cover image: Masao Shimojo The Name “Sea of Japan” Is the Only Internationally Established Name (The Debate Conce

20.500.12592/r2q909

Masao Shimojo The Name “Sea of Japan” Is the Only Internationally Established Name (The Debate Conce

10 May 2021

In this regard, the South Korean government has claimed that “East Sea” has been used for 2000 years and should be used instead of “Sea of Japan.” The basis for the claim that “East Sea” has been used for 2000 years is the phrase “beaches of the East Sea” from the Book of the Sage King Tongmyŏng of the Koguryŏ1 Annals (高句麗本紀 始祖東明聖王条 ) in the Samguk sagi (三国史記 , History of the Three Kingdoms). [...] Now, where were the “beaches of the East Sea” located? In the Samguk sagi, the phrase “beaches of the East Sea” was used to refer to the area where the Sage King Tongmyŏng, the 43 Japan Review Vol.4 No.1 Summer 2020 The Name “Sea of Japan” Is the Only Internationally Established Name (The Debate Concerning the Naming of the Sea of Japan —Analysis of the South Korean Government’s Arguments based on. [...] Looking at information about Koguryŏ in books such as the “Treatise on Geography (地理志 )” in the Hanshu (漢書 , Book of Han), the “Treatise on Geography” in the Hou Hanshu (後漢書 , Book of the Later Han), and the “Records of Wei: An Account of the Easterners (魏志東夷伝 )” in the Sanguozhi (三国 志 , Records of the Three Kingdoms),3 Koguryŏ was founded near the upper reaches of the Yalu River in the 1st Centur. [...] The South Korean government argues that Korea was unable to assert in 1929 that the name of the sea was the “East Sea” because it was under Japanese colonial rule, but at the time of the Sea of Japan’s inclusion into the Limits of Oceans and Seas, “East Sea” was used in Korea as a name for the coastal waters off the Korean Peninsula. [...] It is connected with Manchuria to the north, and is demarcated by the Sea of Japan to the east.” Also the Tae-Han chiji (大韓地誌 , Atlas of the Great Korean Empire, published 1899), translated, edited, and compiled by Hyǒn Ch’ae (玄采 ) of the Korean Empire, states that Korea is “demarcated by the Sea of Japan in the east and the beaches of the Yellow Sea in the west.” 48 Japan Review Vol.4 No.1 Summer.
Pages
10
Published in
Japan