What is noteworthy is that the Japanese fishermen such as Nakai Yozaburo were described as "inhabitants" of Ullungdo. They lived in Ullungdo and went out to Takeshima/Tokdo from their base in Ullungdo and promptly returned when a storm was gathering. In other words, those Japanese fishermen's activities on and off Takeshima/Tokdo would be viewed historically in the vein of the Japanese Invasion of Ulleungdo.
It was in 1903 that Nakai started hunting sea lions on Takeshima/Tokdo, but as many competitors appeared the following year, the number of sea lions declined sharply. So, he thought of monopolizing the fishing ground by excluding competitors and went to Tokyo for maneuvering.
As the Russo-Japanese War broke out, the Japanese government found a new value in Takeshima/Tokdo from the strategic standpoint of war execution, quite apart from Nakai Yozaburo's personal plan.
The Japanese government had already decided at a cabinet meeting before the start of the war that "Korea should be placed under Japan's influence by force under whatever circumstances," and again made the Korean government acknowledge in the Korea-Japan protocol that Japan would temporarily expropriate the places needed for military purposes.
In the early autumn of 1904, Nakai Yozaburo went to Tokyo to influence the Japanese government and obtain exclusive fishing rights to Takeshima/Tokdo. At that time, how Nakai regarded the territorial ownership of Takeshima/Tokdo was extremely important as he was in a position to know the local situation best.
The Shimanekenshi (Records of Shimane prefecture) published in 1922 by Shimane prefecture Education Board states in the Takeshima/Tokdo section: "There is a fear of many ill effects as many regions compete in overfishing in 1904. Believing this island to be Korean territory, and planning to apply to the government for lease of the island (dotted lines by the author), Nakai went to the capital to explain the situation at the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce." In the Korea-Japan dispute, the Japanese government ignored this description in the historical data simply as the editor's misunderstanding. Is it real?
There are two sources in which Nakai himself remarked about the territorial incorporation of Takeshima/Tokdo. First is the Takeshima oyobi utsuryoto (Takeshima and Ullungdo) by Okuhara Hukuichi who narrates what he heard "personally from Nakai" on March 25, 1906 as follows:
.."Nakai believed that the Liancourt island was Korean territory and decided to file a request with the Korean government for its lease. As soon as the fishing season ended in 1904, he went to the capital and met Fishery Bureau Director Maki at the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce through an official of the Ministry named Fujita Kantaro from Oki. The Director supported his idea and took steps to ascertain the status of Liancourt Island from the Navy's Hydrographic Department. Nakai immediately went to see Director Kimotsuki of Hydrographic Department and heard from him that there was no definite evidence of the ownership of Liancourt, which is 10 nautical miles nearer to the Japanese mainland than the Korean mainland, and that so long as there is a Japanese who is engaged in management of the island, it is natural to incorporate it into Japanese territory.
Finally, Nakai made up his mind and submitted the request for territorial incorporation of Liancourt Island and its lease to the three Ministers of Home Ministry , Foreign Ministry and Agriculture-Commerce. Nakai presented himself to the Home Ministry Local Affairs Department and explained the situation to Secretary Inoue. He also went to the Foreign Ministry through a member of the House of Peers with the introduction of Doctor of Laws Kuwada from his native town and met Political Affairs Bureau Director Yamaza and discussed this problem with him. With Dr. Kuwada' s active help, Nakai inquired at Shimane prefecture about its opinion. Then Shimane prefecture, after confirming the view of Oki Island, submitted a report to the higher authority and as a result, the incorporation of the island was decided at a cabinet meeting, with Liancourt Island named Takeshima...."
From this data it is clear that: first, Nakai believed that Takeshima/Tokdo was clearly Korean territory and tried to apply to the Korean government for its lease; second, it was definitely the Japanese government which changed his request into that for incorporation of an ownerless land.
The second source is the personal history Nakai submitted to Oki Island. Nakai attaches a summary of his Takeshima management as follows:
"...As I thought that the island was Korean territory attached to Ullungdo, I went to the capital trying to submit a request to the Residency-General. But, as suggested by Fishery Bureau Director Maki Bokushin, I came to question Korea's ownership of Takeshima. And at the end of my investigation with the matter, I convinced myself that this island was absolutely ownerless through the conclusion by the then Hydrographic Director Admiral Kimotsuki. Accordingly, I submitted an application through the Home Ministry to the three Ministers of Home Ministry , Foreign Ministry and Agriculture. Commerce Ministry for incorporation of this island into Japanese territory and for its lease tome.
The Home Ministry authorities had an opinion that the gains would be extremely small while the situation would become grave if the acquisition of a barren islet suspected of being Korean territory at this point of time [during the Russo-Japanese War] would amplify the suspicions of various foreign countries that Japan has an ambition to annex Korea. Thus, my pertition was rejected.
