Valid Control of the Senkaku Islands
Jurisdiction
1895 (Meiji 28)
Placed under the jurisdiction of Okinawa Prefecture
After the Cabinet decision in January 1895, the Senkaku Islands (Uotsuri and Kuba Islands) were placed under the jurisdiction of Yaeyama County. In the Annual Report of the Statistics of Okinawa Prefecture (1895, 1896), there are entries of Uotsuri Island and Kuba Island as uninhabited islands in Yaeyama County.
Annual Report of the Statistics of Okinawa Prefecture 1895-96
Excerpt
Name: Uotsuri Island (uninhabited)
Affiliation: Ishigaki Island, Yaeyama County
Circumference: 2.13 ri (approx. 8.3 km)
Distance to the main island
Address: Tonoshiro Village, Ishigaki Magiri, Yaeyama County
Distance from Tonoshiro Village: 98 nautical miles
Section 1, Internal Affairs Department,
Okinawa Prefecture
June 28, 1900 (Meiji 33)
[Repository] Okinawa Prefectural Library
May 31, 1897 (Meiji 30)
Applicable areas for certain laws
Uotsuri Island was excluded from the areas to which the salt monopoly law and the Leaf Tobacco Monopoly Law were applied. The island was specified as included in the exempted area in Okinawa Prefecture.
Imperial Edict No. 169
Excerpt
Imperial Edict No. 169
According to Article 30 of the Leaf Tobacco Monopoly Act (Law No. 35 of 1896), the Act shall not be enforced for the time being in the regions set out as follows.
(text omitted)
1. Under the jurisdiction of Okinawa Prefecture ・・・ Uotsuri Island
.
Cabinet
May 31, 1897 (Meiji 30)
[Repository] National Archives of Japan
December 3, 1902 (Meiji 35)
Incorporated into Tonoshiro Village
After the land consolidation project was completed in the Yaeyama Islands, the administrative districts in the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands were reorganized. Okinawa Prefecture announced Prefectural Ordinance No. 49 on December 3, realigned the four islands of the Senkaku islands (Minami-kojima Island, Kita-kojima Island, Uotsuri Island, and Kuba Island) to Tonoshiro Village, Ohama-Magiri, Yaeyama County.
Kenrei (Okinawa Prefectural Ordinance) No. 49
Excerpt
Category 2: System
Chapter 2: Gun, Ku, Magiri and Islands
〇Prefectural Ordinance No. 49 (December 3, 1902)
(text omitted) Uotsuri Island and Kuba Island of Yaeyama-gun and the adjacent islands shall be incorporated into Tonoshiro Village of the Ohama Magiri.
The areas and names of the villages of each Magiri of Miyako-gun and Yaeyama-gun are stipulated as shown in the appendix. (The appendix is omitted.)
Okinawa Prefecture
Okinawaken Reitatsu Ruisan (Collection of
Okinawa Prefectural Ordinances and Notices) Vol. 1]
1906 (Meiji 39)
[Repository] Naha City Museum of History
1908 (Meiji 41)
Affiliation changed to Yaeyama Village
Along with the introduction of the Town-Village system in Okinawa Prefecture, four villages, including Tonoshiro Village were merged to become the newly established Yaeyama Village by Okinawa Prefectural Ordinance No. 22 on March 28, 1908. The four islands came to be affiliated to Yaeyama Village.
* The four islands were described as Ko-aza (small district) of Aza (district) Tonoshiro, Yaeyama Village, Yaeyama County in Fiscal Year 1911 Okinawaken Reitatsu Ruisan (Collection of Okinawa Prefectural Ordinances and Notices).Kenrei (Okinawa Prefectural Ordinance) No. 49
(amended on March 28, 1908)
Excerpt
Category 2: System
Chapter 2: Gun, Ku, Town and Village
〇Prefectural Ordinance No.49
(December 3, 1902)
(text omitted)
The areas and names of the village of each Magiri of Miyako-gun and Yaeyama-gun are stipulated as shown in the appendix.
(Appendix)
(text omitted)
Yaeyama County
Yaeyama Village
(text omitted)
Name: Tonoshiro
(text omitted) Name: Minami-Kojima Island, Name: Kita-Kojima Island, Name: Uotsuri Island, Name: Kuba Island
(text omitted)
Okinawa Prefecture
Okinawaken Reitatsu Ruisan (Collection of Okinawa
Prefectural Ordinances and Notices), Vol. 1
compiled in 1911 (Meiji 44)
[Repository] Faculty of Law Library, Kyoto University
1920 (Taisho 9)
Incorporation of Taisho Island Establishment of Aza (district)
Taisho Island, land of undetermined affiliation, was incorporated into Ishigaki Village, Yaeyama County on February 17, 1920, and officially named. On March 18, the same year, the island was incorporated into Ko-Aza (small district) of Aza Tonoshiro.
Official Gazette No. 2507
Okinawa Prefecture
December, 1920 (Taisho 9)
[Repository]
National Diet Library
Management and Disposition of State-Owned Land
1896 (Meiji 29) -
Lease of state-owned land Collection of rent
In 1896, the Government leased Minami-kojima, Kita-kojima, Uotsuri and Kuba Islands to Tatsushiro Koga for thirty years free of rent. From September 1926, the end of the gratuitous lease, the Government collected the rent from Zenji Koga, who inherited the business from Tatsushiro Koga.
