Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by TheWayISeeIt

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The only reference to a labyrinth on Jutuo Island in Toengt'ing (Dongting?) lake or there even being an island called Jutuo seems to be in connection to this picture. I did find a reference to a cave on an island called Dong ting in Taihu Lake, which legend says is a labyrinth. I know, details. The devil is in the details. You'd think such avid researchers could get them right.
Labyrinths

Lady Dai's corpse was swaddled in 20 layers of fine silk, which would have suffocated the bacteria which normally devour the body soon after death.

The body was also inside four coffins and placed in a 20ft square chamber so cool it acted like a natural refrigerator.

Five tons of charcoal were piled on top followed by 4ft of clay and 50ft of earth to ensure the tomb was 'vacuum sealed for eternity'.

Some scientists suspect the real key to her preservation, however, may lie in the reddish liquid in which the body was immersed. If so, the secret may have died with her.

Tests have revealed it is mildly acidic and contains magnesium and salt, but have so far failed to identify all the contents.

Scientists believe there may have been another crucial ingredient added to the liquid before it was poured into the coffin an 'elixir of immortality' that would preserve the body eternally.

Tests have revealed it is mildly acidic and contains magnesium and salt, but have so far failed to identify all the contents. ...

The document recounts the stories of Japanese sailors who find themselves in foreign lands after becoming lost at sea, as well as castaway foreigners washed ashore on the beaches of Japan. To the Japanese people, who at the time had been living in a prolonged period of national isolation, these exotic tales must have seemed very fantastic.
Among these stories is the account of a wrecked ship with a very mysterious appearance.

According to the document, this vessel washed ashore at Harashagahama in Hitachi-no-kuni (present-day Ibaraki prefecture). The body of the ship, described as 3.3 meters tall and 5.4 meters wide, had been built from red sandalwood and iron and was fitted with windows of glass or crystal. The mysterious characters of an unknown alphabet were found inscribed inside the vessel.

Aboard the drifting vessel was a finely dressed young woman with a pale face and red eyebrows and hair. She was estimated to be between 18 and 20 years old. Because she spoke an unfamiliar tongue, those that encountered her were unable to determine from whence she came. In her arms she clutched a plain wooden box that appeared to be of great value to her, as she would allow nobody to approach it.
The document shows a portion of the text found inside the ship(see last picture)
Other Edo-period documents describe variations of this mysterious encounter. Toen Shousetsu (1825), a book by Kyokutei Bakin (who is most famous for his 106-volume samurai epic Nansou Satomi Hakkenden) tells the story of the same encounter, referring to the strange vessel as the utsuro-fune (”hollow ship”). Another variation of this tale appears in Ume no Chiri (1844), penned by a relatively unknown author named Nagahashi Matajirou. A thorough analysis of these two variations of the story can be found in a translated article by Kazuo Tanaka titled
Did a close encounter of the third kind happen on a Japanese beach in 1810?