Yabiji
largest coral reef group in Japan, containing over 100 coral reefs and spanning about 17 by 6.5 km
Yabiji (八重干瀬; Miyako: /jaːpɨ̥ɕi/), also known as Yaebiji, Yaebise, Yaebishi, and Yapiji and appearing on some historical Western nautical charts as Providence Reef, is the largest coral reef group in Japan. Located in the Miyako Islands, it contains over 100 coral reefs. Known for being above water level several times a year, most visibly around March 3 of the lunar calendar (around the beginning of April in the Gregorian calendar), it was made a Natural Monument of Japan in 2013.
Geography
Centered roughly around 25°00′N 125°16′E, Yabiji stretches across an area between 5 or 6 kilometres (3.1 or 3.7 mi; 2.7 or 3.2 nmi) and 22 kilometres (14 mi; 12 nmi) north of Ikema Island in the Miyako Islands in Okinawa Prefecture in the Ryukyu Islands. It measures about 17 kilometres (11 mi; 9.2 nmi) from north to south and 6.5 kilometres (4.0 mi; 3.5 nmi) from east to west. It is formed by a cluster of smaller coral reefs (reef groups) centered on eight large coral reefs that form what is known as the Main Reef (or Great Reef). The total number of coral reefs is over 100.
Most of the reefs that make up Yabiji are named after various parts of the human body, such as Kanamara (カナマラ), meaning head, Du (ドゥ) meaning torso, or body in Ryukyuan, and Ifu (胃) meaning stomach. Other reefs in Yabiji are named for animals, for example, Budai (ブダイ), meaning parrotfish. The reefs also have local names, such as Irautsu (要ら打つ), meaning "exile", and Fugausa (フガウサ), meaning "flea", and there are about 130 of these names..
The public source identifies “Yabiji” as largest coral reef group in Japan, containing over 100 coral reefs and spanning about 17 by 6.5 km. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Yabiji, largest and coral.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11391796. Authority coordinates are 25.000, 125.267. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2013.
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This entry incorporates text from “Yabiji” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.