Fishery Development around the Senkaku Islands
Prior to Their Incorporation into Japanese Territoryin 1895*
Takafumi Sasaki(Associate Professor at Hokkaido University)

Makomo Kuniyoshi(The Senkaku Islands Document Material Compilation Association)

1. Research Issues and Purpose of the Study
Tensions has arisen over territorial sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands between Japan and China
as well as between Japan and Taiwan since the 1970s. The tense situation around the Islands
continues to have a direct impact on the Japanese fishing industries. However, sufficient research
focusing on fishery development around the Senkaku Islands has not sufficiently been conducted.
What we have elucidated by now is mostly limited to stories related to the development from when
the islands were incorporated into Japanese territory in 1895 and until the early Showa period, led
by Koga Tatsushirō, a businessman from Yame, Fukuoka, and his son Zenji (the Koga family).
Furthermore., most of earlier studies relied on a personal history that was authored by Koga
himself when he was awarded his medal of honor, meaning that they can hardly escape criticism forlacking objectivity. Some research even points out that Koga’s personal history contains elementsof exaggeration. For example, Akitoshi Hiraoka’s “The Japanese Advance into the Senkaku Islands
during the Meiji period and Koga Tatsushirō” (Outlying Island Research III; 2007) points out thatmany studies relating to the development of the Senkaku Islands “rely on a personal statement
submitted by Koga when he received the Medal with Blue Ribbon” and that “it in many ways differ* This article was translated by The Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) from Japanese
into English as part of a research project sponsored by the Government of Japan to promoteacademic studies on Japanʼs territories. This article was originally published as 國吉 まこも・
佐々木 貴文
「領土編入以前におこなわれていた尖閣諸島の漁業開発」『地域漁業研究』第 59
巻 1 号、2019 年、48-55 頁. JIIA takes full responsibility for the translation of this article. To
obtain permission to use this article beyond the scope of your personal use and research, pleasecontact JIIA. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarilyreflect the policy or position of JIIA or any other organization with which the author is affiliated.

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from the facts when it comes to Koga’s actions.”1)
With these research issues in mind, the author will as much as possible attempt to find objective
facts involving the development of the Senkaku Island by analyzing materials left behind not by the
Koga family but by those who could be regarded as third-party persons. Moreover, in order toovercome the limitations of previous analyses and studies, I have made efforts to discover new
documents for analysis and evaluation. I surveyed documents at the Okinawa Prefectural Library,
the Naha City Museum of History, and other locations as part of the Survey on Archives of
Senkaku Islands, commissioned by the Office of Policy Planning and Coordination on Territory andSovereignty in the Cabinet Secretariat, and a survey project with the Association for theCompilations of Documents and Materials on the Senkaku Islands.
This study uses primary sources confirmed through the work described above, including thosepreviously undisclosed, with the aim of elucidating the facts involving development around the
Senkaku Islands, in particular those of fishery activities, focusing especially on the decade before
and after the islands’ incorporation into Japanese territory in 1895 (Meiji 28).
The reason why this study focuses on the fishery development prior to the islands’ incorporation
into Japanese territory is to explore the background for the incorporation and critically examinesome arguments that tries to put the Senkaku Islands’ incorporation into Japanese territory in thecontext of the First Sino–Japanese War. I hope to shine new light on this controversial issue
through the discovery and analysis of many new documents not touched on in previous studies,such as Materials 1–4 discussed in the main text.
This study also builds on the research of Sasaki and Kuniyoshi that elucidated the actual
situation of the fishing industry around the Senkaku Islands immediately after the Second World
War,2) and shares the aim of clarifying the historical position of the Senkaku Islands in that periodof changing international circumstances around Japan. The author would also like to state that someof the materials discovered in this study have already been publicized as part of the Research
Report on Archives of Senkaku Islands (FY2015 and FY2016), commissioned by the Cabinet
Secretariat.

