Issue of naming of the Sea of Japan (Study in the Russian Federation)

From November 2006 to February 2007, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs conducted a study regarding the naming of the maritime region of the Sea of Japan on the maps published between the 17th and the 19th century which are stored at libraries and archives of ancient documents in the Russian Federation.

This was done in order to reaffirm Japan's assertion that "the name of `Sea of Japan` became established in Europe and the U.S.A. from the beginning of the 19th century at a time when Japan was still under its policy of isolation, being unable to exert international influence." (The study was carried out at the four locations of the Russian State Library, the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents [Moscow], the Russian National Library [formerly the State Public Saltykov-Shchedrin Library], and the Russian State Naval Archive [Saint Petersburg].)

On the other hand, The Republic of Korea (ROK) has asserted that the name the Sea of Japan came into dominant as a result of Japan's imperialism and colonialism in the first half of the 20th century. The ROK cites the results of an independently implemented study of the 19 antique maps , which were created in the 18th and the 19th century, stored at the Russian State Library, the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents, and the Russian State Naval Archive. According to this independent study, the ROK states a name is recorded for the region of the Sea of Japan on 19 maps, of which 10 maps, or 52.6% show the names related to the Republic of Korea such as "Sea of Korea" and "East Sea," and only 3 maps, or15.8% show the name Sea of Japan.*1

*1: From "East Sea in Old Western Maps with Emphasis on the 17 - 18th Centuries," published by The Society for East Sea, The Korean Overseas Information Service (2004).

1. Purpose of the study

(1) Japan has consistently asserted that the name "Sea of Japan" is the only internationally established name for the relevant maritime area, and its major grounds are the following three key points.

  • (a) At present, the name Sea of Japan is internationally established.
  • (b) Historically, the name Sea of Japan has been established and accepted on European maps since the beginning of the 19th century.
  • (c) In view of the methodology for geographical naming, the name Sea of Japan is appropriate.

(2) Regarding the historical perspective mentioned above in (1) (b), two researchers at the Geographical Survey Institute studied over 200 antique maps published in Europe. As a result, they discovered that until the late 18th century, various names were used to refer to this sea, such as the "Sea of China," "Oriental Sea," "Sea of Korea" and Sea of Japan. However, it has been confirmed that the name Sea of Japan came to be used with overwhelming frequency mostly in European maps since the beginning of the 19th century (Note 1). This fact was confirmed through the studies conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan on maps possessed by the British Library, the University of Cambridge and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (Note 2). From the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century French, British, Russian and other explorers investigated the areas surrounding the Sea of Japan and discovered that topographically the Sea of Japan is separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Japanese Archipelago. As a result of this discovery, it is believed that the name Sea of Japan came into regular usage in European maps. This view is supported by many researchers. Furthermore, in order to further investigate the validity of Japan's assertion, a study was conducted on whether the naming of the Sea of Japan is established on maps published from the year 1300 through 1900. This study was conducted at the US Library of Congress which has a wealth of cartographical references. It was confirmed that among the 1,435 maps showing some type of name for the marine area of the Sea of Japan, 77.4% or 1,110 maps use the name "Sea of Japan." Thus outside of Europe as well, similar results to those mentioned above in the United Kingdom and France were confirmed in the United States (Note 3).

  • Note 1: Refer to "Sea of Japan" pamphlet made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  • Note 2: Refer to the "Study of Maps Possessed by the British Library and the University of Cambridge" and "Study of Maps Possessed by the Bibliotheque Nationale de France" on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
  • Note 3: Refer to the "Study of Maps Possessed by the United States Library of Congress" on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.

(3) In order to further investigate the above assertion, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, following the above-mentioned studies in the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, carried out a study on maps in Russia regarding whether the name "Sea of Japan" was established, particularly among maps published in the 19th century.

(4) The background of the study is the Republic of Korea (ROK) has asserted that the name "the Sea of Japan" came into dominant as a result of Japan's imperialism and colonialism by in the first half of the 20th century. The ROK cites the results of an independently implemented study of the 19 antique maps , ,which were created in the 18th and the 19th century, stored at the Russian State Library, the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents, and the Russian State Naval Archive., According to the independent study, the ROK states a name is recorded for the region of the Sea of Japan on 19 maps, of which 10 maps, or 52.6% show the names related to the Republic of Korea such as "Sea of Korea" and "East Sea," and only 3 maps, or15.8% show the name "Sea of Japan."

