2026年4月28日

⛩️ The 1235 Japan UFO Incident — A Medieval Sighting in Samurai Era

You think the first official human investigation of UFOs was the 1947 Roswell incident? Wrong.

In 1235 AD, during the late Southern Song Dynasty and the mid-Kamakura period in Japan, the Shogun regent Fujiwara no Yoritsune (Kujō Yoritsune) had already ordered an official “unidentified flying object investigation.” This event predates Roswell by a full 712 years and is the first documented national-level UFO investigation in human history.

And the best part? After the investigation results came out, the scientists’ conclusion was—

“The stars were just swayed by the wind.” 😅

That’s right, you read that correctly. Over 700 years ago, the Japanese imperial court, in order to explain lights dancing in the sky, actually came up with a “wind-blown stars theory.” Looking back today, this explanation is even stranger than the UFO itself.

🌙 What Did the Shogun See That Night in 1235?

According to the Japanese historical text “Hyakurenshō” (百鍊抄), in the first year of the Jōei era (1235 AD), the Kamakura Shogunate regent Fujiwara no Yoritsune, while camping near Kamakura at night, witnessed an extremely unusual sight in the night sky along with his army:

Many mysterious lights flew across the sky from west to east, constantly circling, turning, and changing direction, performing various “aerobatic maneuvers”—completely unlike ordinary meteors or birds.

The Shogun and his soldiers were greatly shocked after witnessing this. Based on the understanding of the time, stars in the sky were supposed to be fixed and regular. Why were there lights flying around as if they had a will of their own?

The Shogun considered this matter extraordinary and ordered an official investigation.

🧐 The Shogun Orders an Investigation

Shogun Yoritsune’s order was passed down to the court astronomers and officials of the time. This can be considered the first time in human history that a supreme national authority ordered a formal official investigation into “strange things flying in the sky.”

The Shogun’s question was straightforward:

“Why are the stars in the sky flying around like this? Is there an explanation?”

This command was a formal official investigation directive—essentially no different from a modern government establishing a “UFO task force.”

📜 The Investigation Report: Stars Swayed by the Wind?

After a round of “research,” the court scholars submitted their official conclusion:

The reason these lights were swaying back and forth and flying around was because strong high-altitude winds were blowing the stars.

In other words: “The stars were moved by the wind.”

From a modern perspective, this explanation is, of course, absurd—we know stars are massive, distant suns that cannot be moved by wind. But in the 13th century, people’s understanding of celestial bodies was very limited. This “wind-blown stars theory” was the most reasonable explanation the scholars of the time could come up with.

The important thing is: Even though the conclusion was wrong, the entire process was a complete bureaucratic workflow: “official anomaly observed → superior orders investigation → scholars research → report submitted.” This process itself constitutes the first official UFO investigation in human history.

| 📍 Kamakura, Japan | 📅 1235 AD | 🔍 Ancient UFO Investigation |

🌍 Other Contemporary Ancient Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Records

The 1235 Japan incident was not an isolated case. Humanity has continuously recorded “unexplainable objects in the sky” since ancient times. Here are a few famous records from the same period or earlier:

🇪🇬 Egypt · c. 1440 BC (Reign of Thutmose III)

According to the Egyptian Tulli Papyrus, during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III, a “ball of fire” appeared in the sky, a luminous mass brighter than the sun. These masses had no fixed shape and emitted a strange odor. Official records describe the priests and populace as being very frightened, and eventually these “fire disks” ascended high into the sky and disappeared.

(Note: The authenticity of the Tulli Papyrus is debated in academic circles, with some scholars considering it a modern forgery, but it remains a frequently cited document in UFO research.)

🇮🇹 Ancient Rome · 218 BC

Roman historian Livy recorded in his History of Rome that in the winter of 218 BC—during the Second Punic War—several astonishing celestial phenomena appeared over Rome:

In the region of Alba, “a ship was seen gleaming in the sky”
At Praeneste, “a ball of fire fell from the sky”
At Arpinum, “the sky seemed to split open”
Also, “multiple disc-shaped objects were seen in the sky”

The ancient Romans interpreted these phenomena as omens from the gods or prophecies of war.