2. Fishery Development Prior to the Incorporation into Japanese territory

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1) Surveying the Terra Nullius of the Senkaku Islands
The Senkaku Islands is a general term for the five islands Uotsuri Island, Kita-kojima Island,
Minami-kojima Island, Kuba Island, and Taishō Island as well as the three reefs Oki-no-kita-iwa
Island, Oki-no-minami-iwa Island, and Tobise Island, belonging to present-day Tonoshiro-senkaku,
Ishigaki City, Okinawa (as of 2018). They are located approximately 170km north-northeast from
Ishigaki Island and approximately 410km west of Okinawa Main Island.
The Senkaku Islands were terra nullius until their incorporation into Japan. A large number ofterrae nullius existed around the world even in late-modern period. The Senkaku Islands were oneof them as well as uninhabited, with no traces of people having lived there even before
early-modern period.
In terms of materials clearly documenting surveys of the Senkaku Islands, which was terra
nullius, we have a record of the Nippon Yusen’s Izumomaru that was chartered by Okinawa
Prefecture in 1885 (Meiji 18).3) The results of the survey, which involved “the uninhabited islands
scattered between Okinawa Prefecture and Fuzhou in China,” meaning the Senkaku Islands as well,
were conveyed to Lord of Foreign Affairs Inoue Kaoru by Lord of Home Affairs Yamagata Aritomo
as “There are absolutely no traces of Chinese control,” thus confirming that they were terra nullius
not belonging to any country. This became an opportunity for sharing the perception that theyneeded to be incorporated into Okinawa. However, in order to “avoid unnecessary complications”
with China, with whom they were at odds then due to impetuous measures taken regarding the
Korean peninsula, they decided to pass up on the building of a national marker.4)

2) The Start of the Development of the Senkaku Islands
As regards economic activities around the Senkaku Islands, they started as early as 1890 (Meiji
23) when Matsumura Jinnosuke from Kagoshima hired 70 Itoman fishermen in Yaeyama for a joint
fishery project, went over to Uotsuri Island, spent three months there, and successful made afortune.5)
The authorities back in Yaeyama took an interest in the activities of Matsumura and thefishermen, submitting a request to the Okinawa Prefectural Office stating that they wanted to place
Uotsuri and Kuba Islands under Yaeyama jurisdiction. In response to this, Okinawa Prefecture once

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more requested the incorporation of the islands to the Meiji government (Ministry of Home
Affairs).6) This was followed by exchanges between the Ministry of Home Affairs and Okinawa
Prefecture, but I have unfortunately been unable to locate a document in which the central
government accepted the request from Okinawa. It is likely that no decision was made with respect
to the Senkaku Islands at this time either.
Perhaps in connection with the abovementioned exchanges with the Meiji government,interviews with the Senkaku Island fishermen were conducted by Hanawa Tadao of Okinawa
Prefecture in April 1890 (Meiji 23). Looking at “Overview of Kuba Island” [Material 1] inDocuments Relating to the Yaeyama Islands, included in the materials he left behind, collectively
called the “Hanawa Tadao Documents (provisional),” we find a report that after an expedition inwhich fishermen chartered a steamboat and went over to Kuba Island, the number of fishermen
who went to the Senkaku Islands grew to more than 70 as people from Ishigaki and Yonaguni
Islands also took part in the journey, so that there were currently (as of April 1890 [Meji 23])
building huts on the island, giving the impression of migration.7) Moreover, the interviews with thefishermen also produced reports to the authorities in Yaeyama and Okinawa about what types offish were caught around Kuba and Uotsuri Islands. The abovementioned development activities of
Matsumura Jinnosuke were also subject to this survey.

Material 1: Overview of Kuba Island (held by Okinawa Prefectural Library)

These new materials make clear that not just small-scale, private development, but the4
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development of the Senkaku Islands on the level of organized economic activities were alreadybeing conducted in 1890 (Meiji 23), which the administrative authorities in Okinawa Prefectures
were clearly aware of.
As an administrative organization, Okinawa Prefecture was aware of civilians’ activities on the
Senkaku Islands, sought to persuade the Meiji government to incorporate the islands into
Okinawa Prefecture, and finally took its own initiative to provisionally include them into an
administrative division. The Survey of the Daitō Islands, thought to have been compiled by the
Okinawa Prefectural Office during the Meiji period, includes a draft directive to place the Senkaku
Islands (Agun Kuba Sima) under the jurisdiction of Yaeyama Islands Office, even in the absence ofany formal decision to incorporate the islands to Okinawa Prefecture by the Meiji government.8)
Speaking of this draft directive, Statistical Tables of the Okinawa Prefectural Police for Meiji
24(1891), a document from Okinawa Prefectural Police, include an entry dated December 11, 1891
(Meiji 24) that says “Prefectural Instruction No. 47 states that the Agun Kuba Islands areprovisionally placed under the jurisdiction of the Yaeyama Islands Police Station.” This is likely anindication of substantial on-site administrative measures to exert control in the context ofdevelopment activities being conducted on the Senkaku Islands.
It is well-known that after 1891 (Meiji 24), Isawa Yakita from Kumamoto Prefecture hired“Ryukyu fishermen”, went over to at Uotsuri and Kuba Islands of the Senkaku Islands, andcollected marine products and captured albatross.9) Isawa’s development activities are corroborated
by materials like “Castaways Return from China” in the Kyushu Nichinichi Shimbun, dated
September 20, 1893 (Meiji 26), and four other newspaper articles.10) For example, this article
describes how Isawa worked together with Matsumura Jinnosuke11) and other mainland merchantsstaying in Yaeyama to develop “the Senkaku Islands” for the purpose of “harvesting land and sea
products on work trips to the Senkaku Islands.”
Moreover, there is a record of Noda Tadashi and other members of the Kumamoto National
Sovereignty Party,12) who had a strong interest in mainland Asia and the south (Okinawa direction),taking charge of a group of fishermen from Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture and heading for“Senkaku Islands” via Kagoshima and Okinawa in 1893 (Meiji 26). An article titled “A Party ofNoda, Yamazumi, and Others” in the Kyushu Nichinichi Shimbun, dated October 24, 1893 (Meiji

