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Iriomote Ishigaki NP, Okinawa
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A dairy farmer inspired Kabira’s pearl breakthrough: Susumu Tokashiki applied a cattle-dehydration tip to oyster surgery, reducing failed implants. In 1970, the farm harvested 1,600 pearls, up from 200–600.
In May 1975, Mikimoto gave Queen Elizabeth II a 10-mm black pearl harvested at Kabira Bay during her visit to Mikimoto Pearl Island in Toba—a rare local gem presented to royalty.
Nunosara-hama, on Kabira Bay’s northwest shore, was a worksite as well as a beach: women made Yaeyama jōfu as tribute to the Ryukyu court, then bleached the cloth there.
A local legend says a young couple from Kabira and opposite-bank Nakasuji became the islets named 婿離 (Groom Islet) and 嫁離 (Bride Islet) after a tragic romance. Their names keep the story tied to the bay.
The postwar farm’s first harvest in 1954 yielded 112 black pearls, all poor in color and shape. When mainland staff called the work impossible and left in 1958, only 3 local workers kept experimenting.
Kabira’s pearl oysters had a natural advantage: Mount Omoto’s ridges shield the bay from typhoons, while a channel brings in ocean currents and streams from forested slopes carry nutrients into the water.
Before modern ports, cargo boats carrying tribute from Ishigaki to the Ryukyu court sheltered in Kabira’s calm waters while waiting for favorable winds. Shore shrines dedicated to safe voyages still remain.
Kabira’s island names preserve odd little stories: records trace Maya-nari to a “wicked cat” said to have killed chickens abandoned on the islet; other names recall fan palms and ebony trees.
A bivalve once considered extinct was rediscovered attached to sea cucumbers. A government-backed tidal-flat survey later recorded the Hinomaru-zukin in Kabira Bay and neighboring Nagura Bay.
Japan’s Environment Ministry lists Kabira among its important wetlands. Its unusually enclosed inner-bay habitat includes tidal flats where crabs and mud shrimp live, alongside a rich community of bottom-dwelling animals.
Kabira received protected-water status in 1974. Okinawa’s current collection rules still prohibit taking most aquatic life there, with limited exceptions such as fish, squid, octopus and sea lettuce.
Fields stretch from Kabira Bay toward Mount Omoto, and local farming rites are directed toward the peak. These include prayers for rain and water, and “sukuma,” a ceremony welcoming the first rice ears into the paddy.