🇫🇷 Frankish Empire · 776 AD

The army of Frankish King Charlemagne, while campaigning against the Saxons, saw “two bright shield-shaped objects” in the sky, red in color, hovering over the army. They considered this a divine omen, which ultimately encouraged them to win the battle.

🇩🇪 Nuremberg · 1561 AD

Although over 300 years later than 1235, the 1561 “celestial battle” over Nuremberg, Germany, is also worth mentioning. Local residents saw numerous spheres, cross-shaped objects, and cylinders chasing and fighting each other in the air, with some eventually “falling to the ground as if burning.” This event has been preserved in complete woodcut prints.

🔭 Modern Analysis: What Might the 1235 Japan Sighting Have Been?

From a scientific perspective, the “aerobatic lights” seen by the Japanese Shogun in 1235 have several possible explanations:

1️⃣ Fireballs / Meteor Shower Outburst

The most direct explanation for seeing lights flying across the night sky is a fireball or a major meteor shower. However, meteors usually travel in straight lines and don’t “turn,” making it difficult to explain descriptions of “circling” and “changing direction.”

2️⃣ Ball Lightning

Ball lightning is a rare atmospheric electrical discharge phenomenon that appears as a luminous sphere, sometimes floating, moving, or even changing direction in the air. The “aerobatic lights” seen by the 13th-century Japanese army could potentially be manifestations of ball lightning.

3️⃣ High-Altitude Atmospheric Optical Phenomena

Under certain atmospheric conditions, starlight or moonlight can be refracted by ice crystals, producing phenomena like light pillars, halos, or sundogs. Soldiers observing from different angles might have experienced the illusion of lights “moving.” However, this explanation doesn’t quite fit the description of “a large number of lights flying from west to east.”

4️⃣ Migrating Bird Flocks Reflecting Moonlight

A large flock of birds flying at night, with their feathers reflecting moonlight or campfire light, could appear from a distance as moving lights in the sky. If the flock changed direction, it could create the effect of “aerobatic maneuvers.” This is a relatively reasonable explanation, but bird flocks usually don’t emit strong light.

5️⃣ The Possibility Always Exists: Truly Unidentified Objects

As with all ancient UFO records, we cannot rule out the possibility that they genuinely saw something unexplainable at the time. 13th-century humans certainly didn’t know about drones, missiles, satellites, or even understand atmospheric electromagnetic phenomena. But precisely because of this, we cannot completely dismiss their records by saying “from a modern perspective, it was probably XX.”

We can laugh at the “wind-blown stars theory” as funny, but we cannot assume all ancient people were just seeing things or dreaming.

💭 Why Is This Event So Important?

The value of the 1235 Japanese UFO investigation lies not in whether its explanation was correct, but in:

Historical Precedent: It is the first clearly documented national-level UFO investigation procedure in human history
Bureaucratic Record: The process had a complete government workflow of “discovery → reporting → investigation → conclusion”
Cross-Cultural Resonance: Whether in Japan, Egypt, Rome, or Europe, ancient societies have numerous records of “unidentified objects in the sky,” not exclusive to any single civilization
A Warning Against Overconfidence: The 1235 “wind-blown stars theory” teaches us a lesson—when you think you have explained everything, it might just be because you don’t yet have enough knowledge to ask the right questions

Today we mock the ancients for explaining UFOs with “wind-blown stars,” but will humans 700 years from now mock us for explaining all UFO reports with “weather phenomena” or “military aircraft”?

📚 Sources

“Hyakurenshō” (百鍊抄) — A Kamakura-era historical text recording Shogun Yoritsune’s 1235 UFO sighting and investigation
Valerie J. Hansen — The Open Empire: A History of China Through 1800, research on ancient East Asian celestial records
Jacques Vallee — Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times, an authoritative work systematically compiling ancient UFO sighting records
Tulli Papyrus — Ancient Egyptian papyrus documenting celestial anomalies around 1440 BC
Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita — Roman historian Livy’s account of celestial anomalies in 218 BC
Charles Fort — The Book of the Damned, a classic work that was among the first to systematically collect ancient anomalous phenomena

Afterword: If you’re interested in ancient UFO records, we have many more obscure but fascinating stories to tell. From ancient Egypt’s “fireballs” to Renaissance Europe’s “celestial battles”—humans have never stopped looking up at the sky and asking, “What are those lights?” That question, to this day, remains unanswered. 🤔