They get from the bottom of the sea shells with pearls, edible mollusks, algae - everything that cannot be obtained with ordinary fishing equipment.
In Japan, ama divers are exclusively women. Men are also engaged in this type of sea fishing, but in purely auxiliary roles. They deliver their girlfriends in boats to the place of fishing, and then follow the divers in order to come to their aid in case of danger or pull the ama out of the water by the rope attached to her belt. Naturally, this leadership persists in the ama villages and on the ground. It is women divers who are considered the breadwinners of the family. They are served the first cup of rice at the table, although no one takes care of the housework from them.
Their work is not easy. Three times a day, all year round, the ama go to sea, where they spend one and a half to two hours. Most often, they take an iron ingot weighing 10 kg with them into the boat in order to get to the bottom as quickly as possible. Each dive takes 1-1.5 minutes. Coming up to restore breathing, the ama carefully exhales air through clenched teeth. At this moment, a characteristic light whistle is heard over the sea. They work, as a rule, at a depth of 15-20 meters, sometimes deeper - up to 40 meters. If a girl dives from a boat, the rower takes the prey. Shore divers collect their shells and mollusks in wooden barrels floating on the surface.
They earn pretty well. The working season lasted from May 1, when the sea water is still riddled with winter cold, until the beginning of September. Each of the ama daily dives to a depth of 13-22 meters more than a hundred times. This is approximately 250-280 minutes (4-5 hours) in water daily. When working in shallow water, where the stocks of fishing objects are largely depleted, a diver earns up to $ 150 a day, at depths of 20 meters - 3 times more. For a season of such work, you can earn several tens of thousands of dollars. But there are fewer and fewer people who want such a job. Is it any wonder that, for example, in Sirahama, where 1.5 thousand divers worked 40 years ago, now less than 300 people are engaged in this trade. Their average age is 67, the youngest is 50, the oldest is 85!
The first mention of Japanese ama can be found in Chinese chronicles dating back to the end of the 3rd century BC. BC.
Today, a whole world of divers is scattered along the coast of Japan, whose traditional occupation is the underwater collection of oysters, pearl shells, sea urchins and algae.
They live in communities in their villages and practice professional apnea diving using traditional methods dating back to ancient times. Ama divers traditionally dived without clothes, except for a rope belt with a kaigan - a metal tool in the shape of a pig's hoof for tearing out shells and cutting edible algae. They were brought to the dive site in a boat. The Ama dived without fins, holding a 10-15 kilogram weight in their hands, or using small lead bars attached to the belt (the prototype of the modern weight belt). They were tied to the boat with a long rope passed through a block.
Having reached the bottom, the woman removed the ballast, which was immediately pulled to the surface by her friend, and quickly began to collect; at the right moment, she pulled the rope, and the man in the boat literally pulled her out of the water as quickly as possible. Today's technique has not changed, except that the ama wear isothermal overalls and fins. The apnea time ranges from 45 to 60 seconds, but can reach two minutes if necessary. The most experienced ama-oidizodo makes an average of 50 dives in the morning, followed by another 50 midday dives. Between these dives, she rests lying down, ventilating her lungs, which is accompanied by a long whistle heard from afar. A kind of brazier is installed on the boat, near which the diver warms up and drinks hot tea when it really gets cold.
About Korean divers. They call themselves "henyu" - women of the sea, and the whistle they make before appearing on the surface is called "sumbisori". These women represent a centuries-old tradition that has established matriarchy on their island. Jeju Island, located 80 km from the coast of Korea, lies at the intersection of the waterways of the Yellow and East China Seas.
The extraction of shellfish, sea urchins and octopuses has always occupied the most important place in the life of the island, but did not bring large incomes due to the high tax - men took this work if there was no other income. This continued until a group of women appeared in the 18th century who realized that they, unlike men, would not have to pay tax. This loophole in the laws laid the foundation for the traditional profession. Once divers were replaced by female divers, and there was no need to pay tax, part-time work turned into a profitable business, and women became the breadwinners of families.
Tens of thousands of divers have become the main factor in determining the economy of the island. The matriarchy flourished. Hanyu do not use scuba gear, which would only complicate an already difficult job. A wetsuit and mask is all they need to go down to the seabed for prey. Their skills not only feed - many divers became heroines of the Korean resistance during the Japanese occupation in World War II. It is a lifestyle and a way to make a living that is not easy to part with. Many of these women are already widows, but they do not give up and continue to dive for seafood lying at the bottom at a depth of about 20 m. about the dangers: sharks and poisonous jellyfish. But now their way of life and earnings is under threat. In the 1970s, the demand for seafood increased and the henyu became richer than ever before. There was even enough money to send her daughters to study at institutes. And the daughters did not want to return and dive. The numbers are not encouraging, to say the least. Half a century ago, there were more than 30 tons of henyu on the island. Now there are a little over 5,000 of them, and many of them are over 60. Those who are younger have decided to do tireless work on land - to receive tourists from the continent and from abroad. The development of tourism has increased the income of the male part of the population, and now they have equaled or exceeded the income of divers.