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The Japan Institute of International Affairs / Resource LibraryFishery Development around the Senkaku Islands Prior to Their Incorporation into Japanese Territory in 189526), reports that they “departed for the uninhabited island of Uotsuri Island.”13) At the time, theKyushu Nichinichi Shimbun regularly reported about the activities of people in the Kumamoto
National Sovereignty Party in mainland China and other overseas locations, and Noda’s activities
that were directed toward Okinawa rather than mainland Asia were presented as a “South Sea
expedition.” Moreover, the article says “According to the most recent edition of the Ryukyu Shinpō,”which shows that local newspapers in Okinawa were reporting about the fishing operations aroundthe Senkaku Islands. The fishing resources around the Senkaku Islands were known to a certain
extent in Kyushu and Okinawa.

3) Accidents in the Development of the Senkaku Islands
As the development of the Senkaku Islands intensified, accidents involving human life also
started occurring. We see accidents caused in part due to the unreliability of ships (fishing boats)back then and strong currents (the Kuroshio Current) in the sea there. Records about the drifting
accident that happened to the Isawa team in 1893 (Meiji 26), after their joining the development
efforts in 1891 (Meiji 24), show that attempts were made to solve the issue through diplomaticroutes and that the castaways were finally repatriated to Japan.14) In dealing with this accident, theJapanese Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mutsu Munemitsu) instructed the dispatch of a “letter ofappreciation” from the Japanese Consulate-General in Shanghai to the relevant Chinese officials.
The “letter of appreciation” describes how the Isawa team drifted to China after their ship was
wrecked on their way from “the Yaeyama Islands” to “Koba Island” (Senkoku Islands). It appears
that the Chinese received the “letter of appreciation” and passed it on to the relevant officials.15)
An accident occurred to the aforementioned Matsumura. In 1893 (Meiji 26), Matsumura
Jinnosuke, who as pioneering the Senkaku development, took four workers whom he had hiredfrom Yamaguchi Prefecture and collected albatross feathers on Uotsuri Island, after which he leftthem behind and returned to Ishigaki Island, causing a “desertion incident.” However, it appears
that Matsumura had not intended to “desert” them, and so sent a boat from Ishigaki to pick them upsome days later. Yet that boat was wrecked and drifted to China, which resulted in the “desertion
incident.” It was fortunate that the deserted men were later rescued by some fishermen from Itoman
area, Okinawa Prefecture, who went there to collect green turban snails.16)

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Some time after this “desertion incident,” misfortune befell Matsumura Jinnosuke himself. In
1895 (Meiji 28), his own ship was wrecked as he was traveling toward the Senkaku Islands andthey drifted to Jinbaoli-bo in North Taiwan, which is described in “Report on a Ship that Drifted
Ashore”17) (November 28, 1895 [Meiji 28]), a document reported to the newly established
Government-General of Taiwan [Material 2]. This accident and document oddly enough show thatthe ship-owner Matsumura Jinnosuke continued his aforementioned development of the Senkaku
Islands, which began in 1890 (Meiji 23), even after the islands’ incorporation into Japanese territory.
That is, it was not just the Koga family that was involved in the development of the islands evenafter their incorporation.

Material 2: Report on a Wrecked Ship Drifted Ashore (held by the Taiwan Historica in Taiwan)

4) The Growing Need for Control and the Territorial Incorporation
Thus, this vigorous and bittersweet development of the Senkaku Islands, designed to make quickprofits, was something necessitating control in the eyes of the administrative authorities and the
Okinawa Prefectural Governor. In fact, the aforementioned 1890 (Meiji 23) report titled “On the
Matter of the Uninhabited Kuba and Uotsuri Islands” from the Okinawa Prefectural Governor(Maruoka Kanji) to the Meiji government mentioned that the Yaeyama authorities had requested forthe terra nullius of Uotsuri Island to promptly be “placed under our jurisdiction due to the recent
need for controlling fisheries activities,” and asked for the islands’ early incorporation into
Okinawa Prefecture.

