Dokdo-or-Takeshima?: Takeshima Day -- February 22

22.2.11

Takeshima Day -- February 22

Today is Japan's "Takeshima Day," which is the day that commemorates the February 22, 1905 incorporation of Takeshima (Liancourt Rocks) into Japan's Oki County. See the 1905 newspaper article announcing the incorporation HERE.

Any news on how it is being celebrated in Japan?

4 comments:

Kaneganese22/2/11 19:36
Thanks, Gerry

I really wanted to be there, but I couldn't. It looks like there is so many news articles around Japan. Since last Senkaku trouble, so many Japanese are awakened/alarmed and trying to understand territorial issue including Takeshima.

Here is my rough translation of Kyodo article.

From Kyodo News

http://www.47news.jp/CN/201102/CN2011022201000673.html

500 citizenes and others gathered for the 6th commemorative ceremony of Takeshima Day held by Shimane prefecture in Matsue city on 22th Feb, 2011.

The 13 members, which is most on record, of the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors participated in. Especially, two from DPJ first joined to the ceremony. One of them is Rep. Watanabe Shu, who is a chairman of Committee for People's Movement, and the other is Rep. Komuro from Shimane, who once opposed against Takeshima Day when he was a memver of Shimane Prefectural Assembly 6 years ago. There seems to be an aim of appealing for nationally and to the people who concern for the territorial issue risen by such as the fishing boat collision events off the coast of Senkaku Islands, too.

There was no remarkable protest activity this year though it was an established custom that the South Korean group who insisted its Korea's around the hall every year.

Mr. Mizoguchi Zenbei, Governor of Shimane Prefecture, submitted the request for establishing the jurisdictional organization of the Takeshima Issue in the government to the ceremony to the assembly member of ruling and opposition parties who attended.

The person such as the Foreign Ministers in the government was absent 6 years in a row.

According to the public opinion poll executed last August for the inhabitants of the prefecture Shimane Prefecture,61.3% are interested in the Takeshima Issue.
61.3%, increased from the previous year by 0.9 points, answered "interested" in Takeshima Issue on the public opinion poll executed last August for the inhabitants of the prefecture Shimane Prefecture.
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Gerry Bevers22/2/11 22:41
Thanks for taking the time to translate that article, Kaneganese. I was curious to know what was going on in Japan on Takeshima Day and used Google to translate a few articles, but did not see the article you translated, which had more information.

I am a little surprised that only 61 percent of the people of Shimane are "interested" in Takeshima. I wonder how many people in Japan, as a whole, are interested.

I guess the fact that Koreans are now making less noise about Takeshima has resulted in less interest in Japan, as well.
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Kaneganese23/2/11 00:27
It is true that 61 percent is relatively low and the situation is kind of serious, but at least it getting better a bit by bit. The reason Japanese are not really interested in the territorial issue is most of them are not nationalistic. And when it comes to Takeshima, especially, there were no mention of it at school because of Korea's emotional reaction. Japanese lawmakers and bureaucrats always try to avoid conflicts and play it safe. We call it "principle of peace-at-any-price"(事無かれ主義), and it is people disease of Japan. What people of Shimane had done, against the will of central government, was revolutionary in that sense, and they are the real Samurais, IMO. And you too, Gerry.

From April, the month all the new school year starts, Takeshima are planned to be taught in the elementary school classrooms.

Anyway, I found Mainichi Daily News article written in English.

DPJ lawmaker to attend 'Takeshima Day' ceremony for 1st time
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/01/27/20110127p2g00m0dm024000c.html

http://megalodon.jp/2011-0222-2353-06/mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2011/01/27/20110127p2g00m0dm024000c.html
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Gerry Bevers23/2/11 01:55
Thank you, Kaneganese.

One of the problems might be that the history of Takeshima is not explained in a way that ordinary Japanese can understand and enjoy. Also, they are probably confused by all the misinformation coming out of Korea.

Anyway, I have an idea for improving this blog by organizing the history better. I am going to start with a detailed timeline that I hope can be translated into Japanese and Korean later. I will work on it by gradually adding to it in my freetime. When I get it completed, I will post it and consider suggestions for improving it.

Also, I want to make a better index of Korean, Japanese, and Western maps and documents. Then, I want to work on writing a history.

I have been away from the issues for awhile, so I am feeling a little rusty, but I am ready to start looking at the history again and working on the blog.

I think we can make this blog an even better resource for information on Takeshima.
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NE Shore of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도)

This satellite photo shows Ulleungdo's neighboring islands of Gwaneumdo (觀音島) and Jukdo (竹島) off Ulleungdo's east shore. Gwaneumdo is only about 100 meters offshore and looks more like a cape than an island. Jukdo is about 2 km offshore. The old Korean name for Jukdo was "Usando" (于山島), as many of Korea's old maps show. Koreans claim that Usando was Korea's old name for "Dokdo" (Liancourt Rocks), but they have no documents or maps to prove it. Also, Liancourt Rocks is about ninety-two kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo and are essentially two islands, but all of Korea's old maps show it as one island just off shore of Ulleungdo.

"Cheonggudo" (靑邱圖) Atlas (1860 - 1872)

This Korean map of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) showed it with a small island off its eastern shore labeled as "Usan" (于山). Hash marks at the bottom of the map showed that Usan was less than 4 km off Ulleungdo's east shore. That would mean that it would be Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo, which is about 2.2 km off Ulleungdo's east shore. Koreans claim that Usando was the old name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks), but Dokdo is 92 km southeast of Ulleungdo and is essentially two islands, not one. The map is stored in the National Library of Korea.