Undaunted, I rushed to the Foreign Ministry to discuss the matter in detail with the then Political Affairs Bureau Director Yamaza Enjiro. He said the incorporation was urgent particularly under the present situation, and it is absolutely necessary and advisable to construct watchtowers and install wireless or submarine cable and keep watch on the hostile warships. Particularly in terms of diplomacy, he told me not to worry about the Home Ministry view. He asked me in high spirits to urge the Home Ministry to refer his application speedily to the Foreign Ministry; in this way Takeshima came under our country's dominion..."
Shimane ken koho bunshoka (Public Infonnation &Document Div., Shimane prefecture), ed., Takeshima Kankei Shiryo (Materials on Takeshima), 1953, Vol. I. From the end of Nakai's personal history, it is inferred to have been made in 1910.
As this data was recorded several years after the incorporation, the Korean government was referred to as the "Residency-Genera1" by mistake. But, it was written by Nakai himself and, therefore, describes in detail the Japanese government's posture to cope with the situation. The important points follow:
Firstly, the Home Ministry bureaucrats clearly opposed the incorporation of Takeshima/Tokdo. As stated above, the Home Ministry confirmed in 1877 that Takeshima/Tokdo was Korean territory the same as Ullungdo, and these records and this information were handed down to its bureaucrarts. Therefore, they hesitated to conclude that Takeshima/Tokdo was an ownerless island even when Japan started its aggression in Korea.
Secondly, it was the three men, Maki Bokushin, Kimotsuki Kenko and Yamaza Enjiro who forcefully carried out the incorporation over the opposition of the Home Ministry bureaucrats. The personal backgrounds of these three men are very interesting. Maki Bokushin, as mentioned before, had been the Fishery Bureau Director of the Agriculture-Commerce Ministry, the highest fishery administrator, for a long time and took the lead in developing Japan's stagnant fishing into a deep-sea industry. "Hachinen mo tsutometa suisan kyokucho Maki Bokushin (Fishery Bureau Director Maki Bokushin Who Served for Eight Years)," Suisankai (Fisheries World), Nos. 975, 1966. However, that policy meant intrusion into the Korean coastal waters and expansion of its zone of operation.
Kimotsuki Kenko was a specialist bureaucrat who had spent his whole career in the Hydrographic Department and laid the firm foundation for Japan's waterway administration. In peacetime the department engaged in collecting and keeping ordinary hydrographic information but in time of war became a strategic organ providing necessary information for direct military operations. At the time of the Russo-Japanese War, Kimotsuki devoted himself to the military operations in the coastal waters of Korea and Manchuria, in the capacity of Hydrographic Department Director. Maritime Safety Agency, op. cit.. pp. 21-24, 83-88.
Director Yamaza Enjiro of the Foreign Ministry Political Affairs Bureau was known to have been under the influence of the nationalist, rightist organization of the Genyosha and have pushed, together with Minister Komura Jutaro, for the Ministry's hardline external policy as well as the policy of advance into the Continent. Before becoming the director, he was assigned to the consulate and the legation in Korea and planned and worked busily to acquire various interests for Japan. Hasegawa Shun, Yamaza Enjiro (1967); Ichiyu Masao, ed., Yamaza enjiro den (Biography of Yamaza Enjiro), 1974. In the incorporation these bureaucrats forced, it is quite natural that Korea's sovereignty and claims were not taken into consideration.
Thirdly, the grounds for incorporation were clearly made known. Kimotsuki' s claim that Takeshima/Tokdo was owned by no one at all in 1904 was totally different from the past position taken by the Navy's Hydrographic Department, as stated already. In spite of this, he suggested the application of the theory of "occupation of a terra nullius" on the basis of the simple fact that Nakai started fishing on this island in the previous year . But, this was only the superficial theory, and what motivated the Japanese government was the military need for the facilities to cope with the Russian naval fleet, as Yamaza said.
In the final analysis, the incorporation of Takeshima/Tokdo was similar to the military actions Japan took in many other parts of Korea at that time for the execution of the war, by infringing upon Korea' s sovereignty. Only, it took advantage of an individual fisherman who sought to monopolize the fishing ground and did not end at its occupation but took the form of its incorporation.
If Japan's military occupation of the Korean Peninsula was the prerequisite for the "annexation of Korea," the incorporation could be said to have been a step forward. Under the instruction of the three men mentioned above, Nakai submitted to the three Ministries of Home Ministry , Foreign Ministry and Agriculture-Commerce a "Request for Territorial Incorporation of Liancourt Island and Its Lease" on September 29, 1904, and the Japanese government decided at a cabinet meeting on January 28, 1905 on the incorporation of the island in the form of granting the application.