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As the Meiji government was slow to act, the Okinawa Prefectural Governor (Narahara Shigeru)
urgently requested their response in “Memorandum on Placing Kuba and Uotsuri Islands under
Okinawa Jurisdiction and Constructing a Marker” in 1893 (Meiji 26). This memorandum for
territorial incorporation was the third such memorandum since the first one in 1885 (Meiji 18).
In fact, Narahara Shigeru was a government-appointed governor and so we should call his
request a strong one, but once more control over fishing operations was named as a reason for theincorporation. He wrote “Recently, people are coming to the islands to attempt fishing and otheractivities, and because these do not infrequently involve legal control, we would like to erectmarkers of Prefectural jurisdiction, as we reported in detail in 1885. We therefore urgently request
your guidance and hereby make a report to that effect, attaching copies of the former report andyour instruction.”
The Senkaku Islands became Japanese territory two years after the above-mentioned final
memorandum in 1893. On January 14, 1895 (Meiji 28). “on the Construction of a Marker,”
contained in Collection of Official Documents, Vol. 19 (Meiji 28, part 2), says “around uninhabitedislands called Kuba and Uotsuri Islands, people have recently been attempting fisheries activities
and other pursuits and these activities need to be controlled. We have no particular objection on thismatter and, as requested by the Governor of Okinawa Prefecture, the erection of markers and theincorporation of the islands into the jurisdiction of the Prefecture should be permitted.” We shouldnote that the decision refers to fishery development as a reason for the construction of a marker.

3. Fishery Development after the Incorporation into Okinawa Prefecture1) Koga Tatsushirō’s Participation in the Development and Concomitant Troubles
As pointed out in many previous studies, Koga leased the Senkaku Islands and commenced
full-blown development after the incorporation of the islands into Okinawa Prefecture, but newly
discovered materials reveal that this development project was coupled with considerable
difficulties.
To begin with, Koga’s first direct participation in the development was on August 15, 1896
(Meiji 29). This was when his Request to Lease Kuba and Uotsuri Islands, which he had previously
submitted was accepted and he was given a 30-year lease of four Senkaku Islands (Uotsuri, Kuba,

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Minami-kojima, and Kita-kojima Islands) free of charge.
His early projects involved exporting albatross feathers and stuffed specimens of the common
tern, a bird in the family Laridae. He also did no forget collecting the often highly profitable green
turbans and selling dried sea slugs. In 1905 (Meiji 38), Koga also embarked on pole fishing forbonito in order to secure raw material for starting a business making bonito flakes.
One problem that Koga faced was how to transport goods to and from the Senkaku Islands as theweather became extremely bad in winter. In the background was also the increase in personnel tospeed up development in May 1898 (Meiji 31). Initially, the transportation of goods between the
Senkaku Islands and Ishigaki Island used small fishery boats, but as the number of people involvedin the development increased and the volume of products from the islands increased, a frequent
problem became inconveniences associated with the storage of provisions and the transportation of
products. On this matter, this study took a fresh approach by digging up and surveying the“Yokouchi Family Documents,” thereby clarifying how Koga developed his projects with the helpof the Okinawa Prefectural Governor.
The “Yokouchi Family Documents” are held by the Naha City Museum of History and arecomposed of approximately 18,000 documents and materials left by Yokouchi Tasuku, who served
as a prefectural official in Okinawa during the Meiji period. Of these, the Okinawa Prefectural
Government Materials are made up of notes to and copies of prefectural office documents,
containing a great number of documents that are no longer extant at the Prefectural Office due tothe battle of Okinawa during WWII. These materials escaped the wartime destruction because
Yokouchi Tasuku brought them with him to Hikone, mainland Japan, after his retirement.
Now, one clue to Koga’s troubles can be found in the document “On the matter of requesting aport call at Kuba Island” (January 1898 [Meiji 32]) in the “Yokouchi Family Documents.”18) This
document was a request from Koga to Narahara Shigeru (the Governor) to have steamboats stop at
Senkaku Island ports in order to upgrade transportation capacities.
Besides this, the “Yokouchi Family Documents” also contain “Request to the President of Osaka
Shosen Kaisha” (January 1898 [Meiji 32]). It shows that Narahara Shigeru asked the President of
Osaka Shosen Kaisha to have steamboats call at the Senkaku Islands and that this was realized.19)

