Dokdo Takeshima Island 埮郣鵛郣 1667 Japanese Report on Oki Island Defines Japanese Western Boundary as Okinoshimas

Japan's Earliest Records of Dokdo

The historical facts of the Dokdo - Takeshima Island dispute

One of Japan's earliest recorded documents regarding Ulleungdo and Dokdo was written by a man named Saito Hosen. This document called "Onshu shicho goki" (Records on Observations on Oki) is alleged by the Japanese to contain the passage that Takeshima (Ulleungdo) and Matushima (Dokdo) mark the northwestern" boundary of Japan. It is a passage that Japanese fondly envoke. This book is an account of Okinoshima (Oki Island) in Onshu county. But if one carefully reads the contents, we can see that in reality it was Oki that was deemed the boundary of Japan. Below we will study the original text and see how erroneous Japanese interpretations of the document become doubtful when put into proper historical context and referenced with historical maps of the day.

The "Onshu Shicho Goki" (Records On Observations of Oki)
Text and Translation

The "Onshu Shicho Goki" (Records On Observations of Oki) was written in the year 1667. The relevent text and English translation are below:

?騅謅暕椾齌芮瀄唚郣
Oki Province is in the middle of the North Sea, so it is also called Oki Island.
[餂魶𨬡椾齌槶篔唈芮晻璇]﹜
剢謅摶礜槶郟闃憟﹜繸媻畈椾搎畈慖樏﹜剢糔蠂礜槶郟涖憟﹜騍敆畈鞊礜畈慖樏
To the South lies a land called Do-Jeon (郣闃), to which Ji-bu-gun and Hae-bu-gun belong.
剢搕膧騍敆畈欬颮鄐𣾀虪哿憟
To the East lies a land called Do-Hu (郣涖), to which Ju-gil-gun and On-ji-gun belong.
贄蒻﹜欬繨磩騅皒?弮葀鋮賟郲
To the Southeast it is 35 ri to Onshu (Province).
蠆痵繨詍騅鍷?鷾痼鋮郲
To the Southwest it is 40 ri to the territories of Baek-ju (Province)
痡蜒繨鉥騅?藾藸賟鋮齰郲﹜簏磾繨棩﹜渼呇魃礜
To the Northeast it is 58 ri to On-sein-jin of Seok-ju (Province) and beyond there is no land.
漶凑忺𦬓鴥擨擩憡膧撂郣﹜橐擩擨瀅膧鵛郣
Going further from there for two days and one night in the direction of Northwest one reaches Matsushima (Dokdo).
Also there is Takeshima (Ulleungdo) at another day's travel distance.
慡槶挬鵛郣 竘鵛樈椾紽﹜餂蜺槶廑縥賟鋮崼璇
It is so called Isotakeshima, rich in bamboo,fish, and sealion.
颾鴥郣渼嬣巃礜﹜抶邴淜濆磩騅寪?騅
These two islands are uninhabited and getting a sight of Koryo (from there) is like viewing Oki (Province) from Onshu (Province).
窴鼛擨塓巃呠礜鴗颾騅縎恒鋿
Thus, this "騅" (Oki Province) marks the northwestern boundary of Japan

Analysis of Saito Hosen's 1667 Report on Oki

The Japanese translation of this document misinterprets the last line to mean "This these islands (Takeshima Ulleungdo) mark the Northwest boundary of Japan. However, we can see Saito Hosen consistently used the character "郣" to denote islands and "騅" to indicate provinces or states. Thus Saito Hosen declared "this province" (Oki) as the boundary of Japan.

The next to last sentence states "viewing Korea from there (Ulleungdo-Dokdo area) is the same as viewing Onshu from Oki..." When reading the last sentence we see the author uses the word " thus this "騅" (Oki Island) marks the northwestern boundary of Japan.."

Saito Hosen had reached a conclusion on what area defined Japan's boundary on information given in the sentence prior.

In other words, Saito Hosen had used visibilty as a compartive method to determine which territories belonged to whom. This interpretation is more plausible and is supported by Japanese maps of the day.

The phrase 抶邴淜濆磩騅寪-騅 appears of scores of Japanese maps for over two hundred years after Saito Hosen's report on Oki. The text appears between both Ulleungdo and Dokdo Islands and usually links both the islands together as a pair.

This supports the theory that Japanese viewed Dokdo as an appended or neighbour island of Ulluengdo as do many Japanese documents and maps of Dokdo. Also when we reference Japanese national maps of the era Ulleungdo and Dokdo are not to included.

When viewing a map of the East Sea Saito Hosen's comparison becomes clear."Viewing Korea from there (Ulleungdo~Dokdo area) is the same as viewing Oki from Japan thus this provinde (Oki) is the nothwesternmost boundary of Japan..."

The thumbnail maps above all show the same passage that compares viewing Korea from the Ulleungdo-Dokdo to viewing Oki Island from Onshu. This passage was used as defining Oki Island as Japan's national boundary around the mid-17th century. The maps are all from time eras spanning 150 years.

The above national map of Japan was drawn in 1654, about the same time as Saito Hosen's report on Oki. The islands are boxed and next we can see the character (暕) for North. It is clear that Oki was considered the northwesternmost limit of Japan at this time.

The thumbnail above this text is a closeup of Ulleungdo and her neighbour island un-named but most likely Dokdo. It is from a map called "The Map of Three Adjoining Countries" drawn by Hiyashi Shihei in 1785. This map was drawn to show territorial boundaries and to demonstrate how close Japan's enemies were. Again we see a version of Saito Hosen's passage 抶邴淜濆磩騅寪-騅 on Oki Island next to (Ulleungdo).

The map was lacking in great detail as Hiyashi was not a cartographer but Saito Hosen's passage was included and thus important. This proves the text was meant to show boundaries and it wasn't defining Ulleungdo as Japan's limit but rather Oki Island because in this map Ulluengdo is cleary colour-coded as Chosun territory. There is more detail on this map on this link