Liancourt Rocks Dispute - 1677 Report

1677 Report

Takeshima Tōkai Yuraiki Bassho Hikae, written by Ōya Kyuemon, records that in 1618 the Tokugawa Shogunate granted fishing rights to the Ōya and Murakawa families of Yonago, and that in 1661 bestowed the feudal tenure of "Takeshima", which was then referred to Ulleung-do. On the way to Ulleung-do, Japanese fishermen sometimes used islands called in Japanese "Matsushima" (松島?) as an intermediate port of call. In 1677 a retainer by the name of Saito Hessen compiled the Onshu shicho goki ("Records on Observations in Oki Province"), a set of records based upon observations he had made under orders from the Daimyo of Izumo(Unshū).

Oki is in the middle of the North Sea and is called Okinoshima. Going further from there for two days and one night in a northwesterly direction, one reaches Matsushima. Also there is Takeshima at another day's travel. These two islands are uninhabited and viewing Goryeo from there is like viewing Oki from Unshū.

As this report was compiled from a Japanese geographical perspective, Japanese scholars argue that Matsushima (the closer island) refers to Liancourt Rocks and Takeshima (the farther island) refers to Ulleungdo. On the other hand Korean scholars argue that a closer look reveals the grants were given to permit them to travel abroad, thus proving that fishing area was foreign territory. These grants led to a conflict with native settlers in Ulleungdo and were later revoked by Kanpaku of Japanese Tokugawa Shogunate in January 1696.