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2) Osaka Shosen Kaisha Calling at the Senkaku Islands
Koga’s request led to steamboats calling at the Senkaku Islands. This fact can be confirmed from
“Request for Approval of Temporary Stops at the Port of Waheiyama Island (current Uotsuri Island)of the Senkaku Islands (Provisional),” a document that the Government-General of Taiwan
received.20) Behind the facilitation of steamboats calling at the ports was a petition by President
Nakahashi Tokugorō of Osaka Shosen Kaisha to Taiwan Governor-General Kodama Gentarō,which explained that there was a person “planning to migrate” to “ Waheiyama Island, one of the
Senkaku Islands,” and that “developing the islands would truly promote national prosperity”[Material 3]. At the time, the Government-General of Taiwan was commissioning Osaka Shosen
Kaisha to operate the regular routes between Mainland Japan and Taiwan, and now Osaka Shosen
Kaisha was asking the Government-General to approve of Waheiyama Island (Uotsuri Island) as a
special stop along their Taiwan route via Okinawa (Kobe⇔Keelung).
In response to this request, the Taiwan Governor General (Kodama Gentarō) approved ofcreating a temporal port (Kobe⇔Keelung: via Okinawa). This was written in the document “Order
to Osaka Shosen Kaisha (Provisional),”21) which asked Osaka Shosen Kaisha to submit regular
reports about the route and steamboats in use, and also shows that the Government-Generalprovided 132,000 yen (as of 1898 [Meiji 32]) to subsidize the route via Okinawa [Material 4].
Furthermore, Osaka Shosen Kaisha announced the new Senkaku route in the newspapers. An
advertisement in the Kagoshima Shimbun, dated May 25 and June 28, 1899 (Meiji 32), informs usthat the Sumamaru would be calling at Waheiyama Island (Uotsuri Island).

3) How the Senkaku Islands Were Perceived amid their Development
Amid this economic development, the police also moved to place the Senkaku Islands under
their jurisdiction. Evidence of this was found in the “Chart [Areas under the jurisdiction of the
Okinawa Prefectural Police – map and list]” from the “Yokouchi Family Documents.” Among the“districts” of the Yaeyama Police Station, we find “Uninhabited Agun Kuba Sima.” names of
Uotsuri and Kuba Islands at the time. Moreover, the “Explanatory Notes” of the same document
states that the information was “Based on the survey of December 31, 1893 (Meiji 26), thepopulation data is that of the survey of December 31, Meiji 25.” However, the material’s date of

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publication is unknown.
We also want to check what the perception of the Republic of China was during thisdevelopment of the islands. In the winter of 1919 (Taishō 8), as development was on-going, Guo
Geshun and 30 other fishermen from Hui’an County, Fujian Province were shipwrecked due to arainstorm, which is not unusual in the East China Sea in winter, and drifted to Uotsuri Island. They
were able to return to China unscathed thanks to the zealous rescue work of Ishigaki residents on
Uotsuri Island. In appreciation of this, Feng Mian, the Consul of the Republic of China to Nagasaki,
signed and sent a “Letter of Appreciation” (dated May 20, 1920 (Minguo 9)) to those who rescued
the Chinese fishermen in the fall of the following year [Photo 5].
A provisional translation of the “Letter of Appreciation” would be “Guo Geshun and 30 othermen were shipwrecked due to a storm and drifted to Heyang Island of the Senkaku Islands,
Yaeyama County, Okinawa Prefecture, Empire of Japan. Thanks to the zealous rescue efforts of Mr.
Tamayose Sonban of Ishigaki Village, Yaeyama County, Empire of Japan, they were able to returnto their homeland alive.” This “Letter of Appreciation” tells us that the Republic of China was not
objecting to the Japan’s incorporation and economic development of the Senkaku Islands.

Material 3: “Request for Approval of Temporary Stops at the Port of Waheiyama Island of the
Senkaku Islands (Provisional)” (held by the Taiwan Historica in Taiwan)

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Material 4: “Order to Osaka Shosen Kaisha (Provisional)” (held by the Taiwan Historica in Taiwan)

Material 5: “Letter of Appreciation” (held by the Ishigaki City Yaeyama Museum)

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4. Conclusion
This study was able to discover a number of new materials. Many of them are from Hanawa
Tadao Documents (provisional) and the “Yokouchi Family Documents.” With the discovery ofthese materials, we could compile a simple chronology, as shown in [Table 1].
By analyzing these materials, this study allowed me to draw the following conclusions. (1) The
Japanese conducted fishery-centered economic development of the Senkaku Islands before the
Meiji government incorporated them into Japanese territory. (2) Okinawa Prefecture felt a strong
need for control of fishery and other activities as these development activities expanded, which is
why they resiliently requested the Meiji government to incorporate them into Okinawa Prefecture.
(3) Finally, the Meiji government incorporated them into Japanese territory after confirming theirstatus as terra nullius, also against a background of there being in no opposition from othercountries against the development activities. (4) After the incorporation into Japanese territory, both
Okinawa Prefecture and the Government-General of Taiwan showed willingness to assist in thedevelopment of the Senkaku Islands. (5) Qing China in no way interfered with this economic
development and the Japanese developed the Senkaku Islands as Japanese territory without
opposition.
The above has clarified that vigorous fishery development served as the context for the cabinet
decision made after ten years of on-site surveys from 1885 (Meiji 18) by the Japanese government
and Okinawa Prefecture to confirm that there were no traces of foreign (specifically Chinese) rule,
thereby showing the islands to be terra nullius. We have also confirmed that no foreign countries,
including China, objected to these vigorous development activities as well as clarified that there
was no trouble associated with the incorporation of the Senkaku Islands into Japan.