"Cheonggudo" (靑邱圖) Atlas (1834)

This Korean map of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) showed Usan (于山 - 우산) as a neighboring island just off Ulleungdo's east shore. The hash marks at the bottom of the map showed the island to be about 4 km offshore. Usando was the old Korean name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo, which is about 2.2 km of Ulleungdo's east shore. Koreans claim that Usando was the old Korean name for "Dokdo" (Liancourt Rocks), which is 92 km southeast of Ulleungdo, but this map and many others prove that claim false. The map is stored in Seoul National University's Kyujanggak Center for Korean Studies.

"Dong Yeodo" (東輿圖) Atlas (1795 - 1800)

This map showed Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) with a neighboring island labeled as "Usan" (于山 - 우산). Usando (于山島) was the old Korean name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is about 2.2 km off Ulleungdo's east shore. Koreans claim that Usando was the old name for "Dokdo" (Liancourt Rocks), which is 92 km southeast of Ulleungdo, but this map and many others prove that claim wrong. The map is stored in Japan's "University of Tsukuba Library" (筑波大学附属図書館).

"Joseon-do" (朝鮮圖) - 1800 - 1822

This map of Ullelungdo (鬱陵島) is from the Korean atlas "Joseon-do" (朝鮮圖), which is believed to have been made sometime between 1800 and 1822. Ulleungdo is shown with a neighboring island labeled as Usan (于山). Koreans claim that Usando (于山島) was the old Korean name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks), but this map and many others show that it was Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島), which is Ulleungdo's largest neighboring island and only two kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. The map is stored in the Osaka Nakanoshima Library (中之島圖書館).

"Gwandong Bangyeo" (關東方輿) - late 1800s?)

This map of Ulleungdo comes from an atlas entitled "Gwandong Bangyeo" (關東方輿), which was probably made in the late 1800s since the map is very similarly to another map of Ulleungdo that was made between 1884 and 1894. The mapmaker used gridlines to help show relative size and distance. The map shows Ulleungdo with a small island off its east shore labeled as "Usan" (于山), which was the old Korean name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도). Jukdo is Ulleungdo's largest neighoring island and is about two kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. Koreans claim that Usando was the old Korean name for "Dokdo" (Liancourt Rocks), but they have no maps or documents to prove it. The map is stored in the Korean National Library.

"Joseon Jido" (朝鮮地圖) Atlas (1750 - 1768)

This Korean map of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) showed "Usan" (于山 - 우산) as a neighboring island. The grid lines on the map helped show the small island's relative distance from Ulleungdo. Usando (于山島 - 우산도) was the old Korean name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is about 2.2 km off Ulleungdo's east shore. Korean's claim that Usando was the old name for "Dokdo" (Liancourt Rocks), but this map and many others prove that claim false.

Inspector's Map of Ulleungdo (1711)

The map is an inspector's map that showed Ulleungdo with an island off its east shore labeled as "the so-called Usando" (所謂于山島). The small island was also labeled as having "fields of haejang bamboo" (海長竹田). Koreans claim that Usando was Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks), but this map shows that it could not have been Dokdo since Dokdo is just rocks without the soil to grow haejang bamboo. Also, Usando was shown as a neighboring island of Ulleungdo, but Dokdo is 92 km southeast of Ulleungdo. Stored in Seoul Nat'l University's Kyujanggak Institute of Korean Studies.

"Haejwa Jeondo" (海左全圖) - mid 1800s

This old Korean map showed Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) with a small neighboring island just off its east shore labeled as "Usan" (于山 - 우산). Koreans claim that Usando (于山島 - 우산도) was the old name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks), but this map is evidence against the Korean claim. Liancourt Rocks is essentially two islands 92 kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo, but the Usan on this map is just off Ulleungdo's east shore and is only one island. In fact, Usando was the old name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is only two kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore.

Carte de la Coree (1846)

This map was made iin 1846 by Kim Dae-geon (金大建), who was Korea's first Catholic priest. He made this map for the benefit of the French priest he works with. He was killed by the Joseon government the same year this map was made. The map shows Ulleungdo labeled in French as "Oulangto" and its neighboring island of Usando labeled as "Ousan." Koreans claim that Usando (于山島 - 우산도) was the old name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rock), but this map shows Usando as one island just of the east shore of Ulleungdo. That tells us that Usando was almost certainly Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is only 2 kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. Also, this island could not have been Liancourt Rocks since Liancourt Rocks is essentially two islands not one. The original of this map is stored in the National Library of France.

Joseon Jeondo (朝鮮全圖) from the "Gakdo Jido" (各道地圖) Atlas (latter 18th c.)

This old Korean map showed an island labeled as "Usando" (于山島 - 우산도) just off the east shore of Ulleundo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도). Koreans claim that Usando was the old name for Dokdo (Liancourt Rocks), but this map is more evidence against that claim. Liancourt Rocks is essentially two islands ninety-two kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo, but this map shows Usando as one island just off Ulleungdo's east shore. Usando was, in fact, the old name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is about two kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. This map is stored in Korea's Yeongnam University Museum.

"Joseon Jido" (朝鮮地圖) Atlas (1898)

"Donggyeong San Cheon - Paldo Jido (東京山川八道地圖) Atlas (date unknown)

"Jeongukdo" (全國圖) from the "Dongguk Daecheondo" (東國大全圖) - 1740

This old Korean map shows Ulleungdo (鬱陵島 - 울릉도) with a small neighboring island just off its east shore labeled as "Usando" (于山島 - 우산도). Koreans claim that Usando was the old name for Dokdo, but this map is evidence against that claim. Liancourt Rocks is essentially two islands ninety-two kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo, but the Usando on this map is one island just off the east shore of Ulleungdo. Usando was, in fact, the old name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島 - 죽도), which is about two kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. This map is stored in the Korean National Museum.

竹島問題の歴史

22.2.11

Takeshima Day -- February 22

4 comments: