1905 June 14th: A Report of "Takeshima" (Liancourt Rocks) by Rear Admiral Taketomi Kunikane

After two days from the June 12th report by a naval engineer, the commander of the third fleet Rear Admiral Taketomi Kunikane reported about “Takeshima”, he didn’t use the name of Riyankorudo-gan in this report, although they were on the same naval ship. It may simply means that there was still some confusion concerning the name of Liancourt Rocks in the Navy. This report mentioned Japanese fishermen from Oki islands but no mentioning of Korean fishermen, which is one of the evidence that Japanese knew and used the rocks in the 1900’s. There were no traces of other countries’ occupation as the 1905 Cabinet decision announced.

http://dokdo-or-takeshima.blogspot.com/2007/11/28th-of-january-1905-dicision-by.html

明治三十八年六月十四日第三艦隊司令官海軍少将武富邦鼎ノ提出セル竹島視察報告

一、小官ハ第三艦隊司令長官ヨリ橋立ヲ率ヰ佐世保鎮守府ヨリ派遣セル建築科員ヲ便乗セシメ之ヲ竹島ニ送致セシムルト同時ニ同島ニ假設望楼設置方適否ノ判断ニ任スヘシトノ訓令ヲ受ケ十二日午後竹敷ヲ出發シ翌十三日午後二時着シ直ニ建築科員ヲ同島ニ送ルト同時ニ橋立艦長ニ命シ将校ヲ派遣セシメ之カ観察ヲナサシメタリ

二、艦上より観察スル所ト橋立艦長報告竝ニ建築科技手ノ報告トヲ綜合シテ東西両島ヨリ成ル竹島ニ假設スヘキ望楼建設ニ●シ左ノ意見開陳ス

（イ）西島ハ東島ヨリ稍高ク約四百十餘呎ナルモ四周断崖絶壁ニシテ到底攀登スル能ハス叉望楼ヲ設置シ得ヘキ餘地アルヲ認メス且視察當日雲霧其ノ頂上ヲ隠蔽シアリシニ從スレハ假令望楼位置ヲ其ノ頂上ニ置キ得ルトスルモ雲霧ナキノ日ニアラサレハ常ニ視界ノ妨害ヲ免レサルモノト推判ス

（ロ）東島ハ西島ヨリ稍低ク且小ナルモ尚高サ約三百二十五呎ニシテ頂上ニ近ク望楼建設ノ餘地アルノミナラス其ノ南方ハ稍斜面ヲナシ且西方ハ凹岸ニシテ小湾形ヲナス此ニ小舟ヲ附クルヲ得テ交通ノ便アリ唯望楼位置ヨリ方位西北西ヲ中心トシ左右ニ三十度位ノ間視界ヲ西島ニ遮断セラルルヲ憾ム然レトモ西島頂上ノ如ク雲霧ノ為メ隠蔽セラルルコトハ少キモノト信ス

以上ノ状況ニヨリ望楼建設ノ位置ハ東島ヲ以テ適當ナルモノト認ム

三、望楼ノ設計装置

望楼ノ設計装置方法ニ於テハ建築科技手ノ設計ヲ以テ適當ナルモノト認ム

右設計ニハ岩石ヲ掘リ下ケ望楼員詰所アリ其ノ内ニ水罐蒸留水器糧食薪炭貯蔵所アリ叉別ニ見張所旗竿（旗竿ハ起伏自由ノ装置）等アリ其ノ詳細ノコトハ此ニ略ス

四、望楼員生活ノ難易

（イ）竹島ノ如キ孤島ニ於テ生活ニ最必須ナルモノハ飲料水ナリ之カ供給ニ適応ノ蒸留器ヲ装備シ且数箇月分ノ糧食ヲ貯蔵セシメ而テ月ニ一回若クハ二回汽船ヲ派シ之カ補給ヲナサハ敢テ本島望楼員ノ生活ニ於テ左程困難ハアラサルモノト認ム　現ニ本邦ノ漁夫数十名同島ニアリテ海豹捕獲ニ従事シ居レリ其ノ言ニ從スレハ彼等ハ毎年五月中旬頃ヨリ八月中旬頃ニ至ルノ間毎月一回隠岐ヨリ和船ヲ以テ交通シ糧食ノ補給ヲ受ケ此ノ島ニ生活シ居ルト云フ

