Iriomote

Iriomote is the largest island of Yaeyama, with wooded mountains separating coastal villages and cultivated ground. Its early modern history was shaped by Ryukyuan administration, the burden of tribute and movement between neighbouring islands. The head tax introduced in Yaeyama in 1637 made the supply of agricultural produce an enduring concern for island households.

The eighteenth century brought a series of specific changes. At Komi, bridges were completed and a shipyard established in 1715. Village meeting houses or schools followed at Uehara in 1723, Komi in 1726 and Sonai in 1728. Government-directed settlement redistributed people as well as obligations: Haimi was founded in 1734 with four hundred settlers from Hateruma. In 1749 the Komi shipyard moved to Funaura. Sakiyama was established in 1755 with migrants from Hateruma and several Iriomote villages. These foundations reveal an island actively reorganised within the Ryukyu kingdom, rather than a secluded forest beyond government. Maritime travel linked its fields and settlements to the wider Yaeyama economy even as the mountainous interior constrained movement.