After 1-2 generations, the henyu will cease to have a great influence on the economy of the island. But the rest don't give up. Every day they gather on the beach, sing songs of love and loss, put on wetsuits and masks, and dive like their mothers and grandmothers did.
Japan is a country of traditions, and some of them do not die even with the advent of the latest technology. There is one kind of fishing industry in the country, which has given rise to legends around itself. This is the extraction of various seafood by female divers. In Japan, they are called "Ama", and only the representatives of the weaker sex become them. It can be rightfully considered that this material is dedicated to March 8th.
For the first time, female divers appeared in the waters of the Land of the Rising Sun 2000 years ago. Surprisingly, little has changed since then. Workers today do not use special equipment for immersion. It is also noteworthy that although men are engaged in this trade, they represent a very small percentage in total.
Basically, fishermen catch bottom creatures: abalone, sazae, sea urchin, trepang, Japanese spiny lobster. In addition, they do not disdain various edible algae, including gelidium and undaria. But the most desirable and expensive prey will be the single-leaved abalone mollusk (abalon). It's no joke to say, but for one copy you can get about $ 100 (there must be a joke about the exchange rate somewhere).
If you are curious why it is so expensive, then I will try to explain. The fact is that this creature likes to attach itself to rocky foundations and it is very difficult to tear it off from them. And this is in the conditions that the air supply in your lungs and the time is strictly limited. Previously, pearls could be found in such mollusks, which made them even more valuable. Now pearl fishing exists only for the eyes of tourists.
It should not be assumed that Ama was of a local nature. In the XVII - XIX centuries, fishing brought a lot of money to the state treasury. Japan itself was in self-isolation from the world, nevertheless there was a foreign port in Nagasaki. Trade with Western countries and China passed through it. The sale of agar was especially valuable.
This product was made from algae of the same name and shipped to China. Later it was shipped to other countries. Then only female divers could extract such a valuable resource. Subsequently, due to such demand for algae, "Ama" appeared throughout Japan and became an important source of income for the treasury. True, in the end it led to sad consequences.
Now the Japanese government is trying to keep silent about this, the fact that, due to the greed of divers, already in the 19th century, the stocks of agaric algae were undermined. This happened due to the rapid growth in the number of workers in the field, as well as uncontrolled mining. Since then, they have been trying to keep an eye on production, especially with the growth of human technological abilities.
However, it cannot be said that there are no ordinary scuba divers in Japan. On the contrary, they can be found at sea, but they are less common. They prey mainly on sea urchins. In Japan, dishes from it are highly valued for supposedly healing properties. But it is "Ama" who do not allow themselves such a luxury as scuba gear.
Divers differ in the way they harvest marine animals. The first are called "funado", which is in fact a man with a boat. This is a diver who works with a partner - "tomai-san". At the same time, the two of them swim out to some place in the sea on a boat and begin their spearfishing. At the same time, "Ama" ties itself with a load in order to reach the bottom faster, and Tomai-san lifts it to the surface with a cable.
It must be understood that such a practice is very dangerous for a diver and requires coordinated action. If the man who pulls "Ama" to the surface hesitates even for a moment, then the girl runs the risk of suffocating. In addition, the safety rope can break if worn or caught on something sharp, then this is also fatal. It is no coincidence that it is called "inochi-zuna" or the cable of life.
The second method of harvesting marine animals is called "okedo". In this case, divers work in the coastal strip. No boats and cables of life are provided. The only reference point besides the shore is the “oke” barrel, in which all the prey is stored. It is curious that with this method of work, you can often find a whole family in a row, and not single "Ama".
Divers put on white robes before fishing. So it will be easier to notice them at the bottom and take emergency action if something bad happened to the girl. In addition, experienced "Ama" can observe an interesting way of lifting from the depth. They rise for a very short period of time and suck in air with a characteristic whistle. Among miners it is called "coastal flute".
The first information about Japanese divers can be found in Chinese chronicles. It is from there that it is known about the life and appearance of "Ama" of that time. It became known that most of the girl's body was covered. It was they who were supposed to protect the diver from water spirits and sea dangerous animals. "Ama" had to take off the clothes that covered the images. That is why most divers were naked. Curiously, the tradition of completely undressing before work has survived to this day.
Few people know that underwater pearl hunters, which in Japan are called ama, these are not strong men, but very fragile women with a flexible body, dexterous hands, unusually hardy. They are able to stay in cold water for a very long time, looking for precious pearl shells at the bottom.
