竹島問題の歴史

12.6.07

1906 Apr 1 - Japanese Tell Koreans of Takeshima Incorporation


The following April 1, 1906 San-in Shimbun article, entitled "竹島土産," talks about Japanese officials visiting Takeshima (Liancourt Rocks) and Ulleungdo. (Click on the articles to enlarge.)

Takeshima Souvenirs

The party of fifty people arrived at Takeshima at 8 a.m. on the 27th, as we have already reported. They soon landed and dozens of people from various fields of study began their investigative work. As previously rumored, there were pods of sea lions living on the island, so the party caught ten of them, including a live one. Some were caught with a net or guns, and some were clubbed. They loaded three of them on the ship and departed at 2:30 p.m. They saw laver growing at the island.

They arrived at Ulleungdo's Jeodong (芋洞) at about 8 p.m. Some disembarked right away when Japanese policemen, the postmaster, and other people from Dodong (道洞) came on two boats to welcome the party. It was arranged that some of the party would stay at Postmaster Kataoka's house while the rest would stay on the steamship and wait until daybreak to land.

They all went to visit the County Head (郡守), and a Japanese police seargent acted as interpreter. They asked about the situation of the island. Then part of them investigated the interior of the island while part of them investigated the coast. They departed the island at 8 p.m., and they arrived at Saigo (Oki) the next day at 4:30 p.m. They attended a welcoming party organized by officals and the people. At 10 a.m. the next morning, they left and at 3:30 p.m. arrived at Sakai, where they soon changed steamships. They arrived at the prefectural office at 7 p.m. Department Head Jinzai (神西) stayed at Oki with two staff members, Nakajima and Ohno, to investigate the island (Oki).

One of the three sea lions they got at Takeshima was cooked on the ship, one was given to the Uleungdo County Head, and the last one was brought back to be used as the subject of hygiene study and is now at the hygiene laboratory at the docks.

When he visited the county head of Ulleungdo, Department Head Jinzai (神西) said, "I'm an official from Shimane Prefecture of the Japanese Empire. Your island and Takeshima, which is under our jurisdiction, are near each other. Also, many Japanese are staying on your island, so we hope you watch over them. If we had planned on coming here, we would have brought you a suitable gift, but because we happened to come here for refuge, we do not have one. Fortunately, we have a sea lion here we caught at Takeshima. We would like to give this to you as a gift, and we would consider it very fortunate if you would accept it."

The county head answered, "Concerning the Japanese people who are staying on this island, I will do what it takes to protect them. I will also accept your gift of the sea lion. If it tastes good, I hope you will give me another one sometime."

(Translated by Pacifist)




11 comments:

  1. Gerry,

    To follow is a rough translation:

    Souvenir of Takeshima

    The party of 50 people arrived at Takeshima at 8am 27th as we've already reported. Soon they landed and 14~5 persons shared their investigational work in several fields. As previously rumoured, there were herds of sea lions living, so the party caught the 10 sea lions including a live one, some were caught with a net or guns, some were beaten. Three of them were loaded to the ship and they left there at 2:30pm. They saw laver growing at the island.
    Then they arrived at 芋洞 of Ulleungdo at 8pm. A part of them landed soon. Japanese policemen and a postmaster and other people from 道洞 on two ships came and welcomed the party, so they stayed at the postmaster Mr.Kataoka's house while the rest of the party stayed in the steamship. After the daybreak they landed and visited the chief of the island (郡守). A Japanese police seargent acted as an interpreter, and asked about the situation of the island. Then a part of them investigated the coast of the island and left the island at 8pm. Next day at 4:30pm they arrived at Saigo (of Oki), they attended a welcome party organised by the officals and the people. On the next morning at 10am they left and arrived at Sakai at 3:30pm, where they soon changed the steamship and arrived at 7pm at the prefectural office. The head of the department 神西(Kannzai or Jinzai?) stayed at Oki with two staff, Nakajima and Ohno in order to investigate the island (Oki). One of the three sea lions, which they got at Takeshima, was cooked in the ship, one was given to the chief of Ulleungdo and the last one was brough back with them as a material for hygienic investigation, and it is now at its moorings at a hygienic laboratory. The head of the department 神西 (Kanzai?) said when he visited the chief of Ulleungdo, "I'm an official of Shimane prefecture of Japan Empire. Your island and Takeshima, which is under our jurisdiction, are close. And many Japanese are staying in your island, so we hope you'll treat them right. We should have brought a gift if this was a planned visit but this time we happened to arrive for a refuge, so we don't know what we have to give you. Fortunately we have a sea lion we caught at Takeshima here. We would like to give this to you as a gift. We would be glad if you will receive it." The chief of the island answered, "I will protect Japanese people who are staying in this island. I'll receive the sea lion. If it will be delicious, I would like to have another one in the future."

