竹島問題の歴史

28.4.08

1696 - Ahn's so-called Matsushima/Usando was Jukdo, afterall.

1696 元禄九丙子年朝鮮舟着岸一巻之覚書
-In May 2005, Mr.Murakami Sukekurou (66), the 48th master of an old family of Oki, Shimane revealed their old documents which was lying undiscovered for almost 300 years. 「One-volume Memorandum concerning the Korean boat that came alongside the pier in the 9th year of Genroku (1696)」(「元禄九丙子年朝鮮舟着岸一巻之覚書」) is the title written on the cover, and it consists of 16 pages. It was a record of the inquiry of Ahn Young Bok(安龍福), a Korean who came by Oki on the way to Tottori. - ( extract from the article by San-in Chuo Shinpo )
When the “San-in Chuo Sinpo” reported that Gerry found the evidence that Usando was not Takeshima/Liancourt Rocks/Dokdo, but Jukdo on the 22nd Feb, 2007, Dokdo Museum head admitted “It’s just Jukdo” . However, he continued , "In our country, Dokdo has been called “Usando” (于山島, 1432) - “Sambongdo” (三峰島, 1476) - “Jasando” (子山島, 1696) - “Seokdo” (石島, Korean Imperial Edict 41), and Dokdo (獨島, 1904)."

Korean claim Ahn Yong-bok who smuggled himself into Japan landed on Jasando (子山島) in 1696 and made Japanese recognize "Japanese Matsushima" as "Usando", or Matsushima is in Korea's 江原道 in this document. Korean automatically replace "Usando" with "Dokdo" every time they saw the word "Usando" in old documents, but all the documents and maps after 1696 available suggest Usando was most likely, Jukdo, not Takeshima/Dokdo.

This document does record Ahn's words "On the way to Gangwon Province, there are Takshima(Ulleungdo) and Matsuhima.(江原道 此道ノ中ニ 竹嶋松嶋 有之 竹島松嶋有)" However, it is just a record of the investigation and naturally, there is no trace Japanese had approved his appeal at all. In fact, Japanese sent him away to Choson directly, not through Tsushima, which was in charge of diplomacy with Choson at the time. Moreover, the more we read Ahn's testimony, the less his word become credible. What is Usando which Ahn referred afterall? Where it is?

The incident of the Ahn's travel which was recorded in this document and a incident of famous testimony in the annals of King Sukjong actually describes the same event, but the latter was recorded in Choson 4 month later. By analyzing those two documents, we could know one very important fact. - Jasando cannot be Takeshima/Dokdo. -


"One-volume Memorandum concerning the Korean boat that came alongside the pier in the 9th year of Genroku (1696)" (元禄九丙子年朝鮮舟着岸一巻之覚書 translation (part))
"They left Takeshima on 15th May, reached Matsushima on the same day. (五月十五日竹嶋出船同日松嶋江着)"

"The Annals of King Sukjong, vol.30 " (肅宗実録 30卷, 22年 戊寅 translation)
"At last on the next morning(15th May) in dawn, (we) pulled a boat and went into Jasando. (遂以翌曉, 拕舟入子山島)"

In the Japanese document, Ahn said he left Takeshima (Ulleundo) and reached to Jasando (Matsushima) on the same day(15th May). He didn't clearly say when he left, or when he arrived, not to speak of how many hours it took. The only thing we could tell for sure is he moved from Ulleundo to Jasando within a same day. But, in second Korean document, he actually testified that he pulled the boat on Jasando at the dawn of the same day. The point is, Ulleundo was surrounded by dangerous rocky shore, so it is not reasonable to depart on the boat before dawn in the dark. So Ahn should have left Ulleundo very early morning and soon reached to Jasando while dawn.