Not of this world
In Japanese, the word "ama" means "woman of the sea". This profession is ancient and has more than 2000 years. Ama for their exceptional abilities can be called people out of this world. They can hold their breath for a long time and sink into the abyss of the sea, we note, without special equipment to a depth of 30 meters! Given that pearls are not found in all shells, one can imagine how hard this work is.
There are only two places on the globe where you can get pearls of very high quality - the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. For several centuries, excellent pearls have been mined in the waters of the bay. The prosperity of many villages for centuries depended entirely on the successful hunting of the ama.
Where does it all begin?
A good diver among the locals, as a rule, was considered one that was able to dive to a depth of at least 15 meters and be able to stay under water for at least a minute. Each woman was entitled to ammunition: a purse woven from wire and fishing net, a split bamboo stick that was supposed to hang around her neck, and leather gloves.
The purse was intended for collecting pearls, the diver pinched her nose with a bamboo stick so that water would not penetrate there, and gloves were needed to protect the pickers' fingers from injury.
"Our service is both dangerous and difficult..."
From endless diving into the depths of the sea, the body of divers wears out a lot, and even young women of 30-40 years old look like frail old women: constantly watery eyes, almost complete lack of hearing, trembling hands.
Under water, these women are in danger. One of them is to be eaten by some marine predator. Sharks, snakes - but you never know them, all sorts of sea reptiles that would like to feast on a fresh catcher. That is why the young ladies-catchers must swim perfectly, show miracles of ingenuity, so as not to endanger their lives once again.
One of these chips was used by divers when saving from a shark. Only by raising clouds of sand from the bottom, it was possible to avoid sharp shark teeth. With a constant risk of being eaten, a diver must make no less than 30 dives, during which she does not eat or drink.
What you need to know and know
Just 200-300 years ago, few people knew about the outlandish ama divers. They did not know that they worked, as a rule, without clothes, at best - in a loincloth - fundoshi and a hair band. They were depicted as such in countless engravings by artists of that time who wrote in the ukiyo-e style (a trend in the visual arts of Japan).
Until the 1960s, many divers, especially those who lived in the villages that stretched along the Pacific coast of Japan, continued to dive in the same fundoshi.
In the villages, the Ama live in their own communities. For a long time, when no one knew about underwater ammunition, the ama dived, holding a load weighing 10-15 kilograms in their hands, or attached small lead bars to their waists.
Before diving, the diver was tied to the boat with a long rope, the end of which was pulled through the block. Having reached the bottom, the woman freed herself from the load, which was lifted to the surface by a rope, and immediately began to collect her prey. When the time spent under water expired, she pulled the rope, again lowered into the depths, and she was lifted up.
The modern technique of spearfishing for pearls has not seriously changed, except that the ama now began to dress in isothermal overalls and fins.
By the way, experienced ama-oidizodo, professional divers, are able to dive an average of 50 times in the morning and 50 times in the afternoon. Between dives, they rest and breathe as deeply as possible, ventilating the lungs.
The season begins in May, when sea water does not yet have time to warm up properly, and ends in early September. For half a year, while the precious pearls are being mined, women are released from all cases.
The income from the mined pearls of the am has always been quite good. Working in shallow water, where almost everything is selected, the diver earned about $ 150 a day, and at a depth of 20 meters - three times more. It is easy to calculate that divers earned tens of thousands of dollars during the season. So it turned out that the ama was often the only breadwinner for the family!
Now it is almost impossible to find those who want to do such a job. At Shirahama, where 1,500 divers worked half a century ago, there are now less than 300 left. Yes, and their age is very respectable: the youngest is 50, the eldest is 85 years old!
Every year, fewer and fewer beautiful "mermaids" go out to fish for pearls - technological progress has come to such godforsaken places. The industrial production of pearls has become more profitable and efficient than the work of the ama.
At present, it is difficult to imagine that there are still places where pearl divers work in the old fashioned way, diving to great depths without any wetsuits and other underwater equipment, carrying, as before, only a bag and a knife.
One such place has actually survived to this day. This is the city of Toba, which is located on the island of Mikimoto Pearl. This place is really special: to this day, divers work here according to the old method. Toba has become a tourist Mecca. Hundreds of tourists come here to stare at the beautiful divers.
The hard, but at the same time not devoid of romance, work of pearl seekers has earned its “honor board” in the form of museums and numerous exhibitions, which also found regular visitors. Currently, there are several such places in the world with expositions dedicated to the fearless Ama women.
How about others?
Paying tribute to the brave Japanese women, one cannot fail to say a few words about pearl mining by other peoples. For example, in Vietnam, pearls are grown on special water plantations. A grain of sand is placed in each shell, with which the mollusk then begins to “work”.
When the time comes to check the shells for pearls, workers come up in boats and pull nets with shells out of the water. Vietnamese pearls grown in this way can be bought on the market without any problems. Its price is relatively low. The price of Thai pearls is even lower than Vietnamese. It is grown on special farms.
