'Japan did not perceive Dokdo as its land'

On the map of Asia from Okamura’s textbook compiled in 1886, a red line is drawn to mark Japan’s territory. Dokdo is not included on the map. / Yonhap

By Kim Bo-eun

A scholar recently unveiled maps of a government-approved Japanese textbook which show that Japan did not perceive Dokdo as its territory in the 19th century.

The findings will give weight to Korea’s ownership of the islets off the country’s east coast, which Japan claims as its own, referring to them as Takeshima Islands.

Prof. Han Cheol-ho of Dongguk University’s history education department displayed maps of a geography textbook compiled by Okamura Matsutaro in 1886 in a presentation at a conference held at the Northeast Asian History Foundation’s Institute of Dokdo Research last week.

The textbook’s map of Asia does not mark Dokdo as its territory. On the map is a red line marking Japanese territory, but not only is Dokdo not included in the area inside the red line, Dokdo is not marked on the map at all.

The border lines are marked the same way in textbooks compiled by geologist Manziro Yamagami in 1902 and 1903.

“The textbook’s map of Asia has the Oki Islands marked, but not Ulleungdo and Dokdo,” Yonhap News Agency quoted Han as saying.

“If Japan perceived Dokdo as its territory it would have drawn the islets on the map and stretched the line to include Dokdo.”

“It has only become clearer that Japan did not perceive Dokdo as its territory from the fact that a border line is drawn putting together all geographical data,” Han said.

These claims are also supported by another map of Japan in the textbook.

The Oki Islands are marked off the northern coast on a map of Japan’s Shimane and Tottori prefectures, but not Dokdo.

Han said another textbook compiled by Okamura in 1892 also reflects the absence of the perception of Dokdo by Japan.

On the textbook’s maps of Japan and Asia, Dokdo is not marked. Only the Oki Islands are marked as part of Japan’s Shimane Prefecture.

What is notable about the latest textbook Han refers to is that it was approved by the Japanese government.

“Because Okamura’s geography textbook was approved by the government, it can be seen as the view of the Japanese government and not a personal view,” Han said.

“This is important historical evidence that can counter Japan’s claims that Dokdo was inherently its territory and also another claim that it took over Dokdo because it did not belong to any country.”

In 2012, Han introduced another map of Japan from Okamura’s textbook which showed Ulleungdo and Dokdo marked as Korea’s territory.