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Table 1. Timeline for the Senkaku Islands
The central government

Okinawa Prefecture

Around July: The Ministry of Home Affairs orders
Okinawa Prefecture to survey nearby uninhabitedislands

September–November: Okinawa Prefecture conducts
on-site surveys of the Daitō Islands and the Senkaku
Islands

1885(Meiji 18)

November: Reports to the central government about
constructing a national marker on the Senkaku
Islands (request to incorporate the islands into theprefecture) December: The Central government rrsponds that
constructing a national marker is unnecessary

1889(Meiji 22)

December: the Yaeyama Islands Office on Ishigaki
Island requests Okinawa Prefecture to place theSenkaku Islands under their jurisdiction

1890(Meiji 23)

January: The Bureau of Prefectural Administration ,the Ministry of Home Affairs Requests Okinawa
Prefecture to send relevant documents

Fishery and other forms of economic development(civilian)January: Okinawa Prefecture submits a request toincorporate the Senkaku Islands into Japanese
territory to the Ministry of Home Affairs
April: Okinawa Prefecture conducts interview surveyof the fishing situation around the Senkaku Islands,
led by Hanawa Tadao, a Prefecture’s official
December: Drafts directive that identifies the Daitō
Islands as under the jurisdiction of the Naha Officeand the Senkaku Islands (Agun Kuba Sima) as underthat of the Yaeyama Islands Office

1891(Meiji 24)

Isawa Yakita from Kumamoto Prefecture reaches anagreement with Matsumura Jinnosuke and the othersfrom Kagoshima Prefecture, and starts taking Itoman
fishermen out to the Senkaku Islands

December: Directives No. 46 and 47 determine thatthe Daitō Islands are provisionally placed under thejurisdiction of the Naha Police Station and the
Senkaku Islands under that of the Yaeyama Police
StationJanuary: Okinawa Prefecture requests the Ministry of
the Navy to conduct a survey of nearby uninhabitedislands, including the Senkaku Islands
 July–August: The Kaimon, a corvette, wasdispatched from the Sasebo Naval Base in Nagasaki,
but the Senkaku Islands are not surveyed

1892(Meiji 25)

The Matsumura Jinnosuke dispatches workers to the
Senkaku Islands to collect albatross feathers
September: The Okinawa Prefecture’s Governor
well-wishes the Tonan Group of Noda Tadashi andthe other people from Kumamoto Prefecture as they
are about to start fishing around the Senkaku Islands

June: Isawa Yakita heads out to the islands again toreceive the workers but is shipwrecked and drifts to
the Chinese coast Protected by Chinese officials and repatriated toNagasakiAfter September: The Tonan Group operates aroundthe Yaeyama and Senkaku Islands to produce shark
fins

1893
(Meiji 26)

November: Okinawa Prefecture requests theNovember: The Itoman fishermen set sail from the
Ministers of Home and Foreign Affairs to incorporate Senkaku Islands (Agun Kuba Sima) for Ishigaki Portthe Senkaku Islands into the Prefecture
but go missing
December: Issues a notice regarding the Itoman
fishermen who disappeared after leaving for the
Senkaku Islands (Agon Kuba Sima)
Around the end of the year: Publishes the Chart[Areas under the jurisdiction of the Okinawa
Prefectural Police – map and list], listing the
Senkaku Islands
April: Bureau of Prefectural Administration, Ministry Reproduces the previous year’s notice about theof Home Affairs inquires Okinawa Prefecture about missing Itoman fishermen in the Official Gazettethe previous year’s Senkaku incorporation request

1894(Meiji 27)

December: The Bureau of Prefectural Administration,
the Ministry of Home Affairs, writes proposal for
Cabinet in response to the Okinawa Prefecture
request

May: Okinawa Prefecture responds to the inquiry of
the Bureau of Prefectural Administration, Ministry ofHome Affairs in April

Sasamori Gisuke, who had been traveling the Ryukyu
Islands the previous year, publishes Explorations ofSouthern Islands
 Contains references about such as the workers sent
to Koba Island (the Senkaku Islands) and the
Kumamoto people planning to fish around the
Senkaku Islands