Jewels from the Middle Kingdom
The country of the Great Wall and fire dragons is considered the first place where they began to look for pearls. They got it from the bottom of the sea, not only in order to string it on a thread, make beads and sell it, but also for medicinal purposes. Ancient Chinese medicine is wise. The principle of using everything that nature gives as a medicine has always been at the forefront of Chinese healers.
In China, pearls are still used as the basis for special ointments and face creams. There are no professional fishermen in the Celestial Empire, since pearls have long been grown artificially. The difference with Vietnamese technology is very small. Here, nets with pearls are tied to bamboo poles and kept in fresh water.
Scattered pearls of Russia
Once upon a time, Russia was among the first ranks of countries rich in pearls. Everyone wore it, including the poorest peasant women. It was mainly mined on the northern rivers, but there was also Black Sea pearl, the so-called Kafsky (Kafa is the ancient name of Feodosia).
Especially a lot of pearls were obtained from the shells of the Muna River on the Kola Peninsula. The monasteries were mainly engaged in the organization of fishing. Round, without protrusions and outgrowths, pearls were especially valued. They were called "sloping", that is, easily rolling down an inclined surface. Pearl mining acquired such a scale that Peter I in 1712 by a special decree forbade private individuals to fish.
Unfortunately, the barbarian mining gave its results: it led to the depletion of the stocks of pearl shells. And now Russian pearls can only be seen in museums.
Svetlana DENISOVA
There is a purely female (with rare exceptions) type of marine fishing. This is the prey of sea organisms sitting at the bottom of the sea by female divers. The work of divers for seafood is called the art of "ama".
The work of divers "ama" originated more than 2000 years ago. To this day, it has survived almost unchanged. Only special hooks for prying and separating mollusks from the rocky substrate are now not made of bone and wood, but steel. Everything else, including clothing, and often its absence, is the same.
It happens that divers are also men. In some areas of Japan, their share reaches 20-25%. But in the country as a whole, this share is very small. And since this circumstance lowers the bar of romantic ideas about this art, they try not to notice the male role in diving. But let's be objective, and let's not hush up the role of men in this matter.
For centuries, “ama-san” have been harvesting the same types of marine organisms: from mollusks and echinoderms - abalone, sazae (horned turbot), sea urchin, trepang, from crustaceans - Japanese spiny lobster, from algae - helidium, undaria, etc. Most the coveted prey is the abalone abalone mollusk, which is the most expensive (some specimens, if caught by divers, cost $100 or more on the market). The extraction of this particular mollusk requires great effort, since with its muscle it is very firmly attached to stones and rocks. In the old days - before the cultivation of pearls on sea plantations was put on an industrial basis - "ama" were "pearl seekers". Now this direction in the work of "ama" is more decorative than commercial in nature.
In the 17th - 19th centuries, the ama fishery was very important for the Japanese economy. Despite isolation from the outside world, foreign trade had to be developed. The port of Nagasaki, open to foreigners, was actively used to export agar produced from agar-bearing algae to China and other countries. Algae at the indicated times could only be mined by female divers. In the middle of the 19th century, agaronos fishing and agar production spread throughout Japan. Accordingly, the significance of the “ama” fishery was very great.
It is difficult to explain why the work of "ama" has been preserved for centuries and millennia. The next version looks quite convincing. First, this type of fishery is clearly localized. It has developed and survived where there are sufficient stocks of the above species, traditional for the ama fishery, in the coastal zone accessible to swimmers. The presence of a permanent object of labor creates conditions for the permanent nature of labor.
Secondly, "ama" do not use special breathing devices, relying only on the physical and spiritual forces of the body, and cannot have a strong impact on the environment and the inhabitants of the coastal zone. And this allows you to maintain ecosystems and biotopes in an equilibrium state. In addition, recently even these sparing types of fishing have been subject to restrictions on the seasons and the number of fishing days. A subjective factor also comes into play - the East Asian mentality, which includes respect for the memory of ancestors and the indisputable preservation of traditions.
Japanese researchers do not recall the fact that “ama”, dressed several decades ago in diving suits with scuba gear, undermined the stocks of those types of marine organisms that formed the basis of their existence, Japanese researchers do not remember. At the same time, it is known that at the end of the 19th century, the stocks of the agar-bearing algae gelidium were undermined due to the high demand for agar abroad and the thirst for high profits in a short time by Japanese employers of ama divers to extract algae.
However, diving does exist. This method of harvesting bottom marine organisms exists (but in very small volumes) not only in Japan, but also in other countries. Including in Russia. In the Far East, sea urchins are mined by diving, the caviar of which is extremely highly valued in the Japanese market. At the same time, various technical achievements are used, which significantly increase the capabilities of a person when working under water and, accordingly, the efficiency of harvesting marine organisms. "Ama" "allow" themselves in a number of cases only a "wet" diving suit.
