However, it is considered that, based on the circumstances surrounding the inevitable competition against marine transport as mentioned earlier, the Railway Bureau of Kobusho (the Ministry of Industry) having jurisdiction over the Japanese National Railways in those days had, in fact, already decided on this route prior to Yamagata's argument.
実際には前述のような事情のため、山縣の主張以前に当時国有鉄道を管轄していた工部省鉄道局が、このルートの採用を決めていたと思われている。