竹島問題の歴史

17.5.08

1882 - "The Joseon Situation" (朝鮮事情), by Enomoto Takeaki(榎本武揚) excludes Takeshima/Dokdo from Joseon territory

"The Joseon Situation" (朝鮮事情) is a partial translation of Charles Dallet's "Histoire de L'Eglise de Corée"(1874). Enomoto Takeaki (榎本 武揚), who was the first Japanese ambassador to Russian capital of Saint Petersburg, had the original book sent from Paris to Saint-Petersburg in December 1875 in order to collect information on Joseon. He translated it into Japanese with a help of his science mentor, Dutch Doctor Pompe van Meerdervoot, Johannes Lydius Catherinus (1829-1908). He finished the translation and sent it to Japan by January 15, 1876. It is believed the first edition was published in 1876-77.

This book is said to have had a great influence on the Meiji government's political plannning in regard to Joseon. Since it was a translation of "Histoire de L'Eglise de Corée," it naturally excluded Takeshima/Dokdo from Joseon territory.

The following is an excerpt from the book:

王国高麗ハ狭長キ半島及其附属ノ郡島ヨリ成リ而シテ北緯三十三度十五分ヨリ四十二度二十五分東経(巴里ヨリ)百二十二度十五分ヨリ百二十八度三十分ノ位置ヲ占ム

The kingdom of Korea (Corea) consists of an oblong peninsula and it's neighbouring islands. It is located between 33° 15' N. to 42° 25' N. ( from Paris) and 122° 15’ E. to 128° 30’ E [ + 2°20’, which is the eastern longitude of Paris, would be 130° 50’ E (Greenwich Meridian)]

Enomoto Takeaki (榎本 武揚, 1836-1908)

Viscount Enomoto Takeaki was a Japanese Navy admiral faithful to the Tokugawa Shogunate. He started his navy career by entering the newly formed Naval Training School in Nagasaki. He was then sent for five years to the Netherlands to study Western naval techniques. He fought against the new Meiji government(明治政府) until the end of the Boshin War (戊辰戦争), but after 3 years of imprisonment, he was forgiven for his crime of high treason in 1872. The Meiji government needed Enomoto, who was educated in Europe and had knowledge of international laws.

In 1874, Enomoto was given the rank of vice-admiral in the newly established Imperial Japanese Navy and the first Japanese ambassador to Russia. The following year, he was sent as a special envoy, or Minister Plenipotentiary, to Russia to negotiate the Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1875). He successively held several ministry positions in the government, and was especially active in promoting Japanese expansionism through settler colonies in the Pacific Ocean and South- and Central America.

2008 marks the first centennial of Enomoto Takeaki's death.

6 comments:

  1. Kaneganese,

    I have made a few minor corrections to your post, so please recheck it for mistakes.

    By the way, I appreciate these kinds of posts on Japanese documents because they give me information that is hard for me to find since I cannot read Japanese.

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  2. Beautiful. Thank you, Gerry

    I'm working on translating "竹島考証" in 1881 a bit by bit along with those documents. It is important to understand whole situation around that period.

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  3. Kaneganese,

    I am looking forward to seeing your translation.

    By the way, wouldn't "The Joseon Situation" be a better translation for 朝鮮事情?

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  4. "wouldn't "The Joseon Situation" be a better translation for 朝鮮事情?"

    Sounds good. Thanks !

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  5. Kaneganese,

    Good job again!
    It is apparent that the world recognised that the eastern limit of the Korean territory to be Ulleungdo.

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  6. Trash and uncivilized Japs still cannot realise nor overcome. Ahaha, You Japs have got the country name in English as Japan since the defeat of the second WW in 1945. Should we teach monkeys our old letters? You Japs said 萬葉集 was harder to interpret than Davinchi code. You should thank 朝鮮人. We rule the whole world. Idiots.

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