Methods of work "ama"
Description of the working methods of “ama” divers, clothing or mining tools can be found in various online publications (as a rule, these are fragments of travel booklets and magazines on Japanese topics) and even in the famous book by free-diver Jacques Maillol “The Dolphin Man”, translated into Russian. We preferred to turn to Japanese sources - to a collection of essays written from the words "ama" of advanced years from different regions of Japan, as well as to the results of Japanese cultural studies on this topic.
There are two most common types of ama fishing. The first is called funado, the second is called katido. The first means - people with a boat, the second - walkers (or foot soldiers on the seabed). There is another kind of fishing for divers - “noriai”, when boats are combined into a group.
In the first type of fishing, “ama” works in tandem with her husband or partner (tomai-san). At the same time, the first one is constantly on board the boat, controlling the situation and pulling a partner out of the water, which is difficult to do on her own, since she carries a load on her body for a quick and easy dive (immersion in some cases can reach 20 meters). With a very short rise to the surface, the “ama” takes a breath through slightly parted lips with a whistle (it is easier to overcome the difference in pressure in the water and on the surface), which is popularly called the “coastal flute”.
Sometimes several "ama" hire a vessel and a strong man who monitors the safety of fishing and helps women divers in their work. In this case, one load is used on all swimmers.
Each diver is connected to the boat by the so-called "rope of life" (inochi-zuna). The most dangerous thing is when the cable breaks or separates from the body of the "ama". Getting out of the water without assistance increases the time spent underwater, and the lungs may fail. The fact that "ama" can be under water for two, three minutes, and sometimes more, does not matter. The time to stop breathing should be used as much as possible to search for and harvest marine organisms.
Of particular danger are areas of the seabed with the remains of sunken ships. Metal protrusions can easily injure or cut the Life Cable. Therefore, despite the accumulation of the desired abalone mollusk in such areas, the "ama" try to avoid such places.
Often "ama" wear white clothes, even if they use a "wet" suit. The white spot is clearly visible to tomai-san under water, so it is easier to ensure the work of divers and their safety.
In the second type of fishing, "ama" fishermen unite in a group and carry out production not far from the coast without the help of a vessel. This type of fishing is also called "okedo" - that is, the extraction of marine organisms using a wooden tub "oke", where the catch is added. The tub also serves as a guide on the surface of the water, and the "cable of life" is also connected to it.
The duration of work in the water divers varies depending on the temperature of the water. In winter, as a rule, the fishery is closed. In spring and autumn, women work in the water for 2-3 hours. In summer, working hours increase to 5 hours. Even very experienced divers are not capable of more. Also, the duration of stay in the water depends on age, experience of "ama" and other factors.
Harmony with nature, the closest connection between the life of "ama" and the marine environment helps to overcome the exhausting hard work. Cases are described when "ama-san" gave birth to children immediately after working under water, barely going ashore. It is clear that this was in the past and not from a good life. The abalone mollusk before the war did not bring as much income as during the years of the rapid development of the Japanese economy, when the demand for delicately harvested marine organisms increased significantly, and the market price for them also increased several times against the backdrop of the strengthening solvency of the population.
I must say that a similar art of divers for sea delicacies - and what they get "ama" and there are real delicacies - exists in the Republic of Korea, in particular on the island of Jeju. It sounds differently - something like "henyo", but the meaning is the same - women of the sea. And it does not change the essence of the matter. Hard work, which is very difficult to replace with industrial types of fishing. Traces of such types of fishing can be traced in the ancient history of other continents, but survived only in East Asia.
The art of "ama" is part of Japanese traditions
The first mention of Japanese divers for sea gifts is contained in the ancient Chinese chronicles (in the Japanese sounding "Gishi Wajin Den") and the anthology of Japanese poetry of the 8th century "Manyoshu". These sources not only mention the existence of divers, but also provide some information about the features of their life and appearance. The deciphering of ancient texts shows that the entire body of the ancient "ama" was covered with tattoos. Tattoos were supposed to protect divers in the water from sharks and other dangerous inhabitants of the sea. During the work, divers had to remove all clothing that hid protective tattoos.
The custom of tattooing remained in effect until recently, as did the rule of diving in the nude.
In Japan, the number of ama divers who live in this type of fishery and, in accordance with Japanese fishing legislation, have fishing rights and registration for this, according to studies by the Mie Prefectural Education Committee, is 1800 people. Including those divers who fish from time to time, their number rises to 2170. The most numerous compact settlements are in the city of Toba and Shima County of this prefecture. But there are specialized "ama" fisheries in many other areas of Japan. As a rule, depending on the location of these traditional crafts, their specialization differs. Now all "ama" are united in cooperatives.