End of the year: The Minister of Home Affairs
consults the Minister of Foreign Affairs about the
Senkaku Islands incorporation proposal for Cabinet
January: The Minister of Foreign Affairs responds to
the Minister of Home Affairs that there are no
objections to the proposal for Cabinet by the Ministryof Home Affairs
1895
January 12: The Minister of Home Affairs requests(Meiji 28) the Cabinet to discuss Hibetsu Proposal No. 133(Senkaku Islands incorporation proposal)
January 14: The Cabinet decides to incorporate theSenkaku Islands into Okinawa Prefecture

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January 21: The Prime Minister notifies the Ministerof Home Affairs of the Cabinet decision
January 22: The Ministry of Home Affairs drafts a
response to Okinawa Prefecture
June: Koga Tatsushirō submits to the Yaeyama
Islands Office a request to lease the Senkaku Islands
addressed to the Minister of Home Affairs
March: Imperial Order No. 13 “On the County
Organization of Okinawa Prefecture”
1896(Meiji 29)

August: Okinawa Prefecture grants Koga Tatsushirō’s November: Matsumura Jinnosuke leaves Yonaguni
request to develop the islands
Island for the Senkaku Islands (Kuba Island) but goes
 Uotsuri, Kuba, Minami-kojima, and Kita-kojima adrift
Islands are leased for 30 years free of charge Taken in by the Keelung Governmental Branch
Office in Taiwan

Note) Compiled by the author.

Keywords: Senkaku Islands, fishery development, territorial incorporation, Yokouchi Family
Documents, Hanawa Tadao, Osaka Shosen Kaisha[Acknowledgement]
The parts of this paper written by Sasaki are part of the research outcomes of 2017 Grant-in-Aid
for Scientific Research (Basic Research [C], research project number: 16K07903) awarded by theJapan Society for the Promotion of Science.

[Notes]1) Akitoshi HIRAOKA (2007), “The Japanese Advance into the Senkaku Islands during the Meiji
period and Koga Tatsushirō,” Akitoshi Hiraoka, ed., Outlying Island Research III: 9.
2）Takafumi SASAKI, Makomo KUNIYOSHI (2016), Japanese fishing operations around the
Senkaku Islands immediately after the end of World War II : An analysis of public materials
compiled by the Fisheries Agency and Kagoshima Prefecture, Journal of Regional Fisheries
Economics, 57-1 : 59-76
3) However, the Izumomaru was not chartered for the purpose of surveying the Senkaku Islands.
The Izumomaru was a ship contracted (supplemented) by Okinawa Prefecture for transportationand communications with the mainland as the prefecture contains so many isolated islands.
4) “Confidential Letter No. 38: Reply Letter from the Lord of Foreign Affairs” of “Miscellaneous
Matters Relating to the Imperial Territory” in the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Japan contains a slip of paper that likely a foreign affairs official wrote on. We can makeout the word “complication.” Moreover, the North–South Daitō Island Survey, which was
conducted around the same time as the Senkaku Island Survey, was followed by the construction of

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a national marker, meaning territorial incorporation, thus showing a different response than for the
Senkaku Islands.
5) Okinawa Young Men’s Association (1890), Okinawa Young Men’s Magazine (first issue): 21–22.
A detailed analysis focusing on Matsumura Jinnosuke was conducted in Association for theCompilation of Documents and Materials on the Senkaku Islands (2009), Senkaku Research: 22.
See this to reconsider the image of Koga Tatsushirō as the one who pioneered the development of
the Senkaku Islands.
6) “A1. Inquiry about the Uninhabited Kuba and Uotsuri Islands” (January 13, 1890) in
Miscellaneous Matters Relating to the Imperial Territory, held by the Diplomatic Archives of the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
7) “Overview of Kuba Island” (Hanawa Tadao, ed.) held by the Okinawa Prefectural Library was
written in 1889–1890, and is composed of “Report” (report of the interviews on the fishingsituation around Kuba and Uotsuri Islands conducted by Hanawa Tadao of Okinawa Prefecture on
Ishigaki Island in April 1890) and “Appendices” (letters exchanged from late 1889 through early
1890; more specifically, an inquiry by the local government office in charge of the Yaeyama Islands,
expressing the wish to place the islands under the local office’s jurisdiction due to the appearanceof a group of fishermen going to Uotsuri and Kuba Island [a joint marine products company], as
well as the response of Okinawa Prefectural Office).
8) Survey commissioned by the Cabinet Secretariat (2016), Research Report on Archives of
Senkaku Islands (FY2015): 9.
9) Miyajima Mikinosuke (1900), “Kobi Island,” Journal of the Earth Sciences, Vol. 12, No. 143:
651. “Chapter 1. Exploration Timeline” contains a reference to Isawa.
10) Op. cit., Research Report on Archives of Senkaku Islands (FY2015): 9.
11) Besides Matsumura, the names Nagai Kiemon and Mitani Ihē are also mentioned.
12) The Kumamoto National Sovereignty Party was a political organization created by the
Kumamoto politician Sassa Tomofusa to expand national sovereignty. The party leaned toward
expanding to the continent and it had the support of people like Munakata Kotarō, who were activeon the Korean peninsula and the Chinese mainland. We can see from the actions of Noda Tadashi
and the others that the party’s activities were also geared toward the southernmost parts of Japan.

