Did a Close Encounter of the Third Kind Occur on a Japanese Beach in 1803?

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank librarians of Ibaragi Prefecture Library in Mito City in Japan for valuable information about the incident and Ms. Hisae Nagadome, who was a director of Tsusbima Historical and Folklore Museum, for valuable information concerning "Utsurofune." I also thank Mr. Ryutaro Minakami, who is chairperson of Japan Anti-Pseudoscience Activities Network (JAPAN), Mr. Toshihiro Kimoto, and Mr. Tsugio Satou for their encouragement and stimulating discussions.

Kazuo Tanaka is in the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Gifu University, Yanagido 1-1, Japan 501-1193. Email tanaka@tnk.info.gifu-u.ac.jp.

Notes

(1.) The word koku is a unit of volume measuring a quantity of rice-seeds, i.e., tax, in the territory used in Tokugawa period.

(2.) In Ume no Chiri, "Haratono-Hama" written in Chinese (ideogram) and the reading at its side written by kana (phonogram) can he found. In Toen Shousetu, "Hara-yadori" written by only kana can be found. Two Chinese characters of "Haratono" can be also read as "Hara-yadori" by kana. Therefore, these two place names can be considered to represent a same name.

(3.) For example, two British whaling ships arrived at "Ohtsu-hama" in Hitachi state in 1824. This incident can be found in the official document of Tokugawa shogunate (Hayakawa 1902). Of course, "Ohtsu-hama" is a real place name and can be easily found in the many records. Furthermore, several items of folklore of Utsuro-fune have been handed down in Hitachi-state (Yanagida 1962), and this state was near Edo. So, it was a most plausible place to everyone in Edo.

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