竹島問題の歴史

25.5.07

Japanese History Timeline (English)

The following is a historical timeline of significant events and incidents dealing involving Ulleungdo and Takeshima/Dokdo (Liancort Rocks):

Edo Era (1600 - 1867)
  • 1836 - Japanese cargo ship owner executed for violating the travel ban to Ulleungdo. Japanese historians say that this incident is evidence that Matsushima (Liancourt Rocks) was not included in the Takeshima (Ulleungdo) travel ban since the ship owner went to Ulleungdo under the pretense of going to Matsushima.

Meiji Era (1868 - 1912)
  • 1870 Apr - Japanese mission returned from Korea and reported that Takeshima (Ulleungdo) has a neighboring island called "Matsushima" (松島), which in Korea is read as "Songdo." The report said that the Japanese had no record of the island, which tells us that Ulleungdo's Matsushima (Songdo) was not Japan's Matushima (Liancourt Rocks) since Japan had several records and maps of its Matsushima (Liancourt Rocks). In 1882, in a conversation with Lee Gyu-won, Korean King Kojong said that Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島) was also called "Songdo" (松島).
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  • 1876 Jul - Japanese businessman Mutoh Heigaku (武藤平学) sent a petition entitled "Argument for the Development of Matsushima" (松島開拓之議) to the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs asking that the ministry allow the development of Matsushima (松島), which Mr. Mutoh believed was Japanese territory. The petition started an investigation that finally determined in 1880, when the Japanese warship Amagi surveyed the area, that Mr. Mutoh's Matsushima was actually Ulleungdo.
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  • 1878 - Watanabe Kuoki (渡辺洪基), Director of the Bureau of Documents in Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1878, wrote a letter essentially saying that Liancourt Rocks was Japanese territory.
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  • 1902 - A Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs document entitled, "Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of Trade, Document Section: Trade Documents" (外務省通商局編纂 通商彙纂), reported on the "Situation on Korea's Ulleungdo" in its appendix. It said that there were "absolutely no Korean fishermen on the island (Ulleungdo)," and that the Koreans there even had to hire Japanese ships to take them to the Korean mainland since they had "absolutely" no transportation from the island to the Korean mainland. The report also said that the Japanese residents on Ulleungdo fishing around Liancourt Rocks.
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  • 1905 Feb 24 -San-in Shimbun reported that Takeshima (Liancourt Rocks) had been put under the jurisdiction of Oki County, which is in Shimane Prefecture.
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  • 1905 Aug 22 - San-in Shimbun reported that the governor of Shimane Prefecture had visited Oki County's new territory of Takeshima (Liancourt Rocks).
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  • 1906 Apr 1 - San-in Shimbun reported that Japanese officials visited Takeshima (Liancourt Rocks) and Ulleungdo, where they told the Uldo (Ulleungdo) county head that Japan had incorporated Takeshima (Liancourt Rocks). The Uldo county head had no reaction, but he later sent a letter to his superiors informing them of the news. In the letter, the county head said that "Dokdo" (Liancourt Rocks) was part of Uldo County, but he did not seem to know where Liancourt Rocks were since he said the rocks were only forty kilometers (100 ri) from Ulleungdo. The rocks are actually 92 kilometers southeast of Ulleungdo.