竹島問題の歴史

4.6.08

1800s? Joseon Map & Ulleungdo's "Udo" (于島)

Below is an 1800s map of Korea called "Jeop-yeok Jeondo" (鰈域全圖 - 접역전도). "Jeop-yeok" was another name for Korea. The map is stored in the United States Library of Congress.

In the top left corner of the map is the writing you see in the scan on the left. Here is the translation:

.....有明朝鮮輿地圖
.....The famous "Joseon Yeojido"

.....鰈域全圖
.....Full map of Jeop-yeok (Joseon)

.....東西千里不足
.....Less than 1,000 ri from east to west

.....南北三千有竒
.....3,000 from north to south


The really interesting thing about the map is that it shows an island off the east shore of Ulleungdo (鬱陵島) labeled as "Udo" (于島), which was another way of writing "Usando" (于山島). Usando was the old name for Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島), which is approximately 2.2 kilometers off Ulleungdo's east shore. That is interesting because it links this map to two other old Korean maps of Ulleungdo that labeled Ulleungdo's neighboring islands of Jukdo (竹島) and Gwaneumgdo (觀音島) as "Big Udo" (大于島) and "Small Udo" (小于島), respectively. The maps are also posted below.

The writing on the map just below Ulleungdo and "Udo" (Usando) reads, "600 ri due east" (正東六百里), which seems to have been a referrence to the distance from the Joseon capital to the east coast.




Below are two more Korean maps of Ulleungdo that show Ulleungdo with neighboring islands labeled as "Big Udo" (大于島) and "Little Udo" (小于島). "Big Udo" was referring to Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Jukdo (竹島), and "Small Udo" was referring to Ulleungdo's neighboring island of Gwaneumdo (觀音島). The fact that there were two Udo's suggests that Koreans were unsure of which of the islands was the Usando (于山島) labeled on earlier maps. The fact that all three maps refer to Ulleungdo's neighboring island or islands as "Udo" (于島), instead of Usando (于山島), suggests that the maps were probably made within a few decades of each other.

The first map just below, which you can also see HERE, is stored in Korea's Samcheok Museum. The second map is stored in the National Library of Korea. In the first map, Ulleungdo is drawn upside down, so you need to look for the two islands on the left side of the Ulleungdo. (Click twice on the maps to enlarge.)



11 comments:

  1. Could someone please tell me what the Chinese character is at the end of this string on the map?

    南北三千有*

    It seems like I should know it, but I don't.

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  2. GTOMR,

    That is a very important map because is links the islands labeled as "Big Udo" (大于島) and "Small Udo" (小于島) on the two inspector's maps with a full-length map of Korea, which shows the familiar small island of Ulleungdo's east shore also labeled as "Udo" (于島).

    Does the Takeshima Research Center know about this map? If they do not, then they should.

    I had seen the map, but I did not notice that Ulleungdo's neighboring island was labeled as "Udo" (于島) instead of "Usando" (于山島). I just assumed that is was labeled as Usando. This is great.

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  3. Gerry,

    Do you have more information on this map?

    "南北三千有*"

    It's "竒". "竒" is another word for "奇", which means strange, odd, etc. I think in this case, it means more than~; over~; odd~.

    "The writing on the map just below Ulleungdo and "Udo" (Usando) reads, "600 ri due east" (正東六百里), which was probably referring to the distance from the Korean mainland to Ulleungdo and its neighboring island."

    I think it's referring Choson's area to the east, not the distance to Ulleungdo. What about other "正西" and "正南" says? I couldn't open the link GTOMR gave.

    I'll send an e-mail to the person in charge of Takeshima Research Center, thanks.

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  4. I could read 正東五百*里. Considering it says total width of Choson is "Less than 1,000 ri from east to west", it makes sence. From central(probable Seoul) to the west, it is 500 ris and from central to the east, it is 600 ris. From Seoul to 新義州, it is approx. 225km. And from Seoul to Ulleundo, it is almost 350 km. It can't be 600 ris from 寧海, since the map says that (more than) 3,000 ris from north to south.

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  5. Thank you, Kaneganese.

    I could not find 竒 in my Chinese character dictionary. Maybe, it is a Japanese abbreviation?

    I think you are right about the distances. Here they are:

    穩城正北二千九十一里

    正南一千七里

    正東六百里

    正西五百六十二里

    If you would like to look at the map more closely, you can go HERE and look for Map 22.

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  6. Thanks, Gerry

    Now I could read as "正南一千七里."

    From 古城, which is one of the northernmost cities of North Korea, to 済州島, it is approx. 1100km. So it fits the discription of the map "南北三千有竒 ( more than .3,000 ris (1200km) from north to south"). From Seol to Cheju, it is approx. 450km. So it also fits the description of "正南一千七里." (1,007 ris (402km) from north to south").

    But, why 1007 ris, instead of 1000 ris? Sounds strange.

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  8. According to the site of 海南郡 , it looks like Choson has long recognized this place as the sothernmost of Choson(海南郡 松旨面 葛頭山 獅子峰、地の果て). And 崔南善 wrote in 「朝鮮常識文答」, from 海南 to Seoul, it is 1000 ris(千里) and Seoul to 咸鏡北道 穩城, it is 2000ris(二千里) and total of Choson is 3000 ris(三千里).

    It is definately the each distances from Seoul to four dimensional direction.

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  9. Has anyone seen any other maps, besides the three shown in the post, showing Ulleungdo's neighboring island as "Udo" (于島)?

    By the way, there is a 1787 document HERE that mentions the title "于島于陸將."

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  10. Gerry,
    There are another map which describes "于島"

    輿地圖 我国総圖 Late 18Century
    Reproduced copy is in this site (始興文化院)
    The image above is not clear, but you can check clear image on Lee Santae's book(I fail to record which page it listed)

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  11. GTOMR,

    Thanks for that link. There are some interesting maps there.

    ReplyDelete

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