Irabu Island

Irabu Island, is an island in Miyakojima City, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. The island is connected to Miyako Island by a bridge Irabu Ohashi, which was completed in January 2015. Irabu Island is also connected via six bridges to Shimoji-shima. There are multiple language variants spoken on the island: Nakachi-Irabu, Kuninaka, Sawada-Nagahama, and Sarahama.

Etymology

The term comes from the Japanization of the Miyakoan name Irav, in turn from Proto-Ryukyuan *erabu. Cognates in other Ryukyuan languages include Okinoerabu [dialect cluster|Okinoerabu] irabu, referring to Okinoerabujima.