No.324 Monthly Yaima July 2021 issue

Special feature: "The rise and fall of Yaeyama bonito flakes"

A special feature by Kawahara Shigeo, winner of the 8th Nanzansha Yaima Culture Award for "The Path of Taiwan Repatriation."

"Yaeyama was an island of dried bonito flakes.... The smoke rising from the baikan-ya (roasting and drying shops) was beautiful smoke, a smoke that illuminated the future of Yaeyama.

However, this "smoke" will eventually clear. Tracing the history of the flourishing bonito industry back to the Meiji period, the bonito fishing industry on each of the Yaeyama Islands' remote islands is highlighted.

So why did Yaeyama bonito flakes decline? Let's explore a part of Yaeyama's history.