The number of "ama" is gradually decreasing. Over the past 20 years, the number of "ama" has halved (Table). This is due to a decrease in the income of divers. The average age of divers is also constantly increasing. The habitat of aquatic organisms that produce "ama" is deteriorating. The volume of collection by divers of abalone - the main object of collection - has decreased by five times. In order to preserve the original tradition, the authorities of Mie Prefecture in 2013 developed a program to revitalize the life of coastal villages and increase the income of female divers.
The annual income of modern "ama" is approximately 1.0 million yen (about 10 thousand dollars) per year. It is almost impossible to live in modern Japan with this money alone. In order to increase the ama's income, the coastal life revitalization program provides for the formation of fishing grounds, the increase in abalone stocks through the resettlement of larvae, the introduction of technologies for processing little used and unused algae. Such support should stabilize the production, as well as the traditional way of life "ama". Financing of these programs is provided by the state budget for the fishery industry in Japan. The budget is primarily aimed at improving the economic life of coastal settlements. But in this case, it is safe to speak and maintain traditions.
Table
Change in the number of "ama" after 1931
According to Japan Maritime Museum and Japan Fisheries Department.
Divers almost always combine picking up seafood with agriculture, sometimes with the service sector (usually tourism). Depending on the natural conditions of a particular locality, the number of days devoted to sea fishing varies greatly. So, in the vicinity of the Toba area, the number of days of sea fishing is from 10 to 110 days a year. In the vicinity of the town of Sima, the importance of sea fishing is higher and ranges from 40 to 286 days a year.
In a number of localities, centuries-old diving holidays have become a kind of regulator of the “ama” fishery, as, for example, in Yamaguchi Prefecture on the coast of the Sea of Japan. Here in Yuya Bay there is an ancient settlement "ama". During the obligatory weekend, divers visit temples, where they perform ceremonies with the wishes of a good sea harvest and the conservation of reserves of mined objects. Such days become traditional briefings on the rules of harvesting (do not harvest mollusks smaller than the fishing measure, etc.).
The threat to the craft, which over the millennia has become a tradition and art, is also created by the gradual aging of divers. The predominant age of most divers in Mie Prefecture is 70-80 years old.
Japan and South Korea dispute the right to register the female ama marine fishery at UNESCO
The South Korean Agency for Cultural Property has decided to submit an application to the UNESCO commission to register the culture of Jeju's haenyo divers as an intangible heritage of human culture. Registration of Haenyo culture with UNESCO may take place in 2015.
The Japanese relevant authorities also intend to apply for registration of their culture with UNESCO. The method of extracting organisms from the seabed by female divers, which has become a distinctive culture, exists only in Japan and the Republic of Korea.
According to the media of the Republic of Korea, on Jeju Island, the number of divers during the period of maximum development of this type of fishery was 30,000 people. Currently, their number does not exceed 4500 people.
In the Republic of Korea, the craft "henyo" is considered primordially Korean and is very critical of Japan's intentions to also register this type of marine fishery as a common heritage. True, the Korean written sources of the Middle Ages date the appearance of the “henyo” craft around the beginning of the 17th century. It is indicated that in the 17th - 18th centuries (Teoseon era), Korean divers supplied seafood to the table of the royal family.
In the Japanese prefecture of Mie, more than half of all divers registered in the country are engaged in this type of fishing - about 1,000 people. Toba City and Shima County in Mie Prefecture, where ama crafting is highly developed, since 2009, exchanges have been carried out with craft friends from South Korea and the “ama summit” is held there annually. At the 2010 summit, a joint decision was made by divers from Japan and the Republic of Korea to submit a single application for registration of this type of fishery to UNESCO. The reason for the rejection of the joint application to UNESCO in favor of separate national applications lies in the deterioration of the climate of political relations between the two countries. This is also due to the increased national ambitions in this regard.
Japanese-South Korean exchanges between representatives of the "craft-culture" "ama-henyo", as well as between specialists - culturologists and historians of the two countries, continue at the present time. Now it is perceived as something special. But before the Second World War, Korean "henyo" constantly came to the Japanese island of Shikoku to collect gelidium agaric algae, which was a normal occurrence. Also, "ama" at the end of the 19th century went to seasonal crafts on the Korean Peninsula. Even earlier, Japanese and Korean entrepreneurs created brigades from henyo, with which they went to fisheries in Japan and China. In pre-revolutionary times, such brigades also appeared in the Russian Primorye, of course, only in the short summer months.
At the beginning of the 20th century, “ama” from Mie Prefecture went to Korea for seasonal fishing, as a rule, from March to September. They crossed on a small wooden ship with the help of oars and a sail. The entire crew, including "ama" and assistants, consisted of 15 people. During these "expeditions" the ship became a home for everyone. The sail and mast turned into a roof over the boat, in which everyone slept.
