Ama: Japanese hand-crafted diving women
- Published on : 20/11/2025
- by : Phoebe
- Youtube
Ama: Japanese hand-crafted diving women
Ph.L
Who are the last sirens of Japan?
Alternately considered objects of fantasy, outstanding businesswomen and tomboys, the ama fascinate with their unique craft. In the past, they supported their fishing communities by harvesting pearls and sea urchins, but today these women, aged over 60, are the last guardians of an age-old skill that's on the verge of extinction: traditional snorkeling. Portrait by Japan Experience.
Artisanal diving: a dying art
6 a.m. The sun has only been up for a few hours on the coast of prefecture of Mie prefecture, and already a group ofama are setting out to sea. Accompanied by a tamae, a motorboat driver, these women aged between 50 and 75 head for the waves, armed only with a basket and a chisel. Their objective? To snorkel to depths of up to 10 metres to harvest the treasures the waves have to offer.
It might make you smile in this age of industrial fishing, but there are onlya few hundred of them leftin Japan who still practice artisanal diving.
An Ama
Wikimedia
Scattered along the southern coasts of the archipelago, snorkeling has always been a women's business. Female divers learn the rudiments of the trade from the age of 15, and train for several hours a day under the watchful eye of their elders, until the diving season arrives. Fifty years ago, from March to November, a thousand women dived topless along the Japanese coast.
Today, women divers have aged. Nowadays, they brave the cold waters of the Pacific wearing wetsuits.
For two or three sessions of an hour and a half each, they will make twenty or so 5-10 minute free dives - a performance that has earned them the nickname "the sirens of Japan" and made them the driving force behind the local economy.
Indeed, the booty of the divers is priceless. Abalone, seaweed, sea urchins their baskets are snapped up like hotcakes as soon as they leave the water. Their catches, usually sold fresh to the fishing cooperative on which they depend, can fetch several hundred euros ( especially pearls and abalone)!
If this once enabled seaside villages to live comfortably, it's no longer the case today. With the rural exodus and the possibility of long studies, few young girls are ready to sacrifice the dream of a city life for an existence at the rhythm of the sea. This is why the practice is in decline, making today's divers the last guardians of a thousand-year-old know-how.
Sea urchins, one of diving's treasures
Wikimedia
Meet these skilled divers with Japan Experience.
The ama are more than snorkelers, they are the guardians of a tradition that goes back thousands of years. Come and meet them in Toba, where the culture of pearl fishing is still very much alive.
Meet the ama with Japan Experience
@Japan Experience
Exceptional women in a patriarchal society
In addition to their talent as divers, it is for their unique status within their fishing communities that the ama attract attention. A status that disturbs as much as it fascinates, since it runs counter to what is expected of women in traditional society.
Too muscular, too talkative, not discreet enough, women divers are moving away from the traditional image of the gentle, self-effacing woman dear to Japanese society of a bygone era. Gifted with a fiery temperament, they have even redefined the dynamics of the traditional household: they are the ones who provide for their families, in a country where men are supposed to be the providers.
They also wield significant religious power, as they are the only women to play a central role alongside elected municipal officials in local processions in honor of Amaterasu, the sun goddess whose protection they enjoy.
A Shinto priest blesses the ama before the dive
Ph.L
This out-of-the-ordinary nature inspired many artists as far back as the Edo period (1603-1868), when printmakers depicted them as veritable sirens, seductive but dangerous to the male gender.
What future for the ama?
Although their fishing communities no longer rely so heavily on diving, ama divers are redoubling their ingenuity to perpetuate their activity.
Popular with travelers, they no longer hesitate to show off their talents to the delight of photographers, and many now combine their diving trade with part-time jobs in local restaurants. Their aim? To make visitors aware of the disappearance of their trade, and to anchor their practice in Japanese folklore, ensuring that it is passed on to future generations.
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