The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 Yaeyama-rettō, also 八重山諸島 Yaeyama-shotō, Yaeyama: Yaima, Yonaguni: Daama, Okinawan: Yeema, Northern Ryukyuan: やへまYapema) are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and cover 591.46 square kilometres (228.36 sq mi).[1] The islands are located southwest of the Miyako Islands, part of the Ryukyu Islands archipelago.[2] The Yaeyama Islands are the remotest part of Japan from the main islands and contain Japan's most southern (Hateruma) and most western (Yonaguni) inhabited islands.[3] The city of Ishigaki serves as the political, cultural, and economic center of the Yaeyama Islands.[4] On maps dating to the 1700s, the Yaeyama Group of Islands appears as the "Majico Sima Group",[5][6] "Nambu-soto Islands",[7] "Nambu Soto",[8] and the "Taipin Islands".[9]
The name Yaeyama literally means "multilayered mountains", and is related to the native name YaimainYaeyama, which possibly comes from a reconstructed Proto-Ryukyuan form *jajama (pronounced *yayama with tone class A).[10]
The Yaeyama Islands are home to numerous species of subtropical and tropical plants and mangrove forests.[3][11] The islands produce sugarcane and pineapples.[2][12]
Coral reefs around the islands are ideal habitats for dolphins, sea turtles, and larger fish such as manta rays and whale sharks. Before being wiped out by humans, whales and dugongs were common as well, and Yaeyama once had the largest population of dugongs in the Ryukyu Islands. On Aragusuku Island, there is an utaki or sacred place that specially enshrines hunted dugongs with their skulls, but non-residents are not permitted to enter unless they receive special permission from inhabitants, and it is said that anyone without permission will be driven out by force.
The Yonaguni language is the indigenous language of the island of Yonaguni. The Yaeyama language is the indigenous language of the rest of the islands. Japanese is now the native language of most of the population.
The Yaeyama Islands are home to the production of traditional Okinawan textiles.[2]
14 July: Mushaama Festival. On Hateruma Island, this harvest festival is celebrated during Obon. It features a parade of the local fertility god Miruku and his children (the local children), shishi ("lion") dances, and staff dances.
^"自然環境の保全に関する指針 八重山編（陸域）" [Guidelines for conservation of the natural environment]. Okinawa Prefectural Government (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-01-15.
^"Yaeyama islands". BirdLife Data Zone. BirdLife International. 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
^Dransfield, John; Uhl, Natalie W.; Asmussen, Conny B.; Baker, William J.; Harley, Madeline M.; Lewis, Carl E. (2008). Genera Palmarum: The Evolution and Classification of Palms. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. ISBN978-1-84246-182-2.
Ishigaki City
Taketomi Town (Yaeyama District)
Yonaguni Town (Yaeyama District)