Hundreds and thousands of scientific and popular publications have been written about the art and traditions of "ama" in Japan. "Ama" is, without exaggeration, the cultural heritage of the Japanese people, at least in terms of age. This dictated the close attention of Japanese researchers to this topic. And this topic is very much in common with the global problem of mankind - to live in harmony with nature. In this sense, the phenomenon of "ama", like the Korean "haenyo" divers, goes far beyond the cultural values of only one nation.
The lifestyle, philosophy and worldview of "ama" are closely connected with the sea. This connection is inseparable and harmonious. "Ama" are Japanese mermaids, but not fabulous, but real.
The number of "ama" is steadily decreasing. This is not only due to economic conditions. The main thing is that their natural habitat, with which they are inextricably linked, is gradually being lost. These are not only mountains of plastic garbage polluting the coastal zone, but also shores covered in concrete, accessible to idle tourists and onlookers. However, the unequal struggle for the preservation of an original craft with a 2000-year history continues.
In Japanese cinema in the second half of the 20th century, there was a trend that has been somewhat forgotten today, which can be called the mixed Japanese-English term "ama-exploitation". About this unique sub-genre, which combined thriller, eroticism and national exoticism, - Dmitry Komm.
The story begins in 1954, when famed Italian photographer, anthropologist and poet Fosco Maraini returned to Japan after an absence of nearly a decade. Sincerely in love with Asia, having served as a professor in Hokkaido and being a prisoner in a Japanese concentration camp in Nagoya, Maraini professed the principle: “There are no races, there are only cultures” - and considered it his duty to help the whole world better understand Asians. Italy and Japan at that time had much in common: the countries that lost the Second World War with a destroyed economy, they carried out a radical restructuring in all spheres of public life and sought to fit into the new world order. In the field of culture, this was expressed in the strengthening of market relations, the Americanization and commercialization of popular arts. Apparently, therefore, Maraini, who already had monographs on Tibet and Japan on his account, chose exotic material for the new book and could interest the widest possible audience - ama divers.
Ama villages were scattered around the cities of Toba and Shima, on the Izu Peninsula and small islands, the most famous of which is Hegura (sometimes spelled Hyukura). Fosco Maraini went to him. By this time, ama was an old and well-known profession in Japan, but Europeans knew little about them. Maraini divers were attracted by the fact that traditional gender roles were reversed in their villages. The heads of the family here were women who chose their own husbands and were the breadwinners, daily making difficult and dangerous dives to the seabed for pearls and oysters. Legends say that men used to do this kind of fishing, but they could not compete with the ladies, who, thanks to the layer of subcutaneous fat, could dive deeper and stay in the water longer. Since then, the role of the men in these villages has become a support one, consisting in taking the am to the dive site, insuring her during work and helping her to warm up after finishing.
The commercial potential of the ama story was that these women used to dive almost naked, wearing only a loincloth and a large knife. Working hard at sea from a young age, the Ama were tall (by Asian standards), well-developed physically, with broad shoulders, strong legs, and mahogany-colored skin. Not having a model appearance, they nevertheless looked very impressive in the photographs.
Ama at work. Photography by Fosco Maraini
Soon Fosco Maraini publishes a lavishly illustrated book, The Island of the Mermaids. Staying among the ama stimulated his poetic fantasy so powerfully that in the text they are called "daughters of Neptune", "companions of Odysseus", "sea valkyries" and "bare-breasted goddesses". Maraini even dived into the sea along with his heroines, and one of the main advantages of his book are underwater photographs, in which the ama really look like the mythical inhabitants of a bizarre mermaid kingdom. Not surprisingly, his book became a bestseller and was soon reprinted in the US and England under the title "Hekura: The Diving Girls' Island".
In Japan itself, no one considered the ama to be supernatural beings, but even there they had their own poet. Yoshiyuki Iwase has been photographing ama since the 1930s, and in his work he combined shooting real diving girls with photographs of invited models posing picturesquely on the seashore. As a result of his activities, ama villages have become a fashionable tourist destination. Jasper Sharp in his book Behind the Pink Curtain notes that by the mid-1950s in the village of Toba, the ama business was highly commercialized, the “daughters of Neptune” themselves felt like stars and, in their free time from their main work, willingly took pictures with numerous tourists. Thanks to Yukio Mishima's novel The Sound of the Surf (1954), the images of ama conquer literature, after which their conquest of cinema becomes only a matter of time.
The first Japanese film studio to pay attention to ama was Shintoho. A spin-off from film giant Toho (Shintoho literally means "new Toho"), this small independent company lasted just over a decade, but in that time it managed to significantly change the face of Japanese cinema. Dynamic, commercially oriented and not afraid of risky projects, the studio laid the foundations of Japanese noir (with Akira Kurosawa's Mad Dog) and horror (with a series of films by Nobuo Nakagawa), discovered directors such as Kon Ichikawa and Teruo Ishii. Well, the cycle of films about ama, launched by Shintoho in the second half of the 50s, is considered the first Japanese experience in the field of erotic cinema - a genre in which Japan is today a recognized world leader.
