shima-uta

is a genre of songs originating from the Amami Islands, northern Ryukyu Islands in the southwest of Japan. It became known nationwide in the 2000s with the success of young pop singers from Amami Ōshima such as Hajime Chitose and Atari Kōsuke.

== Names and concepts == Although shima-uta is often considered to represent Amami's musical tradition, it is just one of various music genres. Amami's traditional songs can be classified into three categories: kami-uta (religious songs sung by priestesses) including omori, tahabë and kuchi, warabe-uta (children's songs), and ''min'yo'' (folk songs). Amami's ''min'yo is further divided into three genres: gyōji-uta (songs for annual events) including songs for hachigatsu-odori, shigoto-uta (work songs), associated with rice planting, sailing, etc., and asobi-uta, which are sung at recreational gatherings. In a narrower sense, shima-uta refers to asobi-uta and is also known as sanshin-uta, zashiki-uta (lit. room songs) and nagusami-uta (lit. comforting songs). In a broader sense, shima-uta also covers gyōji-uta and shigoto-uta''.