For generations, women along Japan’s Ise-Shima coastline have entered the sea without scuba equipment or oxygen tanks to gather seafood from the seabed. Known as Ama, or ‘women of the sea’, these traditional free divers rely on breath-holding, years of experience and an intimate knowledge of the ocean. Some have continued the demanding work well into their 70s and 80s. In 2012, The Japan Times profiled Reiko Nomura, an 80-year-old former Ama diver in Osatsu, Mie Prefecture, who had spent most of her life diving for abalone and other sea creatures. Today, the tradition survives mainly in coastal communities, although the number of active Ama continues to decline. Their knowledge represents a remarkable form of traditional ecological expertise, shaped by generations of close observation of tides, seasons, marine life and changing conditions along Japan’s coast.
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