2026年4月28日

🇯🇵 1235年日本官方UFO調查 — 人類史上第一次國家級調查

You think humanity’s first official UFO investigation was the 1947 Roswell incident? Totally 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 seven hundred years ago, the Japanese imperial court, in order to explain light points dancing around in the sky, actually came up with a “wind-blown stars theory.” Looking back today, this explanation is even more bizarre 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’s regent, Fujiwara no Yoritsune, while camping near Kamakura at night, witnessed an extremely unusual sight in the night sky along with his troops:

Many mysterious points of light flew across the sky from west to east, continuously circling, turning, changing direction, and 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 light points flying around as if they had a will of their own?

The Shogun deemed 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 procedure regarding “strange things flying in the sky.”

The Shogun’s question was very direct:

“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 modern governments establishing “UFO task forces.”

📜 The Investigation Report: Stars Swayed by the Wind?

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

The reason these light points were swaying left and right and flying around was because high-altitude strong 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 beyond belief—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 of “official anomaly detection → superior orders investigation → scholars research → submit report.” This process itself is 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 is not an isolated case. Humanity has continuously recorded “unexplainable objects in the sky” since ancient times. Below 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 one of the frequently cited documents in UFO research.)

🇮🇹 Ancient Rome · 218 BC

Roman historian Livy, in his “History of Rome,” records that in the winter of 218 BC—during the Second Punic War—multiple astonishing celestial phenomena appeared over Rome:

In the region of Alba, “a ship was seen gleaming in the sky”
In Praeneste, “a fiery ball fell from the sky”
In 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 three hundred years later than 1235, the 1561 “Sky Battle” over Nuremberg, Germany, is also worth mentioning. Local residents saw a large number of spheres, cross-shaped objects, and cylinders chasing and fighting each other in the air, with some eventually “falling to the ground as if burning.” A complete woodcut print of this event has been preserved.

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

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

1️⃣ Fireballs / Meteor Shower Outburst

Seeing light points flying across the night sky, the most direct explanation is fireballs or a major meteor shower. However, meteors usually fly in a straight line 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 light points” seen by the 13th-century Japanese army could potentially be a manifestation 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 light points “moving.” However, this explanation doesn’t quite fit the description of “a large number of light points 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 points of light moving in the sky. If the flock changed direction, it could create the effect of “aerobatic maneuvers.” This explanation is relatively reasonable, 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 one possibility—they truly 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 that all ancient people were just seeing things or dreaming.

💭 Why Is This Incident So Important?

The value of the 1235 Japan 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 still lack the knowledge to ask the right questions

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

📚 Sources

Hyakurenshō (百鍊抄) — A Kamakura period 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 from c. 1440 BC
Livy’s Ab Urbe Condita — Ancient Roman historian Livy’s record 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 “sky battles”—humanity has never stopped looking up at the sky and asking: “What exactly are those points of light?” This question, to this day, no one can fully answer. 🤔