Incorporation into Japan’s territory

History and Culture

In 1895, Japan duly acquired territorial sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands under international law, and they were incorporated into Japan’s territory.

On January 14, 1895, after carefully confirming that the Senkaku Islands were uninhabited islands and that there was no trace of the islands being ruled by other countries, Japan formally incorporated the Senkaku Islands into Japan’s territory by a Cabinet decision and placed them under the jurisdiction of Okinawa Prefecture.

These measures were carried out in accordance with the means of duly acquiring territorial sovereignty under international law (occupation of terra nullius). In the following year, a Japanese civilian began to develop the islands with permission from the Japanese Government. As a result, many Japanese people moved to the Senkaku Islands and ran businesses there, mainly fisheries but also dried bonito processing and feather collecting. The islands had over 200 inhabitants at one point, and taxes were collected from these inhabitants.

The Government conducted land surveys of the islands, kept a cadaster, and collected taxes.

Landscape of dried bonito factory in Uotsuri Island (1908)
[Repository] National Archives of Japan

Uotsuri Island in the Senkaku Islands (around 1908)
[Repository] Naha City Museum of History

Document by which the Minister of Home Affairs requested a Cabinet meeting

This is a document dated January 12, 1895, prepared by the Minister of Home Affairs for submission to the Cabinet when responding to the report of November 2, 1893, submitted to the Minister of Home Affairs by the Governor of Okinawa Prefecture. In the report, the Governor proposed to the Minister that Kuba and Uotsuri Islands be placed under the jurisdiction of Okinawa Prefecture and national markers be erected to regulate fishing, since, in recent years, people had started attempting fishery operations around the islands, which had been uninhabited until then. The Minister requested a Cabinet meeting with the aim of granting the Governor’s wish to incorporate the islands into the prefecture.

Excerpt

Kuba and Uotsuri Islands located to the northwest of the Yaeyama Islands in Okinawa Prefecture used to be uninhabited islands, but recently people have been going to these islands to attempt fishery and other activities, and such activities need to be controlled.

Viscount Yasushi Nomura, Minister of Home Affairs Hibetsu No. 133 : On the matter of erecting markers Kobun Ruishu (the compiled records of the precedents and law) Edition No. 19, 1895 January 12, 1895 (Meiji 28) [Repository] National Archives of Japan

Cabinet decision permitting Okinawa Prefecture to erect national markers and have jurisdiction over the Senkaku Islands

This document contains the text of the Cabinet decision permitting Okinawa Prefecture to have jurisdiction over Uotsuri and Kuba Islands (dated January 14, 1895) and the text of a draft instruction to the prefecture.

Excerpt

we [the members of the Cabinet] have no particular objection regarding the matter of permitting the erection of markers as requested by the Governor of Okinawa Prefecture by permitting the Prefecture to have jurisdiction over the islands.

Cabinet decision / Draft Instruction / On the matter of erecting markers, as the request stated Kobun Ruishu (the compiled records of the precedents and law) Edition No. 19, 1895 January 14, 1895 (Meiji 28) [Repository] National Archives of Japan

Ledger of Land (Minamikojima, Kitakojima, Uotsuri and Kuba Islands, Aza Tonoshiro, Ishigaki City
1932 (Showa 7) –
[Repository] Ishigaki Branch Office, Naha District Legal Affairs Bureau

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