Okano Mitsue

The ama, or women of the sea, hold a special place in Japanese history. Around 2,000 years ago, Japan was facing disease, famine and war, and in an effort to bring peace and prosperity back to the land, Emperor Suinin sent his daughter in search of a suitable location to enshrine the sun goddess, one of the most important deities of Japan. While searching, she encountered an ama, who gave her an abalone (shellfish) as a gift. Soon after, the princess found an ideal site for establishing Ise Jingu, Japan’s most famous shrine, and began to leave gifts of abalone there every year in thanks.

Today, the women of Ise-shima continue the tradition of sea diving, searching the ocean floor for shellfish. Okano Mitsue has been making her living beneath the waves for 60 years, swimming half a mile from the shore before taking a deep breath and sinking to the ocean floor.

Back at her kamado, a seaside hut where visitors can dine on the fresh seafood, Okano-san describes the work of ama while grilling an assortment of shellfish. “There’s lots of seaweed,” she notes, “but the water is crystal clear. I can even see well 30ft below the waves.”

Even so, catching her prey takes skill and strength.

“The abalone can sense they’re being caught,” she says, “so they’ll latch on to the rocks like superglue.”

The ama carry long knifelike chisels called kaginomi, which they use to prise the shellfish away from the rocks, or maybe even snag an octopus on a good day.

“If we want it, we’ll just catch it,” Okano-san says with a chuckle.

There’s an abundance of food in these waters, but abalone are the real prize: “They taste exquisite.”