2. Overview of study

(1) This study was carried out via the Embassy of Japan in the Russian Federation. The embassy carried out research on maps at the following four Russian libraries and archives of ancient documents in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

  • Russian State Library (Moscow)
  • Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents (Moscow)
  • State Public Saltykov-Shchedrin Library (Saint Petersburg)
  • Russian State Naval Archive (Saint Petersburg)

3. Study results

(1) Total number of maps studied: 51 maps
(Maps overlapping with other libraries and ancient documents are not included in the number of maps.)

(2) By time period (from 1630 through 1899)

  • (A) 16th century: 0 maps
  • (B) 17th century: 2 maps (3.92%)
  • (C) 18th century: 13 maps (25.49%)
  • (D) 19th century: 36 maps (70.59%)

(3) By naming
List by naming in maps studied

Name of relevant maritime region 1601 - 1700 1701 - 1800 1801 - 1867 1868 - 1900 Number of maps Percentage
Sea of Japan   2 15 12 29 72.5%
Sea of Korea   5 2 1 8 20.0%
Korea Strait     1   1 2.5%
East Sea   1     1 2.5%
Sea of China   1     1 2.5%
(Not shown) 2 4 5   11  
(Total) 2 13 23 13 51  

*: Excluding overlapping portions of maps stored at document libraries

(4) By institution studied
List of maps studied by institution of study

N Name of institution Number of maps with the maritime region of Sea of Japan Number of maps photo copied
1 Russian State Library
Moscow
42 37
2 State Public Saltykov-Shchedrin Library
Saint Petersburg
41 11
3 Russian State Naval Archive
Saint Petersburg
45 1
4 Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents
Moscow
14 2
5 Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire, Moscow Study not permitted
6 Archive of Russian Geographical Society, Saint Petersburg Study not permitted

Note: At the four archives, 142 maps from the 17th century through the 19th century were confirmed to show the region of the Sea of Japan. Subsequently, a total of 51 maps (extracted at random) were able to be studied within the time period that was set, while excluding maps that overlapped at the archives.

4. Analysis

(1) Of the 51 maps that could be studied which were published in Russia from 1630 through 1899, a total of 40 maps showed some name for the region of the Sea of Japan. Of these 72.5% or 29 maps showed "Sea of Japan."

(2) Of these 40 maps, eight maps (20%) showed the marine area of the Sea of Japan as the "Sea of Korea," and the names "Sea of China," "Korea Strait," and "East Sea" each appeared on just one map (2.5%).

(3) Focusing on the time period of the publication of the maps, among the maps published up to the 18th century, five of the nine maps referred to the marine area of the Sea of Japan used the name "Sea of Korea," and the name Sea of Japan was used on two maps, "Sea of China" on one map, and "East Sea" on one map. After the start of the 19th century, however, 27 (87%) of the 31 maps showed a name for the region of the Sea of Japan using the name Sea of Japan.

5. Conclusion

Based on this study, it is clear that the name Sea of Japan came to be used overwhelmingly more than other names from the beginning of the 19th century, and like the studies of ancient maps until now, the study of ancient maps in Russia confirms that the name Sea of Japan had been established since the beginning of the 19th century, when Japan, under its isolation policy, was not able to exert international influence.

6. Critical examination of the study by the Republic of Korea

Based on this study, the following questions arise when examining the results of the similar study implemented by the Government of the Republic of Korea at the same libraries in 2002.

(1) The criteria by which the ROK selected maps for inclusion in its study are unclear.
The ROK carried out its study using a total of 19 ancient maps from the 18th through 19th centuries stored at the three locations of the Russian State Library, the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents (Moscow), and the Russian State Naval Archive (Saint Petersburg), which are locations where Japan conducted its study, but it has not stated its criteria for selecting these 19 maps. Even if there were problems with getting permission from the libraries and so forth to do the study, considering the extensive gap in the results of the studies by Japan and the ROK (particularly the difference in the number of maps showing the Sea of Japan) and the fact that the ROK did not state is selection criteria, there are doubts about the results of the study by the ROK.

(2) The ROK announced very few study results regarding ancient maps in the first half of the 20th century.
The ROK states that the name the Sea of Japan became dominant as the result of imperialism and colonialism by Japan in the first half of the 20th century, but it announced very few study results regarding maps in the first half of the 20th century.

(3) The ROK asserts the name "East Sea," but it also uses other names as the basis for this assertion.
The ROK asserts the name "East Sea," but it equates "East Sea" with "names related to the ROK" ranging from "Sea of Korea" to "Gulf of Korea," and it announces its study results comparing the total number of maps with these names with the number of maps showing "Sea of Japan." This supports the fact that "East Sea," which the ROK is asserting, appears very rarely in ancient maps studied by the ROK.


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