Back in 1897, two years after the end of the First Sino-Japanese War, anthropologist Ryuzo Torii became the first Japanese person to land on Lanyu (called Koto-sho at the time). He heard the local tribesmen using the word "yami" to address each other in their native tongue; this is the source of the tribe name Yami.
時間回到 1897 年、滿清甲午戰敗後第二年，日本人類學家鳥居龍藏成為首位登上蘭嶼島（當時稱作「紅頭嶼」）的日本人，在島民的言談之中，他聽到他們用「Yami」稱呼彼此，這就是「雅美」之名的由來。