was a Japanese aviation pioneer who experimented with artificial wings and is considered the first Japanese person to fly. He is also called , , Sakuraya Kōkichi (), Bizen'ya Kōkichi (), or Binkōsai ().
Biography
Ukita was born in 1757 during the
Edo period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...
Bizen Province
was a province of Japan on the Inland Sea side of Honshū, in what is today the southeastern part of Okayama Prefecture. It was sometimes called , with Bitchū and Bingo Provinces. Bizen borders Mimasaka, Harima, and Bitchū Provinces.
Bizen ...
(now Hachihama,
Tamano, Okayama
is a city located in southern Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The city was officially founded on August 3, 1940. As of October 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 60,101 and a population density of 580 persons per km². The total area i ...
) as the second son of Ukita (or Sakuraya) Seibei (). His father died when Ukita was seven years old, after which he moved to the city of
Okayama
is the capital city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The city was founded on June 1, 1889. , the city has an estimated population of 720,841 and a population density of 910 persons per km2. The total area is .
The city is ...
and apprenticed to a papermaker (''hyogu-shi,'' a maker of
shōji
A is a door, window or room divider used in traditional Japanese architecture, consisting of translucent (or transparent) sheets on a lattice frame. Where light transmission is not needed, the similar but opaque ''fusuma'' is used (oshiire/ ...
or
fusuma
In Japanese architecture, are vertical rectangular panels which can slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a room, or act as doors. They typically measure about wide by tall, the same size as a ''tatami'' mat, and are thick. The ...
).
Interested in how birds fly, Ukita researched and concluded that by "computing the ratio of the wing's surface area to the body weight and using that ratio to create a artificial wings, a human, too, will be able to fly like a bird."
He used his skill in papermaking to create wings, constructing the delicate ribs from bamboo, covering them with paper and fabric, and varnishing the surface with lacquer from Japanese persimmons. After discarding many prototypes, Ukita attempted to fly from a bridge over the
Asahi River
The Asahi River is a river in Okayama Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Okayama Prefecture has a population of 1,906,464 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 7,114 km2 (2,746 sq mi). Oka ...
in the summer of 1785. Some references assert that he glided several meters; others that he simply fell. Immediately after his attempt, Ukita was arrested by samurai of the
Okayama Domain
The was a Japanese domain of the Edo period. It was associated with Bizen Province in modern-day Okayama Prefecture.">DF_18_of_80">"Ikeda"_at_''Nobiliare_du_Japon'',_p._14_ 池田治政). His contemporary, scholar/poet Kan Sazan (:ja:菅茶山">菅茶山), referred to this event in his writing.
Ukita then moved to the town of Sunpu in Suruga province">Sunpu Domain">Sunpu in Suruga province (now Shizuoka, Shizuoka">Suruga_province.html" ;"title="Sunpu Domain">Sunpu in Suruga province">Sunpu Domain">Sunpu in Suruga province (now Shizuoka, Shizuoka) and opened a cotton shop under the name Bizen'ya Kōkichi. Once the business was established, he turned the shop over to his nephew and became a dental technician under the name Binkōsai, earning his reputation with excellent dentures.
Little is known about his later years. One theory is that Ukita flew again in Sunpu and was executed for the crime of rioting. Another is that Ukita moved to Mitsuke in Tōtōmi Province (now Iwata, Shizuoka), where he quietly spent the rest of his life with his wife and children and died peacefully in 1847 at age 92.
His tomb is at Daiken-ji Temple () in Iwata, Shizuoka Prefecture. His posthumous (Buddhist) name is .
Incidentally, Lord Ikeda's descendant, Ikeda Takamasa ( :ja:池田隆政, 池田隆政), cancelled the exile order in 1997.
See also
*
Abbas Ibn Firnas
Abu al-Qasim Abbas ibn Firnas ibn Wirdas al-Takurini ( ar, أبو القاسم عباس بن فرناس بن ورداس التاكرني; c. 809/810 – 887 A.D.), also known as Abbas ibn Firnas ( ar, عباس ابن فرناس), Latinized Armen ...
*
Eilmer of Malmesbury
Eilmer of Malmesbury (also known as Oliver due to a scribe's miscopying, or Elmer, or Æthelmær) was an 11th-century English Benedictine monk best known for his early attempt at a gliding flight using wings.
Life
Eilmer was a monk of Malmesb ...
Carl Friedrich Meerwein
Carl Friedrich Meerwein (2 August 1737 – 6 December 1810) was a German civil engineer and aviation pioneer.
Meerwein was born in Leiselheim. He built flying devices with moving wings. According to the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' he succeeded in ...
*
Albrecht Berblinger
Albrecht Ludwig Berblinger (24 June 1770 – 28 January 1829), also known as the Tailor of Ulm, is famous for having constructed a working flying machine, presumably a hang glider.
Early life
Berblinger was the seventh child of a poor fa ...
*
Chūhachi Ninomiya
was a Japanese aviation pioneer. He is remembered for his unique aircraft designs - the "Karasu-gata mokei hikouki" ("Crow-type model aircraft", 1891) and the "Tamamushi-gata hikouki" (" Jewel beetle type flyer", 1893). He designed a flying machi ...