Yaeyama Islands - Yaeyamaretto

These islands are located at the southernmost tip of the Ryukyu Islands in Okinawa Prefecture. They are also called the Yaeyama Islands. They belong to the Sakishima Islands of the Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa Prefecture) and are the administrative district of Ishigaki City, Taketomi Town, and Yonaguni Town. They are broadly divided into a high island group made up mainly of the Yaeyama Group of the Paleogene system on a base of Paleozoic metamorphic rocks, and a low island group made up mainly of Quaternary Ryukyu limestone. The former includes the main islands of Ishigaki, Iriomote, Yonaguni, and Kohama, while the latter include Taketomi, Kuroshima, Aragusuku, and Hateruma. There are ten of these inhabited islands, and the rest are uninhabited. In the Yaeyama dialect, islands with mountains and abundant water, such as the Takashima group, are called Tangun (land of rice fields) islands because they are centered around rice paddies, while the low islands are called Nungun (land of fields) islands.

The Senkaku Islands are generally included in this archipelago, but geologically, the Senkaku Islands are separated from other islands by the Okinawa Trough and are located on the continental shelf of the East China Sea.

There are sea routes from Ishigaki Island to each island, and an air route to Yonaguni Island. In recent years, tourism has been gaining attention, with Ishigaki, Iriomote, and Taketomi Islands as bases, and the area has been designated as Iriomote-Ishigaki National Park. It retains a rare subtropical natural beauty in Japan. Population: 52,438 (2010).

[Shigekazu Mezaki]

"Yaeyama Folklore, by Kishaba Eikin, 2 volumes (1977, Okinawa Times Co.)" ▽ "Study of Okinawa's Yaeyama, by the Okinawa Yaeyama Research Committee of the Okinawa Culture Research Institute, Hosei University (2000, Sagami Shobo)" ▽ "History of the lives of the Yaeyama people in the early modern period - The network of seas and islands surrounding Sekisei Lagoon, by Tokuno Sumi (2007, Ronju Shorin)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

沖縄県琉球諸島(りゅうきゅうしょとう)の最南端に位置する島々。八重山諸島ともいう。琉球諸島（沖縄県）のうち先島諸島(さきしましょとう)に属し、石垣市と竹富町(たけとみちょう)・与那国町(よなぐにちょう)の行政区域になる。古生代の変成岩類を基盤に古第三系の八重山層群を主体とする高島群と、第四紀琉球石灰岩を主体とする低島群とに大別される。前者は主島の石垣島、西表島(いりおもてじま)、与那国島、小浜島などで、後者は竹富島、黒島、新城島(あらぐすくじま)、波照間島(はてるまじま)などである。これら有人島が10島あり、その他は無人島である。なお八重山方言では、高島群のように山があり水の豊富な島を、水田中心であったためタングン（田の国）島、一方、低島をヌングン（野の国）島という呼称がある。

　一般に尖閣諸島(せんかくしょとく)もこの列島に含めるが、地質構造上、尖閣は沖縄トラフで他の島々と分離され、東シナ海の大陸棚に立地する。

　石垣島を中心に航路が各島と開設され、与那国島には空路もある。近年石垣、西表、竹富島を拠点としてサンゴ礁など観光が脚光を浴び、この一帯は西表石垣国立公園に指定されている。日本のなかではまれな亜熱帯の自然美を保持している。人口5万2438（2010）。

［目崎茂和］

『喜舎場永珣著『八重山民俗誌』全2巻（1977・沖縄タイムス社）』▽『法政大学沖縄文化研究所沖縄八重山調査委員会著『沖縄八重山の研究』（2000・相模書房）』▽『得能壽美著『近世八重山の民衆生活史――石西礁湖をめぐる海と島々のネットワーク』（2007・榕樹書林）』

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