The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 ''Yaeyama-rettō'', also 八重山諸島 ''Yaeyama-shotō'', Yaeyama: ''Yaima'',

Yonaguni , one of the Yaeyama Islands, is the westernmost inhabited island of Japan, lying from the east coast of Taiwan, between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean proper. The island is administered as the Towns of Japan, town of Yonaguni, Okina ...

: ''Daama'', Okinawan: ''Yeema'', Northern Ryukyuan: ''Yapema'') are an

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Archi ...

in the southwest of Okinawa Prefecture,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, and cover . The islands are located southwest of the

Miyako Islands The (also Miyako Jima group) are a group of islands in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, belonging to the Ryukyu Islands. They are situated between the Okinawa Island and Yaeyama Islands. In the early 1870s, the population of the islands was estim ...

, part of the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

archipelago. The Yaeyama Islands are the remotest part of Japan from the main islands and contain Japan's most southern (

Hateruma Hateruma (波照間島; ''Hateruma-jima''; Yaeyama: ''Patirooma'', Hateruma dialect: ''Besїma'' "our island", Okinawan: ''Hatiruma'', Northern Ryukyuan: ''Patara'') is an island in the Yaeyama District of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It is th ...

) and most western (

) inhabited islands. The city of Ishigaki serves as the political, cultural, and economic center of the Yaeyama Islands.

Natural history

The Yaeyama Islands are home to numerous species of subtropical and tropical plants, and

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evoluti ...

forests. The islands produce

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

and

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

s. Coral reefs around the islands are ideal habitats for

dolphin A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...

s, and larger fish such as

manta ray Manta rays are large rays belonging to the genus ''Mobula'' (formerly its own genus ''Manta''). The larger species, '' M. birostris'', reaches in width, while the smaller, '' M. alfredi'', reaches . Both have triangular Pectoral fin#AnchPect ...

s and

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, ...

s. Before being wiped out by humans,

whale Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...

s and

dugong The dugong (; ''Dugong dugon'') is a marine mammal. It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest m ...

s were common as well, and Yaeyama once had the largest population of dugongs in the Ryukyu Islands. On Aragusuku Island, there is a ''

Utaki Utaki (御嶽) is an Okinawan term for a sacred place, often a grove, cave, or mountain. They are central to the Ryukyuan religion and the former noro priestess system. Although the term ''utaki'' is used throughout the Ryukyu Islands, the te ...

'' which 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 any aliens without permission will be driven out by force. The islands have been recognised as an

Important Bird Area An Important Bird and Biodiversity Area (IBA) is an area identified using an internationally agreed set of criteria as being globally important for the conservation of bird populations. IBA was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife Int ...

(IBA) by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because they support populations of resident

Japanese wood pigeon The Japanese wood pigeon (''Columba janthina'') is a species of columbid bird. It is found in East Asia along shorelines of the Pacific's Korea Strait, Philippine Sea and East China Sea. They are believed to be the largest representative of the ...

s and Ryukyu green pigeons, wintering

ruddy turnstone The ruddy turnstone (''Arenaria interpres'') is a small cosmopolitan wading bird, one of two species of turnstone in the genus ''Arenaria''. It is now classified in the sandpiper family Scolopacidae but was formerly sometimes placed in the plov ...

s, migrating

grey-tailed tattler The grey-tailed tattler (''Tringa brevipes'', formerly ''Heteroscelus brevipes''Banks, Richard C.; Cicero, Carla; Dunn, Jon L.; Kratter, Andrew W.; Rasmussen, Pamela C.; Remsen, J. V. Jr.; Rising, James D. & Stotz, Douglas F. (2006):Forty-seventh ...

s, and breeding colonies of bridled, roseate and

black-naped tern The black-naped tern (''Sterna sumatrana'') is an oceanic tern mostly found in tropical and subtropical areas of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. It is rarely found inland. Description The tern is about 30 cm long with a wing length of 21� ...

s. ''

Satakentia liukiuensis ''Satakentia liukiuensis'' (satake palm, yaeyama-yashi apanese ヤエヤマヤシ satakentia palm, yaeyama palm), is a species of palm tree. They are endemic to Ishigaki Island and Iriomote Island in the Yaeyama Islands, the south-westernmost of ...