As we have seen, by analyzing two documents, we could definitely tell that it took less than few hours for Ahn to move from Ulleundo to Jasando, at dawn on 15th of May. Namely, the only possible island for this description is Jukdo(Korean name 竹島, Japanese name 竹嶼) which locates on approx. 2.2 km east shore of Ulleundo. Besides, Ahn said he "pulled the boat into Usando(拕舟入子山島)". There is no shore around Takeshima/Dokdo we can pull the boat. Chinese letter "拕" means "pull or drag the boat" with some kind of rope. Using "拕" verifies Ahn didn't go to today's Takeshima/Dokdo at all.

Ahn's testimony was full of inconsistency, thus Japanese researchers tend to ignore his statement. For example, he said the distance between Choson and Ulleundo 30-ri (120 km) and Ulleundo to Matsushima 50-ri (200 km). It makes Jasando near Oki island. The distance between Ulleundo and Takeshima/Liancourt Rocks/Dokdo is 92km.
竹嶋と朝鮮之間三十里竹嶋と松嶋之間五十里在之由申候
Importantly, the second documents were a testimony for the Choson officials of the border guard when he was subject to the life sentence for the serious offence of stowaway and subject to perjury. Naturally, his testimony was full of exaggeration, misrepresentation and untruth, which don’t match to the Japanese record. In fact, Choson government denied him in her official reply to Japanese government as "As for a vitreous and stupid person(= Ahn), even if he is telling a lie, it is an unknown thing of the Chosun government. ( 肅宗 31卷, 23年( 1697 丁丑 / 청 강희(康熙) 36年) 2月 14日 乙未 3번째기사 "至於漂風愚民, 設有所作爲") " before.

However, it is also true that Ahn actually traveled from Ulleundo to Oki in 1696. Ahn’s recognition of date may be accurate, since the arrival date was confirmed and consistent with Japanese documents. Then we compared the information of dates from testimony in two documents above to have found Ahn's Matsushima/Jasando was definitely Jukdo, not Takeshima/Liancourt Rocks/Dokdo.

In fact, this is easily confirmed by other documents and maps as well. Usando which used to be depicted on the west side of Ulleundo in same size started to be replaced to the exact location of today's Jukdo with almost identical shape after Choson officials started to investigate Ulleundo followed by Ahn's stowaway to Japan. Addition to that, there are some documents which record Choson people actually called Ulleundo (plus Jukdo) as Matsushima, as a whole. Following are those examples.

1793 「Ilseong-rok(日省録)
臣按本曹謄錄蔚陵外島其名松島卽古于山國也
The attendant said that according to the Yejo record, "Songdo" was another name for Ulleungdo and its surrounding islands," which was the old kingdom of Usan.

1882 「the Annals of King Kojong vol.30(高宗実録 19年4月 初 7日(壬戌)條 )」
敎曰 或稱芋山島 或稱松竹島 皆輿地勝覽所載也. 而又稱松島竹島與芋山島爲三島統稱鬱陵島矣.
The king said, “It is called either Usando or Songjukdo (松竹島), which are both written in the Yeojiseungram (輿地勝覽). It is also called Songdo
(松島) and Jukdo (竹島). Together with Usando, there are three islands that make up what is called Ulleungdo. Inspect the situation on all of them. (
Lies, Half-truths, & Dokdo Video, Part 8)

Because of Ahn's inconsistancy, it is considered to be almost impossible to tell if he really went to the so-called Matsushima/Jasando which perfectly coincide with location, distance and description (size). But if we analyze his travel itinerary from 15-18 th of May in both documents recorded by Japanese and Choson officials in 1696, we can conclude that Jukdo is the only possible island for Ahn's Matsushima/Jasando. It is considered that Ahn was confused with other islands like legendary Usando which he thought locates in North of Ulleundo and the inhabitable "huge island" which he saw in 1693 and is bigger than Ulleundo (= Oki). Actually, he was in need of appealing his triumphant of making Japanese admit his territorial claim of the huge inhabitable island, which is not true, so that he could dodge the life sentence.

Besides, Ahn, who was a private slave(私奴) misrepresented himself as "tax general of Choson(朝鬱両島監税将 臣 安同知騎) " to deceive the Japanese government (Shogunate). Moreover, Japanese didn't take Ahn seriously and expeled him from Tottori directly, not via Tsushima so that it won't become a diplomatic problem. No matter what he did or did not in Japan, it should not be subject to sovereignty dispuite in the first place.