Survey report of deposition, Ishigaki Town, Yaeyama County
Excerpt
No payment for thirty years from August 1896 to August 1926
Four years and eight months from August 1926 to March 1931
Zenji Koga
Total rent, including Ledger 1, amounts to 136.61 yen;
currently under lease Chief,
Okinawa Forestry Office
1930(Showa 5)
[Repository] National Archives of Japan
1932 (Showa 7) -
Sale of the four islands of the Senkaku islands
From 1926, the Government collected rent from Zenji Koga, who continued to run his business on the Senkaku Islands. In 1932, at the 1930 request of Zenji Koga, the Government sold the four islands (Minami-kojima, Kita-kojima, Uotsuri and Kuba Islands) to him.
Survey report of deposition, Ishigaki Town, Yaeyama County
Outline
Okinawa Forestry Office, Kumamoto Forestry Bureau, assessed Uotsuri Island at 2,824.70 yen, Minami-kojima Island at 46.55 yen, Kita-kojima Island at 31.27 yen, Kuba Island at 246.35 yen. The Government sold Kuba Island on February 20, 1932, Uotsuri Island on February 25, Minami-kojima and Kita-kojima Islands on March 31. In the survey report on Kita-kojima and Kuba Islands (left), stamps of “sold” and “registered in 1932” appear on the surviving part.
Okinawa Forestry Office, Kumamoto Forestry Bureau
1932 (Showa 7)
[Repository] National Archives of Japan
Registration
1932 (Showa 7) -
Registered in the Ledger of Land
The four islands of the Senkaku islands (Minami-kojima, Kita-kojima, Uotsuri and Kuba Islands) were sold to Zenji Koga. With the transfer of ownership of the land, the islands were registered in the Ledger of Land, which made them subject to property tax.
Ledger of Land (Minami-kojima, Kita-kojima, Uotsuri and Kuba Islands, Aza Tonoshiro, Ishigaki City)
1932 (Showa 7) –
[Repository] Ishigaki Branch Office, Naha District Legal Affairs Bureau
Permission and Licensing
June 6, 1922 (Taisho 11)
Prospecting for phosphate
Prospecting for phosphate in the Senkaku Islands requires permission from the Government. In the Official Gazette, Tatsushiro Koga’s application in 1910 for prospecting in Yaeyama Village was permitted, while another application in 1922 for prospecting in Kita-kojima and Minami-kojima Islands was rejected.
Official Gazette No. 2952
Excerpt
Mining Matters
Prospecting permit not granted
(text omitted)
Kita-kojima belonging to Tonoshiro in Ishigaki Village, Yaeyama County, Okinawa Prefecture 84, 235 Phosphorus
Taira Village, Miyako County, Okinawa Prefecture Oshiro Koei and one other 6, 29 Reason: Permit not granted as completely overlaps with Phosphorus Mining District 245 in Okinawa Prefecture Prospecting Rights Registration
Minami-kojima belonging to Tonoshiro in Ishigaki Village, Yaeyama County,
Okinawa Prefecture 103, 743 As above
As above 6, 29
Reason: As above
Others
1899–1904 (Meiji 32 – Meiji 37)
Okinawa Prefecture implemented temporary land consolidation projects, taking measurement of the islands in Yaeyama, including the Senkaku Islands, and making official maps
After the establishment of Okinawa Prefecture in 1879, most of the administrative organizations were carried over from the time of the Ryukyu Dynasty. Okinawa Prefecture implemented drastic organizational reform from 1899, beginning with the reform of the land system (land consolidation projects). In these projects, measurements were taken of all the islands in Okinawa Prefecture to produce official maps (right). In addition, the land use was to be clarified, and the tax systems related to land were also reformed. Measurements were also taken of the Senkaku Islands, as islands in Yaeyama County, and the land use there was designated as undeveloped land.
Complete Map of Tonoshiro Village, Ohama Magiri, Yaeyama County / "Land Consolidation Map – the Senkaku Islands"
December 12, 1902 (Meiji 35)
[Repository] History Editorial Department, Board of Education, Ishigaki City
1930 (Showa 5)
Zenji Koga applied for the sale of the four islands of the Senkaku islands.
The Okinawa Forestry Office implemented an on-site survey to assess the land value.
At the request of Zenji Koga for selling the state-owned land, the Okinawa Forestry Office, Forestry Bureau, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry dispatched its officials to the four islands of the Senkaku islands (Miniami-kojima, Kita-kojima, Uotsuri and Kuba Islands) to assess the land value. In the “Field survey logbook on the sale of Minami-Kojima and Kita-Kojima, Tonoshiro, Ishigaki Town, Yaeyama County in 1930,” geological characteristics, forestry conditions and other entries of each island are recorded.
Field survey logbook on the sale of Minami-Kojima and Kita-Kojima, Tonoshiro, Ishigaki Town, Yaeyama County in 1930
Okinawa Forestry Office, Kumamoto Forestry Bureau
1930 (Showa 5)
[Repository] National Archives of Japan