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  2. Gerry,

    Incidentally, the title 竹島土産 is not 竹島土山. The 土産 (miyage) means souvenirs. If you write 土山, it means "mud mountain"...

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  3. Thank you for the translation, Pacifist, and thank you for catching my mistake.

    I think the Japanese officials had planned to go to Ulleungdo from the very beginning. I think "had to seek refuge" comment was just the official's way of excusing the quality of the gift he was giving the county head.

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  4. Gerry,

    I agree with you, considering the former article and this article relating about the welcome delegation of Japanese residents, possibly it was planned beforehand. But this article didn't mention the bad weather they should have taken a refuge, I wonder whether there was a storm or not. At least, if the party talked about it as an excuse, weather may have not been fine anyway...

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  5. Gerry,

    I found the photo of Nakai Yozaburo although it's a very small one:

    http://kukkuri.jpn.org/boyakikukkuri2/img/img83_070313.JPG

    This is from Sankei Shimbun. Please take a look at the right upper photo; the man standing left is Nakai. He looks smart, doesn't he?

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  6. Pacifist,

    I think the "kukuri" site is blocked from Korea. I tried connecting to that site and I cound not do it then, either.

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  7. Gerry

    I sent you an e-mail with the attached photo of the newspaer article.
    I hope you will be able to see it!

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  8. Pacifist,

    Thanks for the e-mail. I might attach the picture to the relevant post when I get home from work tonight.

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  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  10. This post titled " Japanese Tell Koreans of Takeshima Incorporation " itself proves that Japanese incorporation of Dokdo is illegal.

    Did the Japanese officials bring any official document from Japanese government notifying Dokdo incorporation to Ulldo County Governor?

    Thet just said Dokdo belonging to Ulldo County became Japanese land. Moreover, they did it one year after Japanese incorporation of Dokdo in 1905.

    Is this the right procedure of incorporating land according to international law?
    Is this the typical Japanese way of incorporating land? I don't think so. Japan incorporated Dokdo in secret because she knew Dokdo was Korean land.

    Japan insists Dokdo was not a part of Ulldo County, then why did the Japanese officials tell the Ulldo County Government about Dokdo incorporation and give a gift?

    Japanese Dokdo incorporation itself is sef-contradiction.
    Japan can never justify her illegal and greedy act of Dokdo incorporation.

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  11. One more evidence the Japanese considered Ulleongdo and Dokdo were close even though Dokdo was 87km away from Ulleongdo.

    According to "竹島土産" introduced in the post above, Zinzai Yutaro from Shimane Prefecture told Uldo County Governor Shim "Your island and Takeshima, which is under our jurisdiction, are near each other.(皆さんの島と竹島は私たちの管轄の下にあって身近にある。)"

    There is enough evidence it’s appropriate to call Dokdo as the attached island to Ulleongdo or the neighboring island of Ulleongdo as the Japanese from Oya’s and Murakawa’s in 17th century and Nakai Yozaburo in 1904 did.

    Japanese fishermen could go to Dokdo with the permission for going to Ulleongdo and couldn’t go to Dokdo when the Japanese government prohibited them to go to Ulleongdo because Dokdo was an attached island to Ulleongdo during the Edo Period. Thus, it’s silly Japan insists the Edo government didn’t prohibit to go to Dokdo because there’s no mention of Dokdo in the Ordinance prohibiting voyages to Ullleongdo. Edo government in 1696 prohibited the Japanese to go to both Ulleongdo and Dokdo because they were Korean land.

    Ulleongdo and Dokdo had always been together, but in 1905, Japanese government unjustly separated Dokdo from Ulleongdo and made Dokdo Japanese land on the basis of being ownerless. Dokdo was not ownerless then. Dokdo was Korean land attached to Ulleongdo which was apparently Korean land.

    Japan should stop misleading the Japanese and the world as well with the flawed sovereignty logic on Takeshima(Dokdo).


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