In conclusion, Ahn’s "Jasando" and so-called "Japanese's Matsushima" which appears in Choson documents later is nothing but just a neiboughring island of Ulleundo, Jukdo.

17 comments:

  1. Gerry,

    Something is wrong with "Blogger" and I can't arrange my post neatly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous28/4/08 21:35

    Kanganese, there are so many problems with your post I don't know where to start.

    Here's what we know. Anyongbok stated he left in the morning of the 15th in the Korean document. It makes no sense he would depart at noon to venture all of the way to Japan. His intent was to protest Japanese trespassing on Ulleungdo and he had prepared what he needed beforehand such as the bogus official clothes.

    He stated the winds were favourable and arrived on the nothern shore of the Okinoshimas on the 18th. That gives us a travel time of about 3.4kms per hour regardless if he landed on Matsushima (Dokdo) or not. At that rate he would be near Dokdo by daylight the next day (81kms)

    The Anyongbok documents of 2005 clearly stated it was very windy both during Anyongbok's travel and afterward. This rules out the possibility of fog, because wind and fog never mix.

    Dokdo is on a direct route to the Oki Islands Kanganese however it is a little northeast of the direct route. We also know Dokdo is visible up to around 50kms but this is under perfect conditions.

    See chart.

    DokdoChart

    I would say realistically it is a safe bet that Dokdo is easily visible under normal circumstances from around 40kms on an average day. For example this sketch of Dokdo was drawn by the Russian Navy in 1857 it was done from about 26kms away. It shows how visible Dokdo was. The sketch on the top left is Dokdo from 14 nautical miles (26kms)

    Dokdosketch

    Even using a modest estimate of around 30kms as a guideline, this map shows a green circle indicating the range of visibility of Dokdo. You can see Anyongbok would not only have travelled within visual proximity of Dokdo, he would have been in this range for a very long time perhaps up to 12 hours using the speed above.

    See this map.

    AnyongbokRoute

    Of course Anyongbok didn't have a compass and couldn't navigate in a straight he would naturally deviated from this route. Actually this fact futher supports Anyongbok would have been aware of Dokdo as the Murakawa records mention winds from the West. In the East Sea (Sea of Japan) the winds always blow from the west-southwest. This would have pushed Anyongbok even closer in the direction of Dokdo making the possibility of him landing there even more likely.

    Here is a satellite image showing prevailing winds of April and May.

    EastSeaWind

    I think Anyongbok did lie in some of his testimony and these lies tell us some things. He may have fabricated his confrontation with the Japanese on Matsushima to avoid being prosecuted if the problem escalated to the national level.

    Anyongbok may not have landed on Matsushima en route to Japan, but he must have seen the island when we put together all of the facts such as his departure point, arrival time, visibility and weather. If Anyongbok didn't land, and merely passed the island, it would explain why he didn't know the correct distance. Having no idea exactly how large the island was, he may have assumed it was comparable to Ulleungdo and estimated the distance further away based on that scale. This is why most marine binoculars have scale lines and compasses built into them. Estimating distance and direction at sea without accurate equipment is very difficult.

    But the Anyongbok incident combined with the Dottori documents tell us something more critical. Regardless of Anyongbok's claims of Usando, there can be no question to the Japanese that Matsushima (Dokdo) next to Takeshima (Ulleungdo) was today's Dokdo. Anyongbok's assertions that Matsushima was Chosun land was met with no objections and the Japanese did not protest. This tells us they did not consider Matsushima part of Japan just like the Dottori papers of 1695 only months before.

    Anyongbok

    DokdoNotJapanese

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  3. Anonymous28/4/08 22:46

    On another note, Kaneganese. there is, in fact a beach where boats land on Dokdo. This was recorded in Nakai Yozaburo's application to lease Liancourt Rocks. In this documet he states "...On the shore at the curvature of the islet there is gravel that looks like a beach...,"

    Please see this page.
    Nakai

    The beach can be seen on this map.

