Isotakeshima Oboegaki and Japan’s Confirmation of Dokdo as Korean Territory in the Late Seventeenth Century

Abstract

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially claims that Japan had discovered Takeshima (Dokdo) since the seventeenth century, but this article argues that quite to the contrary, Isotakeshima Oboegaki, a primary source that confirms Japan’s recognition of Dokdo as Korean territory, clearly corrects this claim. Isotakeshima Oboegaki’s importance can be explained in three ways. First, Japan’s official position regarding Dokdo wrongly conflates different uses of “Takeshima” depending on historical context and ignores that it was because of a paucity of Japanese sources confirming Japanese ownership over Takeshima (Ulleungdo) and a comparative certainty from the Korean government, forcing a reluctant Bakufu to admit the deficit in historical evidence and order that Japanese fishermen cannot trespass into Ulleungdo. Second, Isotakeshima Oboegaki was not just a document of its time but a key primary source that the Meiji government invoked as undeniable evidence to officially declare in the Dajokan Directive that neither Dokdo nor Ulleungdo were under Japanese sovereignty due to a paucity of evidence. Finally, Isotakeshima Oboegaki terminates Japan’s logic regarding Dokdo because it contradicts the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ claim of “original discovery” regarding Dokdo and Ulleungdo and corrects the mistaken notion of terra nullius.