THE AMA DIVERS OF ISE-SHIMA

This serene Japanese region is one of the best places in the country to learn all about the ancient tradition of ama diving

Ise-Shima is the timeless Japanese landscape familiar from woodblock prints: a peninsula of forested shores, fishing villages and green islets in Pacific bays. The region exerts a magnetic power over six million Japanese pilgrims who visit the holy Shinto shrine of Ise Jingu every year, while nature-lovers come here to renew their spirits at Ise-Shima National Park. What’s more, Ise-Shima is also the last great stronghold of around 600 ama divers, and the best place for visitors to discover their ancient way of life.

Meaning ‘women of the ocean’, ama once thrived across Japan, diving to collect seafood for their villages and, in the IseShima area, prized abalone as offerings to deities at Shinto shrines, such as Ise Jingu. Plunging into dark fathoms, gliding among reefs and kelp forests, ama held their breath for minutes on end. Now clad in diving suits, they used to wear white costumes to ward off the cold — as well as hungry sharks.

To learn more about this tradition, start at the Ama Hut Experience in the Ise-Shima area — visitors are welcomed at a shack on the quays, where weary-limbed ama rest and recuperate after a dive. Inside, guests can meet the divers themselves and listen to their tales of aquatic adventure while tucking into a lunch of freshly dived clams, barbecued scallops and lobster.

Next, follow the coast a few miles north and you’ll reach Mikimoto Pearl Island, a tiny offshore landmass beside the city of Toba. Mikimoto is the birthplace of the production of cultured pearls, which were once harvested by ama divers. Now a museum, it hosts regular diving displays by ama in the surrounding seas. Inside the museum itself, meanwhile, are models made with Mikimoto-farmed pearls.

To really dive deep into the soul of ama, however, head to Ishigami-san shrine, surrounded by a little wood in Osatsu. For centuries, ama divers have come to pray to the resident deity for safe swimming and a good harvest. Now a shrine synonymous with female pilgrims, women of all backgrounds come to ask for safe passage through life — at sea and on dry land.