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The Japan Institute of International Affairs / Resource LibraryFishery Development around the Senkaku Islands Prior to Their Incorporation into Japanese Territory in 189513) Op. cit., Research Report on Archives of Senkaku Islands (FY2015): 10.
14) See “On the Conveyance of Gratitude to Chinese Local Officials for Their Rescue ofKumamoto Citizens Isawa Yakita and Two Others upon Drifting to China (Meiji 26),” diplomaticrecord held by the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. This consists ofa document describing how Isawa and two others set sail from Ishigaki Island to receive theworkers coming to collect albatross feathers on the Senkaku Islands, but were shipwrecked in astorm, drifted to the Chinese coast, and then returned to Nagasaki under the protection of Chinese
local officials, as well as a document expressing the appreciation of the Japanese Minister of
Foreign Affairs for the Chinese officials’ protection and repatriation of the Japanese.
15) Survey commissioned by the Cabinet Secretariat (2016), Research Report on Archives of
Senkaku Islands (FY2015): 11.
16) Sasamori Gisuke (1894), Explorations of Southern Islands: 97–100.
17) This document produced by the Government-General of Taiwan in 1895 is registered as “The
Drifting Ashore of Matsumura Jinnosuke and Nine Others from Naha, Okinawa Prefecture:
Document Code 00004491005” in Meiji 28, 15-Year Storage, Vol. 6 in the collection of official
documents of the Government-General of Taiwan. The document is a report about how Kagoshimamerchant Matsumura Jinnosuke and his team went adrift on route to Koba Island, Okinawa
Prefecture (This name was for the Senkaku Island around 1893 and the name Koba Island also
appears in Explorations of Southern Islands by Sasamori Gisuke from Aomori) and ended up in the
Keelung area of Taiwan.
18) Survey commissioned by the Cabinet Secretariat (2017), Research Report on Archives of
Senkaku Islands (FY2016): 13.
19) Ibid., 12.
20) “Tables of Freight and Passengers Carried and Business Report of Nippon Yusen and Osaka
Shosen Kaisha,” which is held by Taiwan Historica, is recorded as “Tables of Freight andPassengers Carried and Business Report of Nippon Yusen and Osaka Shosen Kaisha: Document
Code 00004593015” in Meiji 32, 15-Year Storage, Vol. 17, which was created by theGovernment-General of Taiwan in 1899. At the time, Osaka Shosen Kaisha was contracted by theGovernment-General of Taiwan to operate the regular routes between mainland Japan and Taiwan.

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This document is a petition by Osaka Shosen Kaisha to the Government-General to approve of
Waheiyama Island (Senkaku Uotsuri Island) as a special port for one of those routes that went via
Okinawa (Kobe⇔Keelung).
21) The document information is the same as for Material 3. Moreover, this is an order from theGovernment-General of Taiwan to Osaka Shosen Kaisha, whom they had commissioned to run theregular traffic between mainland Japan and Taiwan, that specifies the conditions of the ship
operations. It also acknowledges Waheiyama Island (Uotsuri Island of the Senkaku Islands),
Yonaguni Island, and Iriomote Island as special ports.

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The Japan Institute of International Affairs / Resource LibraryFishery Development around the Senkaku Islands Prior to Their Incorporation into Japanese Territory in 1895

Senkaku Islands: Fisheries Development prior to Incorporation into Japan

Abstract
This article aims to elucidate economic development in the Senkaku Islands that centered onfishing for nearly a decade prior to their territorial incorporation into Japan in 1895. Analysis ofprimary materials discovered recently through the “Research Report on Archives of Senkaku
Islands,” commissioned by the Office of Policy Planning and Coordination on Territory andSovereignty, Cabinet Secretariat, some of them still undisclosed, revealed that (1) Japan had
engaged in the economic development of the Senakaku islands even before the Meiji government
incorporated them into Japan; (2) during this process, Okinawa Prefecture recognized the need forcontrol of fishery and appealed to the government for incorporation of the islands; and (3) as othercountries did not raise any objection, the government determined that the islands were unclaimed
and incorporated them into Japan.

Keywords: Senkaku Islands, fishery development, Yokouchi Family Documents, Tadao Hanawa,
Osaka Shosen Kabushiki Kaisha

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