Korean Translation of Jang Han-sang's 1694 Inspection Record

There is now a Korean translation of the "Ulleungdo Sacheok" (蔚陵島事蹟), which is a record of Jang Han-sang's (張漢相) 1694 inspection of Ulleungdo. The Korean translation can be found HERE.

One of the more interesting passages from the record is the following:

登島山峰審望彼國之域則杳茫無眼杓之島其遠近未知幾許

The Koreans have translated the passage as follows:

섬의 산위에 올라 저 나라의 땅을 자세히 바라보면 묘망(杳茫)하여 눈에 띄이는 섬이 없어 거리가 얼마나 되는지 딱히 알 수가 없었다.

If you climb to the top of the island's peak and look carefully at their land, it is so far away that no island is visible. Therefore, the distance could not be known for sure.

An article published by the Korea Maritime Institute HERE claims that the above passage is evidence that Jang Han-sang considered the distant island he saw faintly to the southeast of Ulleungdo to be Korean territory, not Japanese, since the above passage said no islands could be seen when looking at Japanese land.

I have two problems with the Korean claim. First, it does not make sense logically. Inspector Jang had previously said he saw an island far off to the southeast of Ulleungdo that he judged to be less than one third the size of Ulleungdo and about 120 kilometers away. The unnamed island he saw had to be Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo). Since Liancourt Rocks is only about one 390th the size of Ulleungdo, not one third, and since it is only ninety-two kilometers away, not 120 kilometers, we know that the Korean inspector did not go to the island and that it was unknown to him, which suggests it was not Korean. Therefore, it would not make sense for the inspector to say he saw a distant island and then later say he saw no islands.

The second problem I have with the Korean claim is the Korean translation of the above passage. The Korean is a mistranslation. Why would the Korean inspector use the characters 之島 if he did not see an island? Therefore, I think the phrase 杳茫無眼杓之島 was describing the island the inspector had seen to the southeast of Ulleungdo, which would mean that the above passage is evidence that the inspector considered the island southeast of Ulleungdo to be Japanese since he said he was looking at Japanese land.

I think 杳茫無眼杓之島 might be translated as "a distant, hazy, inconspicuous island." Therefore, I would like to suggest the following translation of the above passage:

登島山峰審望彼國之域則杳茫無眼杓之島其遠近未知幾許

If you climb the island's peak and look closely at that country's (Japan's) territory (登島山峰審望彼國之域則), there is a distant, hazy, inconspicuous island (杳茫無眼杓之島), of which the distance is unknown (其遠近未知幾許).

The Chinese breaks down as follows:

登島山峰 - climb the island’s peak
審望彼國之域 - carefully look at that country’s (Japan’s) territory
則 - If
杳茫 - distant and hazy
無眼杓 - unimposing, inconspicuous (literally: “not eye-catching”)
之島 - island
其遠近 - the distance
未知 - unknown
幾許 - How far

The above is one of only two times in Korean history, before Japan incorporated Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo) in 1905, in which the Rocks were referred to, and in both instances it was in reference to Japanese territory. The second reference was in a 1714 document in which the following was written:

鬱陵之東 島嶼相望 接于倭境

"Visible to the east of Ulleung is an island that is on the border of Japan.”

鬱陵之東 - to the east of Ulleungdo
島嶼相望 - an island is visible
接于倭境 - that is on the border of Japan

Korea has no old maps of Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo), and the only two references to the rocks in Korean history, before Japan incorporated them in 1905, suggest that they were part of Japanese territory.

UPDATE

I have had second thoughts about my translation. I now think the passage could also be translated as follows:

登島山峰審望彼國之域則杳茫無眼杓之島其遠近未知幾許

If you climb the island's peak[s] and look closely at that country's (Japan's) territory, it (Japan's territory) is distant and hazy and there is no imposing island, so the distance (to mainland Japan) cannot be known.

In the above passage, Inspector Jang did not say he did not see an island; he said he did not see an "imposing island" (large island). We know he saw an island because he had already written in his report that he saw one to the southeast of Ulleungdo, but, apparently, it was not an island he considered to be "imposing." In other words, the island he saw to the southeast of Ulleungdo was not large enough for him to considered it a threat.

The above passage does suggest that Inspector Jang thought that the island he saw to the southeast of Ulleungdo was Japanese territory or, at least, the beginning of it.