    DokdoBeach

    On the other hand. Jukdo Islet is basically a huge wall about 100 meters high and a sheer wall of rock. The only mooring is a cement pier on the West face the only way to climb are cement stairs. Hundreds of years ago it would have been sheer torture to climb and although some have said Japanese fished near or at the island it is doubtful they camped up there and hauled all of their equipment up there.

    JukdoShore

    JukdoWall

    JukdoStairs

    JukdoWall2

    If the Japanese were camped on Jukdo Islet Anyongbok wouldn't have waited until the next day to voyage only 2kms. He would kicked those dirty trespassers to the curb right then and there.

    BTW. the top post should read "Anyongbok didn't have a good compass"

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  4. Kaneganese,

    Your post looks pretty good, but I have noticed that sometimes when text is copied from a word processor into Blogger, it does not always come out as expected. Since I am not very computer savvy, I often just copy the text into Windows "Notepad" first before copying it into Blogger. That gets rid of all the hidden formatting, but then I have to format it again in Blogger, which is a little time consuming. I am sure there is a better way, but I have been too lazy to learn it.

    Anyway, as I said, the fomatting looks pretty good.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you, Gerry

    I'll try "notepad" tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous16/7/08 15:56

    It has been a KORIANS's territory for a long time and forever, They cannot change it because japan is economically stronger than Korea or whatever!. I strongly believe that japan will pay back later or sooner. Don't play with media!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous,

    It has nothing to do with economics.

    "I strongly believe that japan will pay back later or sooner."

    You mean Japan's going to pay back to Korea? I don't think so, but what is your idea? How Japan can pay back to Korea? I hope it is not dangerous.

    "Don't play with media!!"

    You mean Korean media? I agree that it is dangerous for Korean media to inflame and drive innocent Korean kids into holding illogical hatred towards Japanese.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Are there any Japanese in 1696, who were "attacked" by 安龍福 at Matsushima in his story, who report the "damage" and detail to Japanese officer in Oki-islet like the case in 1693? (Maybe Murakawa or Ooya clan in charge of Ulluengdo management.)

    ReplyDelete
  9. nobody could refute on dokdo-takeshima.com 's claim..

    so I guess everyone knows the truth

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  11. Steve Barber perfectly refuted Kaneganese's very absurd insistence Ahn's Jasando is Jukdo.

    There's one more evidence to prove Ahn's Jasando isn't Jukdo. A Japanese document "因幡志" published in 1795 clarifies Ahn's Jasando is today's Dokdo.

    On the way to Tottori from Oki Island, to protest against the Japanese trespassing to Ulleongdo and Dokdo, Ahn disguised himself as a government official and hung out a flag on his boat saying "朝鬱両島監税将臣安同知騎", which indicates he pretended to be a tax inspector of the two Islands of Chosun's Ulleungdo(朝鬱両島).

    There's no doubt the two islands of Chosun's Ulleongdo((朝鬱両島) meant Ulleongdo and its satellite island Jasando(Usando=Dokdo) because he already told the Oki official about the Korean ownership of Ulleongdo and Jasando. But some pro Japanese people still stubbornly insist Ahn's Jasando is not Dokdo.

    Japanese document "因幡志" wrote “朝欝兩島ハ 欝陵嶌(日本ニテ是ヲ竹嶋ト称ス) 于山嶋(日本ニテ松嶋ト呼)是ナリ".
    (The two islands of Chosun's Ulleongdo(朝欝兩島) are Ulleongdo(Japan was calling Takeshima.) and Usando(Japanese was calling Matsushima.)

    Image of Ahn's flag from 因幡志
    因幡志


    "因幡志" clearly wrote the two islands Ahn referred to were Japanese calling Takeshima (Ulleongdo) and Matsushima(Dokdo). Jukdo 2.2km off Ulleongdo's east coast wasn't called as Matsushima in Japan then.

