Japan and Russia Exchange Sakhalin Claims for Eighteen Kuril Islands

The 1855 treaty had left Sakhalin without a boundary separating Japanese and Russian possession. Disputes persisted. Within Japan’s government, Soejima Taneomi favored retaining the whole island or dividing it; Kuroda Kiyotaka argued for abandoning Japanese claims.

Kuroda’s position prevailed. Enomoto Takeaki departed for Russia in 1874 with instructions to exchange Sakhalin claims for the Russian-held islands northward from Urup. Negotiations with the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Asian Department culminated in Enomoto and Alexander Gorchakov signing the treaty on May 7, 1875. Ratifications were exchanged on August 22. The treaty listed eighteen transferred islands, from Shumshu to Urup: it did not newly transfer the southern islands already assigned to Japan in 1855.

Territorial agreement carried consequences for residents. In 1875, 841 Sakhalin Ainu were transported to Sōya in northern Hokkaido; in 1876 they were forcibly moved again, to Tsui-shikari in the Ishikari region. The diplomatic settlement removed competing state claims to Sakhalin, while these relocations separated the displaced people from their established homes and livelihoods.