Still from the film "Revenge of the Pearl Queen" (1956)
It all started with the film "Revenge of the Pearl Queen" (Toshio Shimura, 1956). His heroine, played by the curvaceous fashion model Michiko Maeda, was not yet a professional ama - she became a diver by chance, finding herself on an abandoned island in the company of shipwrecked sailors. In essence, Revenge of the Pearl Queen was a loose variation on Joseph von Sternberg's Japanese film The Anatahan Saga (1953), only in a more commercialized thriller package. The film was a great success, which director Shimura hastened to develop in his next film, Ama Trembles with Fear (1957). In this crime story about beautiful divers kidnapped by a gang of gangsters, long, choreographed underwater footage appears for the first time, a bit reminiscent of Busby Berkeley's famous musical number By a Waterfall.
Then the Japanese filmmakers were illumined by the realization that they had stumbled upon a gold mine, and the production of films about divers was put on stream. Shintoho continued the theme with the now considered classic thrillers The Haunted House Divers (1958) and The Phantom Ama (1959); pioneering Japanese exploitation producer Mitsugu Okura released Ama and the Mysterious Pearl (1962); the Sotiku studio supported the theme with a painting with the phantasmagoric title "Shell Girls" (1965); film adaptations of Mishima's "Surf Noise" were released one after another (about half a dozen of them were filmed in total). In these films, the Ama went through the most incredible adventures, finding treasures at the bottom of the sea, fighting smugglers, ghosts and each other - the latter, as a rule, took place in the mud - and in The Clam Girls they even provided escort services to tourists like real geishas. . Even a film called “Ama the Cannibal” (1958) was filmed on Shintoho, but it, unfortunately, is considered lost.
The main attraction of these paintings remained original underwater ballets, from time to time becoming longer and more ingeniously filmed. An additional erotic effect was achieved due to the premonition of danger threatening the divers - here Japanese filmmakers were strongly influenced by the famous underwater scene from Jack Arnold's "The Beast from the Black Lagoon" (1954). The combination of athleticism, self-confidence, and unexpected vulnerability made the ama the ideal male fantasy, confidently exploited by Japanese film producers. In fact, these were the first Japanese erotic films, despite the fact that they rarely featured sex scenes.
Trailer for The Divers in the Haunted House (1958)
In the West, the ama have also become cult figures and have made their way into cinema. In 1963, our former compatriot and, concurrently, Hollywood classic Marion Goering filmed the rollicking Italian mondo "Desecrated Paradise", presenting the audience with a complete set of orientalist myths. A fair amount of the film was devoted to Japanese divers. Goering filmed his quasi-documentary exploitation on the same island of Hegurah as Fosco Maraini, and therefore among the ama appearing in it, one can easily recognize the same girls who posed for the already legendary album “Mermaid Island”. In 1964, Ian Fleming made a diver named Kissy Suzuki a Bond girl in You Only Live Twice. Kissy was a former movie star turned ama; she also became the only Bond girl who gave birth to a son from him - James Suzuki. In the film adaptation of this novel, released in 1967, it is Kissy (Mie Hama) who in the finale leads the Bond army to storm the residence of the supervillain Blofield in the mouth of a volcano.
James Bond and Kissy Suzuki. "You Only Live Twice" (1967)
With the development of the sex film industry in the early 70s, ama films finally migrated into the sphere of "pink-aiga". In 1975, the oldest Japanese film studio Nikkatsu, as part of its new project "romantic porn", launches a series of films that have become known in the West as Lustful Ama. Ten years before 1985, six films were released that told about the love affairs of divers. In these films, there was no longer tabloid romance with treasures and pirates; they were glamorous sex movies with plein-air erotic scenes on the seashore, and their modest budgets made complex underwater ballets impossible. The decline of the genre coincided with the disappearance of the ama profession itself. In a modernized, high-tech Japan, there was no longer a need to obtain pearls in such an archaic way. And the reorientation of commercial cinema to a teenage audience that took place in the 90s completely turned the naked ama into persona non grata on the big screens.
Films about ama left the cinemas, remaining only in film catalogs and video collections of fans. But it is hardly worth writing off these underwater Amazons completely. After all, the fact that there are no more musketeers in our world does not mean that films cannot be made about them. For example, last year in Turin there was an exhibition of photographs by Fosco Maraini called "The Charm of Sea Women". Sooner or later, common sense will return to cinema, and then we will definitely see something great-tabloid again, something like “Ama vs. Killer Octopuses from the Underworld” in 3D and IMAX.