    No Japanese had objection to Ahn's claim on Dokdo as Korean land at that time because they had never considered Dokdo as Japan's territory. Actually Edo Bakufu , in 1696, prohibited the Japanese to go to Ulleongdo and naturally Dokdo because they were not Japanese land.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sloww,

    You can get 『Inaba-shi 因幡誌』at Shimane prefecture’s site.

    http://www.pref.shimane.lg.jp/soumu/web-takeshima/takeshima04/takeshima04-1/takeshima04-n.data/inabashi.pdf


    I think 『因幡誌』recorded “what 安龍福 said one hundred years before” in 因幡, today’s Tottori prefecture.

    『因幡誌』wrote;
    “朝欝兩島ハ 欝陵嶋(日本ニテ是ヲ竹嶋ト称ス)子山嶋(日本ニテ松嶋ト呼)是ナリ".

    Not 于山嶋 but 子山嶋.


    安龍福 himself just believed there were two islands 鬱陵島 and 子山嶋 in the eastern sea from Korea, actually it was misunderstanding of One Island, 鬱陵島.

    He may be learned from Japanese who captured him as a hostage in 鬱陵島 in1693, that 鬱陵島 is called “竹島” in Japan.

    And maybe he was introduced Japanese 松島 during his way to Oki.

    So he misunderstood Japanese 松島 is to be what he believed 子山嶋.

    So, while he was staying in 青谷, 因幡, when he lied as he was a 朝鬱両島監税将,
    he explained 鬱陵島 is called in Japan as 竹嶋, and 子山嶋 is called in Japan as 松嶋.

    “朝欝兩島ハ 欝陵嶋(日本ニテ是ヲ竹嶋ト称ス)子山嶋(日本ニテ松嶋ト呼)是ナリ".

    『因幡誌』was written in 1795, about one hundred years from 安龍福’s stay in Tottori in 1696.

    Abe Kyoan (安陪恭庵),the author of 『因幡誌』, may have heard “what 安龍福 said one hundred years ago” from his informant in 青谷, when he was collecting the history of the area.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Matsu,

    Thank you for showing the original 『Inaba-shi 因幡誌』. That was what I was looking for.

    In the original 『Inaba-shi 因幡誌』,it's written “朝欝兩島ハ 欝陵嶋(日本ニテ是ヲ竹嶋ト称ス)子山嶋(日本ニテ松嶋ト呼)是ナリ." 『因幡誌』clearly said "The two island of Chosun's Ulleongdo(朝欝兩島) are Ulleongdo and Jasando(Japan is calling Matsushima(Dokdo)".

    The text I showed is what 士西 from Tottori Han made in 1893 by the request of 藩主池田.

    What's the difference between "Jasando" and "Usando"? 『因幡誌』of 1795 clarified Ahn's Jasando was Japan called Matsushima(Dokdo) and the copy『因幡誌』of 1795 clarified Ahn's Jasando was Usando which was Japan called Matsushima(Dokdo). It's a perfect Japanese acceptance Ahn's Jasnado was Usando which was Japanese called Matsushima(Dokdo)

    Matsu wrote "安龍福 himself just believed there were two islands 鬱陵島 and 子山嶋 in the eastern sea from Korea, actually it was misunderstanding of One Island, 鬱陵島."

    Refer to what Ahn said in "元祿九丙子年朝鮮舟着岸一卷之覺書". They can't be one island.

    "Ahn Yong-bok said that Takeshima is called bamboo island and there is an island called Ulleungdo, bamboo island, in Dongnae-bu of Gangwon province in Chosun. He also said he had a text map of eight provinces of Korea(八道ノ図 ) that says so. Matsushima(松嶋) is the island called Jasan in the same province of Gangwondo. It's also called Matsushima and drawn in the map of eight provinces(八道ノ図).
    (安龍福が申すには、竹島を竹の島と申し、朝鮮國江原道東莱府の内ニ欝陵島と申す島御座候。是を竹の島と申由申候。則八道の図に記之所持仕候。松島は同道の内子山と申す島御座候。是を松島と申由、是も八道の図に記し申候)".
    So, while he was staying in 青谷, 因幡, when he lied as he was a 朝鬱両島監税将,
    he explained 鬱陵島 is called in Japan as 竹嶋, and 子山嶋 is called in Japan as 松嶋.
    “朝欝兩島ハ 欝陵嶋(日本ニテ是ヲ竹嶋ト称ス)子山嶋(日本ニテ松嶋ト呼)是ナリ".


