How Long Since Last Time
ぶりに measures the gap since something last happened.
- 三年ぶりに会いました。(We met for the first time in three years.)
The English usually needs "for the first time in", which is longer than the Japanese and easy to forget.
It Needs a Duration
The noun before ぶり must be a length of time, not a point in time:
| ○ 十年ぶり | a duration |
| ○ 久しぶり | a vague duration |
| × 去年ぶり | a specific year |
久しぶり
The most common form by far, and worth knowing as a unit:
- お久しぶりです。(Long time no see.)
It is a greeting in its own right, and the お is what makes it polite.
ぶりの Before a Noun
- 十年ぶりの再会(a reunion after ten years)
Not the Same as ごとに
ごとに is a repeating interval. ぶりに is a single gap that has just ended. 三年ごとに means every three years; 三年ぶりに means after a three-year absence.