made them conclude that it was best to put the lady back into the capsule with her mysterious box and send her off drifting into the Pacific again? Doesn't seem to be the logical approach. Guess she didn't mind.

reply to post by Utnapisjtim


That's the thing, it has such a strange ending. The moral seems to be 'best just sweep it all under the carpet, and forget about it!'

reply to post by beansidhe


I picture the puzzled fishermen, having sent her back to the sea, going, "Hm, that was odd...."

reply to post by Utnapisjtim


Touché.

Utnapisjtim
Found this story on Wikipedia via the didyouknowblog.com... page.

Utnapisjtim, thanks for that link - great blog!

There's a bit more info about Utsuro Bune at the thread below along with a good vid from the History Channel.

Link

Cheers.

reply to post by karl 12


Sorry, I should have done a search about it before posting. However, I don't buy into the UFO/USO line of thought just like that, guess you can call me a UFO skeptic, and I'm even more skeptical to USO's (didn't know there were USO's before reading through your thread hehe). Time travel seems a more likely apprach to me.

Here's the other thread again ==> www.abovetopsecret.com...