    Abe Kyoan (安陪恭庵),the author of 『因幡誌』, may have heard “what 安龍福 said one hundred years ago” from his informant in 青谷, when he was collecting the history of the area.
    --> Yes, he must have heard what Ahn said and understood what Ahn was referring to was Takeshima(Ulleongdo) and Matsushima(Dokdo). It seems the Japanese in 1696 and in 1795 naturally understood accepted Ahn's Jasando was Usando(=today's Dokdo), which means it's very unnatural and absurd for the pro-Japanese people today to deny Ahn's Jasando was Usando(=today's Dokdo).

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  15. matsu様

    例の竹島図説にあった最初の遭遇事件、すなわち、村川家の船頭、平兵衛らが、竹嶋(鬱陵島)の浜田浦で、元禄五年三月二十七日(1692年5月12日)の朝、出会った朝鮮人の男こそが、安龍福本人だったわけです。
    最初から日本語を通詞のように話せて、「この島よりも北方にある島に行こうとしていて、この島にたどり着いた」と話しながら、船に乗り移ってきて、平兵衛たちが危険を感じとったあの男です。

    彼は、東莱郡釜山で育った奴卑で、和館周辺で日本人と接触をして日本語を話せるようになったと言われています。彼が虚言癖のある男だったことはいろいろな史料から明らかですが、最初から彼が、鬱陵島の近くに別の島があると主張していた点に留意すべきではないでしょうか。彼は、蔚陵島とその島自体の一部を別の島(子山島)と誤認している当時の朝鮮人の常識にしたがっただけだと考えると、もうそこで、彼が見た島は、「すこぶる大きな島」だと主張した矛盾が解けるような気がするのです。

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  16. Kaneganese wrote:

    “This document does record Ahn's words "On the way to Gangwon Province, there are Takshima(Ulleungdo) and Matsuhima.(江原道 此道ノ中ニ 竹嶋松嶋 有之 )"

    Kaneganese‘s translation "On the way to Gangwon Province, there are Takshima(Ulleungdo) and Matsuhima." is wrong.

    The correct translation is "In Gangwon Province, there are Takshima and Matsuhima." which means Takeshima(Ulleungdo) and Matsushima(Dokdo) belong to Gangwon Province of Korea.

    The extract below shows “San-in Chuo Newspaper” clearly understood Ahn claimed Takeshima(Ulleungdo) and Matsuhima(Dokdo) were in Gangwon Province of Korea.


    “...当時の日本では鬱陵島を「竹島」、現・竹島(独島)を「松島」とそれぞれ呼んでいた。覚書で安は江原道の鬱陵島は日本で言う竹島であり、所持した朝鮮八道の地図に記されていると説明。さらに松島(現・竹島)は同じく江原道の子山(そうさん)と呼ぶ島であり、これも地図に記載されているとして、朝鮮領であるとの認識を示している。

     これまでの資料では、安の言う「子山」(または「于山島」)がどの島を指すのかあいまいだったが、「竹島と朝鮮之間三十里 竹島と松島之間五十里」と位置関係を説明している記述などから、現・竹島を指しているとみられる。

     覚書の末尾には京畿道など「朝鮮之八道」が記され、江原道には注釈として「此道ノ中ニ竹島松島有之」と書かれ、松島(現・竹島)も朝鮮領と認識していたことがうかがえる。


    I’m not sure Kaneganese was the first Japanese who spread this wrong translation, but I’m so sorry to see some pro-Takeshima Japanese are absurdly arguing with this incorrect translation.

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