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==Culture==
==Culture==
[[File:Miruku.jpg|right|thumb|320px|Miruku coming ashore (left) in a festival, as seen in a display at the [[National Museum of Japanese History]]]]
The Yaeyama Islands have their own rich folk traditions, related to but distinctive from those of elsewhere in Ryûkyû. Like many of the islands or island groups within the Ryukyus, the Yaeyamas are also home to several distinctive languages, largely not mutually intelligible with the languages of other parts of the archipelago.
Though ''[[Asadoya yunta]]'', one of the most popular Okinawan folk songs today, is widely-known by a series of Japanese-language lyrics, the song initially originates in Yaeyama, with lyrics in a local Yaeyama language.<ref>"[http://ryukyushimpo.jp/news/storyid-40070-storytopic-121.html Asadoya yunta]." ''Okinawa Compact Encyclopedia'' 沖縄コンパクト事典. Ryukyu Shimpo. 1 March 2003.</ref>
The Yaeyamas are home to numerous sacred sites (known as ''on'' in Yaeyama, and as ''[[utaki]]'' on Okinawa) of the indigenous [[Ryukyuan religion]]. The [[bodhisattva]] [[Miroku]], adapted into local forms, is also widely worshipped in the region.<ref>Gallery label "Ishigaki-shi Tonoshiro no Miruku-jin" 石垣市登野城のミルク神, Okinawa Prefectural Museum.</ref>
The [[Yaeyama Gongendo|Yaeyama Gongendô]] on Ishigaki Island, built in the 1740s, is considered the only surviving example of traditional Ryukyuan shrine architecture belonging to the complex of indigenous Ryukyuan religions.<ref>Suzuki Kakichi, Miyamoto Chôjirô and Ushikawa Yoshiyuki. "Ryûkyûan Architecture: Its History and Features." in ''Okinawa bijutsu zenshû'' 沖縄美術全集. vol. 5. Okinawa Times, 1989.</ref>
The [[Yaeyama Gongendo|Yaeyama Gongendô]] on Ishigaki Island, built in the 1740s, is considered the only surviving example of traditional Ryukyuan shrine architecture belonging to the complex of indigenous Ryukyuan religions.<ref>Suzuki Kakichi, Miyamoto Chôjirô and Ushikawa Yoshiyuki. "Ryûkyûan Architecture: Its History and Features." in ''Okinawa bijutsu zenshû'' 沖縄美術全集. vol. 5. Okinawa Times, 1989.</ref>
