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In 1693, two Koreans (Ahn Yong-bok and Park Eo-dun) who were out in Ulleungdo fishing were taken to Japan by Japanese who had come to this island. These Japanese, the fishermen of merchants residing in Yonago (米子) in the Tottori domain (鳥取藩), had been coming to Ulleungdo every year for fishing. Although the two Koreans were sent back to Korea safely by the Tsushima domain (對馬藩), Korea and the Tsushima domain had a disagreement over Ulleungdo while exchanging diplomatic documents related to this island. As a result, Korea and Japan came to be engaged in a diplomatic dispute over the question of whose territory Ulleungdo was. This incident, which was called 'Ulleungdo Jaengye (Border Dispute)' in Korea in the past, was referred to as 'Takeshima Itken (竹島[Ulleungdo]一件(an incident))' or 'Genrokutakeshimaitken (元祿竹島一件) in pre-modern Japan.
The diplomatic negotiations between Korea and the Tsushima domain of Japan continued for years after that, until 1696 when the shogunate, having conducted its own investigation into Ulleungdo and Dokdo, decided to issue an order to stop merchants of the Tottori domain from making a voyage to Ulleundo. When Korea was informed of this decision by the Tsushima domain, the years of diplomatic negotiations between Korea and Japan over where Ulleundo belonged came to an official end.

Collection of Old Japanese Documents on the 'Ulleungdo Border Dispute' in the Late 17th Century

This book is a collection of four Japanese documents on the 'Ulleungdo Border Dispute' of the late 17th century. They are all head family records of the Tsushima domain, and closely interrelated in terms of content. The interrelations among the documents included in this book are explained in the translator's notes. There is another head family record of the Tsushima domain titled "A Chronology of Jukdo (竹嶋紀事)" which compiled documentation on the 'Ulleundgo Border Dispute.' Although "A Chronology of Juko" is not included in this collection, the parts where it overlapped with those documents included in this collection are also explained in the translator's notes to help better understand them. The first document in this collection ("元祿六癸酉年竹嶋一件拔書") is a condensed account of the incident, starting from Japan's abduction of Ahn Yong-bok in 1693 up until the shogunate's final decision on voyages to Jukdo (竹島) was notified to Korea. Presumably, the incidents surrounding voyages to Jukdo were documented within the Tsushima domain, and those selected records thought to be important were compiled into this document. As only the key points are presented and the details of exchanged correspondence are left out, this document is somewhat difficult to understand. But a comparison with the three other documents tells us that this one is what we can call 'a digest' of the Ulleungdo Border Dispute.

The second document in this collection, "A Full Account of the Incident where a Korean Took a Passage to Inabanokuni, Including Inquiries Addressed to Bungonokami Regarding this Incident and His Answers (因幡國江朝鮮人致渡海候付豊後守樣ヘ御伺被成候次第幷御返答之趣其外始終之覺書)", details the discussions that the shogunate had with the Tottori and Tsushima domains over how they should handle Ahn Yong-bok when he took his second voyage to Japan in 1696. The course of events in which they discussed, decided, and instructed how the Korean who had come to Japan with a specific purpose without going through the official diplomatic route should be dealt with, and how he should be sent back to his country is documented in relatively close detail. Therefore, this historical document might give us clues as to why the way Ahn Yong-bok came back to Korea from his second voyage to Japan was different from the way he had from his first one.

The third document, "An Official Interpreter's Record (譯官記)", is an account of the Korean diplomatic envoys (問慰行) who went over to Tsushima in 1696. After Ahn Yong-bok returned to Korea (Yangyang-gun Gangwon Province) from the Tottori domain around August the same year, these envoys went over to Japan to offer their condolences as the governor of the Tsushima domain Sō Yoshitsugu (宗義倫) had died. During the official reception, the Tsuhima domain officials informed the Korean envoys of how Ahn Yong-bok's second voyage to Japan had been perceived and handled within Japan. Regarding the matter of voyages to Jukdo, they were also informed of the shogunate's decision to prohibit Japanese from taking a passage to Jukdo. This is where the important comment was made that Jukdo did not belong to Inaba (因幡)·Hoki(伯耆).

The fourth document in this collection, "A Chronology of Jukdo: From Beginning to End (竹島紀事本末)," details the negotiations between Korea and Japan related to the Ulleungdo Border Dispute and includes a number of diplomatic documents of the two countries. This historical document not only describes the taking of Ahn Yong-bok to Japan in 1693 but also includes Sō Yoshizane (宗義眞)'s written response (1699) to the letter on Jukdo (竹島謝書) sent by the Korean government, and finally the author's comment on the results of the Ulleungdo Border Dispute. And at the end of the document is the 'Goi (攷異)' section in which this document and 'other editions (本)' were compared and the differences were detailed. This may indicate that the author compiled this document based on multiple records. This historical document is littered with descriptions that indicate what the Tsusima domain intended when they were dealing with the ongoing Ulleudgo Border Dispute. Another characteristic of this document is that it was written in Chinese style, whereas typical head family records were written in epistolary (候文: sorobun) style.

Important Historical Material for the Study of Ulleungdo/Dokdo and 17th-Century Korea-Japan Relations

The original documents were written in cursive letters during the Edo period. To make these old Japanese documents into this book, the cursive letters were converted into block letters before they were translated into Korean, and notes were added. The old documents from the Edo period are difficult to understand especially because they were written in an old literary style of Japanese that has become obsolete. Therefore, making a complete translation of these old documents for publication requires a lot of effort and courage even for researchers of the Edo period. But we decided to publish Japan's old documents in Korean, risking possible errors in translation or incompleteness in framework, because we wanted them to be understood correctly, and therefore useful to the progress of our study of Dokdo. I hope that this book will be in active use not only for the study of Ulleungdo/Dokdo but also for the study of 17th-century Korea-Japan relations.