The 1771 Great Yaeyama Tsunami is also known as the Meiwa tsunami.
The event struck the Yaeyama and Miyako Islands of the Ryukyu Islands on April 24, 1771. It followed the Yaeyama Great Earthquake, whose epicenter was south-southeast of Ishigaki Island. Historical records describe an enormous tsunami that caused far more destruction than the earthquake shaking itself.
The name “Meiwa” comes from the Japanese era in which the disaster occurred. In Japanese, it is commonly called the Meiwa Great Tsunami, or Meiwa no Ōtsunami. The era name Meiwa lasted from 1764 to 1772, placing the disaster near the end of that period.
Ishigaki Island and Miyako Island suffered extensive flooding, deaths, destroyed homes, and saltwater damage to farmland. Modern estimates place the maximum run-up on Ishigaki at about 30 meters, though older accounts gave much higher figures. Genroku, Keio, and Taisho are different Japanese era names and do not identify this tsunami.