（ロ）初メ荒天ニ際シテ或ハ怒涛全島ヲ洗ヒ人類ノ住居生活ニハ適セサルヤノ疑念アリシモ今観察スル所ニヨレハ相當ノ設計ヲ以テセハ左程ノ困難ニアラサルモノト知了セリ

五、望楼員ノ保護

保護ノ點ニ於テハ望楼ノ建設ヲ堅固ニスルコト内地ト汽船交通ノ便ヲ計ルコト等ナリ唯洋中ノ一孤島ニシテ海上平穏ナル日アラサレハ小汽船ノ交通ハ随分困難ナルヘシ殊ニ冬季中日本海北風烈シキ季節ニ際シテハ一層ノ困難アルヘシ依テ此ノ季節ニ慮スルノ方法ヲ講シ以テ十分ニ之カ設備ヲ為スノ必要ヲ認ム

六、別紙見取図橋立艦長報告竝ニ建築科技手報告望楼豫定位置図ヲ添付ス

（編者曰ク橋立艦長及ヒ建築科技手ノ報告書ハ第六十七號及ヒ第七十號ニ掲ク）

To follow is a rough translation:

The report of inspection of Takeshima presented by the third fleet
commander, Rear Admiral Taketomi Kunikane on June 14^th
1905.

1. I was ordered by the chief commander of the third fleet to give an architectural engineer from the Sasebo Naval Defense Office（鎮守府) a lift in our ship Hashidate as far as Takeshima and also to judge whether a plan of the temporal watchtower at the island is adequate or not. So we departed Takeshiki on the afternoon of the 12^th. As soon as we arrived there at 2:00pm of the 13^th, we sent the engineer to the island. At the same time I ordered the captain to send naval officers to inspect the island.

2. According to an observation from our ship along with the reports by the captain and by the architectural engineer, I would like to say the following concerning the building a temporary watchtower at Takeshima, which comprises of east and west islands.

(A) The west island is higher than the east island, it is more
than 410 feet high. The circumference of the islands is precipitous cliff and very hard to climb, and there is no room to establish a watchtower there. In addition, the summit of the island was obscured by cloud and fog on the inspection day – even if we could
build a watchtower at the summit, it is assumed that visibility would be always bad unless cloud and fog would disappear.

(B) The east island is shorter than the west island, but its height is still 325 feet high. There is a room to build a watchtower at near the summit, with a slope at south and a little cove at west where we can attach a boat for transportation. It is a pity that the visibility would be obstructed for about 30 degree at the west-northwest direction by the west island. However, I believe that it wouldn’t be obscured by cloud and fog like the summit of the west island.

Considering above, I recognize that the adequate place of the watchtower would be the east island.

3. A plan and devices of the watchtower

I recognize that the plan made by the architectural engineer would
be adequate. According to the plan, there would be a staff room which would be
made after digging the rock. And there would be a distillation apparatus in it
along with a storeroom for food, firewood and charcoal. There would be a
watch-house and a flag pole at another place. (The flag pole can be easily put
up or put away.) The details would be abbreviated here.

4. Difficulty of watchtower officials’ life

(A) The indispensable thing at an isolated island like Takeshima
is drinking water. I recognize that there would not be a big difficulty in
living for the watchtower officers if there would be a distillation apparatus
for drinking water, stored food for several months and a steam ship that would
come to supply things once or twice a month. Actually, dozens of Japanese fishermen
are staying here and engaging in hunting seals. According to them, they are
living here from mid-May until mid-August with a supply of food by a Japanese
ship which comes here from Oki island once in a month.

(B) At first, we assumed that this island would not be adequate
for humans to live because surging waves wash all over the island. But after the
observation I understand that if we plan adequately it would not so difficult to
live here.

5. Protection of the watchtower officials

As to the protection, we need to construct it firmly and need to
make the steam-ship transportation constantly to the mainland. As this is an
isolated island in the ocean and it would not always be calm, transportation
with small ships would be difficult. It would be more difficult particularly in
winter when north wind could be severe. So we need to consider how to cope with
this season and to equip enough.

6. Attached sheets are rough sketches, reports by the captain of
Hashidate and by the architectural engineer, and a sketch of the planned
location for the watchtower.

(Editors say that the report by the captain of Hashidate is published as #67 and the report by the architectural engineer as #70.)