Amasan, traditional female divers

Ever heard of amasan, traditional female divers? They gather seaweed (such as wakame), shellfish, sea urchin and sometimes pearl, without diving gear, only mask. Ama literally means "sea person". In Japan they are mostly known as amasan.

Amasan have a long tradition. Unlike movies or manga displays, amasan usually wore only short pants. Any full body cloth would have affected their swimming.

Present day amasan wears a wetsuit that protects her skin in cold water. Sometimes in photos amasan is seen wearing a long white cloth. This was however not common in 50's or 60's, instead they wore very stylish swimming pants that seemed follow the latest trend. Leaving their upper body exposed was not a problem as there were not too many men around - plus they could get nice all-over tan without bikini lines! Not that amasan would care about such a thing though.

Amasan practiced special diving technique which allows them to hold breath for a long time. Someone said that this technique is based on hyperventilation before diving but I'm not sure. When diving deep, they went to sea with huge boat, in groups larger than 15 members. Usually the boat was operated by a male captain.

Usually amasan seems to have a little a bit round body rather than very slim. It seems to be that their bodies had a strong muscle because of the very demanding physical labour - wet seaweed must have been very heavy!

However, the little extra fat of women's skin usually make them suitable for this job rather than men, as the body fat makes women more stronger for cold water. This could be the reason why amasan are women.

Amasan seemed to earn more than farmers. Their products such as seaweed used to be in high demand before the artificial culturing begun. Their husbands were also often working in the sea as fishermen. They were not rich, certainly being ama was not a high class job, but it would seem many amasan lived a happy life, without much stress about welfare of their families.

They were said to be strong for sake, and have a cheerful character. They ate their lunches together in the beach and gossiped, perhaps about their husbands. The photos of the book I saw in Japan, often displayed young children among them. It would seem that amasan took their children with them to work.

Their job, however, was not perfectly safe. Sometimes their leg got caught in seaweed or they cut themselves underwater with their knife. Sometimes a large wave caught them or they hit their head to rocks on the shore.

Amasan must have especially brave nature, the book displayed a photo of them sitting in the rock which was hit by dangerously strong waves. They were just laughing and enjoying it as if it was a shower.

The working season of amasan lasts from March to early December. A famous place to see amasan is Toba city, located near bay of Ise, southeast or east from Osaka.

There is a story which tells about young amasan, called Kiyomi. Since she was afraid of deep water, she was disgrace for her family, which all female members were ama. But once, she met a sea turtle which teach her to dive in deep waters.

Famous ethnologist Segawa Kiyoko wrote a famous book about amasan. She is also known by her extensive study about kimono.

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