'', the only species in the genus ''

Satakentia ''Satakentia liukiuensis'' (satake palm, yaeyama-yashi apanese ヤエヤマヤシ satakentia palm, yaeyama palm), is a species of palm tree. They are endemic to Ishigaki Island and Iriomote Island in the Yaeyama Islands, the south-westernmost of ...

'', is a palm tree that is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the two islands of Ishigaki and

Iriomote is the largest of the Yaeyama Islands of Japan, and the second largest in Okinawa Prefecture after Okinawa Island itself. The island has an area of and a 2005 population of 2,347. The island does not have an airstrip, and most visitors — ...

in the Yaeyama Islands.

Geography

The islands form the southern part of the volcanic

. The administrative division of

Yaeyama District is a district located in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The district covers all of the Yaeyama Islands except Ishigaki and the disputed Senkaku Islands. As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 5,579 and the density of 15.37 pers ...

covers all of the Yaeyama Islands, except Ishigaki and the disputed Senkaku Islands.

Inhabited islands

Ishigaki City **

Ishigaki Island , also known as ''Ishigakijima'', is a Japanese island south-west of Okinawa Hontō and the second-largest island of the Yaeyama Island group, behind Iriomote Island. It is located approximately south-west of Okinawa Hontō. It is within the ...

(''Ishigaki-jima'') * Flag of Taketomi, Okinawa

Taketomi Town (

) ** Aragusuku Island (''Aragusuku-jima'') ** Hateruma Island (''Hateruma-jima'') **

Iriomote Island is the largest of the Yaeyama Islands of Japan, and the second largest in Okinawa Prefecture after Okinawa Island itself. The island has an area of and a 2005 population of 2,347. The island does not have an airstrip, and most visitors — ov ...

(''Iriomote-jima'') ** Kayama Island (''Kayama-jima'') **

Kohama Island ( Yaeyama: ''Kumoo'', Okinawan: ''Kubama'') is an island in the Yaeyama Islands group at the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands chain, and part of Taketomi, Yaeyama District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The island has an area of , with a sur ...

(''Kohama-jima'') ** Kuroshima Island (''Kuroshima'') ** Sotobanari Island (''Sotobanari-jima'') (officially uninhabited) **

Taketomi Island is an island in the town of Taketomi, within Yaeyama District of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Taketomi is one of the Yaeyama Islands. The population of Taketomi Island was 323 as of January 2012. Geography Taketomi Island is located south of I ...

(''Taketomi-jima'') **

Yubu Island ''Yubu'', translated as Pace(s) of Yu or Step(s) of Yu, is the basic mystic dance step of religious Daoism. This ancient walking or dancing technique typically involves dragging one foot after another, and is explained in reference to the leg ...

(''Yubu-jima'') ** Hatoma Island (''Hatoma-jima'') * Flag of Yonaguni, Okinawa

Yonaguni Town (

) **

Yonaguni Island , one of the Yaeyama Islands, is the westernmost inhabited island of Japan, lying from the east coast of Taiwan, between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean proper. The island is administered as the town of Yonaguni, Yaeyama Gun, Okinawa ...

(''Yonaguni-jima'')

Culture

The

Yonaguni language The Yonaguni language ( ''Dunan Munui'') is a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken by around 400 people on the island of Yonaguni, in the Ryukyu Islands, the westernmost of the chain lying just east of Taiwan. It is most closely related to Yaeyama. ...

is the indigenous language of the island of

. The

Yaeyama language The Yaeyama language (, ''Yaimamuni'') is a Southern Ryukyuan language spoken in the Yaeyama Islands, the southernmost inhabited island group in Japan, with a combined population of about 53,000. The Yaeyama Islands are situated in the Southern ...

is the indigenous language of the rest of the islands.

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

is now the native language of most of the population. The Yaeyama Islands are home to the production of traditional Okinawan textiles.

Mushaama Festival

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.

References

External links

Photo gallery of Yaeyama Islands
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yaeyama Islands Archipelagoes of Japan Ryukyu Islands Sakishima Islands Islands of Okinawa Prefecture Archipelagoes of the Pacific Ocean Important Bird Areas of the Nansei Islands